Choosing Our Photographer

Early on, Justin & I sat down to talk about priorities for our wedding.

I had him list his "top 3" most important aspects.  I did the same.  Then we compared. 

Photography was on both of our lists. 

I think the thought we were both having was that once the big day comes to an end, pictures will be the best way to look back and remember all of the special moments.

The pictures from our wedding day will be in frames around our future home, and the homes of our families, for the rest of our lives.  

One of my best friends, Christina, is getting married in 2 weeks (TWO WEEKS!).

I was blown away when her engagement pictures came back, and just had to know who she used for photography. 

I loved the way the photographers captured the beautiful fall colors and how you could really see the excitement (and love!) on Christina & Matt's faces.  I could tell whoever was behind those pictures really put them at ease and helped them to relax so that their pictures came out so naturally. 

This led me to Just Love Me {Photography + Design}.

(source)

It had been in the back of my mind since seeing Christina's incredible engagement pictures that I hoped we would be able to use Just Love Me if and when we were in need of a great photographer for a wedding. 

I distinctly remember telling Christina that hope a while back, so you know one of the first contacts I made once we started planning was to Jessi Cabanin of Just Love Me.  

I set up a time to meet with Jessi back in August.  

Believe it or not, I actually scheduled a time to sit down with her before we even went to look at venues for the reception.  

I knew from talking with Christina that Just Love Me fills dates insanely fast.  So, since at that point we were super flexible on our date, I thought I would check in with them first. 

I'll admit, going into our meeting, I was a little pessimistic about the situation working out.  

Since we are having our wedding back in Indiana, and not in the Chicago-land area, I assumed there would be a hefty travel fee that would probably prevent us from using Just Love Me. 

Before I sat down with Jessi, I did some research on the "best" photographers in the South Bend area, to see the differences in pricing and how things would shake out if there was a travel fee. 

I will say I am pleasantly surprised at how reasonably priced Just Love Me's packages are, given the quality of their work and the extremely high demand for their services.  

So, I guess you could just say I had my fingers crossed walking up to that Starbucks to meet with Jessi back in August, but I was trying very hard not to get my hopes up. 

When I met with Jessi, I could sense that she already knew that I was wondering about the travel fee, and that was one of the first items we got checked off the list.  

With the logistics of our wedding, no travel fee. 

SCORE. 

I took a huge happy sip of my skivizzle (skinny vanilla latte), and got to chatting.  

I was instantly impressed by Jessi and knew that we just had to have her there for our big day.

Jessi is such a warm person, she is so so so creative and accommodating, and I knew she and Julie were going to do the absolute best job capturing every moment. 

Looking through a bunch more of Just Love Me's work and some fun products, like wedding albums and guest books, I was becoming more impressed and excited by the minute.  

We then got to talking about another biggy - the date. 

If you go back and read my story about how we chose our date, you will see that Just Love Me was, in fact, very booked already for next fall. 

Unfortunately, the date we were landing on (September 15) was originally already taken by another couple.

Just as I was preparing myself for disappointment, I heard back from Jessi that, miraculously, they had decided to go with another date. 

Wooo HOOO!

So, it was a match made in photography heaven.

We are SO excited to have Jessi & Julie of Just Love Me {Photography & Design} capture all of the amazing memories we have ahead. 

Stay tuned for a recap on our engagement session (scheduled for tomorrow, weather permitting!).  

Should be a blasty! :)