The Seattle Wedding Show excitement is building!

So, you’re planning your wedding and wondering who to hire and how you are going to arrange appointments with every single vendor then drive to them in rush hour traffic and beg your fiancé to come with you. You wish there was one big room where you could go to meet all of the vendors at once so you can do it all in one trip.
Ta da! There is such a place! It’s called The Seattle Wedding Show! It’s like a dream come true. There’s everything you could possibly want for your wedding in one place that is covered and warm and even has a fashion show where you can see the latest trends in wedding fashion! I would recommend going to Saturday then returning on Sunday. This is a once a year event. You really want to make the most of it!

http://www.weddingshow.com/Show/dates_times.html
Dates & Times:

Washington State Convention & Trade Center
800 Convention Place, 4th Floor
Seattle, WA 98101

Saturday January 10th, 2015
10:00am to 5:30pm (ticket sales open at 9:30am)

Sunday January 11th, 2015
10:30am to 5:00pm (ticket sales open at 10:00am)

Tickets are $17.00 per person and can be purchased at the door.
Children twelve and under are admitted free.
Come to the show Saturday, get your hand stamped on the way out, and come back Sunday for FREE.

Tickets go on sale at the door: 9:30 am Saturday and 10:00 am Sunday.

Bridal Parties

Here are Mark’s groomsmen. Such a handsome group. The midnight blue is stunning. I like the story during the speeches where one groomsmen told about how the groom, Mark, walked him miles and miles down a deserted railroad track after a party one night to make sure he got home safely. I feel like the speeches should be in the beginning of a wedding so we can all get to know the family and bridal party better. It’s always interesting hearing stories of character, pranks, support and friendship. It adds that much more depth to your understanding of their friendship.

Here are Cara’s bridesmaids. Each one of them was/is so beautiful. I love that they chose their own dresses. Their personalities shine through with the style of each dress and the champagne color is just stunning, completely elegant. We had so much fun taking photos of these ladies all night long.

Christmas Family Photos

We are so happy that we were able to do Alyssa and Kyle’s Christmas photos for them again this year. It’s really great to be able to see them every year and this year we got to meet their new pup even! It’s fun to see their family grown. Just like our family, their pets are like family to them and they are the best parents ever. Merry Christmas Stringer Family!

These photos are from a lighting class by Hildebrand Photography and the beautiful Bri Bray modeling for us! We are so pleased with how fabulous these photos turned out. We used a lot of unique off-camera lighting to capture these images.
Bri is so at ease in front of a camera. We all agreed she has a multitude of looks but really rocks the “you stole my boyfriend, I’m going to kick your b*tt” look which is extra amazing because she seems super nice to all of us! I do really love the smile she has in one of the last photos here. It’s contagious!

Laying on a Black Sand Beach

Hair Color By: Brianna Cashin based out of The Cove Salon

Hildebrand Photography & Studio H

Yes, we own two companies. Hildebrand Photography and the sister company, Studio H.
We started our career in wedding photography as a modest studio making our way. We have grown by leaps and bounds since that day almost 8 years ago when Brandon shot his first wedding then put an add in Craigslist and got two more weddings. Since then it’s been a whirl wind of adventure, leaning, classes in business, lighting, posing, flow, scheduling, editing, marketing and much more near and far taught by world renowned photographers (Las Vegas), seminars, travels to Washington, California, Oregon, Hawaii, Arizona, Tennessee, Virginia, Canada and Buenos Aires, Argentina for weddings, travels to San Francisco for engagement sessions.

We now teach classes to other photographers Photography 101, Lightroom and Photoshop classes. We are the leaders of the Seattle chapter of the nationwide companies ShootQ and Pictage where we share our knowledge of the industry with other professional photographers and get to know the needs and goals of our fellow photographers. We have mentored other professional photographers. We enjoy learning, training and networking. We are passionate about all things photography!
So, now that we are further along in our career and offering the ultimate in wedding photography not only in our artistic style and in telling the story of your day we realize we are beyond the reach of some who may have a concern about budget.

It breaks our hearts to have a client who loves us and our work but can’t fit us into their budget. Our solution was to create Studio H www.photostudioh.com This is our associate photography company.
These carefully chosen photographers have years of wedding photography experience. They have shot with us and know exactly our flow of the day and our style. If we are available to shoot your wedding then we, the owners/the primary shooters, will be there. If not, then one of our associates will be there to capture amazing images to tell the story of your wedding day. Everything else will be done by us including any meetings with you, emails editing, album design etc.

The collections aren’t as inclusive as Hildebrand Photography collections but you still get incredible images of your day which is the most important part. The rest can be upgraded after the wedding if you so choose.

Now there is no reason not to hire us either as Hildebrand Photography or Studio H, whichever one suits your needs best. If you like us and love our work you’ll be relieved to know we can accommodate you.
Go check out www.photostudioh.com Notice you will see gorgeous photos there. We are adding more photos weekly so check back for updates often. You won’t see any high edit/fine art photos there.
Go to www.hildebrandphoto.com to see the ultimate in what we have to offer.

Family photos in studio

This family has been with us for many years now. They’re the best. It’s great to see them often and see how much their little boy has grown. He is personality plus. I was cracking up during the whole shoot. Kids are such little comedians. I love it!

This photo shoot was really great. He played and we took photos. I love studio photo sessions where I can get down on the kids level so I can hand them toys and play peek-a-boo and do whatever it takes to get the shot without worrying about mud and leaves and lighting.

I can’t wait for our next photo session with this sweet boy and his parents.

The first 3 steps in planning a wedding…step “B” is the best part! 1f609

A. Book your venue first. Now you know your date. Try to do this a year in advance.
B. Book your photographer! Consider adding on Videography and Photo Booth now or wait till later. Either way you know we are available for your date so you are in good hands here. No worries, we got your back. No need to look elsewhere. 1f609
C. Buy your dress
D. I have no idea what comes next. I only know about the dress because brides are always excited and telling me what they’ve tried on when we meet. I do, however, have a list of my favorite vendors. They are here in our blog. Go check them out. Type vendors in the search window of our blog and they will pop up.
These are the people we trust. They are professionals with plenty of experience so you can be sure your day will run smoothly.

So, let’s review. If most people are freshly engaged when they come to the January expo and you need to hire the venue and photographer a year in advance to get the ones you want. Then wouldn’t it make sense that most brides will be hiring the venues and photographers vendors while at the show? Do you want to stand in line at those booths or wouldn’t it feel good to know yours are booked and you can move on to the other vendors. Or, if you don’t book ahead of time just know that you don’t want to lose out on your favorites so be prepared to go straight to those booths and put a deposit to save your date on the vendors you love while at the show! Bring your checkbook. Know that we will reward you for booking us at or before the show!
Call us to book your meeting and/or engagement session now. 206.790.8995 or email [email protected]

http://www.weddingshow.com/
Hildebrand Photography

Follow these 4 simple steps to a successful Wedding Show.

1. Come to our booth first.
A. We are booth number 1312.
B. Call us if you get lost. 206.790.8995
2. Book us for your wedding day photography, videography and photo booth!
3. High five each other knowing you are in very good hands with Hildebrand Photography.
4. Then, go celebrate by finding cake samples to eat!

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This is what our expo booth has looked like for many years now. This January we will have a completely different look! We are so very excited. It will be a sleek, stylish white booth full of our gorgeous albums and prints. Come check it out!

Who is getting engaged? Seattle Wedding Show

Statistics show that this is the time of year that most people get engaged.
We were at Bellevue Square Mall last night visiting Santa. My daughter and I both love shiny things so naturally, while waiting for the boys, we wandered into the nearest jewelry store, Ben Bridge. http://www.benbridge.com/store/bellevue-square

There were happy couples with the glow of the brightly lit display cases shining on their smiling faces as they gazed at the engagement rings.
January is the biggest month for a wedding photographer. They call it “wedding expo/show month” in the industry. We book up quickly at wedding shows. We will be meeting hundreds of brides at the shows.

Here’s something you can do to beat the rush. This is a GREAT idea!
Meet with us before the show. Better yet, have your engagement session done with us. We can go over our collections afterwards over a warm beverage and show you our fabulous albums. You won’t believe how incredible our albums are.
If you hire us, then your engagement session is complimentary. If not then you can purchase your session for $299. (No need to price shop. That’s the going rate out there for engagement sessions.) You will be ahead of the game when it comes to sending your save the date cards out because you already have your photos! Whether you hire us or not you will be beating the rush and have amazing photos to show for it!

Remember we offer videography and photo booths too! See more info on those in our blog too! Plus, we have an associate photography company called Studio H. www.photostudioh.com

We will be at the Seattle Wedding Show. Come see us! We are booth number 1312. We are next to the Salish Lodge booth, yay! We

It was a Merry dog photo shoot today!
Today I took our two dogs, Merry Christmas (Merry for short) and Blackie in for a professional photo shoot today. I’ve never taken the time to get really great shots of my dogs (as you can see from the photos posted here.)

Christine of Trimood Photography did a wonderful job. Which is funny to say since I never once saw one of her photos from today’s shoot but isn’t a really great photo shoot about more than just the photos to a client? It’s about the interaction, professionalism, comfort level and atmosphere too. I had a great time. I was very proud of my two dogs. Once they sniffed out everything they could in Christine’s studio they settled down and were eager to please. They were good listeners and even climbed up on a red bench which I did not think they would do…oh, and they even wore/tolerated wearing hats for a bit! Christine knew they would do all of these things. It was me who was skeptical but she was right, it worked! I had a really great time and so did Merry and Blackie. I cannot wait to see the photos but will be patient because Christine runs a thriving business that is busy this time of year. Good things are worth the wait though! I’m just glad she made the time for us to come in today for our shoot!

Check out her work at: http://trimoodphotography.com/

Engagement Session/How They Met- Virginia and Steve
What’s your story? How did you meet? How did the proposal go?

A. First off, both of are extremely thrilled that we are getting married.

We met on a dating website and only after a week of talking to each other we decided to have a date. Our first date was at Lombardi’s in Everett, Wa on March 28th 2013. We had dinner, talked for a bit and ended up closing the place. I kissed her goodnight and since then its been such a wonderful time. It truly was love at first site!

We are deeply in love and cannot wait to get married and share the experience with our family and friends!

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Here are the vendors Virginia and Steve chose for their wedding. They are in good hands with Wendy of Simplee Wendy as their florist and coordinator. I’ve known Wendy for years. She’s so creative, hard-working and genuinely caring. I cannot wait to see what Wendy and Virginia come up with to decorate her wedding!

My mouth is already watering for the BBQ from Bubba’s Country Cue. Steve was describing their menu to me and I begged him to stop. I can’t bear to wait so long for such delicious food!

If We the People Salon is the same place Virginia used for her engagement session then she’s going to look fabulous for her wedding!

The Side Project Band is their favorite local band and they are going to be at their wedding! So cool! They can be found playing in the bar of Willows Lodge on certain nights of the week. Brandon and I are going to go listen to them before the wedding. It doesn’t hurt that we absolutely love Willows Lodge too.

Did you scroll down and see that we will be their Videographers and their Photo Booth vendors?! It’s so fantastic that we get to do so much for Virginia and Steve. Let’s see if I can get a photo of them wearing crowns and boa’s before the night is over. 1f609 They are good sports. I’m sure it’ll be easy.

Lastly, Kitsap Memorial Park. They had to wait in line over night to get the date they wanted! This place must be incredible to have such a high need. They say the view is outstanding of the sound. I can’t wait to see it!

Willows Lodge
14580 NE 145th St, Woodinville, WA 98072
(425) 424-3900
willowslodge.com

Event Coordinator Simplee Wendy
252-332-4883
[email protected]
Florist Simplee Wendy

Event Designer Wedding Planner
540-583-8121
www.simpleewendy.com

[email protected]
Caterer Bubba’s Country Cue
360-620-4210
[email protected]

Cake Artist Sweets @ Savories Custom Wedding Cakes
360-779-5713
http://sweetsandsavories.net/index.htm

Officiant SUSAN KINTNER
[email protected]

Gown Boutique A Princess Bridal
www.princessbridecouture.com/

Makeup Artist We The People Salon
www.wethepeoplesalon.com/
425-301-6444

Hair Stylist We The People Salon
www.wethepeoplesalon.com/
424-440-0137

Musician/DJ The Side Project live band
509-216-8920
www.tspband.com

Venue
Kitsap Memorial Park
http://www.parks.wa.gov/414/Kitsap-Memorial-State-Park

Videographer Hildebrand Photography
www.hildebrandphoto.com
206.790.8995

Photo Booth Hildebrand Photography
www.hildebrandphoto.com
206.790.8995

Family, dogs, fall leaves, trails & a bridge
Stu and Cherie are both so very nice and their family is beautiful, furry ones included. We’ve known Stu for years. He’s always cracking us up with his random wit that’s always catching me off guard. They even brought the neighbor girl along! The two girls are very close and it was fun to see their big smiles and hear the giggling when they got together. I’m glad some leaves were still remaining. The throwing of the leaves at the end of the shoot turned out really cool.

Salish Lodge Snoqualmie Falls Wedding

Megan and Dan’s wedding was stunning. The crisp fall air and beautiful colors filling the trees lining the walkway leading to the falls was a prefect place to take a photo of these two holding hands. For the reception the mantle was lined with white pillar candles and greenery, the cake had a cozy cable knit sweater look (how’d they do that?), the appetizers had a seafood theme with oysters on the 1/2 shell, crab cakes and salmon. Guests danced in the tent outdoors after dinner and fun was had by everyone of all ages. That’s one of my favorite things about family gatherings is that people of all ages are mixing and mingling, dancing and having fun. I love all the celebrating and smiling faces!

Thank you to the vendors involved for making Megan and Dan’s wedding so special!

Salish Lodge
425.831.6596
http://www.salishlodge.com/

Musician/DJ Sounds Unlimited
425-381-5536 (H)
[email protected]
www.asoundsunlimited.com

It’s Your Day Event and Expressions

Here are the photos from the photo shoot we did for It’s Your Day Event and Expressions owned by Ashley and Christina. Not only are they long-time friends who finish each others sentences but hey are event coordinators extraordinaire!
We met at The Knot Mixer about a month ago. The Knot www.theknot.com puts on a party every year for their vendors. This year, as told in another blog post on this site, was really fun and full of lots of really great people from the wedding industry! They both seemed super nice and lots of fun so I invited them to join me on a shoot. And now you’re caught up!

Ha, ha, selfies, gotta love em. I’m liking the sun flare, pretty cool. Pretty sure I’m concentrating on making my cold thumb be able to move to click on my phone photo button while Ashley & Christina looking fabulous behind me. 1f642

It was a crisp, fall day for our shoot. We had fun walking around downtown Redmond with all the different colors and textures of the old bricks and the new art all mixed together in a 2 block radius. I asked about their business and they both had so much to say. You can tell they really are passionate about being creative, unique, professional and thorough in event planning. They have a HUGE idea that is really exciting that I am sworn to never speak of until the big reveal. It’s really inspiring to hear the future growth potential for their thriving business. We are like minded in our businesses and it’s really refreshing to talk about an industry we all love with inspired business minded professionals.

Check out their website where they list all that they have to offer. It’s quite impressive! http://www.itsyourdayevents.com/services/4563655018

Thank you ladies for a great day. You are both so beautiful and are so easy to photograph. I love the out takes of the two of you laughing. I’ll let you include those in your own blog post if you choose to.

Remember, to stay tuned for more blog posts about how to get the most out of wedding shows where I tell you to meet with vendors BEFORE January when all of the shows are so you can beat the rush!
Call It’s Your Day Events today to book them for your wedding and events!

Ashley & Christina
It’s Your Day Event and Expressions
425-908-7092
www.itsyourdayevents.com