One thing I love about destination weddings, is that couple’s often ask me to cover the Rehearsal Dinner or Welcome Party.  Many times, destination clients like to make an entire weekend out of the wedding festivities and welcome guests with a party or rehearsal dinner to welcome them to their destination.  The atmosphere at these events are usually fun, relaxed and everyone has a bit of a “vacation mood” since they are in a fun location.

I also love covering rehearsal dinner’s because I get to know who-is-who within the family and wedding party the night before the wedding.  This really helps with knowing the key players and who should be a focus in my photos.  Friends and family will also toast the couple and I love hearing all of their stories from how they met, to what they were like growing up or in college.  It’s fun to get to know some new details about them and make those qualities shine in their photos.

But, you don’t have to have a destination wedding in order to book me for your Rehearsal Dinner.  Plenty of local clients hire me to capture the Rehearsal Dinner, often when the wedding has a huge guest list and the Rehearsal Dinner is more intimate with family & wedding party only.

Here was one of my favorite rehearsal dinner’s from last year - Georgia & Scott’s Rehearsal at Piermont Cottage in Highlands, North Carolina.  It was so sweet and intimate and had so many fun details.  Enjoy!

Rehearsal Dinner Location: Piermont Cottage

Catering: Old Edwards Inn

Really, that pretty much sums it up: “Planes, Trains & Automobiles”.  go, Go, GO!!!  2011 was a stellar year and really I can’t even believe that it’s over.  I think my mind is still somewhere back in September.  With all the travel and new happenings here at MSP, I feel like this past year has been on fast-forward, being thrust from one city to the next all the time shooting and doing what I absolutely love to do most.  It really makes me not want this year to be over, can it stay 2011 for a little while longer?

This year, I felt like I lived on planes, trains & automobiles.  I can’t even count how many miles I’ve traveled.  Being a destination wedding photographer, it is part of the job - and don’t get my wrong, I absolutely LOVE traveling for weddings.  I think it is a must for me and my business because I get to see new things, new places, new people and be inspired at every beautiful wedding.  It was definitely the theme of the year, and with opening a new office on the west coast as well as maintaining an office in Atlanta - the frequent flier miles have piled up!  But, I feel like the train is moving just a little too fast and I’m not ready for 2011 to be over.

You see,  most years - and definitely for the last 5 years - I am always excited for the new year.  Out with the old, new beginnings, new opportunities, new friends, new places.  Amazing how such a simple thing, the change from one day to the next can bring so much hope and optimism.  I know last year at this time, that was definitely the case - I was SO ready to begin anew and wash away the last year and get to start over.  Hurry, hurry new year and get here fast!  But this year, it is different.  2011 has been SO great that I just don’t want it to be over yet.  I couldn’t have imagined how great this year has been on so many levels.  So much has happened, but it just seemed to have flashed by so quickly.

So, my wish for 2012 is that it is even better than 2011 - if that can even be possible - and that time slows down just a bit for me and I get to enjoy it more. Wishing all of my lovely, wonderful clients, vendors, colleagues and friends and very, very Happy New Year! Let’s make it amazing!

***REVISION/ADDITION:  After completing this post, and finally having a few moments to breathe after all the craziness of this year…I was thinking about my New Year’s resolution and goals for 2012.  And well……….I had a hard time coming up with resolutions, but the list of business goals was long.  There was a definite theme to the goals I listed…and yes, you guessed it…they all had to do with “Planes, Trains & Automobiles”.  Go figure.  I’ve already booked weddings in some great locations for 2012, but thought I’d list some of the places I’d like to go on my wishlist.  It will be fun to see how many of these get crossed off the list at the end of next year:

Santa Barbara, New York City, Maine, Prince Edward Island, San Juan Islands off of Washington State, Santa Fe, Charleston, Chicago, Rhode Island, San Francisco, Italy - Amalfi Coast, Capri & Bari, Greece, Spain, Ireland, London.

I am so honored to have been selected as one of Wedding Chicks Hand Picked Vendors!  Thanks so much Wedding Chicks for including me with such a distinguished group of colleagues, so humbled.  Thanks!!!

Click HERE to see my listing!

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I’m so excited to announce the launch of my new website, branding & blog design!  I’ve been working on this for months and I’m so glad to finally share it with everyone.  It was a long process that not only included a full website redesign and blog update, but rebranding as well.  Here’s a little insight into the process and what to expect from the new site - enjoy! 

Let’s start at the beginning.  When I first decided that it was time for a website update, I thought long and hard about who I was and what I wanted my site to be.  The bad part was, my current branding didn’t really match who I was and the clients I wanted to attract.  So, I enlisted the expertise of Emily Ley with Emily Ley Creative.  Emily created a new brand & logo for my company and did a fabulous job matching the graphic look to who I am and the style of my photographs.  We went through many design iterations before finally settling on this beauty of a logo:

Emily also worked on updating my colors and creating a new pattern for my blog background.  One of my favorite elements is the nature-themed graphic element in my logo.  She designed it so it could be broken into little bits & pieces of the bigger logo.  For example, a part of the stem & leaf is broken off and used as the little graphic next to each of my blogpost titles (see above).  I not only love Emily’s graphic elements, but the words she used to describe my brand, so beautiful:

“Melissa Schollaert Photography is fresh, clean and breathable.  Like her images, Melissa is full of light and embodies the natural style upon which MSP is based.”  -Emily Ley Creative

Now, for the website!  I wanted something very simple & clean that really showed off my images - nothing fussy.  Just like my old website, I created this website myself using ShowitSites.  I am truly a fan of Showit and the ability to create a great looking site myself.  I also love that I can update it at a moment’s notice anytime I want.  It was fairly simple to create a template - it was deciding which images to include that was the hard part!

In addition to the redesign, there are many new features.  Here’s a peek into a few:

1.  LOTS OF IMAGE GALLERIES - I’ve included many more wedding galleries including Featured Weddings & Destination Weddings.

2.  DESTINATION GALLERIES - Since destination weddings are such a huge part of my business, I decided to dedicate a large portion of the galleries to destination weddings.  You’ll also find something BRAND NEW from MSP under this menu as well - Destination Engagements!  I’m so excited to start offering these destination engagement sessions to my clients.  So many clients may be getting married in their hometown, but also have a special place afar that they want to incorporate into their wedding & engagement.  I’ve had many clients request destination engagement sessions, so I’m really excited to officially start offering them to everyone!

3.  INFORMATION - I’ve incorporated much more information into the site under the Information menu of the site.  There is everything from Pricing info, what to expect from your Wedding Experience or Portrait Experience, Destination Wedding information, links to purchase my Fine Art Prints and much more.  There is also a special About section that includes my bio & more information about my style.

4.  STYLED SHOOTS - I’ve done so many styled shoots in the last year that I thought I’d show some of these great shoots to inspire my clients and potential clients.  They are a great source of inspiration and range in feel from the beaches of California, to the snowy lakefront of Chicago to the warm marshes of Charleston, South Carolina.  {To any vendors out there, MSP is also available to photograph your inspiration shoot - please inquire for more information!}

5.  NEW OFFERINGS - MSP is also pleased to offer new services to my clients!  I’ve already mentioned the Destination Engagement sessions & Styled Shoots - I’m also offering a new shoot called the “Love Shoot”.  This session is for anyone, whether you’ve been married for 5 days, 5 years or 50 years, it is a great way to commemorate anniversaries and other special occasions.  The clients shown in the Love Shoots gallery decided that on their 1 year anniversary, they would have a picnic celebration & dress up in their wedding attire again to celebrate.  I love the idea of this shoot because it can be for anyone, any age, there are no limits.  You can wear your wedding dress, your everyday clothes, or even go swimming in your two-piece with your love.  It is completely up to you to have fun and be creative with it.

With the rebranding & new design came a little update to the blog - check it out!

Again, I’m so happy to launch this site and I hope you enjoy peeking around and having a look - don’t forget to GO SEE THE NEW WEBSITE HERE!!!

Enjoy!

Lindsey & Tyler had a beautiful Rehearsal Dinner held at the Wimbish House Mansion on Peachtree Street in Midtown Atlanta.  The event and all the details were meticulously planned by the Mother of the Groom, Lynda & Lindsay Pitt of Toast Signature Celebrations.  The Wimbish House was a great setting for the southern affair which featured black & white details with gold accents, silver mint julep cups as vases for hydrangeas and mint juleps as the signature cocktail for the evening.  Candlelight filled the gorgeous hall at the mansion where a seated dinner was served.  The night ended with a surprise performance by the Groom’s college a capella singing group, The Bakers Dozen!

Check out Lindsey & Tyler’s Rehearsal Dinner featured on the Atlanta Occasions Magazine Blog HERE.

VENDORS
Venue:  The Wimbish House
Planner:  Lindsay Pitt of Toast Signature Celebrations
Caterer:  Affairs to Remember
Invitations and Escort cards:  All For You Invitations
Videographer:  One Chance Wedding Videography
Rentals:   Andrew Tent Company
Linens:  Tabletoppers Inc.

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