How do you find the right photographer for your wedding? There are so many out there, different styles, what they offer and of course they vary in price range. Your best bet to not get lost in the whirl wind of photography is to decide what you want style wise, what amenities they offer and what price you are willing to spend.

I began my search at the Wedding Essentials Bridal Fair and went from there. I met a few photographers there and got answers to all the questions I had. I think that customer service is an important part of business – especially at a bridal fair and you want brides to meet with you outside of that setting.

First, I wanted to know what pricing was before I set up an appointment. I didn’t want to waste my time or theirs if they weren’t in my price range so I took to Google. You can find almost every photographer on the internet and if they don’t have a website, they certainly have a Facebook page.

If I liked a photographer’s work online, I emailed them. I probably emailed 30 photographers over the course of a month. From the responses I received, I put them into two categories, either in my price range or not and then those that were in my price range got a second email to see about the availability of our wedding date and to set up an appointment to meet.

I made these appointments in February and I had three that I liked who were already booked for a late October wedding date. Even though a few were booked, I was able to set up appointments with six other photographers. Yes, six. I know it seems like a lot, but it was well worth it since photography is one of the most important pieces of a wedding. While the wedding only lasts one day, the photos last years.

Best advice: contact vendors you like early to guarantee their availability.

After meeting with all six photographers, Mr. Thirteen and I had a decision to make. All photographers were equally qualified and talented, but it came down to who we connected most with and who offered all the items we wanted (an engagement session, rights to all photos taken, a website to share with family and friends, the option to have prints made and albums created, and of course to stay within our budget).

I ended up going with Steve Kowalski at A Better Exposure. Steve has been in business for over 15 years and I felt more than comfortable when talking to him; it was like talking to a friend. I appreciated that he has a studio (some photographers do not) and when I was looking at his albums, there was one in particular that stood out to me. The album captured the emotion of this couples wedding so well that I was almost in tears flipping through the pages. I knew right then that I wanted Steve to photograph my wedding. I can’t wait for the weather to get nice so we can go outdoors to get our engagement pictures taken. Steve had some great ideas for photos and hopefully I can preview them here when they are done!

When you first get engaged you will without a doubt, get unsolicited advice from anyone and everyone you know. Not all of it is bad, but when you first get engaged it can be a little overwhelming. Best advice, say thank you and write it down or have them email you the information if you really want it. It took me a good month before I really started to listen to all this advice or actually ask for it.

Picking a date and a venue is of course the first major decision you need to make when planning a wedding. Everyone wanted to tell me what dates worked best for them and what dates not to pick because of other things going on. If you listen to everyone else, you will never pick a date. No matter what, you will have conflicts with people. In the long run, it is about you and your fiancé, so don’t let your friends and family sway you in your decision on when to get married. If you want a spring wedding, have a spring wedding.

When it came to making a decision on a venue, Mr. Thirteen and I had differing ideas. I had always thought it would be great to do a destination wedding and Mr. Thirteen said, why not the courthouse? I could not imagine having a courthouse wedding nor did I think I could have the big 500 person wedding. I figured why not just have our family and closest friends there? It’s about us and of course Mr. Thirteen just wants to make me happy so he said to look into a destination wedding. I had some contacts in the travel industry so I called them up and asked for a contact in the destination wedding planning industry that could help us in this process.

I started working with Sandy from Travel & Transport who has tons of experience in destination wedding planning. She took what we were looking for and gave us some great places to start. This of course turned into more unsolicited advice because this person couldn’t come or did you think about how much this would cost for this family to go and what about passports and airfare and the list goes on and on. Again, this isn’t about everyone else, it’s about Mr. Thirteen and I celebrating our wedding day.

After about a month of looking at destinations and really thinking about what we wanted and what kind of wedding we wanted, the more I realized I wanted to have a wedding here in Nebraska — but we’re going to do it our way, non-traditional and full of what we love. We knew we didn’t want to get married in a church and we knew we wanted to have a fun, fun party with those we care about most in the world.

As we started looking at venues, I did get some ideas from friends. We were looking for a venue with both indoor and outdoor space and preferably a space to get married in as well as have our reception. The first place we looked at was 1316 Jones. I fell in love with it right away! It is located in downtown Omaha, had an amazing deck (my outdoor ceremony space) and tons of character. But I decided to keep looking because, like the dress, you can’t pick the first place you see, right?! Well over the next few weeks I looked at a half dozen more venues and made calls or sent emails to another dozen places. Nothing could compare to 1316 Jones. I made one final call to Chad to get dates available. He gave me every date left in 2013. After much discussion (as I wanted to get married sooner rather than later) Mr. Thirteen talked me into picking the only date left in October. In the long run I know it was the best option as it gave us enough time to plan without being stressed and gave us more time to save money for the wedding.

Whatever you do when planning your wedding, always remember it is your wedding. Mr. Thirteen did a great job in reminding me of this and you should too as it is about you and your groom, no matter what anyone else says.

Where do you begin when wedding planning? Mr. Thirteen and I got engaged on December 23^rd and decided that we would wait until after the holidays to start planning our wedding. I am an event planner and waiting until January 1^st was a little hard to do. Of course, I took to the internet a few days later to see what was out there, no harm in looking online, right? I found theknot.com and started an account. It is a great site to keep track of our budget as well as a timeline and checklist for all of the other wedding details.

I’ve watched ‘Say Yes to the Dress’ and always thought how fun it would be to travel to New York City and try on dresses at their boutique but knew that wasn’t an option. As I was looking around online, I found many great local boutiques to go try on dresses and went for it. I set up appointments at three area shops one upcoming Saturday.

We first went to Ready or Knot {Wedding Chic} in Rockbrook Village. When I say we, I traveled with an entourage my first time dress shopping: my mom, my sister/Matron of Honor, two of my bridesmaids and another friend. This was my first time trying on dresses and I had no idea what to think or expect but I was open to ideas. I was never one of those girls who dreamed of her wedding dress, let alone a wedding. This was a big step for me in making this wedding real and it was so much fun! I probably tried on a dozen different dresses. I think I tried on every style she had and really liked what we called the “slammin’ lace” dress. A totally form fitted dress with lace from head to toe. It was gorgeous, but this was my first stop, I didn’t have that feeling and I knew I had to keep looking.

We took a break, had some lunch and chatted over all the great dresses I just tried on. After lunch, we stopped at Bridal Traditions near the Oakview Mall. They had some blush colored dresses which I wanted to try on as well as the designer Maggie Sottero who I found online. I let my entourage have fun here as each of us picked out a handful of dresses for me to try on. I walked into that fitting room and was overwhelmed at the number of dresses; there were easily 30 dresses in here. Even though there were a lot, it was fun to try each of them on and show my friends their picks.

“One piece of advice for anyone dress shopping, try on any and all styles of dresses you can find.”

I never thought I’d like a ball gown and the dress I liked best here was a ball gown we called the “wavy” dress.  Something that I would never have tried on if it weren’t for my friends. While I liked the “wavy” dress, I still had one more boutique to stop at today and so I wanted to keep looking.

My final stop was at Rhylan Lang at Regency Court, I had what some would call “the bridal moment” aka, I cried in a dress. All day I had wanted to try on a dress that was blush colored to match my rose gold engagement ring. Not that I wanted to wear a pink dress, but I had this image in my mind and I finally got that with some amazing rose gold accessories. The “polka dot” dress as we called it was gorgeous as well, but the accessories are what got me to cry. It was amazing but over my price range plus the accessories and I just couldn’t say yes to the dress.

“Another piece of advice, don’t feel like you have to have to cry in a dress to know it is the dress. I think some girls cry and some don’t — it all depends on who you are.”

I ended the day overwhelmed, but loved every minute of it. I wanted to keep trying on dresses one, because it was so fun to play dress up and two, because I knew I hadn’t found the one. I knew that the perfect dress was waiting for me, I just hadn’t found it.

A couple weeks later I went to Lincoln and stopped at Ellynne Bridal for more dress shopping. This time I only took my mom, a bridesmaid and another friend. Again, we all picked out styles to try on, however at this point, I knew I wanted something with more of a fit and flare look. My mom liked the more traditional bridal gown and my friends knew I was looking for something with an edge, something different. I knew what I liked and didn’t like at this point. I tried on a Maggie Sottero dress that I hadn’t tried on yet but seen in magazines and online. It was the dress to beat. I was in love with it and everyone could see it on my face. I talked about this dress for days I thought this was my dress.

“While it was a beautiful dress, it was very heavy and difficult to walk in. Something to consider when you will be wearing a dress all day long. I realized that I wanted to be comfortable (or as comfortable as I could be), still look amazing and feel like a bride.”

So the search continues. I decided I wanted to go back to Ready or Knot {Wedding Chic} this time with only my sister. Jocelyn and her staff were amazing to work with, she provided such great customer service and that means a lot to me as a bride-to-be when working with vendors. I gave her an update on what I was looking for: something lightweight with a fit and flare or mermaid style and organza was a preferred material. Jocelyn pulled a couple different dresses for me, I told her I wasn’t interested in trying the “slammin’ lace” dress again, I just knew it wasn’t my dress even though it was beautiful. First, she put me in the “wrinkle” dress.  A gorgeous lightweight dress with a sweetheart neckline, this dress was so easy to wear but I knew it wasn’t my dress.

Jocelyn then put me in two amazing dresses which were exactly what I was looking. Both had a sweetheart neckline, fit and flare style, lightweight and easy to move in. I went back and forth on these two dresses as I knew one of the dresses was mine. I could see myself wearing one down the aisle, marrying the love of my life. They were both similar in style but different in looks. One had more of a formal look to it and the other screamed “Miss Thirteen”. It was me. I knew this was it. Jocelyn knew it too and came to tell me the good and bad news. This dress had been discontinued by the designer and was no longer available to order. I was saddened, but Jocelyn then told me the good news, she was willing to sell me the sample dress as it was a good fit with, of course, a few alterations. I was in heaven. Not only was I getting the perfect dress but I was getting it under budget.

“I was so excited to find the perfect dress to marry the perfect man in. I had waited a long time to find Mr. Thirteen so I was thrilled to find the dress.”

I have to thank Jocelyn and the staff at Ready or Knot {Wedding Chic} for her patience with me in finding the perfect dress. With a little time and a lot of thought into what you want, you can find the perfect dress. Is it October 25^th yet? I can’t wait to wear this dress and see the look on Mr. Thirteen’s face when he sees me in it for the first time.

  Age: 32
Occupation: Community Manager of Distinguished Events
Engaged: December 23, 2012
Wedding Date: October 25, 2013
Wedding & Reception Venue: 1316 Jones Street

Meeting Mr. Thirteen: 
Mr. Thirteen and I have a very interesting story on how we met. He was living in Arizona and I was in Omaha. He was on match.com and moving back to Omaha. We struck up a conversation through the website, which then turned into emails, Facebook friendships and phone calls. Two months later when he moved to Omaha he called me to meet up face to face.

Unfortunately, I had met someone locally that I was interested in and never called him back. Fast-forward to May 2011 when I got an email out of the blue from Mr. Thirteen. We chatted briefly about what’s been going on in our lives and I apologized for never calling him back. (I had broken off the previous relationship three months prior). As we talked further, I found out he’s deployed to Afghanistan, but he tells me he is coming home for two weeks on leave soon and that we should meet up for lunch.

He came home mid-June 2011 and we finally met up. We had an amazing few dates together but then he had to leave. He promised he would call and email while he is gone until that November. And he did keep up his end of the deal — he made the 2 mile walk to a phone every few weeks and sent me emails regularly. Over 5 months goes by so quickly and he finally comes home.

After he got settled we met in early December 2011 for another “first date”! The feelings we had for each other were still there and as they say, the rest is history. He asked me to move in with him in May 2012 and then to marry him on December 23, 2012. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with this amazing man!