Event Planning 101: Going to venues

I take you back to the poor overwhelmed couple two weeks ago with our first post on venues, we are ready to take the next step.  We have done our research and now my fiance and I are starting to call venues.  To make life easier we taking baby steps, we chose our top three locations.  Time to see who is a available.  

We just checked out Lakes Park in Fort Myers.  My fiance and I live close by the park, we are an outdoors couple, in fact if it does rain on our wedding day we've already agreed to still get married outside.  I personally think it's romantic!!!!!!  Lady In Pink Photography once photographed an engagement in the rain, and it made me cry so hard!

Lakes Park is one of Lady In Pink Photography's favorite local parks to photograph in.  It's perfect for any family session, engagement, wedding, or updating professional portraits.  I thought I new this park in and out, but they keep adding things so every time I'm there I find something new!   

 I could take up more space with plenty more sessions from Lakes Park, but instead let's get down to business.

When it comes down to Lakes Park, here are a few reason's my fiance and I love the location for us:

It's BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!
Local
We can put together an event on a budget
There are places to cook and store our own food
Our family is big and has TONS of kids, it would be easy for us to entertain everyone.
We are an outdoor couple.  We find we will walk for hours together, especially at Lakes Park.
There are restrooms close by and available
Plenty of parking
Two pavilions for shelter with tables!!!!!
COUNTLESS locations to choose to host our ceremony
TRAIN RIDES!!!!!  Train rides!!!!  Did I mention... TRAIN RIDES with a TINY LITTLE VILLAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Play ground(s) (this bride will be swinging and sliding too!!!!!)
and two water features on the far side of the park...
and more... more more more

We have a very solid theme for hosting our event at Lakes Park and know our guests would enjoy their day there too.

This morning I took the first step... Called to book!  With my fingers crossed I was told, to my disappointment, that I have to wait 6 months before the date of event to book any spaces.  The "Go Get It Done Girl" in me almost teared up on the phone knowing I had to wait... Wait up to September to book our location...  Sigh.  BUT this means that they are available!  The plan is to keep looking at different venues and make our final choice in September.

Here is a little video from our visit to Lakes Park, warning there is a very cute guy in this video.

Now that we have dates, possible venues, and themes, time to start designing save the dates and sending them to out of town guests.

Event planning 101: Bridal Show Mania

Me, My Fiance, junior bridesmaids and matron of honor.

As a bride, a bridal show sounds like tons of fun!  It is, and very overwhelming.  Many vendors, loud noises, and "win this, win that, win it all" attitude.  Yet, I went home with too much information, no prizes, and really cute memories of the future Mr. Knerd in Shining Armor making sure to take ALL the info packets he could fit into our tiny plastic bag.  By the end, it was almost a game to see how much information we could go home with.  

We were attending the bridal show hosted by B103.9 in the Harborside Event Center.  

After the bridal show, many things are much clearer than before and in ways much more confusing than ever.  We now understand where our budget is, we know what we do not want or do not need to spend money on.  In other words... things are coming together.  We found many more venues to choose from, ranging from "Break the Bank" to "Saving $$$".  We also discovered many great venues are booked...  We ran into Lady In Pink Photography's friend Sara from The Forest Country Club in Fort Myers.  Please see our post last week featuring this really beautiful local Fort Myers venue! Click HERE to visit last weeks video blog post.

The first step my fiance and I did together was take a few days and look at everything.  We ended up recycling more than 2/3 the packets picked up.  Monday morning I'll be calling our three favorite possible venues to find out more information and to see if our chosen date is available.  As for other vendors I want to contact, I've already entered their information into my smart phone with details to why I want to work with them.

Each venue we chose has something to form a different theme.  I'm working on a video blog for Lakes Park in Fort Myers Florida.  As we go, I'll share our feedback with you.  My future Mr. Knerd in Shining Armor is making a cameo in the next video blog.  I'm excited!!!!!

In other news!!!!!!!!!!!    A great big shout out to UaStar Photobooth!  They are going to be at Lady In Pink Photography's community event in October.  We loved everything about them and can't wait to pose in a photo with everyone there to celebrate with me!  The filmstrip above is what we went home with from the bridal show, LOVE LOVE LOVE it!  Please take just a few minutes to check out their website and friend them on Facebook.  

The Forest Country Club

Photographing weddings and events is a true pleasure and joy!  November 2013, Lady In Pink Photography walked into a venue, The Forest Country Club, with bride, Chelsie, for our final meeting.  This was my first time in the country club.  The minute we walked in and sat down to talk about all the little details for Chelsie and Mark's upcoming wedding day, someone came up and made sure we were okay or if we needed anything.  They even brought us coffee!!!!  So experience #1 was AMAZING!  

Day of the event...  Could not have been more impressed with everything!  The staff was courteous to the guests AND above and beyond that to the Lady In Pink Photography team. They made sure we had plenty water or coffee (THANK YOU!!!! The coffee picked me up to get me home after a long and joyful day.)  Some staff members even made suggestions for good locations to photograph at.  The Forest Country Club really puts in 120% for every event they house.  

Time passes, present day June 2014...  Chelsie and her husband have already received their albums, photographs, and memories.  Lady In Pink Photography get's an e-mail from Sara at The Forest Country Club (Side note, she's amazing!) asking for a photo or two from Chelsie and Mark's wedding day.  First thing I did was contact BOTH bride and groom and make sure it was okay to hang up their beautiful portrait in the Country Club... They said "YES!"  

While delivering the 16x20 portrait to Sara I took a small cellphone video of the Forest Country Club to give you an idea of how beautiful it really is!  Enjoy your sneak peek of a beautiful local venue.

Event Planning 101: Step 1, Date and Venue

Every little girl starts planning their dream wedding as soon as they see their first bride.  Step one of planning any large event, choosing the venue, date, location, and time.  So many factors come into finding just the right place for any event.   

Fort Myers Florida venue, The Forest Country Club.  One of LIPP's favorite places to photograph.

I'm lucky enough to be planning two events this year.  One for Lady In Pink Photography and one for me and my Fiance.  I had no idea before Friday June 13th that I'd be planning two events at once.

Suzie Dugan and Chris Thompson the evening
of his Friday the 13th surprise proposal.

  I'll tell you... planning one event is a challenge, make it two and I'm lucky that I've had so many friends reach out to help me with both events.  

Having photographed events in Florida, New York, California, and Ohio, my mind starts to choose the most exotic locations first.  

Boldt Castle on Heart Island upstate New York.  Photograph taken by Suzie Dugan while working at Photography By Imaginations in 2007.

But when planning a large event, it's always best to start looking at venues close to home first.  

For Lady In Pink Photography's community party on October 4th, luckily Calusa Nature Center was available for the date LIPP wanted to book.  We did also look into Southern Waters too, but they were booked already.  

The Lady In Pink Photography community party is coming together very smoothly.  Invitations and vendor applications are now being proofed for printing, we have the beautiful Jennifer Gilmore as our Emcee, and we have one guest judge from Chicago who specializes in costuming and makeup, Emily Leonard. Along with local aspiring make-up artist Deek Font.  LIPP is still looking for one more judge.

See our Facebook invite for more information and to RSVP too. 

Before choosing your date and time, make sure no other major events YOU or YOUR guests want to attend are happening on the same day.  For October, the event that I would like to attend is ZombiCon.  I love going with friends to see all the unique costumes.  Before even contacting our first venue choice I waited with crossed fingers for ZombiCon to announce their event date.

For Mr. Thompson and my special day, finding a venue is more challenging than expected. Cost, availability, restrictions, or even as simple as working with both our styles.  I go back to all the different places I loved photographing at in the past, the options become overwhelming!  

Here are just a few of the locations Chris and I loved:

Lakes Park in Fort Myers Florida
Coral Castle in Miami Florida
Lake Louisa close to Orlando Florida
Sanibel resorts island off of Fort Myers
The Forest Country Club in Fort Myers (Sad, because they are already booked for our chosen date!)
Cape Coral Yacht Club
The Hut Restaurant in Fort Myers
The Florida Keys ...

The list continues.  Will post more as planning goes along for both events.

Here's one more view of Boldt Castle on Heart Island ....

Thank you Gigi for allowing me to share your blog post, and I quote you, "...A year of planning has come up to this very day. I thought I was prepared and you would figure after planning for a year everything would turn out well right? Well not exactly"...  ~Gigi  Gigi's blog. Just published yesterday by a Lady In Pink Photography Fan and past event planner.  Gigi's real life wedding  nightmare reminded me of something important, things do go wrong, when everything is said and done your wedding day is not the most important thing.  I've photographed countless weddings from 2003-present day where one or two small things put the reception on halt for hours.  One thing I've witnessed first hand is family members, friends, and wedding party members help save the day and make sure that no matter what goes stray from the plan the bride and groom are still married.  Love and celebration are powerful.  I hope the upcoming months of sharing my experiences on planning both events with readers can help out others planning one or more events too.

Precious Life

Photography is a media that immortalizes everyone and everything.  

From the beginning people asked me, "Why photography as a profession?"  

Suzie (Me) 3 years old.
My obsession with pink did start young...

Memories are precious, photographs tell so much with so little spoken.  As a young child I had met many of my family members and parent's friends before I "knew" them, all through the use of photographs.  My mother, grandmothers, aunts, and other family members had family albums and photographs everywhere in their homes.  There are many found memories of mommy and me time where mom is showing me pictures of our family and asking "Who is this?"  If I didn't know the answer she had one for me.  Please keep in mind I'm about 3 years old in these memories.  

 

Sharon (My Mom) and Thomas (My Dad) 

I'm just like my mom. She taught me how important family and friends are and how to make sure to remember everyone special or important.  After the past 5 years of running a photography company, I have asked myself, "Should I have been a dentist?", the answer is NO!  

Leona Murray
 (My maternal grandmother)

This April my family lost a very important member, my maternal grandmother.  Leona, aka "Grandma Murray" taught me many valuable life lessons.  If my profession had been dentistry, Leona would have had the best teeth in the neighborhood.  But that's all I would have been left with.  With photography I had the chance to get close to someone who had more strength and courage than the bravest soldiers.  Leona sat with Lady In Pink Photography for an interview into her personal life and was featured in book written by the LIPP team.   The book, A Diary of Hope, Volume #1: "Celebrating Life After Breast Cancer.", was written to help give hope to women just finding out that they are going to face a battle against breast cancer, all proceeds from book sales are donated to breast cancer research.  

Over the last 5 years, even I'm shocked at how many clients, friends, and family members Lady In Pink Photography has said goodbye to.  Having provided many other families, besides my own, with the peace of mind that their families will also be remembered is what makes photography my choice career.  Please take a moment to meet a few individuals LIPP was lucky enough to photograph and have known at all.  Each one has changed my life in one way or another.

Flower.  He was the best smelling skunk, we said goodbye in 2012.

Pete, passed away before the prints were delivered.  We said goodbye in 2012

Kelly, 29 years young.  Said goodbye 2014.

On the flip side of being able to provide peace of mind to clients, the Lady In Pink Photography team has welcomed just as many, if not more, new lives into the world.  These are Lady In Pink Photography team member's FAVORITE SESSIONS!!!!!  Just in the last year we have said "Hello" to 3 new tiny cute little babies and we have many new pets too!  Pictured below are a few brand new individuals in our world!

John, 3 months young, we said hello 2013

Dora Mae, 9 months young, we said hello 2014

Jensen, 3 weeks young.  We said hello 2014

Bailey, 1 year young.  We said hello 2014

Lucas, 9 months young.  We said hello 2013

LIPP was even lucky enough to find this young Great Blue Heron Baby!  We said hello 2014.

 Cannot wait to see who else the Lady In Pink Photography team members meet this year and next!!!!  Looking forward to many more years of providing memories and moments to clients, friends, and family.  I know, that when the time comes to put the camera down and retire, that Lady In Pink Photography will have given many households and families the precious gift of everlasting memories.

The Proposal of a Life-time

"Once in awhile, 

Right in the middle of an ordinary life, 
Love gives us a fairy-tale."
                               ~ by Anonymous ~

June, Friday the 13th.  Full moon rising up over Fort Myers Beach from the Sanibel Causeway view, Florida.

Friday June 13th, was a freaky Friday for me.  My heart raced, pounded, and jumped within its rib cages...   

Every photographer's worst nightmare came to life for me, so I thought.  

I'm used to being behind the camera and in charge of a session, but Friday the 13th of June I gave up that peace of mind and went in front of the lens with someone special.  About a year ago, I met a guy who quite literally swept me off my feet, and he does everyday.  I call him my Knerd (words knight-nerd combined) in Shining Armour because he has saved Lady In Pink Photography from the big bad "Technology Dragon" that threatens to stop post production many times.

To be in front of the lens is not an easy thing to think about, really it is easier done than said.  The nightmare began when we arrived home and our Lady In Pink Photographer, Charlotte, handed me the card to upload.  I noticed immediately that out of the 100 or more photos that we took, there were only a handful on the card.  My mind began to panic.  During my studies at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, I had to check out different cameras from their student supply, and many of the cameras were abused by students and once in a while the data was lost.  The only thing going through my mind was panic and fear that everything we just did was lost.  My panic soon vanished and was replaced with pure shock!  The LIPP team and Knerd in Shining Armour had pulled an amazing stunt!  

On my computer screen shown pictures of a brilliant ring and behind me down on his knees is Chris, with the same RING in a Tardis Ring Box!!!!  

The Lady In Pink Photography team members involved quickly pulled out the Compact Flash card with the our full moon images on them.  Still can't believe that it's now time to plan our own wedding!  I'll be looking to many past clients and now friends for help and suggestions on what to do and not to do.

Lightning starts to connect behind Suzie and Chris during their Lady In Pink Photography "I Do" Boutique Session on Sanibel Florida.

First steps

Salutations and happy last few weeks of spring to all.  Not sure about you, 2014 has been an amazing year to trump all years yet to come. . .  

Yet. . . It's already June and what?! I'm not READY!!!!!  How did summer sneak up so quickly?

Just one more image of spring.

I'm here today to share another Lady In Pink Confession.  This is a big one!  

Wait... Wait.. Are you ready the confession?

I, Suzie Dugan, am proud of my own company like a mom is proud of her own kids, sometimes it even feels as if LIPP has a personality of "her" own.  It's true.  Shhhh, don't tell anyone my little secret either!  The story begins in 2008... Early in the year, let's say Spring, I had noticed that weddings on the books for Photography By Imaginations' (my then employer) were down from previous years.  What was happening?  When the housing bubble burst in Florida, luxury items were first to go.  Wedding photography and high end portrait photography was one of the first items marked off and discarded for couples and families.  Long story short, my position was eliminated and young, scared, little me entered the job market again.  Even with an economic downturn there is always a need to express words with images.  

With summer looming ahead of me and nothing to do, I picked up a few retouching jobs in Fort Myers and started my first draft of Lady In Pink Photography's business plan.  At the time, "her" name was Susan Dugan Photography.  As many businesses begin to take shape and form their visions, things can change.  Nicknames can become so important that they begin to shape and form into something bigger than imagined.  This was happening to me... Every time I went out with my camera to photograph a sunset or something tourist like, people would make me blush by calling out, "Hey, lady in pink, come over here and take our photo too." and may I remind you I'm always covered head to toe in PINK.  By the time draft one was completed it was beyond obvious that we had a new name, a mission statement, and was ready to open the doors by October 2008.

5 years and 8 months later and bringing us back up to the present day.  Many goals written into the business plan have been achieved and now the business plan is evolving and changing to ensure LIPP will be around to continue providing memories.  

Thank you for taking a moment to read another confession from the lady in pink, time to get back to photo editing.

Bring on the summer sunsets!!!!!!