Mr. Cohen and I were having a very intense discussion tonight. We weren't arguing, but we were definitely becoming heated. You see, Mr. Cohen and I share similar but different tastes in wedding photography. I realize that sounds like an oxymoron, but it really isn't. We both love good photography, but sometimes our styles differ. This is really good for clients because they get two very different perspectives when it comes to photographs, but sometimes we butt heads on what we personally think is a good photograph or what our clients want.

 Like I said, Mr. Cohen and I were having a debate, when I decided Ooooh! What better avenue to settle this debate then by asking other brides their opinions?!?!? So brides out there, please comment me with your opinions.

Here was our first debate:

Are slightly out of focus photographs artistic or just not shot correctly?

Mr. Cohen believes that if a photograph isn't completely sharp on one focusing point, then it's not a good photograph. My opinion is that it can be artistic. Here's a photograph of a bride we shot recently. I think it's a thoughtful photograph, he think's it's just blurry:

Art or blurry? You decide.

Our second debate was about hand colored photos. Hand coloring is when a photograph is black and white and one object or several objects are colored. Our debate was whether it was a little too 80s. I'm not going to tell you what each one of us thought, because I really want your honest opinion on this one. Just so you can see an example:

So to hand color or not to handcolor? That is the question.

Our last debate was about a brides perspective. Mr. Cohen believes that when a bride looks at a photographer's photographs of a bride, she envisions herself being the bride in the photographs. My opinion is that when a bride looks at photographs of another bride, she's looking at the style of the photographer and whether she wants to be shot in that manner on her wedding day. 

I think the last debate might be a mixture of the two actually, but I'm still curious.

And to reward you with your opinions and your patience, I have our ceremony photos!!!

I have to tell you guys, most of our ceremony photos are going to be black and white. The color on the original photographs are really orange. Mr. Cohen looked at them and said that there's no way to salvage them in color, but we can convert them to black and white and then they are usable. It made me incredibly sad to hear that, but what can I do?  I don't fully blame the photographers because the church didn't allow flash, and it was semi dark in the church, but I also wonder if Mr. Cohen and I were shooting our own wedding, could we of made those pictures not so orange? I think about how I would of changed my camera's white balance, or been in there before the ceremony started and shot against a grey card to get a custom white balance. Every time I start wondering those thoughts, I remind myself that some people out there have horrible things happen to them like the memory cards get stolen or their photographers just don't show up, and they don't have pictures of their ceremony, so I consider myself a very lucky girl. Anyway, the photographs are still beautiful, and I'm glad I will have them to cherish the memory forever.

A close up of the wrist corsages we ordered for the mom's and grandma. I know they look huge here, but they were very petite since I instructed our florist to make sure they didn't look they were growing out your hand...

A close up of my pew cones:

   Don't they look lovely next to the green carpet?

I was somewhat pensive right before the ceremony. The nerves really hit me just then. I just couldn't believe that the time had finally come.

They really just looked so beautiful:

Right before we walked down the aisle. I think my dad was more nervous than I was. That girl behind us is, Sarah, the makeup artist. She was so wonderful! She even sent me a text after the ceremony saying that she was so happy I let her be part of my day...She really is such a sweet person.

I didn't start crying...I just grinned the whole way down.

A glimpse:

When Pastor Greg gave his sermon, I almost lost it. It was completely tailored to us. Mr. Cohen isn't the most religious man, and Pastor Greg gave this beautiful sermon about how God is with you whether you believe in him or not. I can remember his words "God is in the earth around you, in your mother's warmth, your father's strength,  in your soulmate's smile." Blah, just thinking about it makes me tear up.

This is it, we were getting married:

My mom looked on with my step dad:

Exchanging the rings:

Pastor Greg blessed our marriage:

This is when I get all self pitying. I don't have a very good photo of our kiss. This is the only one that came out:

I have a funny story. Right after we started walking down the aisle together, our photographer told us to stop, so he could adjust his camera setting. I didn't want to just stand there like idiots, so I turned around to all of our family and friends, and yelled out "WE DID IT!!!". The whole room burst into laughter and applause. I don't think anyone expected that reaction out of me.

This is what we were rewarded with for waiting:

Right after the ceremony, Mr. Cohen and I were whisked away to the bridal chambers where our family met us and gave us lots of love.

My father in law came up first and gave me such a huge hug. It meant so much to me, because when I first started dating Mr. Cohen, my father in law was very hard on me. He liked me but it took him a long time for him to love me.

I was left in complete tears:

My mother in law was the opposite. She welcomed me with open arms since the moment I walked into her son's life. She is now one of my dearest friends, as well as second mother. We were both crying at this point:

After that we got all of our families together and took family portraits. I won't bore you with those, but I did want to show you this one photograph of the bridal party and us:

We were quickly swept away by our way cool ride:

Thanks so much for reading this super long post. I hope to be posting the rest of our portraits and our reception photos very soon. Please remember to comment about our debate.I want to show Mr. Cohen that I'm right

 So I've been debating about how to post our wedding photos up, and I'd like to know how you guys would like to see them. Do you want me to post them in sections like I have been? Or should I upload a photo montage to music with the best of the best photos? Are there any specific things you guys want to know? I know I still have to write a post about posing. Anything else?

Also I have some really exciting news for y'all! I love my bridal portraits don't get me wrong, but I really, really wanted to do some more modern, relaxed photos, so we've decided that Sunday, Nov 4th I'm strapping on my dress one last time and going out and doing some cool photos. They'll serve a dual purpose. One, I'll have bridal photos taken by Mr. Cohen, who I happen to think is an awesome photographer , and two, we're revamping Mr. Cohen's website and will be able to post some really cool photos. Although Vegas is considered a cool town, a lot of weddings here are very traditional.

I'm really excited since Sarah, the makeup artist from my wedding is doing my hair and makeup for the shoot as well. We still don't have the details down. Right now we're waiting on approval from the Las Vegas Neon Graveyard Museum to see if we can shoot there. If you don't know about the Neon Graveyard, it's the place where the retired neon signs go to. It's a really cool place to take photographs, and I'll be incredibly happy if our shoot gets approved.

Too cool no?

I would love to take pictures on or by this sign:

If for some reason we can't shoot there, then we'll probably shoot at the Clark County Heritage Museum. This place is just as interesting at the Neon graveyard. It has a barnyard, old houses from the 50s, and a railroad.

I'm thinking we're doing some big, curly hair and ethereal makeup. I'm kind of confused as to what to do though. What do you girls think? Any suggestions for hair and makeup?

The second place we're going to shoot is downtown Vegas. I really can't wait to take photos there! This place oozes character.

Not only that, but I was talking to Mr. Cohen, and we're going to do some highly stylized hair and makeup here. Think retro Vegas, pin up girl look. I think I'm going to show these two photos to Sarah for inspiration.

The one and only Ava.

I just love the pin curls and deep red lipstick...sigh.

I have one last DIY wedding project . Since we're going for a pin up, retro look, I was thinking of buying a birdcage veil.

I especially love the ones with some feathers on it.

I was looking at the prices, and I really don't feel like spending $50.00 on a veil I'm going to wear for like an hour, so I'm making myself one. I'm going to the fabric store buying some Russian netting, buying some feathers, and we'll see what I end up with .

I'm also buying an ivory cocktail dress. I don't want to spend more than $50.00 on it though, so I have to do some bargain hunting this weekend. I really liked these that I found from Jessica Mcclintock.

   I'm wearing my red, glittery peeptoe pumps, with the dress to finish off the look.

Oh wait!!! I'm also DIYing a bouquet! I'm going to Costco buying two dozen red or ivory roses and making my bouquet the night before. I already have all the floral tape and floral wire, and a bunch of left over ribbon, so it shouldn't cost me too much. I'm torn though. What do you girls think? Red or Ivory?

I am beyond psyched to be doing this photo shoot, mostly because Mr. Cohen is going to be taking the photographs (and all right I get to wear my gown one last time lol). Mr. Cohen asked that I look up some photographs for inspiration, so I, of course, complied with his wishes. Check out our inspiration:

I'm so busting out with my vans....

Are any of you married ladies doing a Trash the Dress shoot?