Q&A Session with Borrowed & Blue Wedding Blog! – Birmingham/Alabama Wedding Photography

As fun as it is, wedding planning can sometimes be overwhelming! There are so many options out there and so many decisions to make. That’s what makes online resources like Borrowed & Blue such a great option for brides planning a wedding in the Birmingham and surrounding areas! It’s a great place to scout out some neat venues and wedding vendors in Alabama, as well as find inspiration for your own day on their Borrowed & Blue blog.

We’ve loved seeing some of our J&A Couples featured on Borrowed & Blue’s wedding blog, so we were super excited when Stephanie of Birmingham’s Borrowed and Blue reached out and asked us to share some of our insight with them!

“Joel and Amber Photography recently teamed up with Borrowed and Blue, a locally-focused online wedding resource, to give couples everything they need to know about their photography services.” ~Borrowed & Blue

Q&A with Borrowed & Blue: 

1. How did you first get into photography?

Joel: I have a typical “I always loved photography growing up” stories, but never really got into it until college.  But what really made the difference was after Amber and I were married and did a wedding together!  It was then that we really fell in love with it.  She brought a terrific perspective and our strengths and styles compliment each other perfectly.  From there it was easy!

Amber: I always enjoyed taking pictures on family vacations, but I didn’t think seriously about photography until I married Joel. I came with him to a wedding has was photographing shortly after we were married. He put a camera in my hands and just told me to take pictures. I knew pretty much nothing about professional photography! I’m quite sure the images I captured were nothing to brag about, but I got a taste of wedding photography and never looked back! I love the mix of science and art that goes into creating a picture.

2. What single photo sums up your aesthetic?

Joel: Our style is vibrant and colorful, but more than that, we try to highlight how in love the couple is.

Amber: We love vivid and true-to-life colors. We want to create images that you can look at and remember the story of that sliver of time. What that moment felt like. When we think of the south, we imagine lush and gorgeous colors. We tend to gravitate toward the green trees, golden sunsets, and pops of colorful flowers. Vivid color excites us! :)

3. As a storyteller, what draws you to a particular subject?

Joel: We love couples who have been waiting patiently for their wedding day as that’s when the excitement for that day really shines through.  It’s like all the pieces of a giant puzzle have come together to create this perfect moment for them, and their joy and excitement is overflowing.

Amber: We adore couples who are genuinely joyful and excited for their wedding day! We are drawn to joy – whether it’s a couples’ face-splitting grins as they see each other for the first time on the wedding day, shimmering rings that hold a promise of forever, or the look in a daddy’s eyes as he watches his little girl glide across the dance floor with her new husband. All these things mean joy and life to us, and we love to capture it. 

4. What is your favorite moment to photograph at a wedding?

Joel: Easily it’s the First Look!  You never know what you’re going to get, whether it’s tears, enormous smiles, or even just a heartfelt grin.  The way we shoot, I always get to see the bride’s face as her groom turns around to see her.  It’s beautiful to see her slightly nervous face quickly turn into a bright smile and a reassuring face as she embraces her groom and then shows off all the details of her dress.  There’s so many other amazing parts of the day such as the moment the bride walks down the aisle to the Just Married Moment to the first dances to the final drive away as they begin their new life together.

Amber: That’s tough! My absolute favorite would have to be the First Look, as well. We’re huge fans of the First Look for so many reasons! That moment when it’s just the two of them, filled with anticipation, seeing each other for the first time. I cry every time! It’s so beautiful to see their love at this moment. It’s like all the anticipation of the day explodes into fireworks. 

I also really adore the First Dance and the Father/Daughter dance. It’s such a sweet, emotional time. I love to zoom in and capture them in their own little world. 

5. What makes or breaks a bridal shoot?

Joel: The confidence of the bride!  We work hard to reassure the bride all through the shoot, and within the first couple minutes, that confidence really starts to come through.  For her, it’s probably the first time she’s been fully dressed up in her wedding outfit, so it may feel a little odd at first.  But after the first couple pictures, she starts to feel even more comfortable and confident, and it really shows on her face and actions.

Amber: How comfortable and confident the bride feels! You can tell we’re a husband/wife team when we have the same answers! :)  When a bride feels beautiful, it absolutely shows. That’s why we recommend getting her hair and makeup professionally done, whether it’s her wedding day or a bridal session. It boosts her confidence and helps her shine!

It’s also important for a bride to feel comfortable in her wedding dress. If she’s constantly tugging on it or doesn’t feel like she can move around well, it decreases that confidence we love so much.

6. Where do you love to photograph?

Joel: We really like to find places that are meaningful to the couple!  Whether it’s the park that he proposed in, or the campus that they met at, or the parents’ farm; anything that brings back memories for them is a terrific place to photograph their story!

Amber: Wow! Where don’t we love to photograph? We’re world travelers and get ridiculously excited about new places to explore. Besides photographing our couples in stunning places like San Diego’s Balboa Park or the Nebraska State Capitol Building, we also love to find our “secret gardens”. Little alcoves tucked away inside of a forest or a bench surrounded by a garden of flowers. Those say “fairytale” to me, and I can’t resist them. :)

7. What’s your favorite photograph you’ve ever taken?

Joel: That’s super hard to choose as there are so many memories and stories behind each picture!   This one is one of my top favorites as it was after a beautiful day at a terrific venue (Sacred Stone), and then to top it off, we had this stunning sunset.  It’s the perfect close to the wedding day of so many of our couples!  They’ve had the most joyous day with all the people they love most, and now they’re about to ride off into the sunset to begin their lives together as Husband and Wife.  It’s a perfect ending to a beautiful start.

Amber: I have so many favorite images!! Each picture has a story behind it, and each one has a memory that we love. This (and I cheated and chose two!) is probably one of my all-time favorites because it reminds me of one of our favorite weddings ever. The couple had become dear friends of ours, and we were thrilled to be there to photograph their wedding. Their love for each other absolutely radiated on their faces! Every moment of that day was saturated with joy, excitement, and love. I still feel happy inside every time I think about these two on their wedding day! This is one of the pictures that really tells their story.

8. What’s your favorite wedding that you’ve shot?

Joel: Yikes!  Again there are so many good ones to choose from!  If I had to pick, I’d go for Charles and Micaela’s wedding in San Diego.  We were great friends with Charles back when he lived in the area and when the Navy took him off to San Diego for more training, we made a pact that wherever he was, we’d be there to photograph his wedding.  Enter the most perfect bride for him, Micaela, and it was the making of a fantastic wedding.  While they didn’t have a First Look exactly, they did hold hands around the corner from each other and pray, and it was one of the sincerest, heartfelt prayers we’ve ever heard!  They had a beautiful wedding and terrific reception, but then we got to spend more time with just the two of them at Balboa Park and get a collection of gorgeous pictures.

Amber: That’s also a really tough one! We love all of our J&A Couples, and each wedding is so special and unique in its own way. I think just one of my favorites was Philip and Haley’s wedding in Huntsville, Alabama. The day was just so beautiful, and Philip and Haley were absolutely filled with joy. And you know how we feel about joy. :) The reception was at one of our favorite Huntsville venues, Burritt on the Mountain, and it was full of cute details that we thought were just perfect for a classic southern wedding. Watching the sunset over the city as they danced the night away was priceless. Some of our favorite memories are from this wedding, like Philip and Haley’s Just Married Moment and Haley’s dance with her sweet, dear grandpa.

9. What’s your favorite out of all the Birmingham wedding venues to shoot at?

Joel: It has to be Mathew’s Manor!  Having vibrant, lush outdoor spaces and enough indoor spaces for guests and even the ceremony sets them apart to handle anything from beautiful spring days to summer thunderstorms!  :)

Amber: I agree on Mathew’s Manor! The venue is gorgeous, and we love that there is plenty of indoor or outdoor spaces to choose from. There are endless places for portrait sessions, as well. It’s just beautiful! It gives us the lush, rich feel of the south that we love in our photography.

10. What is the first thing you ask couples when they approach you?

Joel and Amber: When couples meet with us, the first thing we want to know is the story of who they are. We want to hear about the proposal and wedding plans, too, but we want to first understand who they are as people. We want to know about their families, their hobbies, where they work, and what they love to do together.

We also like to ask about things that we might be able to connect with them about: do they love coffee, do they love to travel, things like that. We believe that making personal connections not only helps us get to know them better, but helps our couples feel more comfortable around us.

11. What’s the biggest mistake the couples make when choosing their photographer?

Joel: This is probably so cliché, but it’s skimping on photography. After all the cake is eaten, the dances twirled away, the flowers faded, and the vows are said, the only things you’ll have left are the memories and photographs of the day.  And while memories fade, good photographs help bring back those memories and the feelings that go along with them.  Having good pictures and good memories of the process that went along with them is key to bringing back those feelings from the wedding day.

Amber: I think one of the biggest mistakes is being frightened off by the price tag. We totally understand a wedding budget – we’ve been there, too! It’s a real thing, and it’s important. In the midst of all the overwhelming decisions to make, it’s easy to forget to prioritize. Decide what’s really important to you and what is going to have lasting value. When the day is over, all you have is your groom (which is the most important part!!) and your pictures. Make sure you consider whether splurging a little for a great photographer that you absolutely love is worth cutting back a little bit somewhere else.

Another similar mistake is basing your photography decision based on getting the most product for your money. Instead of getting distracted by which photographer’s package include the most items, focus instead on your photographer’s personality and shooting style. You’re going to be spending almost every moment of your wedding day with them, so choose someone who makes you feel like a friend! You want someone you’ll be comfortable around and someone who truly cares about you as a person.

Take the time to get to know your potential photographers first, whether it’s following them on social media for awhile or scheduling a relaxed coffee date with them. Get to know them as people. It will help you find the perfect fit – and it will be totally worth it!

12. What makes Joel and Amber Photography different from other wedding photographers?

Joel: One very important thing is that we’re a husband and wife team.  We’re both primary shooters, so you’re essentially getting two photographers for the price of one.  We both know exactly what to expect from the other and who is doing what to cover even more during the wedding!  The other thing that differentiates us is how much time we spend educating our couples on all things wedding.  We work very hard to keep our couples in-the-know when it comes to the little details such as what to wear to the engagement shoot, to the big things such as what the timeline of the day is going to look like.

Amber: We have a lot of respect for other photographers and for what makes us all unique!

Like Joel said, we’re a husband-wife team. We love marriage and are able to really pour into our couples in a way that we couldn’t do if we weren’t both a part of this business. We’re also both lead shooters. Instead of having one primary and one secondary shooter, you get two photographers on your wedding day who work every wedding together and have a solid system. Since we’re a husband-wife team, we know and understand each other really well. It helps a lot during the craziness of the wedding day!

We also love to really pour our hearts into loving and serving our couples well. We’re the ones who will be there to answer all your how-to questions before the wedding, the ones who will be your dress-poofing, hair-straightening sidekick, the ones who will be crying right along with you as you see your groom for the first time. Our J&A Couples are more than clients to us. We truly embrace them into our little photography family and love them dearly! We serve a loving God who pours His love into us, and we in turn try to share a little piece of that joyful love with our couples.

13. What tips do you have for couples who have never been photographed before?

Joel: You can’t mess up!  This is something we tell our couples at the beginning of every shoot.  Just try to have fun together and ignore everything else going on!  You take care of being you, and we’ll take care of making you look amazing.  The first couple minutes you might feel a little nervous but as soon as we take a few pictures you’ll start to feel more natural.  By the end you’ll be pro’s!  Also feel free to dress up a bit at engagement shoots!  That alone can help build your confidence and have an even more enjoyable time.

Amber: Allow yourself to have confidence! It’s normal to have butterflies in your tummy at the beginning of your session. It’s not something that you’ve really practiced before, so it’s all new! Trust your photographer to work their magic, and relax. Enjoy the moment! The more fun you have, the more real and unscripted your images will be.

Be sure to wear clothes you feel comfortable and beautiful in! If you’re worrying about whether this or that is showing or keep tugging on your clothes, it distracts you from really embracing the moment. Joy is one of the most beautiful things you can wear! Let yourself focus on the joy and not on straightening your clothes.

14. What are some of your upcoming projects for the future?

Joel: You mean the super-secret projects?  :)  We have two projects in the works that are both on educating our couples more.  We want to arm our couples with useful and relevant wedding information, tips, and inspiration in a beautiful format!  We work very hard to make the J&A experience as incredible as possible, and these are a few of the things that we have in mind!

Amber: We’re also really involved with publishing a southern wedding magazine called Three Little Words. It’s a magazine filled with advice and inspiration for southern brides. We have a heart for serving and helping, and we want to help brides find practical, real tips for planning their weddings.

Thank you to Borrowed and Blue for allowing us the opportunity to share our hearts!