We are SO excited to bring you these Lullwater Park wedding pictures! After the couple eloped, they came to us to schedule some Atlanta wedding photos! Emory University was a special place for the both of them – it’s the place they first met! So it seemed only fitting they’d choose to have their wedding pictures taken at Lullwater park – just next to the school! If you’re looking for wedding photo ideas, or Lullwater Park photography in general, this post is for you!
Alexis was so full of giggles! We LOVED it!!!
This SO reminds me of the Sound of Music!!!
That residence building in the background is the first place the couple met!
Probably one of the coolest features of Lullwater Park is it’s little waterfall wall! Such a pretty backdrop!
Gotta love that black and white!
Neiko checkin’ out his Bae. He didn’t think we’d catch him. BUT WE DID!
So intense!!! Alexis & Neiko KILLED their model walk!
Alexis & Neiko lookin’ sharp!
I just LOVED the view here! One of Atlanta’s best kept secrets by far.
If you’re looking for wedding photo ideas, consider a waterfall wall!
You wouldn’t be able to tell from looking at this photo, but this bridge was super wobbly and maybe suspended 40 feet up in the air? Alexis & Neiko were so brave! Ran straight to the middle of it to get this shot!
As an Atlanta wedding photography studio, we love it when we get a chance to shoot at some lesser known places in Atlanta! We will definitely be back to Lullwater Park!
Oh and THIS gem is the house that the President of Emory University resides in. Not too bad.
Yeah, it totally looks like a castle!
Those eyes! You know it’s love when someone looks at you the way Alexis is looking at Neiko!
Fierce!
Again! With those eyes!
Ok, so at this point, we definitely DID tell Neiko to check out his Bae! And check her out he did!
These two were so cute!!!
And because they’re super styling, we had to get some style shots.
If you’re looking for wedding photo/ wedding picture ideas, take a couple from Alexis & Neiko! They were on point.
I LOVE it when couples get their rings engraved. It adds an extra level of personalization to the rings you’ll be wearing for the rest of your lives!
We adore photographing engagement sessions at Piedmont Park! Piedmont Park photography allows us to capture the heart of Atlanta. For their Piedmont Park engagement photos, Ana & John decided to start at the Belt Line!
These first couple of photos were taken right along the side of the beltline next to Piedmont Park!
We couldn’t get enough of this beautiful lighting!
Would believe these two are not pro models???? Goregeous!!!
Beautiful artwork everywhere – you would never guess this rainbow wall was painted under an interstate overpass bridge! We cannot get enough of this amazing wall! (UPDATE: We are sad to say this artwork is no longer present on the Atlanta Beltline! The rainbow wall and coy fish wall are no longer there.)
See the TINY DOOR on the wall next to John’s arm?? Hehehehe
Guys…. This. This is what we live to create.
And this. OMG. That coy fish wall was insane! Gorgeous artwork. Guys, this was an interstate overpass bridge! Can you believe it???
These two were SO cute!
And of course, some rockin’ photos of the ring. John did an excellent job, don’t you think?
Lookin’ super fly guys!
Straight out of the pages of a magazine.
And of course when you’re at Piedmont Park, you just have to shoot here. You HAVE TO.
And these silhouette shots! Ahhhh! We can’t get enough of them.
Does it get anymore GQ than this???
And we gotta get more of that beautiful Atlanta city skyline! Could you do Piedmont Park photography without it???
And last but not least, probably some of our FAVORITE photos from this engagement session, saving the best for last! Taking some shots on that wall with the city in the background.
Why is having a consistent photography style important? Because brand identity.
Having a consistent style allows your biggest fans to identify your work anywhere in the world and gives your overall portfolio a unified look. When you can achieve that specific outcome every single time, it gives your clients confidence in the level of quality they can expect when they hire you.
But where do you begin? How does one even start to develop a photography style? Look for inspiration, and ask others for feedback!
Finding your style in photography through Inspiration
When you’re trying to find your photography style, starting with inspiration is a safe place to start.
Check out photographer portfolios you admire. Which images do you strongly resonate with? If you collected all the images that inspired you the most, what common factors link them all together?
Are there certain colors that stand out to you? Do most of the images have a very certain look and appeal to them? What are the people in the photos consistently doing or feeling? Are there specific locations you seem drawn to? What is the overall lighting quality like from photo to photo?
Whatever those common bonds are that tie your favorite images together – those links should represent the ideals you strive to capture with each and every photograph you take.
How to describe photography style by asking others
Although slightly more adventurous, but equally as rewarding – ask your clients for their opinion on your photography style! Don’t have clients? Do a couple of free photo shoots, and ask your friends for their opinions. It might seem a little scary, but the results are worth it!
A major shift happened in our wedding photography branding this past year. In an attempt to put a promo video together for our photography business, we started interviewing our couples for testimonials after working with them on their photo shoots. Then, something magical happened.
We started to learn what our actual clients thought about our brand & what it was like to work with us.
Prior to starting this project, I thought I had a strong idea as to what our brand represented. However, THINKING you know where your brand is vs KNOWING where your brand actually is are two entirely different things.
By interviewing our couples, we realized what we thought we were projecting out into the world was different than how our clients perceived us. We learned where we really shined and where we might have fallen flat. We took what we could, and we ran with it.
When most of our clients told us the same thing over and over again, we realized we’d created a consistent experience across the board. We took the words they used to describe us and infused them into our website & our overall brand. These words acted as a magnifying glass to help us focus on the things our clients loved us for and let us know the direction we should grow in.
In conclusion
Whether you’re a newbie or a veteran photographer, if you find yourself having an identity crises and asking yourself, “what is my photography style?” look for inspiration & ask others around you. 😉
Bianka & JB decided to do a Piedmont Park Photoshoot for their engagement session! We absolutely loved every minute with this sweet, adorable couple! Piedmont Park is such a fun place to shoot at the center of Atlanta – it is a must see if you’re stopping by to visit.
The park affords gorgeous views of the city skyline, and is right of the Atlanta Beltline. As an Atlanta wedding photographer, this might be one of our favorite places to photograph!
Below are a couple of our favorites from Bianka & JB’s engagement photos as well as a brief interview with the bride & groom to be!
How did the two of you meet?
Bianka: After being introduced to each other, we talked almost nonstop for a little while. I think we stayed up on the phone until 8am one night! He was very sweet, charming, and extremely disarming right from the start.
It wasn’t QUITE love at first sight because he was sooo shy that I couldn’t tell if he was comfortable with me. But after literally sweeping me off my feet on our first date, I was pretty smitten!
JB: When we first met we almost couldn’t stop talking to each other. We would have these marathon phone calls early on where we would talk about any and everything. I would be hoarse by the end of them but still wishing we didn’t have to hang up.
It wasn’t love at first sight, but the first time I saw her smile I could tell how kind and caring of a person she was (and that I was way out of my league! Still don’t know how I pulled that off).
LOVE that dress! Killin’ it Bianka! 😉
This lighting is killer! OMG! <3
How/ when did you start dating?
Bianka: He was so kind that he seemed too good to be true! I was really drawn to how gentle and considerate he was – and even more so now. We had our first date at Saigon Cafe in Woodstock – even though he lived all the way in Atlanta! – after a few weeks of talking.
At first, he was so much more timid in person that I was a bit afraid that the date wasn’t going well for me! Thankfully, he warmed up during the meal, and after some silly adventures in Town Center Mall that involved me getting stuck on a super plush mattress, we were both feeling really good about our future.
JB: She had a sense of humor that was irresistible, but I could tell she was holding back. Thankfully she’s opened up more and has no problem with any material now. We had our first date at Saigon Cafe in Woodstock after talking for two weeks, and I was nothing but a ball of nerves. She was able to put me at ease effortlessly, and by the end of the date I would say we were very sure we would see each other again soon.
Tell me about your relationship
Bianka: He is such an honest, considerate person. I hadn’t had a relationship with such open communication before, where we talked about every little thing and made sure to check in on each other’s happiness daily. It was really hard for me at first, but six years in, I think it’s one of the best things about our relationship. And it’s all thanks to him.
As for meeting his family, he might not know it, but I was pretty nervous! I’d heard SUCH good things about his parents and brother and knew how important they were to him, so I was worried I wouldn’t make a good impression. When it came to meeting my family, it’s always a bit nerve-wracking to have those first introductions, but I knew they would come to love him. And they have! Especially my 6-year-old nephew who’s so used to his Super Mario sessions with Uncle J.B.! He was the first to say “I love you,” and he did it right as I was feeling the same way.
JB: She honestly has unending patience and kindness. Even at my most difficult she’s still soldiering on and calmly talking things out with me. I was exceedingly nervous to meet her family because I was worried they wouldn’t approve of me and it was fairly early on in our relationship. But I think that’s an obvious theme here. Nervous man, in lucky break, wonders how he is dating this wonderful, beautiful woman.
Meeting my family was much easier as we’d been together for quite a while. Plus our mothers hit it off right away. I said “I love you” first after a hamfisted attempt at playing a relevant song to test the waters. I felt immediate relief when she said “I love you” back.
We are the luckiest Atlanta engagement photographers ever! Bianka & JB totally rocked some serious style at their session. Loved their formal engagement outfits!
Way to go JB! Way to go on that ring!!!!
At this point in the shoot, we’d ask Bianka to look at JB and tell him why she loved about him the most. Her reaction was priceless! <3
When did you know this person was the one?
Bianka: I think I realized it all at once. It struck me suddenly one day that I loved him so much and wanted a future with him, which was a wonderful and exciting feeling. Suddenly, romantic movies made more sense! But we were young, and we both wanted to take everything into consideration. We chose to take a few years to just be in love and learn more about each other. These were the sweetest years, and he spoiled me terribly. I’m so excited to be marrying him!
JB: It was a slow realization, seeing the little things she would do for me, how she could catch me off guard so easily and make me laugh so hard I could hardly breathe. But most of all she was devoted to our relationship and had a love so true that I can’t understand but am eternally grateful for. I of course questioned myself at this moment.
Even though I knew I loved her just as much, I wondered if I would be able to make her as happy as she makes me. As always, her love and kindness assuaged my fears and I’m thankful to finally be marrying the woman of my dreams.
Sharing a knowing look.
And of course that beautiful wall at Piedmont Park! You gotta get it.
How did the engagement happen?
Bianka: He did SO MUCH for the engagement! I was blown away. Long story short – I shattered my kneecap in 2015 and had to endure intense physical therapy for more than a year to be functional again. He said he wanted to celebrate my recovery by going to St. Lucia this year, which I thought was pretty extravagant, but of course I allowed him to do this for me. 😉 Little did I know, he was planning our engagement!
On our first full day on the island, we were supposed to go to the resort restaurant. Instead, he turned down to the beach and led me down a carpet to a candlelit dinner on the water. To my surprise, he’d arranged a 5-course private meal! He excused himself before dessert and came back with balloons and the MOST smug smile. The server was behind him, recording us on J.B.’s phone.
I couldn’t help myself and started laughing at him because I was so nervous and excited – I knew he was proposing! He had already told my parents and best friend, so when I spoke to them first, they were all like, “oh, really? We had NO IDEA.” It was perfect.
JB: I decided to go all out and take her on a dream vacation. We went to St. Lucia in May of 2017 and I surprised her with a beachfront dinner. She had a dream years earlier where I proposed by rowing up in a rowboat full of balloons to her standing on a pier. I knew I couldn’t actually navigate a boat up to her on a beach so I did my best to get close to that. I smuggled balloons down with me for the trip and located some helium and had the staff hide the balloons nearby.
The only part that didn’t go as planned was getting a tiny boat to hold the ring, but the balloons were plenty for her. I excused myself partway through dinner to grab the balloons and managed to catch her off guard staring at the ocean. We both got a little choked up but we managed to get the question and the answer out, and I couldn’t be happier that she said yes.
It was finally dark enough to take these GORGEOUS sunset photos!!! LOVE THEM!!!
Those colors!
Sharing a quiet moment together at the end of the day.
Last Questions! What’s the one thing about each other you couldn’t live without?
Bianka: His kindness, for sure. He always shows me love, even when I’m being difficult, and it makes me feel at home.
JB: Her sense of humor. No question. Even though I know she’ll make me laugh, she still has a way of sneaking in something you’d never suspect in perfect delivery.
Wedding days can be LONG – as the one vendor who arrives while you are getting ready in the morning and doesn’t leave until after you leave, we, as wedding photographers, probably know this more than most!
As you start to plan out your special day, you might soon realize just how long that day becomes.
If the Wedding Photography Collection you purchased comes with a limited number of hours, you might be debating whether it’s worth it to add on more time with your photographers, or if there are things you can cut from your wedding day timeline to make it work with the number of hours you’ve purchased.
While this decision is entirely personal and might be based on a number of other factors, we’ve put together a couple of sneaky tips and tricks to help save you time on your wedding day!
1) Streamline & Prioritize the Getting Ready Photos
What moments during your getting ready process do you want captured? On the wedding day, our wedding photography studio tends to photograph ANYTHING and EVERYTHING as it unfolds. But when pinched for time – are there unique and specific moments you’d like to prioritize over others?
If considering cutting back hours, we encourage our brides to prioritize and focus on the moments that matter the most to them.
The wedding day is a combination of stylized portraiture (both candid & posed in nature) as well as unique and special moments that tell the story of your day. Our advice is to prioritize the key portraits and moments that are the most important to you, and to cut back mercilessly on the lackluster moments that may be devoid of emotion or meaning. These are incredibly personal decisions to make – and decisions that only you have to be happy with at the end of the day.
2) Limit the number of Wedding Day Locations
Another factor to consider in shrinking back a photography timeline is to reduce the number of locations used on a wedding day. With fewer locations, come fewer opportunities to travel and fewer opportunities to get stuck in traffic. Every time a new location is used, time is required to break down and pack up gear, lug said gear into a vehicle, drive to the next location and maybe get stuck in traffic along the way, get to the next location, find a parking spot/ pay to park, unpack said gear, and get gear set up and established before photos can be taken again.
By limiting the number of locations used on your wedding day, the less time will be spent in travel & re-establishing gear again.
Fewer locations = less travel time & more photo time!
3) Group reception activities together
There are two ways to schedule your reception events (ie: first dances, cake cutting, toasts, bouquet/ garter toss, etc) – You can spread them out throughout the evening or schedule them back to back.
This decision might very well depend on the amount of time you have allotted for this portion of the day. After cocktail hour (1 hour) & dinner (1 hour) is done, how much actual reception time do you have left?
If you have 3 or 4+ hours left after cocktail hour & dinner, you have a longer reception! Spreading out your events throughout the evening is a nice way to break up your time. Rather than having 4+ hours of endless dancing, you have an event to look forward to every hour or so.
On the other hand, if you have 1-2 hours left after cocktail hour & dinner is said and done, spreading out your events throughout this 2 hour window will result in a break every 10-30 minutes. You’ll have just enough time to start a conversation with a friend before being whisked away for the next event.
If you find yourself with 1-2 hours left for your reception, we highly recommend scheduling your events back to back (where it makes sense). This ensures you’ll have at least an hour – hour and a half of uninterrupted dancing time, and uninterrupted time to mingle with the family and friends who came to your wedding.
Examples of grouping like events together would mean that your first dance, father-daughter dance, and mother-son dance happen back to back. If you held off until scheduling these dances for after dinner, you could also add in the cake cutting & toasts immediately after. As an added bonus, you & your guests would also get to eat dinner immediately after cocktail hour.
4) Stage an early send off/ No send off
The last tip we have for you to save time on your wedding day is to stage an early send off or go without one.
If you don’t care much for send off photos, you can cut your photographers’ coverage at some point during the evening once enough reception photos have been covered.
If you would prefer to have these send off photos, you also have the option of staging a send off earlier in the evening.
During a typical reception, the crowd tend to thin out as families and elderly guests start to leave. Staging an early send off will often act as a cue for these people to leave at that time, leaving the fun party animals behind to dance the night away!
If you have a smaller guest count to begin with (less than 100), staging an early send off will ensure there are more people to see you go & you’ll have send off photos with the majority of your guests.
Summary
At the end of the day, you always have the option to add on more time with your wedding photographers. However, if you would like to stay within your purchased number of hours, you have several options available to you if you’re looking to save time on your wedding day.
You can streamline & prioritize the photos taken during the getting ready portion of the day.
You can limit the number of locations to reduce travel time.
You can schedule your reception events back to back.
You can stage an early send off, or cut it all together.
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!
