Wedding Wednesday is a weekly feature discussing all things wedding-related! To suggest a topic or question, contact Gwen at info@gwendolyntundermann.com.

Before the holidays, I was having coffee with our bride Whitney and we were talking about Pinterest. I had been avoiding Pinterest because I knew how addictive it would be. I love inspiration boards, so joining a social network based on pinning things you are interested in was a dangerous place for me. But I caved in and asked Whitney for an invite, and over Christmas break I probably spent at least 30 hours on there. While I do have boards for my multi-million dollar dream home and exotic places where I want to travel, I have found some practical use for my boards. I’ve created an online recipe book (plus helpful tips for the kitchen) and DIY projects for the house that I’ve actually used already.

But the reason why this is a Wedding Wednesday post is that I’m also pinning lots of wedding pretties! Flowers, wedding attire (including fabulous shoes!!), cake designs, and misc. wedding inspiration. I’m so excited about having a place to store all the things that inspire me instead of trying to remember where I saw it! So there are basically two ways to add to your boards: 1) you can re-pin things from other boards on Pinterest or 2) you can download the “Pin It” button and pin just about anything on the web. Love love love it!!

If you’re on Pinterest, we’d love to follow you! You can find my page at http://pinterest.com/gwentundermann. I’d love to see what inspires you!

Wedding Wednesday is a weekly feature discussing all things wedding-related! To suggest a topic or question, contact Gwen at info@gwendolyntundermann.com.

The wedding cake is a focal point of the wedding reception. It’s a work of art and it’s a conversation starter. You can really make a statement with what you put on top of the cake! We know that couples put a lot of thought into what to adorn their cake with, so we thought we’d share some cake topper ideas!

Traditional
Let’s start with the iconic cake topper – a bride and groom! These days, the bride and groom have a modern or humorous twist, but every once in a while we see the classic cake topper. If you truly want to be traditional, use a family heirloom such as your parents’ cake topper like some of these brides did!

Funny
There are a lot of novelty cake toppers that take the traditional look and truly make a statement. If you want to set the mood for a fun evening, get your guests giggling with some of these hilarious toppers!

Groom running away cake topper

Groom holding a fishing pole with a ring on the end of it

From the front it looks like a traditional cake topper, but in the back the bride is pinching the groom's butt!

Custom
If you want something unique, try a handmade cake topper from Etsy. Alexis & Matt had this adorable custom cake topper made to match their wedding attire and also included their cat!

Theme
Your cake topper can also tie into your wedding theme. Check out how these couples showed off their personal style:

Dave is a hockey coach, so Shannon found a cake topper that had the groom holding skates and a hockey stick

Jackie & Zac used a Nightmare Before Christmas figure as their cake topper

Missy & Brian put starfish on the cake for their beach wedding

Porcelain
What becomes of your cake topper AFTER the cake is gone? These couples opted for porcelain cake toppers that could be put on display in their home. This is what Matt & I decided on! Since we did a dove release, we went with a pair of doves (just like Carmen & Kyle’s cake below)!

Edible
If you don’t want to save your cake topper, why not eat it? These toppers are not only adorable – they’re edible, too! : )

Monogram
A simple, yet elegant way to top your cake is with a monogram. You can choose to just have the initial of your new married name or include both the bride and groom’s first initials.

Floral
If none of these cake toppers appeal to you, why not decorate your cake with flowers? It ties in to the centerpieces and bouquets, you don’t have to keep it after the wedding, and it may just be the prettiest way to top a cake!

What’s the best cake topper you’ve ever seen? What did you decided to top your cake with, and why?

Wedding Wednesday is a weekly feature discussing all things wedding-related! To suggest a topic or question, contact Gwen at info@gwendolyntundermann.com.

After an insane travel schedule in August (where I was gone more days than I was home) I had quite a bit of catching up to do and I’ve been slacking on the Wedding Wednesday posts. And after working with 3 amazing interns at Solutions Bridal, our guest blogger series titled “Dress Talk” has come to an end. But since so many of you have said you miss the Wedding Wednesday posts, we have come up with some new topics (and some fun ideas) to share with you each week!

This week, though, I’m going to get down to business and let you know about our process after the wedding. I started writing out the steps in our post production process for my own benefit, and it’s pretty eye-opening. You see, I’m simultaneously working on several projects and each step in the process is done in pieces, so I never looked at how much time was going into the entire process – just the individual pieces. And on top of all of these tasks I’m managing the business, shooting, going to meetings, networking, planning – sounds like it’s time to start a new list!

Everyone has their own post processing workflow. Here is how we do it:

Part 1: Immediately After The Wedding (2-3 hours)
Upload cards to hard drive in individual file folders (Disc 1, Disc 2, Disc 3, etc.)
Rename files in Bridge (ex: Disc 1_001)
Upload folders to Lightroom
Back up images on external hard drive
Save original discs until everything has been edited and backed up on disc, external hard drive, and Pictage
Choose one image for blog sneak peek – flag and rate 5 stars in Lightroom
Edit in Lightroom and Photoshop and resize/watermark for blog
Create blog post and publish
Email bride and groom to let them know about sneak peek
Link sneak peek on Facebook
Add sneak peek image to “Weddings” folder on Facebook
Go to bed… zzzzzzz…

Part 2: Cull Images (about 2 hours)
Go through all images and flag the ones to be edited

Part 3: Blog Post (up to 10 hours)
Select images for the blog and rate 5 stars
After all blog images have been selected, color correct in Lightroom
Export 5 star images
Edit blog images in Photoshop, resize, watermark and rename in Blog folder
Create file folder for blog images on website and upload via FTP
Write blog post and link images
Publish blog post and send emails
Link on Facebook and upload blog images to Facebook album
(Add up to 3 more hours if slideshow is included in blog post)

Part 4: Lightroom (between 13-18 hours)
Go through all flagged images and apply color/lighting corrections and any necessary straightening or cropping (about 5-10 hours)
Export images to “edits” folder (up to 8 hours)

Part 5: Photoshop (about 5 hours)
Open each image and adjust as necessary to make images ready for print
May do some cloning to remove distracting items (ex: people in the background at the beach)

Part 6: Bridge (about 1 hour)
Move all images to event folder with categories for each part of the wedding day
Open each folder in Bridge and sort images by capture time
Rename images in each folder

Part 7: Back Up Edited Files (about 2 hours)
Back up event folder to external hard drive (keep on computer until project completed)
Create a disc backup of all edited images

Part 8: Pictage (about 20 hours)
Upload all images to Pictage (up to 20 hours)
Submit event and wait for Pictage to release event site (within 24 hours)
Choose main image and double check all settings
Release album to bride and groom and send them an email to explain how to use the Pictage gallery

Part 9: Slideshow (up to 3 hours)
Choose slideshow images and create slideshow
Send link to slideshow to bridge and groom
Upload slideshow to Facebook
(This step is sometimes done with the blog post)

Part 10: Album Design (up to 8 hours)
Pre-design album layout using InDesign
Export full size files and create a low resolution copy for proofing
Upload to proofing site
Send first draft to bride and groom for revisions
Make necessary changes and send to bride and groom for a second review
Make final changes and send to bride and groom for final review before sending to print
Submit files to album vendor to be printed

Part 11: Back Up Album Files
Back up final album pages to external hard drive

Part 12: Create Discs (about 2 hours)
Create disc of images for couple
Create DVD slideshow for couple

Part 13: Delivery of Final Product
Once the album has been received and reviewed for any errors, pack products for mailing or pick up

This is just a brief portion of what I do as a wedding photographer. Over the weekend, a friend of mine said photography was a dream job. And while it truly is an AMAZING job, it is not quite as glamorous as people might believe. Someone posted a link to this article on Facebook after I published this Wedding Wednesday post, so I thought I’d come back in and share it: http://www.ispwp.com/the-secret-life-of-wedding-photographers.html

I can honestly say that I have worked harder at this job than ANY job I have ever had in my life! But in our 4th year of business, I can tell you I love it even more now than when I first started.

So now you can understand why I love Starbucks so much (and why I add that 4th shot of espresso to my caramel macchiato)! I could outsource a large part of this process, but how an image is handled in post is part of the art of creating a digital image. We have a particular style that we want to achieve, and when we outsourced our work to one of the major editing companies before we were extremely disappointed with the result. And I have to admit, I love going through the images again and again, remembering each moment and watching the story come to life in the blog highlights and the slideshow.

And because every blog post is better with a photo, here’s one of Erin & Rob, who are getting married this weekend in Charlotte!!!

This week’s Wedding Wednesday post was written by one of our grooms, Jeff. We asked him to tell us about his experience doing a “First Look” on the wedding day. You can view some of their downtown Nashville wedding photos here!

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So, I have to admit, when Gwen and Matt first suggested to us that we should do a “first look” as part of the schedule of photography for our wedding day, although my bride was on board with the idea from the get go, I was dead set, adamantly against it. It went against all the freaky superstitions, it was wrong, it is not meant to be for the bride and groom to see each other BEFORE the wedding! It’s bad luck, right? Why would I do that? NO NO NO NO NO!

After some discussion with my fiancée I agreed to give it some thought….. I thought about it for the months to come, and particularly with ours being a night time low light wedding, We wanted to make sure we had the optimal lighting for the pictures we would remember FOREVER when looking back on our day! “No No No” but it made a little sense right? I mean, we are in 2010, not the 50’s right? NO!NO! well…maybe…I mean Jessi is ok with it…..but, what about the music? The nervous butterflies? OK, I will think about it some more.

I finally conceded “defeat” (or so I thought at the time) and said we would do our first look, as long as I could play music when my bride walked in. For me, it was about that moment, and all of the senses that go into it. The music playing, the decorations, the smell of the air, the feeling when I would see my bride for the very first time. So, we decided to have our first look in the very spot where we would have the wedding! A “dress rehearsal” of what would come just hours later.

OK, I admit it I was wrong to be so against the “first look”! We hit the music, I had my back turned, Gwen and Matt were snapping pictures, the music was playing, the sun was shining,and the butterflies were all over the place in my stomach as I turned around to see the most beautiful bride in the whole wide world! We were both so glad to not have to worry about 100 people seeing us, as we saw each other , and it gave us both the chance to enjoy a moment we would cherish for the rest of our lives. Plus, with the Nashville Sun shining down, and as much time as we needed, the pictures were of course unbelievable! So, for a guy who considers himself to be pretty old fashion when it came to weddings, I am certainly grateful that we had our “first look” moment all to ourselves!