The fact is that planning and executing an awesome wedding is a harrowing experience for everyone involved, even when everyone involved is playing nice and no one is a ‘zilla. (bridezilla, groomzilla, momzilla, etc) And, let’s face it- even the nicest of us have those ‘zilla moments.

My husband and I planned a very short engagement: four months. Four months to get a dress, invitations, bridal party, ceremony location, reception hall, photographer, ect, ect, ect!! I was still living at home. Did my mom want to kill me at some points? Yep. Did I want to kill her at some points? You bet. (Don’t worry- we still love each other. And we’re both still alive.)

It started out very well as my new fiancée and I got to work planning it all out. We were organized! We were confident! We were in love! But as the days grew closer, the stress started pouring in. Money issues, family issues, and the extra worry of my moving to Lansing and moving into what would become our apartment… it was a big load, and not everything was going smoothly.

My first ‘zilla moment came when I was designing our invitations. As a wedding photographer, I thankfully had access to a fantastic professional lab that would be able to print them as I wanted. I quickly set to work on the perfect design. At this point, I was getting sick and tired of other people’s opinions, other people’s demands, and my own struggle to figure out what the heck I wanted, anyway.

With the main design done, the time had come to pick the font for the invitations.

I scrolled through countless websites, pouring through free font. I downloaded and tested font after font, keeping a careful list of each one that I would possibly use. I spent hours pouring over that list, trying and re-trying and narrowing it down. I finally decided on two, and printed out a sample invitation of each. I brought them to my mother.

“What do you think!!”

“…I… I like them, hon… but I can’t read them. At all.”

“…What?”

“This font, it’s too hard to read. I like the rest, though! You just need to change the font to something else, and it would look good!”

…I am not proud to say that I lost it. Quite to my mother’s surprise, I flew into a fit- after all my hard work, she HATED them! MY font! She HATED it! After all that work!!!!! All her ‘logical’ arguments didn’t sway me. “What do you mean, you can’t read them? I can read them!!” “If old people with bad eyes can’t read them, they can just STAY HOME from MY wedding!! RAWR!!!”

Of course, a few hours later, after cooling down, I could see her point. I was still upset, but I knew she was right. (although I still didn’t want to admit it)The invitations were changed, and everyone loved them. I apologized for my tantrum, and we set to work on the next goal… but my mother had met the ‘zilla, and she had the bite marks to show it. This, sadly was not the only time it would rear it’s head, albeit briefly, during this process. (“I don’t CARE what you think, I LIKE this ribbon!! Rawr!”) I am amazed and grateful to my mother and father for their patience with me as this all went down.

This is not to say that my mother was the picture of calm and reasonable sweetness at all times during this process. She had her share of upsets, too.

I find with most mothers, there is a certain amount of fear involved in the desire to be involved. A mom might feel like she really wants to get in there and help with SOMETHING- but she is put off by her daughter, who doesn’t seem to need her.

My mother suffered in weeks of hurt feelings and offense as I passed her by for every job. She felt like I didn’t need her, and I was too busy running around, planning, to care. To be honest, this is at least partially true. I was trying to do as much as possible all on my own (a symptom of feeling like too many opinions had been given, and I couldn’t take it anymore from all these people!!), or delegate to different people. Help with organizing the pot luck? No, mom, Charli has it covered. Help with the dance music? No, Landon and I want to do that ourselves. Help pick out the bridesmaid’s dresses? No, I’ve got it.

To my mother, I hadn’t given any REAL job to do. She even took the initiative to design and put together a couple of hand-made foux-flower bouquets… which I turned down. She understood my desire for “real” flowers, but I could tell she was disappointed- when would I let her contribute?

To brides planning a wedding, I ask: please, consider your mother in this situation. Give her something- anything- to do in order to keep useful and satisfied! Think of something!

But if you are a mom who is going through this, may I say: Oh, just you wait.

A month before the wedding, I was out of people to delegate to. The things to do were mounting, our heads were spinning, and I didn’t know where to turn. Panic time!! So, who got the biggest share of the work dropped into their laps? Yep. Mom and dad.

They had been benched the entire game, shouting praise and encouragement from the sidelines- but it was go time, and suddenly mom and dad were up to the plate.

Bag the candy into the toule? “MOOOOMMM!!!” Run to the bridal store- twice- to get the right bridal bra? “MOOOOMMM!!!” Pick out the perfect wedding-day shoes? “MOOOOMMM!!!” Pack up everything I own, (what to toss?! What to keep?! I don’t want to get rid of that, can’t you store it for me here?!) help me move an hour away, and unpack once again? “MOOOOMMM!!! DAAAADDD!!!”

My mother (and I) found out that vital truth of planning a wedding: when it all goes down, its mom and dad that save the day.

Our wedding went off without a hitch, and it was a genuinely wonderful and fun day. I truly cherish all the love and kindness than were shown to me by my friends and family… but I especially treasure my parents, and how they helped to keep a (part-time) bridezilla happy.

So, moms: don’t kill her. Yes, I know you feel frustrated, and tired, and you possibly have hurt feelings and sore toes if they have been stepped on. I know that she has her bridezilla moments, even though you are trying to be that great, supportive, happy mom. But as long as you stay by her side, the time will come when your little girl will call on you in a BIG way. Yes, she DOES need you. Just wait- she’ll figure that out soon enough. And in the meantime, get lots of sleep, give lots of encouragement, and remember she loves you.

…I love you, mom and dad. <3 Thank you.

So, I will be switching themes, perhaps today, and beginning a more extensive re-modeling of the site. Please be patient as I toss everything out the window  and start fresh! ^-^ (Oh, and if you happen to be a very bored css/html genius who wants to help answer various hair-pulling questions I develop, let me know haha!)

On a completely unrelated note, my husband and I went up to St.Johns (Michigan) today to do some paperwork at the County Clerk’s Office, and I have to say, I LOVE St.Johns! It’s so cute!! I was thinking that perhaps I need to do an an engagement or senior session there…

Soon I found myself driving the 7 hours to gorgeous Marquette, Michigan to shoot their engagement session. My husband (who was very happy to hear that this meant my business would pay for camping gear, lol) was happy to go with me to assist in the driving. We were able to make a week of it, and it was a wonderful vacation/work trip! (although a sudden 50mph wind and hail storm did chase us into a motel on the last night. Adventures!!)

Allison and Tim knew all the best spots to go, and it shows. Below are a few of my very favorites from this amazing session! (You can browse the entire set at the gallery, here) We started at the marina…

Sometimes Photographs need a little Photoshop love… in the video below, the photograph turned out beautifully- except for the unexpected addition to the background! Sara, who had come along with us during the session, was playing in the sand (lol, Sara is cool like that) and didn’t know she was in the shot. Not wanting to spoil the moment, I didn’t tell her to move- I knew the best choice would be to ‘shop it.In the video, you see the transformation as she gets removed. Sorry, Sara!

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I’m happy to finally be able to post my top picks from Alex Heskitt’s graduation photographs! Alex is graduating Dewitt High School next year. He’s super sweet, really good-looking, and completely crazy. (in a good way… haha) We traveled all over the place, starting out on a family property in Dewitt, traversing Old Town, and exploring other places in Lansing, like the Turner-Dodge house. We had to battle the hot sun, but we made the best of it and had a great time!

Here’s a few of my favorites from his session, beginning with a vintage take on the family barn…

This big blue door has been calling me for months! It made a great background. Soon we were in Old town…

The Turner-Dodge House in Lansing provided some shade and a great photo op.

Alex will be attending Lansing Community College soon, so we headed to the campus to check it out. These are some of my favorites!

And, back in Dewitt, we found a quiet respite…

Finally, we ended with a classic shot on Alex’s road.

I had a great time, and I hope you love the result! Comments?

Love!

Heather K

Well, I knew when I got his party invitation that I wanted to do something special for him! This year, I began offering wedding photobooths, so I thought that there couldn’t be a better way to give the set-up a test run than Alden’s party. It was a huge hit!

All of the photobooth photographs are available to purchase/view here at the gallery, but below are a few of my favorites.

See more hand-picked favorites here on Facebook?

See all the photobooth photographs?

Contact Heather about Photobooths?

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