Ashley Landry

lifestyle + portrait photographer

Wedding Update | Nine Months Away

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If you write, you will learn it is easier to write about a topic that excites you. When I decided to document our proposal, it was such an easy post to write because it was an extremely special moment in my life (you can check out our proposal story here).

Since then I have gone back and forth about whether I would continue posting about our wedding or not. I love the idea of sharing where I am at in life and writing posts on something that is exciting to me (like planning our wedding). However, wedding planning is very new and unfamiliar to me. I am learning the wedding process as I go through it.

Which led me to a big question… How can I offer valuable content to the reader if I write about planning our wedding (a topic I am somewhat unfamiliar with)?

My goal with every post is to offer valuable content. Whether it is helping someone understand my photography services or to gather ideas for their own photography session or offering sweet words for someone to feel appreciated, my end goal is for the reader to feel like he or she has walked away with “something” after reading a post. If I was going to write about our wedding, I needed to figure out how to create value and purpose with each post.

I brainstormed, and I realized two main points that made me feel comfortable posting about our wedding.

If you love a good story, you will enjoy the wedding posts. I had planned on documenting these months for myself personally just because I enjoy writing my story. But, as a reader you can take a few minutes and lose yourself in the words.

If you are looking for ideas or insight into how the wedding planning process works, my goal with these posts is to offer some insight into these topics and explain how we are tackling everything.

Now that I had a purpose behind writing wedding posts, I began creating content. And here we are. Let’s jump in to wedding planning!

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I received a surprise in the mail shortly after getting engaged from a close friend who gifted me a binder for wedding planning and keeping me organized – it was exactly what I needed! It listed what tasks we needed to accomplish and when they needed to be completed by, which led us to our first big decisions.
The Ceremony Venue. 
Let me back track a moment. Before we even thought about any decisions, Charles and I talked budget since that would be a driving force behind our decisions. We discussed areas that were important to us and where we might splurge (Me – wedding photography and Charles – good food and bar selection). We also discussed where we would scale back and save on some things. Discussing the budget gave us an idea on what type of wedding we were each picturing.
Now back to selecting the ceremony location…
The first big decision was to figure out where we wanted to get married. We discussed keeping our wedding small. The idea of a destination wedding did come up. We priced out some destination wedding packages, but nothing ever felt right for us.
For me, the more I thought about it the more I felt that I wanted to get married in our Catholic Church. We are both practicing Catholics. I enjoy our church, and it is special to us. It is also important to mention that Baton Rouge is home for us and short distances away from both of our families. The church is also beautiful inside and out. It has an intricate wooden ceiling and neutral walls and beautiful pews. The more I began picturing our wedding, the more I could see it taking place there.
If we chose to get married in Baton Rouge, we both knew that our guest list would increase. “Small wedding” would grow into a medium sized wedding. We crunched numbers with the increase of guests to make sure it would work with our proposed budget. And, we figured out a way to make it all work. Shortly after that, I contacted our church to see what they had available for wedding dates in 2017.
The church had four wedding dates available for the time of year we requested (late spring/early summer). From there, I contacted our wedding photographer to make sure those dates were available for her, which narrowed down our dates even more. From there, we selected a Friday evening in June!
The Reception Venue. 
This was a tougher decision for us. I researched a number of locations online and compared packages to see what would be the best value for us. After narrowing the selection down, Charles and I chose to tour two places that we both thought had possibilities.
The first was a downtown location (about 20 minutes or so from our church) where our reception could be held on a rooftop. It had a beautiful scenic view of the Mississippi River. With this option, we had the opportunity to select vendors of our choice. Also, we would have to rent furniture and linens with this location. This location had our anticipated wedding date available.
The second location we toured was an indoor location on the campus of LSU (about 10 minutes or so from our church). It had a beautiful view of the lakes. With the packages at this location, we could only use the vendors mentioned on their lists. Tables, chairs, and linens were all included in the price.  This location had our anticipated wedding date available.
Once we toured both locations, we went back to the budget. We compared the costs of the first location, which was cheaper for the initial deposit. However, the rental costs actually brought the overall costs comparable to the second location. From there, it came down to preference.
Honestly, I loved the look of the second location and the idea of being on the campus of LSU since it is meaningful to both of us (we are both huge LSU Tiger Fans). The indoor ballroom was simple yet elegant, and I felt whatever type of wedding we planned would look beautiful there. Once I saw that ballroom I knew the choice would be easy, and we booked the indoor location on the campus of LSU shortly afterwards!
Wedding Photography. 
Even before we approached the “wedding photographer” topic, I knew the photographer I wanted to hire for our wedding. I have followed Catherine Guidry and her wedding photography on social media for a couple of years now, and I have loved her style of photography! Her images are beautiful, and I easily felt at ease with the thought of having her photograph our wedding.
I actually reached out to Catherine before we got engaged because I saw she was beginning to book 2017 dates, and I wanted to make sure our wedding would have a spot. She sent her over her packaging and pricing information and assured me she had some spots available for the time of year we were planning. I crossed my fingers that those spots wouldn’t fill up to quickly.
Once we got engaged, I reached out to her again to let her know we were interested in her services. Catherine setup a phone call to get more information on what we were planning for our wedding. She was very helpful with offering tips on which photography package would work best for us as well as ideas on how to use the photographs. I loved her approach and style, and we booked her services immediately after that!
The Recap. 
Accomplished Tasks:
 – Discuss the budget
 – Select a ceremony and reception venue
 – Select a photographer
 – Order my wedding dress! (I did this last week, and I think that’s the next topic I want to blog about when it comes to our wedding. Be on the look out for this post in November!) 
Up Next:
 – Finalize the guest list
 – Order and mail Save the Dates (Hopefully before Thanksgiving)
 – Figure out a color palette (This has been harder than I thought it be. I really love neutrals, but I want to incorporate color.)
 – Take Engagement Pictures (We have this scheduled in November – I can’t wait!)
XOXO – Ashley “AKA The Future Mrs. Hooker”
On Another Note… This was a long post, but I wanted to introduce the topic in a well-rounded way. THANK YOU again for reading and following along!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Hi Ashley, Love your decision making process for your wedding. Ms Business lady. Lots of couples can learn from your blogs. Great to share. Hugs. Mrs. Donna

    Reply

  3. I like the idea of reading of your wedding preparations. Personal life events help us readers get to know you better, whatever is going on in your life. But, a wedding is also exciting!

    Reply

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