Erica M Photography » Inspiration

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Erica M — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 18:07:59 +0000

Hello lovely blog readers! I know a lot of people, both the single and coupled sort, cringe at Valentine’s Day. I can’t say I’m one of those people. I always loved putting cartoon Valentine’s in my classmates decorated shoeboxes, thinking up outfits involving red and pink, and most of all eating heart shaped cookies and candy! In grade school I would wake up each Valentine’s morning to a festive gift bag hanging on my bed post stuffed with Valentine’s treats from my Mom and Dad. In high school, I didn’t have a boyfriend so my single girlfriends and I would be each others dates for pizza and a movie. I have always loved this day for celebrating the people in my life that I love, not just a significant other! So to all my Valentine’s in cyberspace, thanks for being here, reading my blog, and supporting me! I love you!

Okay, I’m done with the mushy stuff now ;) Today is also a special day because two awesome sites have launched and I couldn’t wait to share!

The Urban/Anthropologie family just launched BHLDN, pronounced Beholden, and I’m in LOVE! Not only do they have fabulous wedding dresses, they have dresses for bridesmaids or for you to wear as a wedding guest! They also have beautiful lingerie, shoes, jewelry, cover ups, and hair adornments. You don’t have to be a bride to shop here ;) I also love BHLDN because they have sized everything in typical street sizes, you receive your wedding dress straightaway (no waiting 6 months for it to come in!), and you can order multiple dresses and return the ones you don’t like – for free! Brilliant!

Fred and I aren’t quite here yet, but I can’t help but swoon over On to Baby! This site offers lovely inspiration from showers and birthday parties to nurseries and gorgeous newborn shoots. I can’t stand the cuteness! I hope this site gives you all sorts of adorable ideas for your next family shoot :)

Inspirational Wedding Websites: Clovis NM Wedding Photographer

Erica M — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 13:58:26 +0000

A friend from high school recently got engaged and mentioned that she signed up at The Knot, which was also the first thing I typed into my browser when….well let’s be honest…before I got engaged. It seems like The Knot is one of the first resources that pops into a bride to be’s head. It’s a great place to get started with a lot of practical information. But there are also so many other great wedding websites to gather ideas and inspiration from! I recommended some of my favorites to my friend and she thanked me. She said she wanted to look at more sites but didn’t know where to look! And if she didn’t, I think it’s safe to assume other brides don’t know where to go either. I haven’t added much description to the 13 (you’d rather be overwhelmed than underwhelmed right?!) sites I’ve listed, but most contain daily blogposts of amazing real weddings, creative diy resources, and great vendor guides. Enjoy!

100 Layer Cake

Green Wedding Shoes

Grey Likes Weddings

The Inspired Bride : One of my favorite things on this site is their beautiful color palates…I love love love them!

Once Wed : One of my favs, especially the used wedding dresses section, you’ll find some awesome designer dresses here!

Project Wedding : Among many other resources they offer free wedding websites to personalize.

Ruffled

Style Me Pretty : Another one of my absolute favorites! Loads of gorgeous real weddings.

Wedding JoJo : Well designed free wedding websites to personalize!

Gold & Citrus : Bridal Line

Erica M — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 13:49:39 +0000

Sara and Rich, graduated with me from MICA in 2008 and created Gold & Citrus, an awesome jewelry company based in San Francisco. For their August wedding Sara created necklaces for each girl in her bridal party and recently launched them as Gold & Citrus’ new bridal line! Each necklace is lovingly named after the girl it was created for and my photos from the wedding day are featured alongside the jewelry :) Go have a look at the new fall collection too! You may find yourself buying something…just because!

Color Inspiration Board No. 1 : Jaci & Dusty

Erica M — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 04:39:50 +0000

My mind has been a bit all over the place lately. Long lists of things to do and unable to prioritize these lists, I find myself wandering from task to task not staying on one for too long. I remember my mom getting upset at me in elementary school because it would take me so long to get ready in the morning. Not because I was oversleeping or didn’t know what to wear. I would simply sit on the edge of my bed for a good twenty minutes and just let my mind wander from one thing to the next before being snapped out of it and hurried along into clothes. Any clothes at that point. I don’t consider myself spacey (although I’m surely making it appear that way) but just curious. Having many inspirations and ideas often got me in trouble when I was younger. I now see this curiosity as a blessing. No longer do I have the confines of having to catch a bus or do school work.

The same was true throughout college. Though it was a fine arts school you were asked to be more specific. My college had fifteen fine art degrees to be procured and I wanted a little piece of almost all of them. I took drawing, painting, sculpture, graphic design, fibers, art history, printmaking, video, and of course photography. Photography has always been a love of mine. I would take my mom’s point and shoot film camera out on adventures with friends and go thorough whole rolls of film. My mother would be furious. 20 pictures of clouds and 16 more of designs I would create with dirt, stones, feathers, and flowers. I had no idea who Robert Smithson was at the age of 8 but I was already unknowingly making my way to art school. Photography is my first and my best but I have also always been keen on design and color. The people I shoot of course are an inspiration to me and every shoot is a new experience but photographers need inspiration from other sources to start a shoot stimulated and bursting at the seems with ideas, creativity, and energy! And now I feel ready to tackle my to do list for the day, just needed my creative outlet first :)

This is my first color inspiration board…all the images are from Jaci and Dusty’s wedding a few weeks ago. This wedding was an inspiration unto itself. Jaci is a non-traditional girl and her wedding aesthetic reflected that. I want to show brides that you don’t have to pick a trendy color scheme or limit your self to lilac, and only lilac. You can expand your palate and keep things tasteful and beautiful. Jaci’s main colors were plum and fuchsia seen throughout the bouquets and her matron of honor’s dress. Espresso was seen as an anchoring color in her table cloths which allowed all her gorgeous floral arrangement to really pop, especially with their hints on tangerine here and there. Seafoam was another great accent color seen in the fabulous antique door used as a prop and in all the girls jewelry.

I really enjoyed doing this and want to continue, not just with my wedding photos but with inspiration drawn from all facets of life :) Let me know what you think!