Lesson One: Close your eyes and imagine
Recapping from last weeks post, I am writing a series of tips or lessons that will help you, the Bride and Groom, choose the best photographer for you. In last weeks post, I opened with a post by another fellow wedding photographer named , Vanessa Dewson titled, “Avoid Hiring A Cheap Wedding Photographer“. She made an excellent point in her post, “Avoid Hiring a Cheap Wedding Photographer.” She says, “It [photography] will be your only lasting visual reminder of your day…” I couldn’t agree more with Vanessa. She also points out that if your spending a good chunk of change on all the details of your wedding, you best not settle for snapshots.
In this post, I want to discuss the most important part of any wedding; you, because without you, the Bride and Groom, there would never be a wedding. My aim is to offer you a starting point. We will begin with closed eyes, transition into imagination and close with an analysis of values. This will help us transition into Lesson Two: Research and give you an excellent head start, above all others, when choosing your perfect wedding photographer. Let’s begin.
Closing Your Eyes
Before we bring you both together, we need you to meditate separately. If you live separately, then tonight go home and find your comfy place. Somewhere quiet and relaxing. Get a pencil and notepad. If you live together, take some time for yourself, individual of your partner, and retreat to a quiet den or nook or room of your choice, separate of course. Do the same and grab a pencil and a notepad. Go wherever you best do your dreaming, your thinking, your imagining, somewhere alone. My personal favorite is the bathroom; guaranteed no distractions in there!
Now, imagine your wedding day. All the details. How it will all play out. Dream big and don’t hold back. Get lost, in your dream. Until it feels like it is your day today! Visualize your day from start to finish, from when you wake to when you finally head to bed for the first time as a married couple. Take your time.
Open your eyes. How do you feel? Excited! Get out that notepad and pen and write everything out. If you cannot write what you imagined, what you visualized, what you felt, then draw it as best you can. The important part is to get it from inside your mind and heart and put it on paper. Finished? Great! I want you to take a step back and look at what you have in front of you on that notepad. Smile and take pride in it for it is your wedding starting to take shape! Now get out a highlighter and break it into parts. I recommend: Pre-ceremony, Ceremony, Reception, Other. Circle each part its own color. Flip to another page and begin to write out why each visualization occurred. Is it tradition? Did you see it somewhere and want to do the same? Is it important to your fiancé(e)? Does mom and dad say it is important? Is it important to you? All these things are your values. Now, share these with each other.
Take turns and don’t discredit each other. See what matches and what doesn’t. Come to a shared medium on parts that may differ. Understanding the values behind the visions and you will not only learn more about who your spouse is and why they act the way they do but you will also be able to visualize your wedding day from start to finish, record it physically on paper, and though it out to the universe for it to come to you. Bring this to your first photographer meeting with each photographer and share your couple vision.
Bringing it to your photographer means you are not only serious and mean business but you are looking for the best person who can give you all that, and hopefully, more. Now there is probably one issue beginning to pop-up: Price. Well gee, why only now is price coming out to play? Now here may be a struggle, but trust me when I say, “Let’s put price on the back burner for now.” We are not getting rid of it, we are just going to move it aside while we do some research.
Lesson 1: Close your eyes and imagine. We did exactly that! We not only dreamed but now we have a clear concise visualization put paper with a share set of values that you can share with your photographer who will know exactly how to capture everything that works best for you! Wow, that was a long sentence. Stay tuned next week for Lesson 2: Research where we look at the photographers perspective and what it takes to photograph a wedding, avenues on where you can find wedding photographers, and pricing specifically what is realistic and what isn’t while touching on the debate between the $500 and $5000 wedding.
In the mean time, I would like to recommended two personal growth books for you that focus one; on visualization and the second: on personal values. The first book is: Harmonic Wealth
Simply put, the first book, Harmonic Wealth, is about channelling your thoughts, feelings and actions into energy which then can bring you anything you have every dreamed. He points out though, the importance of mental, physical, and spiritual facets of life and the relationship between them noting that once balanced, and really he says life is never balanced unless your taking your final nap, you can begin to understand the power of your visions, thoughts, actions, and feelings. The second book, Be Great: The Five Foundations of an Extraordinary Life in Business – and Beyond, I have actually just ordered myself but have a number of times been recommended it. It is written by the founder of Century 21 Real Estate and, like Harmonic Wealth, it focuses on core values, visualizations, and focus. My understanding is that one should list their values, their true values, understand them, live by them and even share them with their spouse. It is only then one can truly live a life focused on their goals because if it isn’t something they value, then their actions need not be used in that manner. Also, ones spouse can achieve a greater understanding of their partner; who they are, why they are, and how they are.
By clicking on these links, you will be taking to Amazon.ca to purchase the book. This year, my goal is to raise my personal donation to Laurentian University Residences’ Airbandz for Cancer Research. This event is an annual event geared toward raising funds for the Northern Cancer Research Foundation in Sudbury, Ontario. In 2011, this will be the events 8th year and I will undoubtedly be donating my time to photograph it but, I want to give more. I want to raise at least $3,000 for this cause and so %50 percent of sales of the above listed books, and books recommended on my site, will be donated to the charity, and so I thank you for helping out!
Stay tuned, next week I will be posting Lesson 2: Research!
Hi5!
Nick
In This Series…
Introduction
Lesson One: Close your eyes and imagine
Lesson Two: Research
Lesson Three: Meet your photographer
by Nick Bicanic
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