6 Things You Need To Do Right After You Get Engaged

You just said yes! Your life is about to change forever and the next 12-18 months are going to get crazy! There is so much to do, where do you start? Well here are the 6 things you need to do right after getting engaged!

1: Let Those Closest To You Know

This is big news and a major event in your life! Be the one who tells the people you love. Don’t let them find out when you update your Facebook status. You don’t have to tell everyone you know but letting your closest family and friends who will be in your bridal party know will go along way with them.

2: Get a Manicure

Everyone is going to be looking at that new ring on your hand for the next few weeks. Getting a manicure will ensure you are looking your best and will give you some time to relax and soak it all in!

3: Get Your Ring Sized

As a guy I can tell you I didn’t even know rings had sizes. I’m sure your love picked out a ring they thought long and hard about even if it wasn’t the right size. It’s hard to discreetly ask what your ring size is without giving away our plans. So now get it sized correctly so that you don’t lose it in the shower, washing your hands, doing some gardening, driving a car, walking around, or sleeping. Also, while you’re at it, get it insured through your insurance company. It is only a few dollars per year and will give you piece of mind.

4: Think About a Date

In my experience I’d say the average engagement is 12-18 months, so look at that time frame and pick a date that’s right for you. In the beginning you don’t have to pick THE date but come up with a season at least until you circle a date on the calendar. It will be the foundation for the wedding and knowing it is pretty much a prerequisite before booking any wedding vendor. If you are wondering How To Pick A Wedding Date around the unpredictable Indiana weather read my blog post!

5: Take Some Time To Enjoy Being Engaged

Don’t rush into wedding planning right away. Take time to reflect on what makes your relationship unique and how your perfect wedding day would go before jumping in and booking the first vendors you find. They may not be the right choice for you. Take 3 weeks to a month to fully enjoy this part of your life before putting pen to paper on the wedding plans.

6: Get Inspired

There are so many great wedding blogs that cater to all types of weddings. Small and intimate, offbeat, diy, large and fashionable, ect, so look around and get a feel of how you two want your wedding day to feel. Save some photos for inspiration to give to vendors when interviewing them to ensure they can deliver what you are looking for.

Your engagement should be fun and a period of your life where you look back and smile, not grit your teeth and just wish the wedding was over already. I hope these few tips helped let you take a deep breath and focus on what's most important to you!

See More: Complete Wedding Planning Guide!

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Can Take Care of These 5 Wedding Stressers Now

When you think about your wedding day, it’s this magical event where you are surrounded by friends, family, love, and everything goes perfect. But let’s face it, it’s a long road there. Planning your wedding can be more stressful than we would like to admit. But it’s all about keeping a level head and reminding yourself that at the end of the day, as long as you say “I do” everything else is extra. And extra shouldn't be stressful. It should be fun. Do these 5 things to prepare and exactly 87.6% of your wedding stress will be immediately eliminated.

1: Exercise

I don’t know about you but I always feel like I’m too busy to go to the gym, however when I leave the gym I am more calm and can think much clearer about tough decisions. Like choosing between Wedding Cake or Wedding Pies. On top of being able to make decisions earlier you will also feel more comfortable and confident on your wedding day from sweating out the stress!

2: Don’t Invite People You Don’t Like

Don’t invite people you are just cordial to. Don’t invite people you haven’t talked to in a while. Even if you want to reconnect with someone you haven’t talked to in a while, a wedding is not the place to do that where they will only see you for a few minutes and have to spend the rest of their time with strangers. Plus on average, here in Indiana each additional guest will cost you $137. Cut just 10 people off your list and you just paid for all of those delicious tropical drinks on your honeymoon!

3: Understand Something Will Go Wrong

It’s inevitable. No matter how much planning you do, someone will get lost, or forget the custom dress hanger, or buy coors lite instead of some delicious sun king or upland beers. The sooner you realize that the small details, in the whole scope of things will not change your wedding day the easier it will be for you to enjoy your wedding day.

4: Consider A Day Of Coordinator to Fight the Fires

Like if the Caterer ends up not bringing enough food to feed your guests or if the Cake Bakery calls and says they didn't realize that your reception is just out of their delivery zone and they can't deliver the cake so someone else needs to come and get it, only to find out they won't release the cake because the person you sent didn't have the receipt. These things, you dont need to worry about on your wedding day and can easily be handled by someone else.

5: Buy Your Dress One Size Larger

We all have plans to get in shape for the big day but some of us like myself are stress eaters. And planning a wedding is stressful. There will be several late night taco bell runs while deciding on a venue or working pizza lunches while you run around town picking out the right flowers or getting your marriage certificate. And while you don’t plan on needing a larger dress, they can always be pulled in to size!

That’s it! Ultimately your wedding day is about your relationship and not anyone else’s. So lead with your heart (I originally wrote gut but for some reason it looked to clinical on the screen but you get the point). If you are feeling pressure to make a decision, take a day to think on it and make the decision.

See More: Complete Wedding Planning Guide!

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5 Surprising Wedding Traditions We Still Follow Today

Your wedding should be a reflection of you and your fiance's personalities and unique relationship. Since there is a good chance you have never been married you may be persuaded into doing some of these wedding traditions I’ve listed below just because. I wrote this blog to help you decided what is right for your wedding and help you in planning a more intimate and personal day, not convince you to give up the wedding traditions on this list. But no one wants to do something in front of a few hundred people without knowing why you are doing them.

1: Not Seeing Each Other Before the Ceremony

Back when marriages were arranged with the point of growing your families status, workforce, or wealth you may have been partnered up with someone you were not attracted to. If that were the case you might... run. BUT if you didn't see who you were marrying until they walked down the aisle you might feel pressured to not run away. But this still didn’t work 100% So many grooms to be still ran away as their soon to be brides were walking down the aisle that we now have the wedding vial. This prevented the groom from seeing the bride until the moment before they sealed it with a kiss. It had nothing to do with bad luck. But I guessing you two have seen each other before though, so…. Many couples still chose to wait to build excitement and that is perfectly understandable! Just don’t feel pressured.

2: Groomsmen and Bridesmaids

The thought of a wedding without the support of bridesmaids or groomsmen may seem weird, I agree. It’s fun to be around your closest friends, sorority sisters, or siblings. The tradition behind this one thought is the grossest out of all the traditions. The job of the best man was not to plan a bachelor party or run damage control and make sure your fiance does not have too much to drink and be hungover on the wedding day, the best man's job was simply to step in as groom should the original groom to be run off and he would have to marry the jilted bride to be. I know right? But what about the bridesmaids? Well they are not off the hook. It was so common that a bride may be kidnaped by an ex SO she would enlist the help of her friends to dress up just like her in the days leading up to the wedding so if there was a kidnap attempt the real bride would be safe. Do you have an ex crazy enough to attempt to kidnap you before your wedding? Gross.

3: The Garter Toss

Along with the not seeing each other before the ceremony, this is the tradition I see getting the axe the most. This tradition started when it was customary for newly married couples to consummate the marriage immediately following the "I Do's". No need to wait until you get back to your hotel room. While the newly married couple became… better acquainted, their guest would wait… outside their window. The garter would then be thrown out the window to the guests below, signifying that their marriage was... official

4: The First Kiss

Along with having bridesmaids and groomsmen I think this one is pretty much written in ink but I thought the story behind the first kiss was interesting so I included it. The first kiss is a tradition that comes from when the priest would kiss the groom as the ceremony started with the "Kiss of Peace" which supposedly came from above to calm him down. Is it just me or are you also sensing that grooms back in the day must have been pretty on edge. Anyway at the end of the ceremony the priest would have the groom kiss the bride to pass on the kiss from the priest. That's kinda weird. I can see why we got rid of the whole priest kisses thing though.

5: Carrying the Bride Across the Threshold

Carrying the bride across the threshold is in like every movie where a couple gets married where for one reason or another something goes wrong and they fall or something. But the gesture is looked at as quite romantic. I actually found 2 explanations for this one. The first being, People were really scared of spirits in the old days. They believed that evil spirits lived under the floor so to protect the new bride the groom would carry her across the threshold to keep her elevated above the spirits. He would then put her down on the floor where she was totally susceptible to spirits again. And the second reason is that for a bride it was unladylike to want to leave the home and protection of her father so the groom had to kidnap her and take her to her new home. Sorry pops.

In the past few year's I have seen couples foregoing several of the “wedding traditions” on this list because they add no significance to their wedding day. Ultimately it's up to you and what you want for your wedding day.

See More: Complete Wedding Planning Guide!

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How To Take Better Fall Family Photos with You Phone!

Fall is here and it’s the perfect time for family photos. The pumpkin patch, hay rides, corn mazes it’s our kids favorite time of the year. It’s natural to want to capture their energy and excitement at this short period of their lives before they grow up too quick. You may be thinking, but I don’t have a fancy or expensive camera, how can I take great photos of my kids having fun in the fall? Well thanks to modern technology your phone is all you need and I’m going to show you how to capture memories that you will cherish forever.

1.Get on the Kids Level!

We as adults are use to looking down at our kids. When you bring the camera down to their level your photos will take a life of their own. Seeing the world from their perspective is so much more interesting to look at! Also get closer to your kids. The digital zoom on phones is not good. Physically getting closer to them makes the photos feel alive. A good rule of thumb is if you think you are close enough, take another step closer.

Eye Level is Much More Compelling!

2.Show off Those Fall Colors!

One of the reasons we love fall so much is the plethora of beautiful colors we are surrounded with. Deep reds, oranges, tans, dark greens it’s a shame that it only lasts just a few weeks before its gone. So capture the family in all of nature's glory. Go to a local park, Some my favorite locations for fall family photos are Fort Harrison State Park in Lawrence, Broad Ripple park, and Eagle Creek State Park on Indys northwest side these places offer plenty of outdoor space surrounded by the beautiful changing leaves.

So Much Color!

3.Keep the Sun Behind You

What do you do when the sun is in your eyes? You squint. When was the last time you used a squinting photo as your profile picture? Probably never. Keeping the sun behind you so that its hitting your backs is the easiest way to ensure great light even light on your faces and that everyone is squint free!

Not only is the light on their face even and soft but the sunset is beautiful behind them!

4.Burst Mode

Did you know that when you hold down the camera button on your phone it will take a burst of 10 photos per second until you let go? They should just call this “Kids Mode” as any parent knows how hard it is to capture the perfect moment of their kids mid laugh or smile. Using burst mode allows you to take 20-30 photos at a time, then go back and find the picture perfect moment later!

Throwing The Perfect Handful of Leaves is More Than Just Luck!

5.Use the Self Timer!

These tips have been helpful for capturing photos of the kids but what if you want a photo of the whole family? As the family photographer I know how it can seem impossible to get photos with yourself in them. You don’t want to look back at your family photos when the kids are all grown up only to find you don’t have any photos of yourself. The self timer was made just for you! On your phone you can set a 3 or 10 second timer. Simply get the family together (remember to have the sun behind you!) set the camera up and select the 10 second timer, run back to your family and boom you have a family photo with everyone in it! BONUS TIP! If you have an iphone and an apple watch you can use your watch as your phones camera remote! You can even see what the photo will look like and make sure everyone looks their best!

6.Know When to Call It Quits!

Kids… have a mind of their own and then they are done, they are done. It’s hard to convince them otherwise. Remember that family photos should be a fun and memorable experience of the whole family together playing and enjoying each others company and not just something to post online. If this is your first time getting out and taking photos of the family yourself it can be tough to get all the perfect shots and you might feel the pressure that nothing is working and now the kids are done. Take a deep breath and let them be done. You had a great time outside with the family. Getting frustrated that the photos didn’t turn out will only make them resent the camera next time you bring it out and photography should be fun.

There will come a time to just put down the camera and let the kids play!

Now armed with these tips I am confident that you are ready to go out and capture some great family photos in nature's illustrious beauty. Maybe all this talk about cameras is too much to learn before the fall colors are at their height but you still want some family photos that won’t cost an arm and a leg? Consider a Fall Family Mini Session. These 20 minute sessions ensure the kids have fun playing and won’t meltdown all while being able to capture those incredible memories before they are gone too quick. And at just $99 you don’t have to worry about breaking the holiday gift budget either because family photos are also a great gift for the grandparents!  

Book your Fall Family Mini Session today and get a bonus Custom Facebook Cover Photo that will perfectly match your new profile picture of you and your husband. Spaces are limited to just 20 families so book your mini session today before they are all gone!

Click Here To Schedule Your Fall Family Mini Session Now!

Michael & Kayla's Plum Creek Golf Club Carmel Indiana Wedding

See the rest of the photos at www.Instagram.com/RHatfieldPhoto www.Facebook.com/RHatfieldPhotography www.RHatfieldPhotography.com

“I’m surrounded by my favorite people in the world. I am so happy right now. Let’s get married!" Kayla said with the happiest eyes I’ve just about ever seen on a bride. It was clear to me in that moment taking photos of the bridal party that Kayla and Michael had it all figured out and it was much simpler than you could imagine. Family, Friends, and Fun. That’s it. Be surrounded by the people who fill your heart and do everything you can to make life filled with as much fun as possible. Michael and Kayla will face rough patches in life just like every one else but with the support system they have built, I have no doubt in my mind that they will come out the other side better than they were before.

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