Ashley Sturm Photography Joins Luxe's NW 7 Photographers

Hey Family & Friends! I've now been selected to join the ranks of Luxe Event Productions Exclusive NW-7, a group of the Northwest's top Seven Wedding Photographers! I had the pleasure of connecting with Misty, Luxe's owner after noticing and commenting on her blog which features real weddings, DIY tips, local vendors and event ideas. We started emailing and within short order were sharing ideas, talking about MY wedding, and arranging coffee outings to scheme about networking our businesses. I'm so glad we did! Not only is she helping me plan my wedding, she's got me guest blogging every other Friday to share my wedding planning experiences. In fact, tomorrow I will be posting about finding your vendors, be sure to stop by her blog!

When Misty approached me about being part of Luxe's NW7 I was so excited and flattered to be included in this exclusive group of fabulous local wedding photographers. I hope you'll take a moment to stop by her blog and see my feature, it's pretty snazzy! Thank you all for your support and encouragement as I continue to grow and nurture my business!

Luxe Event Productions provides a care-free wedding planning experience sure to make each bride feel pampered, relaxed and in-the-know. Misty ability to work with any budget pulling from affordable resources such as Ebay, Craft Warehouse, Costco, amongst many others makes her advice and knowledge valuable to any bride with a budget to please. I've been so thankful to have her guidance and help as I navigate the ups and down of wedding planning. Her experience, personality, and love for her job makes me a firm believer in her business, Luxe Event Productions and I advise any Bride to visit her website and see what wonderful ways she can help YOU!

Save Up To 30% During Spring Print Sale / Salem, OR Photographer

Two week Print Sale starts today! Save up to 30% on your print order when placed by March 30, 2010. This is a great opportunity to place your order from last year's session or purchase additional prints for family, yourself, or to prepare for senior graduation announcements! See below for more details.

*Discount cannot be applied with any other coupons or promotions.

Megan & Ryan Ward / Couple Photography Salem, OR

How do you explain in a short blog entry the value of a friend, the impact a person has made on your life? When that person has been such a support, inspiration, and source of joy in your everyday life a cyberspace blurb seems small. But you know what, I LOVE Megan and and thank God everyday for making our paths cross. Laughter is effortless when I'm with her, it often gets out of hand, which causes some eye rolls from my Ryan and her Ryan. We work on business matters together, oh, did I mention her custom invitation business Red Pearl Designs? Well it's fabulous! Conversations range from iphone apps to how to file business taxes, loving our Ryan's to not always washing our hands after the bathroom (sorry Megan, I couldn't resist), and trusting God as we endeavor on similar paths of marriage, owning a business, and someday even having kids. We cherish the ability to be 100% ourselves together and relate on so many levels. Megan is a daily reminder of God's love and concern for me, not only to meet my needs, but to exceed what I could imagine is possible in a friendship.

Megan also has a closet full of ridiculously cute clothes, I'm kinda jealous. ; )

Today I'm posting some photographs I did of my dearest friend Megan and her husband Ryan on my birthday (what a treat!) last December. It was a chilly 34degrees, she wore the cutest dress in spite of her freezing legs, which look pretty hot, right? We even managed to get Ryan in a classy argyle sweater!

Wedding Planning / Ideas, Organizaion, & Setting A Course

Today I want to jump right into my experiences in gathering ideas, getting organized, and setting a course for your wedding, based on my experiences. Whew, we're in for a long haul!

I'm going to let you in on a little secret: I started gathering ideas and sources months before we were engaged. I just knew it was coming, and couldn't help but begin to dream of what my wedding day would be. At first, I had no idea what I wanted, which is strange considering I've always looked forward to being a bride on my wedding day. The last time I had really thought about it was 10 and 5 years ago when my two older sisters got married. I have photographed some really cute weddings, but my focus was always on photography, not what things I could incorporate into my own wedding.



Gathering Ideas:

My first inclination was to jump on my laptop and gather ideas, so I fired up Firefox and went to TheKnot.com and Brides.com. Both had good information, but it felt a little cookie-cuter for me. Somehow, thank God, I started to stumble on some alternative sites, which I list below, that were packed full of unique real weddings, DIY projects, budget saving ideas, freebies, and more. One of them of course, was Luxe, which is how I met Misty, chose her as my wedding coordinator, and ended up guest blogging. (Heads up, that's the topic of next Friday's entry; finding your vendors!)

I can't say enough how happy I am that I browsed these sites for ideas! What I've found has given me the spark to make my wedding a truly unique expression of who Ryan and I are, think outside the box, be bold with my ideas, and pull everything off for an affordable price. If you've visited Luxe's wedding blog, Bliss, that's a good sign you're on the right track! Also make sure to bookmark the sites I've listed and be inspired!

Getting Organized

As I poured through the archives I found myself spending hours just soaking in all the amazing ideas and photographs from others' weddings. I grabbed each image that spoke to me, and soon had accumulated more pictures than is imaginable. One thing I did right away that I would strongly recommend; Create a specific folder on your computer titled Wedding, and sub-folders titled Dress, Decor, Bridesmaids, Groom, Flowers, and so forth, and be diligent to keep your ideas organized! This has helped me so much, I pretty much become an unproductive puddle of gush when things aren't organized to the T.
Another sign I'm an organization-aholic: I created a similar set of folders in my online bookmarks to keep track of the sites I wanted to remember. Anything from a vendor's site to an Etsy shop with funky headpieces to, Luxe!

Setting A Course

Having everything organized allowed me to look through and understand what I was drawn to, which helped me define my wedding's identity. I can tend to be all over the place and ooh and awe at every creative thing that comes down the pike. I realized I had to figure out what mattered most and the difference between what I liked and what I LOVED! This is where I started to set my course, or in other words, define what I wanted and focus my attention appropriately.


I knew I wanted a soft vintage look, eclectic decor, a relaxed reception, and lots of cream, coffee, and paled pinks and golds. I also fell in love with a mid-toned gray suit for my handsome guy, the sweetheart top on a wedding dresses, feminine details, and cute signs that said things like, "Cheer when the couple is announced Man & Wife."


I could go on and on but I'll wrap this up by sharing some amazing wedding sites for you to visit and bookmark. Seriously, DO IT! Not planning a wedding but love creative inspiration and eye candy? You know what to do, click the links ; )

Wedding Inspiration Websites that will BLOW YOUR MIND

100 Layer Cake
Brenda's Wedding Blog
Green Wedding Shoes
Once Wed
Ruffled
So This Is Bliss
Style Me Pretty
The Bride's Cafe
The Wedding Chicks
Utterly Engaged

Now that I've shared a little about my process and hinted at my wedding style, I'd love to hear what all you have in the works for YOUR wedding, whether it be past present, or future!

Are you going Black & White Modern? Rustic barn complete with cowboy boots? All-out 80's dance party? Do tell!

Red Pearl Designs / Salem OR Commercial Photographer

I can't express enough how EXCITED I am about my shoot last week with Megan of Red Pearl Designs. If you haven't already, go over to her website and blog to look at her stunning wedding invitations! Megan is my dearest friend and a HUGE source of encouragement and inspiration to me daily. I'm serious when I say if she were a boy I'd marry her! Plus, we both have a Ry-Guy (meaning our guys' names are Ryan).

A word to all brides out there who want custom knock-your-socks-off wedding invitations, Megan not only is a capable of making your dream invitations come true, she's a remarkable woman who will treat you like a queen!

We had such a blast on this shoot building all the unique sets with a collection of props we found around our houses. OK, enough said...let the quality of these invitations I photographed speak for themselves!




Let me know if you are drooling over this first set as much as we were!





Lovin' Megan's shoes.


I'm secretly jealous of her gorgeous ring!




These last three are Racquel & Casey's invitations, the beautiful couple who's wedding I photographed last August.



Hope you enjoyed, comment with a shout out for Red Pearl Designs!