Pam Cooley Photography

i found this post HERE ….good stuff and i wanted to share!!!

~ do what you want! i tried to post about this a while back, and Mags just recently said it ever-so-much-more-eloquently than i… but plan the wedding that you and your fiance want – not what a magazine, or your mother, or a blogger, or your friends want. so time to cowboy-up, girlie, and make your celebration your own.

~ surround yourself with good people. it doesn’t matter if your florist was featured in Martha Stewart Weddings / the Knot / Modern Bride / Whatever… if she’s a total bitch or a space-cadet who sucks at returning emails or doesn’t take your ideas seriously, then the planning process is going to be a whole lot more stressful than necessary. hire people who you click with – who get you and your “vision”… as totally lame as i felt, i knew immediately who my vendors were if their eyes lit up when i said “Midnight Garden Party Hosted by Anthropologie” (hush your face, i’m not good at verbalizing “themes,” alright?). it may sound cheeseball, but planning a wedding with people who i legitimatly enjoyed as human beings made the process all that much joyous and fun.

~ if this is up your alley, take pictures before! hands-down, best wedding decision we made! it made the waiting around before the ceremony go so much faster, it put both of us at ease for the ceremony, it was fun (!), and we had much more time to hang out with our guests. people were very divided on this topic but i have absolutely no regrets – the moments we shared during our “first glimpse” were priceless (ie: the first coherent words out of Evs’ mouth were “do you like my tie?” ummmmm, yes honey, i was with you when you bought it… do you like, oh, i don’t know… my wedding dress???) and i just know i would have been anxious and fidgety during family pictures had they occurred during cocktail hour. probably not a decision that is right for everyone but it worked swimmingly for us

ALSO a random photo from a collection of b&w images i have shot over the past few months.