Bucket List Wedding Locations as a Texas Wedding & Elopement Photographer!

We all know I’m a Texas girl & I love traveling to beautiful places & even more so if that includes capturing love there. This year I have been planning a few trips for myself to enjoy & I figured why not share with y’all my bucket list wedding locations, plus we will say I’m manifesting all of this to become true. I have been traveling all over Texas for the past two years for all my love stories & want to expand that into more destinations! There are probably so many more that I could add to this list, but I want to keep it to where I would love to go capture love right now, this year. So here’s the list…

• A Las Vegas Elopement

• Death Valley National Park

• Malibu, California

• Anywhere in Colorado

• God’s Thumb in Oregon

• Palo Duro Canyon

• Redwoods National Park

Obviously if you are planning to get married or elope somewhere that is on this list, then I will give ya a discount off of my travel fees. As for myself I will be traveling to Denver, Mexico, & California this year & can’t wait!

It’s Engagement Season: What’s Next?

So you just got engaged… what’s next?

Well lucky for you I’m here to help you! As a lifestyle & wedding photographer I’m with my clients almost every step of the way & am here as I guide to help you have the best wedding ever! So let’s get it & dive into what is exactly the next step in being a fiancé & planning a wedding.

First thing is first, figure out when is the best time for you & your partner to get married. How long an engagement will you have? Where will it be? What is y’all’s budget? What kind of wedding will you have? Talk to your spouse & figure out what your plan is.

Once you have a general idea of what y’all’s wedding day will be like find your key vendors that will be apart of your day. Whether you’re going down the elopement, intimate wedding, or traditional wedding route it’ll differ depending on what best aligns with y’all’s values & how you truly want to spend your wedding day. This will be different from all couples & finding vendors that specialize in your type of wedding makes the day a thousand times smoother & more time for you to sit back & enjoy your day without stress! When looking through all the possible wedding vendors you love be sure to do your research; look at their work, read their reviews, ask all the questions, & hop on the phone with them if that’s what you need to do! Make sure your vendors are insured & a legitimate business before working with them.

Location & Venue is the first question to answer. Depending on how many people will be attending your wedding finding a venue is the first vendor you should start researching & seeing if they are available for y’all’s wedding date! Most venues are booking weddings about 12-15 months out from the actual date & most venues have limited if any availability during peak wedding season.

Book your engagement photo session! Now that you narrowed down your wedding date & venue you need to send out save the dates. Finding a photographer who offers engagement sessions as well as wedding photography is amazing! As a lifestyle & wedding photographer myself, I love being able to build a relationship with my clients. This is a great way for your photographer to know your angles & you as a person before wedding day. Plus, they might give you a discount if you book them for both your engagements & wedding! P.S. I do that & offer $50 off your additional session, which can be applied to an engagement session, bridal session, or boudoir session!

Find a Wedding Planner or decide how your day will come to life. By hiring a wedding planner you are able to take the stress off of yourself to enjoy your time as a bride to be and enjoy all the exciting parts without having all the stress of doing it all yourself! If you love planning events & are excited about doing it, then plan to find your key vendors & then hire a Day of Coordinator to step in & help guide you on your wedding day!

Book your Wedding Photographer & Videographer. If you decided to stick with your engagement photographer as your wedding photographer, then this step could be super easy. Ask your photographer questions about everything! If you decided to find a wedding photographer apart from your past relationships with other photographers try looking on Instagram, The Knot, Zola, ask your booked vendors for recommendations, ask your friends, go to a Bride Facebook group & search there. There are so many vendors you can book, but make sure the photographer & videographer you choose will help guide you throughout your day & can be accountable! These are the people capturing your day, so you want these vendors to be one of your most important vendors! Be picky if you have too.

Go Wedding Dress & Tux Shopping! You can go a more traditional route & go in store to find your perfect dress, but don’t forget about other alternatives! You can totally find an amazing wedding dresses online nowadays, I highly recommend at least looking, because this could save you so much money that you could save for another vendor or for honeymoon planning! If you have an eye for thrifting, then you could so try to find a cool piece of clothing at your local thrift store, plus this is sustainable & I love giving clothing a second life! As far as tux’s go, you can rent or use one that you already own or go thrifting!

Florals! How will you incorporate flowers & greenery into your wedding day? Would you prefer to have real, faux, or dried florals for your wedding? When you think about your wedding where do your envision flowers being displayed & what flowers are must have’s for your wedding? When finding a florist keep in mind their shop minimum & the time of year you’re getting married, because this can effect your cost & what your florals will look like if they aren’t in the same season.

DJ time! The person who keeps the energy going all throughout the night! When hiring a DJ find someone who can get the crowd moving & hype for all the fun to come in your own after party!

Catering & Cake! What do you want to eat at your wedding? You can truly do whatever you want at your wedding, if you want to eat pizza, so be it! If you want a formal dinner, then do it! There are vendors out there for everyone & make sure to set up a meeting with your catering team to make sure your meal is how you want it to be. Cake time! Cake should be what you want it to be, if you don’t want something over the top, then don’t have a smaller cake for your cake cutting & then have a sheet cake for your guests. If you want to ditch cake, you can do pies, cheesecakes, cookies, cake balls, chocolate covered fruit, smore’s, the options are endless for this.

Now this is just a small piece of a guide to help prepare you/get a better idea of what your next step is in the world of wedding planning as a newly engaged bride to be. I will be sharing more tips & guides to help y’all out this year, because I love being an aid & guide through this time in your life. Plus, if you’re a bride looking for an engagement or wedding photographer I’m currently booking 2023 brides in all of Texas & will be offering discounts for my destination brides! I can’t wait to start planning with y’all.

Briana & Christian's Fall Sunset Wedding in Schulenburg, Texas at Svetlik Farm Wedding Venue.

I absolutely adore this couple & had the best time celebrating them on their wedding day! The day was such perfect weather & it wasn’t too hot outside, which equals an amazing day to get married! I started off my day with photographing all the details before Briana put on her dress & then that’s when the day starts to flow. Briana had her mom help her get ready & it was truly so special to witness those precious memories. Briana did a first look with her dad & that brought tears to everyone’s eyes who had a sneak peek at it through the windows. Christian & Briana decided to do a first touch and I’m so in love with how they did it! Briana gave Christian a big hug while he faced the opposite way of her to avoid their first look for at their ceremony. The two of them had their moment & they were radiant with love & joy & they were so pumped to make it all official! Then ceremony time came, guests were arriving, & it was go time! Their ceremony space was overflowing with loved ones wanting to support them on their special day. Afterwards came all the formal photos before their grand entrance as newlyweds! Once they entered into their beautiful reception space Christian said a prayer over their dinner & everyone in the building. Then these two decided to have dinner in private, so they could have alone time on their wedding day, which I love this idea & wish more couples did this! Once they ate their dinner the newlyweds came back into the reception space for their first dance as Mr & Mrs. The evening slipped away & before we knew it the dance floor opened & their guests were loving the dance floor! Which always makes me happy, because dancing photos can be so fun, especially when your guests are having the best time! They even played Fireball by Pit bull & handed everyone Fireball shots, are you kidding!! As the night carried on it soon came to an end & Briana & Christian closed out their night with a private last dance right before their grand exit with bubbles!

It is always a privilege to have couples that trust me with their wedding day & I love when they make me feel like family for the day, so thank you to the Hernandez’! I absolutely loved being able to celebrate these two beautiful souls!

The day wouldn’t be possible without this amazing couple & all the vendors & family that made the day come to life!

Vendors apart of the day:

Venue: Svetlik Farm Wedding Venue

Planning & Coordination: Baldemar Esquivel

Photography: Emily Marie Photography aka myself!