If you are looking for some type of botanical gardens in Atlanta, GA, definitely check out the Cator Woolford Gardens, supported by the Frazer Center located in the North Druid Hills area! This is an awesome location for engagement sessions and weddings alike! These gardens sit on 39 acres of property and offer a lot of background variety for photos.
We had the pleasure of photographing Sam & Tim for their engagement pictures a few weeks back! These two are so in love, and were so much fun to photograph! Check out the slideshow below to see their engagement session, or keep scrolling down for some of the highlights!
My fiance and I are wedding photographers based in Atlanta, GA. This is how we planned our cruise wedding. This article will continue to be updated as we navigate through this experience together.
At the time of writing this article (September 2018), we have been engaged for almost 2 years. We have put off planning our wedding time and time again due to a variety of reasons including personal finances, family health problems, and the paradox of choice that comes with having too many options available to you. With my dad’s cancer now in remission, and our finances in a better place, there never seemed a better time to start planning for our wedding!
Why plan a cruise wedding?
We started brainstorming all of the possibilities. Being active professionals in the local wedding community in Atlanta for the past 10 years, we knew we always wanted to plan a destination wedding. We had initially thrown ideas around like an intimate wedding in Vegas, or an all inclusive resort in Mexico, etc. With all of our ideas floating around, we knew we wanted our wedding to be affordable for family and friends to attend, and we wanted to provide an amazing experience for those who chose to come out.
It came to me in a dream one night! Of all the places to find wedding inspiration! The next morning I contemplated the logistics of planning a cruise wedding. It seemed to check off all of our boxes.
Cool destination? Check.
Affordability? It’s possible depending on the cruise line, check.
Non traditional & non cookie cutter? Check.
Does it provide a unique & awesome experience for our guests? Check.
How to choose the best cruise lines for weddings
Ideally we were looking to plan a shorter cruise over a weekend. Weekday cruises & longer cruises are less affordable, and would require our guests to take off more vacation time from work. We also wanted to choose a port that was close enough to drive to if our family and friends preferred not to fly.
We chose our cruise line and port based on availability. When we started looking at the nearest ports within driving distance, we were limited to just 3 (Jacksonville, Orlando, and Tampa). When we looked at the cruise lines available at these ports that offered 3&4 night cruises, we also realized we only had a couple of options available to us. Between Carnival, Disney, and Royal Caribbean, we personally had the best experiences with Royal Caribbean in the past.
We looked at the Royal Caribbean cruises available at the time of year we wanted to get married that matched our criteria (3 or 4 night cruise, over a weekend, and cool locations!). With only 2 or 3 cruises available, there was clearly one winner with the best cruise itinerary that covered 2 islands in the Bahamas within 3 nights.
Cruise wedding reviews : Should I get married on a cruise?
Once we had a fairly good idea of the cruise we wanted to get married on, we started to research Royal Caribbean Wedding reviews, and just cruise wedding reviews in general – we wanted to cover all of our bases. What we found was a very mixed bag.
There were absolute nightmare horror stories posted online highlighting terrible experiences with various cruise lines that dropped the ball when planning weddings & terrible customer support stories. There were also equally great experiences and stories highlighted. After reading as many cruise wedding reviews as we could find, we came to a consensus.
The most disappointed brides seemed to be the ones with the highest expectations. As wedding professionals, we know all too well that anything that can go wrong will go wrong on a wedding day. Wedding professionals do the best they can to prepare for mishaps in advance, but sometimes there are circumstances beyond anyones control that can influence how a wedding day might unfold. In an ideal world, we wouldn’t let those things ruin our day and ruin our precious memories. We would take it in stride & focus on what’s most important to us. We would focus on enjoying our day and creating amazing memories & experiences with the ones we love.
Another thing we read about in the various cruise wedding reviews we stumbled upon is that cruise weddings are not for everyone. Many wedding packages with cruise lines are fairly restrictive in nature – including the times and dates available for ceremonies, the legality of the ceremonies, the vendors available, etc. This is both a blessing and a curse. For the super laid back bride who doesn’t want to plan anything, this is ideal. For the more type a bride looking for a higher level of control and more options for customization, cruise weddings might not provide the best experience.
When we contacted Royal Caribbean’s wedding team, we were prepared for anything! We received a copy of their wedding packages & deliberated on the one that might work best for us.
If you’re looking for a great outdoor location idea for your engagement session, family session, or any type of photography session with a gorgeous outdoor backdrop, consider one of the beautiful sunflower farms in Georgia! Here is a round up of some Sunflower farms to check out –
Anderson’s Sunflower Farms
Located in Cumming, Georgia, Anderson’s Sunflower Farms is a farm that focuses solely on sunflowers! For business hours and sunflower season, check out their website.
Address:
3360 Shiloh Road
Cumming, GA 30040
Copper Creek Farm
Copper Creek Farm, located in in Calhoun, Ga is a great family friendly venue run by David and Sabrina. Not only does this farm offer gorgeous sunflowers during sunflower season, they also do corn mazes, haunted houses, class field trips, and even weddings! Find out more info on their website here.
Address:
1514 Reeves Station Rd SW
Calhoun, GA 30701
Phone: 706-280-5592
Fausett Farms
Perhaps one of the best know Sunflower farms in Georgia, Fausett Farms is a family run business that’s been around for 60+ years! Originally a poultry farm, they made a change in 2011, and now offer 30ish acres of beautiful sunflower fields! Check out their website for parking information, photography permits, and sunflower season.
Address:
11336 Hwy 136 West
Dawsonville, GA 30534
Phone: 706-265-9661
Prospect Farms
Prospect Farms, located at 1839 Prospect Road, in Lawrenceville, Georgia offers beautiful sunflower gardens during sunflower season – typically a 2 week window in June! You can check out their facebook page or instagram (@prospectfarms) for up to date photography permit information and the exact dates of the current sunflower season!
In addition to sunflower fields, Prospect Farms also offers daffodil fields in April, wild flower fields in May, pumpkin patches in the fall, and christmas trees in the winter. Scottish highland cows also graze the farm if you’re looking for a super southern, country style photo session!
Current photo permit rates at the time of writing this article (Fall 2018) –
$30/ 30 minutes
$60/ 60 minutes
$120/ 2 hours
$195/ 4 hours
$395/ 8 hours
*rates likely to change – check with the establishment to get current rates!
While not the center of attraction, you can find sunflowers at the William L. Brown Farm Market if you go at the right time of year. They typically have them in June, but call ahead to make sure they’re in bloom before heading down! Check out their website for more info.
Address:
4334 GA Highway 49 North
Montezuma, GA 31063
Phone: 478-472-8767
Looking for more Georgia Sunflower Farms?
Did we leave out a farm? Are any of the farms we listed out of date? Please post a comment below, and we’re happy to update our information!
Are you an up and coming photographer brand new to the Atlanta scene? Are you looking for a new Atlanta photography group to connect with? Are you browsing through the first page of google to email photographers to offer your second shooting services to them so you can get your Atlanta portfolio started?
If you’re new to starting wedding photography in the Atlanta area and looking to connect with photographers to network or second shoot with, my team and I have put a list together of some facebook groups, monthly meetings, and educational resources you HAVE to check out. You can meet other professionals and work with a TON of photographers throughout the city. They’re all pretty nice too. 😉 I recommend you join the facebook groups that interest you & introduce yourself! Go to monthly meetings, meet the photographers in the Atlanta scene, & network!
Shoot & Share – general business advice, lead sharing, second shooter recruitment
Facebook Groups for Networking & Meet Ups
Trigger Happy – Meet up once a month for inspirational lectures, food, and occasionally shoots/ headshot swaps. Great for networking and meeting other photographers in the Atlanta area.
Tuesdays Together – This one is really good for networking with other entrepreneurs or other vendors in the wedding industry. They meet once a month on a Tuesday. Good for networking with other vendors, and talking about business topics.
Styled Shoots by Rick+Anna Photography – If you’re looking to grow your wedding portfolio, this is a monthly styled shoot group. It will usually cost a little $$ to cover the cost of models, professional hair & makeup, and a wedding venue location, but it’s an excellent way to build your portfolio from the ground up.
CreativeLive – High production live video education platform – Good for catching live workshops taught by industry leaders on photography, business, or anything entrepreneurial. Free to watch, $$ for purchasing workshops for anytime access.
Rentals
Aperturent – This is the “Atlanta-based” rental place is located in Sandy Springs off Roswell Road. They rent out camera bodies, lenses, lighting, etc. You can have them deliver equipment rentals to you, or you can go in & pick up your order.
Good luck in your future endeavors! Hope you find an Atlanta Photography Group for you.
We had a blast with Rachna & Shamir on their wedding day! We love all the colors we get to see when we photograph South Asian weddings! The Hyatt Regency Suites Atlanta Northwest was a gorgeous venue, very modern, lots of clean lines. We couldn’t get enough of it. Below are a few highlights from the day, as well as more photos in the slideshow at the end.
One of our favorite things to photograph at an Indian wedding is all the beautiful henna! So rich, so detailed, and absolutely gorgeous!
And all the jewelry pieces are amazing as well!
Have I mentioned yet red is my favorite color???
Loved all the different colors and textures of her bracelets!
Rachna & Shamir seeing each other for the first time that day! 🙂
Would you believe this couple doesn’t model professionally??? Look at those faces! So fierce. I LOVE it! As Atlanta wedding photographers, we always do our best to coax certain expressions from our couples, but when they just bring it…. My jaw drops!
Shhhh! A stolen kiss before the wedding!
LOVED all these clean lines at the Hyatt Regency!!! So pretty!
We absolutely loved all these bold colors! <3
Ideally if Rachna & Shamir hadn’t done a first look, I imagine this would be the first time they would see each other on the wedding day, behind the cloth!
All smiles, these two! We couldn’t have asked for a happier couple!
Those colors!!!
A couple of details of the reception room!
Such a cute cake topper!
And custom forks always become such a keepsake!
Before we left for the day, Rachna & Shamir wanted to get a few more couples creative photos!
Hi! We're Jaimie & Kyle (+Associates) with Jaimie Dee Photography. We're Atlanta photographers based in the metro area and service clients all over the globe. Jaimie Dee Photography was established in 2008. We're primarily a wedding and portrait studio. Our images are crisp, clean & colorful and strike a balance between classic and candid styled portraits. Aside from the photography, we help you craft the perfect photo experience - from the beginning planning stages to the finished artwork hanging on your walls. When you're in front of our camera, we'll also offer you gentle guidance through a combo of stationary and movement based poses. We'll help bring out your inner diva too - even if you're shy! If you're looking for a photographer in the metro Atlanta area or beyond, we'd love to meet you!
