It is only natural that the better your photographer understands you and your wants, the better your photos will be. You can help your photographer to understand you in several ways…a few ideas to start with ..

1) Be available to meet with them before your big day for a coffee and a chat. This gives you key bonding time! Bonding is vitally important, after all you will be spending a lot of time together with your photographer on the most important day of your live.

2) Bombard them with information about yourselves. Your story, your tastes, your dreams, desires and fantasies. The more you talk about yourselves the more familiar your photographer will be with you.

3) Make a collection of personal photos that you love, or photos/poses that have caught your eye from fashion or bridal magazines. Ask also to see their portfolios and work examples. Show them which images, styles and poses that you like the best. This gives a great idea of your tastes and how you want your wedding images. Tell them what your must have pictures are.

4) Tell them about your complexes and pet hates. If a photographer knows in advance what you feel sensitive and shy about, they will know how to avoid and work around these.

5) Find them on Facebook and connect your profiles. The information on your profile will tell your photographer a lot about who you are.

We all want to feel like the only girl in white on OUR own BIG DAY, but if you choose a popular location to get married in, given any Saturday or Sunday during spring/summer, it is highly likely that there will be more than one wedding going on. By choosing a day in the beginning or middle of the week you are less likely to cross paths with another bride and groom in the same place or piazza.

Hotels, Bed & Breakfasts and Residences are also more likely to have availability for both yourselves and your guests during the week. This is particularly important if you have a large guest list, and are looking to create a holiday group feeling, with all your guests staying in the same hotels and close by to you. Some places also offer group booking specials, and considering a week day might help you to get all your guests into the same places.

You ‘ve chosen a weekend, but aren’t an early bird that caught the worm, and then you find your dream venue, planner, florist or photographer just six months out from the big day. If they are good more than likely they will already be booked, which might break your heart. Consider a week day around the same period and you might just find your luck. Monday to Thursdays are more likely to have schedule gaps.

Choosing a weekday in the beginning might seem like a crazy idea, but nowadays it really isn’t that mad. If you think you can cope with a weekday, you will have access to a larger range of the best service providers. Usually weekends (especially those with public holidays tagged on either side) are booked out a year or so in advance, so if you aren’t one of these early birds your choice is immediately cut in half.

What to order?
A few days before:

6.Eyelash extension

“What no mascara?!” I hear you gasp. For an extra sexy but surprisingly natural look, try eyelash extensions. They look six thousand times better than normal fake lashes. Eyelash extensions don’t lash very long but they look AMAZING. The last long enough for a party and a honeymoon, a girl doesn’t need them to last much longer than that.

7.Pedicure & Manicure

Please can you all stop with the porno star French Manicure. Please. A French mani can look cute if you don’t have those dangerously long nails porno stars insist on sporting. Personally I find such long nails completely unsuitable considering their line or work. Not that I would like to compare brides to porno stars. My point is that if it looks trashy on someone who is trying to look trashy, imagine what it looks like on a bride.

What to order?

Electro Stimulation – every day if possible (is this or is this not an emergency)

Now I know this sounds scary girls but it’s less painful than it sounds and very effective. Electro stimulation is particularly effective for difficult to work on muscles, like bottoms. Basically they strap your body with little electro pads, which send little shocks to your muscles. This causes the muscles to contract, the way they would if you were exercising. The stronger you can take the shock the better it works. If you are starting an exercise routine, these little electro sessions will really help you. You will see the benefits of both much quicker since they compliment each other.

Tricks to help you get into exercise B

3.Espresso & chocolate before you work out

Now I’m breaking some rules here, and going against my advice of avoiding caffeine & chocolate, but we can always make exceptions when we must, and if I just can’t get going then an espresso and a small piece of chocolate help me to start exercising. They encourage me and give me a little rocket boost of energy to tackle the hardest part, the beginning. A small piece of a Mars bar or such has between 200 to 300 calories. About half an hour’s worth of workout will burn a small bar of chocolate but you will need to sweat.

4.Working off the stress with visualisation

If you are angry, stressed or worried about anything, get on the treadmill. First you warm up, then visualise the problem in front of you. For example, picture the guy who ran over your cat and scream at him in your head. You will be surprised how fast you can go. Keep going till you feel no anger, depending how much you have. Not only will you exercise harder for longer you will also get rid of unwanted feelings by burning them off. Double bonus.

Tricks to help you get into exercise A

1.Get an instructor or exercising partner.

This is a commitment on your part and you will be far less likely that you will skip a session if it means letting someone else down. You are also less likely to hurt yourself with an instructor and they can help you work on your weak points.

2.Consider step or dance classes

Personally I always stuck my nose up at any form of exercise class. Shying away because I thought I would be useless due to my lack of coordination. But who said the point was to be the best pupil in the class. Once I gave lessons a chance, I found that I was so busy concentrating on the steps that I broke a sweat without realising. I find distractions like people and music are most helpful in breaking through the pain barrier. I once had an aerobics teacher who picked on me non stop, on all of us actually. His intension was to make us angry because when one is angry the energy levels go way up. I often left the class wondering what his problem was. Two years down the line I consider the man a genius.

A challenge, choose a day you are feeling sluggish, swollen and generally ugly. Look at yourself in the mirror, take careful note of the way you look and how you feel. Go for an hour’s worth of hard exercise. The most strenuous you can manage; push yourself as much as you can. Now go and have a look at yourself in the mirror. Everything will instantly look and feel better.
The biggest difference will be the way you feel. You will feel positive and energised but also oddly relaxed. The harder you push the more the difference. All the oxygen, which has been pumped into your skin, will make it glow. Your muscles will have been filled with blood, so your body will be firmer and smoother. You will be more relaxed, sleep better and become regular. All of which will make you your most beautiful.

This is going to make me hugely unpopular but you know it’s an emergency girl, so cope. Alcohol. It’s a waste of calories, which need to be dedicated to nurturing your hair and skin. It stops you from exercising the next day, fills your liver with toxins and slows everything down.
You have to because of some party? Stick to spritz’s and champagne. The calories are slightly less than those in hard spirits, beers and liquors. Not to mention that they work faster and better thanks to those bubbles, which means you need to drink less.

Metabolism Stimulating Diet

Our aim is not to suddenly drop huge amounts of weight but to detoxify, stimulate your metabolism and nourish your body. This will not only improve the way you look, but it will drastically improve your state of mind and energy levels. Instead of focusing on what we are not allowed, we need to focus on adding things to our diet. A good step is to include as many detoxifying and nutritious ingredients possible into your diet. The good news is the more the merrier.

Foods which help you to detoxify your body:

1. Fruits
2. Green Foods
3. Lemons, Oranges & Limes
(Note: start each day with a warm cup of water and lemon juice to clean your liver)
4. Garlic
5. Broccoli Sprouts
6. Green Tea
7. Raw or juiced Vegetables
8. Seeds & Nuts (no butters or salted nuts)
9. Omega-3 Oils

Metabolism Stimulating Diet

Add as much fruit to your diet as you can bear. Even if you like just one kind of fruit, it’s important to give your metabolism a lot to work with. When we starve ourselves we slow down our metabolisms and when we start to eat again the body takes precautions against the famine it has been experiencing. The precautions involve storing everything you eat as fat. So a good trick is to eat a lot of that, which does not make you fat. Good examples are watermelons, lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, spinach; basically raw fruit and vegetables. They will fill you up, detoxify you, nourish you, keep your metabolism up, quench you, drench you and the fact you don’t have to limit your intake will help with compulsive eating urges one experiences when dieting.

The relationship the photographer has with their subject will hugely influence the results of the shoot. Basically if your photographer can’t bear you, then their pictures will reflect that. This can be used to your advantage, taking the time to bond with your photographer before or on the day will radically improve your pictures. Never choose someone who you feel you can’t trust. Trust is vital if you are to be yourself in front of the lense. Because you will need to let your photographer into your world and because you will need to follow their suggestions, you will need to trust them. So it’s a two way street, you have to also really like and trust your photographer to get great pictures.

Another trick is to be lying down. We all look a lot better on our backs. Seriously, gravity pulls all the extra bits down and even the face become more attractive. The floor also offers a great prop for creating sexy lines like those produced by an arching back.

High heels are another great way to improve your boudoir images. High heels not only give your legs more length, they also give your great calf muscles and make you walk up straight.

The funniest speeches often have two speakers. I have seen friends dressing like the couple and putting on little shows. This is really fun if you are good at mimicking and really know the couple. To guarantee humour have the bestman play the bride and the maid of honour could be the groom.

By writing a cheesy poem which rhymes and is completely individual, you can grant yourself permission to read and be cheesy. People want to laugh at a wedding. They don’t want you to experience an award silence. You would have to be awful for them not to laugh. So as long as you make it about the couple and from the heart they will laugh at a corny poem. I promise.

Most venues in Italy have rather strict cut off times. This can be very disappointing around twelve when the party is just getting into swing. The solution is a fabulous after party. These generally work for slightly bigger weddings of fifty or more people. During the course of the evening you generally loose the old folks and the parents of young children. So if the party is too small it can end up being a bit sad.

I have seen it many times, a bride’s wedding ruined because the reality just can’t match her fantasies. When a bride says to me, “ I just want everything to be perfect”. Just? Well I can promise you one thing about each and every wedding, it’s never ever absolutely perfect.

Just all depends on your attitude. If you build up this huge expectation in your head it’s very unlikely reality has a chance to match your expectations. If you start to notice what is not the way you imagined it would be, everything will seem to be going wrong. But if you focus on the many things that are right, all the people who have contributed to your day and realise just how lucky you are, you will be filled with gratitude and gratitude breeds joy.

60 reportage photos
10 group or formal portraits
1 collage of landscape images (6 or 12 images in the collage)
10 individual portraits of bride and groom (5 each)
1 or 2 collages of details images
15 couple portraits

Leave a little room for the unexpected. For a truly sensational album make sure your photographer is “hot” and will let you participate in the creation of your album.

It’s one of the first questions I will ask a bride when I arrive. Why? Because if you don’t eat, get nervous, run around in a big hot dress in the heat, cry and have to stand for hours… you will get into trouble. Okay so you usually starve yourself and you can handle it. Well add a glass of sparkling wine to the equation and well it could even get embarrassing. I know the last thing you feel like doing is eating. SO I recommend easy healthy high calorie foods. That way you won’t have to eat much and you will keep going. I like bananas, nuts, fruit, cheese and if you just can’t do solids try a fruit shake.

Secondly I need to focus on photography. We get many more requests than we getting bookings and keeping admin in line is not any easy task. And I did try once to do it all myself but my photography really suffered. Instead my booking manager arranges meeting with clients who are sure and keeps everything perfect. I could never get through a season without my booking manager. If you ask me at anytime if I am free for a date. I could not tell you. Unless of course it’s next week. A booking manager means my mind will be free of red tap ready to focus on your wedding.

Firstly I can not handle clients and money. I feel it’s such a personal service I feel bad charging and get all weird about things. It’s hard to insist you are worth a certain price. I give away a lot and give huge discounts. Well I was, that is untill my booking manager banned me from discussing money with clients. I can only do so many weddings a year before I start to loose my hair. So my booking manager tires to get me the best work and prices available.

Real flowers are fabulous but by the end of the evening they droop, and leave you looking tired and worn. I like flowers in the hair, in many different ways. And although I HATE fake bouquets I like fine fake hair flowers. Peonies, orchids, even butterflies. Love crazy early seventies big hair adorned with flowers. But they need to be well made. They are often gorgeous with feathers. I like head pieces in general though unless a tiara is a rare art deco piece it’s likely that it will make me yawn.

This is a difficult one. In Italy the photographer considers the meal as part of the deal. However we consider it a privilege and so you just need to let us know if you feel it’s asking too much. That way I can organise something with the venue but I do need to organise something since I cannot work more than five or six hours without a at least snack. I run around a lot and I have to refuel. I don’t expect to eat what your guests do but a simple pasta and a coke will do nicely. And maybe a quick espresso. So no you don’t have to feed your photographer but at least let them eat.

Gloves: don’t even think about any gloves which go past your wrist. No chiffon or satin girls, unless the satin is brushed. Go for the classic and timeless look of Jackie O. The 1950’s look is going to be huge for a long time in wedding photography and styling. It’s clean and glamorous. It’s the new classic and rightly so. Think Channel and remember to keep it simple. Get the majority of your images shot in black and white. And you may consider a little hat and veil. Understated chic.

I want to start a craze, a craze which will save brides every where. Do you know the very first thing every single bride says to me when she puts on her wedding dress? “I am hot”. They sweat. Make up runs. They turn pink. They can hardly move or sit. They don’t feel sexy. They feel stiff. For 90% of us, white is such an unforgiving colour and the poof meringue style dress suits few. And those pointy witch shoes have to go girls. They look like yachts. At best the good witch from oz. I want to introduce a crazy idea and wait for it girls. Take a deep breathe….