- ©2023 RKM Photography
- Site by Brandlink Media
Houston Weddings can be expensive! Let’s remember they are technically a luxury, and as fun and incredible as they can be, you don’t NEED a big wedding. Often times I hear my brides tell me how much they have had to spend or they wished they had the money to allot for X. This blog is going to give you some ideas on ways to save money without lowering the quality of your day – because in this industry you get what you pay for. Harsh… but I can only be honest, and want the best for my people!
One of the easiest ways to save money on a wedding in Houston is to have your wedding during an off-peak season, such as during the summer months, or on a weekday. This can result in significant savings on everything from venue rentals, to catering, and floral arrangements.
Another way to save money on a wedding in Houston is to choose a “budget-friendly” venue. When I say “budget friendly,” let me explain… There are many beautiful and affordable wedding venues in Houston, (such as The Homestead Tx, pictured in this blog post) that offer all-inclusive wedding packages. From decor rentals, chairs, tables, catering, etc, choosing vendors who provide more than one component often results in a cheaper total. Think of it as same quality, but less “middle men” and less labor costs since bundled services typically only include one set of labor costs vs the labor costs for 4 or 5 different companies.
One of the biggest expenses of any wedding is the cost of feeding and entertaining your guests. To save money on your wedding in Houston (or anywhere, really), consider limiting your guest list to only your closest family and friends. This can significantly reduce the cost of catering, venue rental, and other expenses, while still allowing you to have a memorable and meaningful wedding celebration. The money saved by having a smaller guest list can be put towards decor, premium wedding vendors, or even your savings account!
Hear me out… if your “all in” budget for photo and video is 5k, I always recommend to my clients to pick one must-have instead of splitting your budget in half and hiring two mediocre companies to get both. I know, I know… it’s a hot take, but I promise you won’t regret investing in one must-have photographer or videographer. The videographers here are not going to like what I have to say… but I obviously vote on investing in a great photographer over a great videographer. Your photos will last forever! In addition to being digital, they are tangible items you can print, hang or create albums of, and pass down through the generations. One thing I love to suggest to my clients is to create a dropbox folder for your guests to drop videos into and create your own slideshow together of your big day as a date night.
Want to chat about the possibility of me photographing your Houston Wedding? Contact me to learn more!
).
And lastly enjoy! No matter what you choose it will be amazing and uniquely you!
Want to chat about the possibility of me photographing your Downtown Houston, Wedding Contact me to learn more!
Whether you’re a Texas local looking to experience Austin like a tourist, or a tourist looking to see Austin like a Texan. Here is my list of the Top five things to do in Austin, Texas! Maybe you’re looking for a family-friendly environment or a local hangout with a chill vibe. Maybe you’re in search of a historical experience or something FUN to do while you’re in Austin, Texas. Either way, Austin, Texas has something for everyone!
1. Get Inspired at Wonderspaces
This 28,000 sq. foot immersive experience will leave you dazzled and inspired. Wonderspaces is full of art installations made up of lights, technology and more that will blow your mind!
2. Tour Austin’s Famous Distilleries and Breweries
Take a tour of some of Austin’s local breweries and distilleries. Head over to Dripping Springs Distilling, Treaty Oaks Distillery, and the Desert Door Distillery. If brews are your thing, try out some of the local IPA’s and ales through Texas Twisted Tours that will leave you wanting more.
3. Visit South Congress Avenue and “Keep Austin Weird”
Head on over to South Congress Avenue to find unique restaurants, live music and local shops with that signature Austin, Texas flair!
4. Make A Splash at Lake Travis Waterloo Adventures
Looking for some summer family fun? Try out Lake Travis Waterloo Adventures which is a blend of American Ninja Warrior meets your favorite bounce house on the water! The whole family is sure to love this adventure.
5. Snap an Instagram-Worthy Photo
No trip is complete without a good photo! Visit some of Austin’s best selfie spots like the Austin Mural at Roadhouse Relics. You can find a complete list of Austin’s top instagram worthy locations here.
I hope you found this list of five things to do in Austin, Texas helpful! May you find Austin as fun and exciting as the locals do. There is so much more to explore and see and this is only the very tip of the iceberg. Come see what the fuss is all about and keep Austin weird!
First off let me start by saying there are so many pros and cons to every wedding option. I wanted to add some pros to a smaller backyard wedding in the Houston, texas area because well they are incredible!
Pro 2. Secondly Your space allows for a comfortable getting ready location. What do i mean by that… well, my job as a storyteller is to capture you in your element. You’re home creates a sense of peace, enjoyment, comfortability. The more comfortable the more you trust me and give me your true raw self.
Pro #3 NO ONE WILL HAVE THE SAME IMAGES AS YOU. I feel like this is self explanatory :] Your space = your images. We live for originality!
Pro #4 You make the rules. No one can tell you how many people can be in your space at one time, or what food and drinks you can have, how long you have to get ready, and no one to care about if you decide to party till 2am instead of the allotted time of 10pm.
Pro # 5. You can have as little or as many people as you want / can fit. Typically I find my clients love a smaller intimate wedding to allow for more details, and extra money spent on important things like photographer (me 😝), florals, details, dj etc.
Lastly Pro #6 and my personal favorite WE GET TO TAKE PORTRAITS FOR AS LONG AS YOU WANT! I mean this is your Outdoor Texas Backyard Wedding, You run the show and it’s your space. So we can go anywhere, do anything, and create as much as we want. You want to frolic in the cow pasture and take portraits next to cow pies I’m game. Im here for you!
Enjoy the Full gallery of this Outdoor Houston Texas wedding HERE!
Are you looking for an event space to host your wedding shower?
So I know events aren’t something I talk about often, but this one was for the books. Diamond had the coolest set up for her Bridal Shower at Dune Fort Lauderdale, in Flordia . From oranges as small details to Donuts from The Salty Donut they were to DIE FOR BTW! (get the guava and cheese!!!). You can’t go wrong with the food from Dune, the food and the cocktails were seriously incredible. If you are planning an event feel free to reach out to me and let’s get this party started!
Your bridal or baby shower does NOT have to be at the same ole same ole party places! Most restaurants, spas, and many other beautiful places offers an event space that you can rent and decorate beautifully with little to no effort! ,
While this venue is in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, there are so many beautiful venues like this in Texas, in Houston, Dallas, Waco, and so many smaller outskirt towns!
If you have a dream and want to bring it to life, I would love to talk with you about the venues that I LOVE!
Venue: Dune Fort Lauderdale
Food: Dune
Donuts: The Salty Donut
The Springs Event Venue has an incredible array of venues thorughout Houston, Texas area and one of my favorites is Wallisville! From, livestock, to fields, a beautiful outdoor ceremony space, the list goes on. The second I stepped foot onto this venues lot I was in awe, this Florida girl had no idea what Texas had in store for her. Here are some awesome reasons why I love this venue, and why you should check out any of The Springs Event Venues out.
For starters:
The outside space is HUGE! and absolutely beautiful views from any direction. (Not all Houston, Texas Venues have incredible views in every direction).
The space inside the main building is so simple and elegant that any design can work! Nothing I love more is a simple beautiful space that can easily be turned into your ideal vision.
Lets talk about the accommodations! Seriously I wish I had more images of the Bride and Grooms suits because they are amazing! So spacious and has everything you can imagine!
I had the pleasure of Second Shooting with Heather Purvis Photography and she is an amazinggggg person and had been an incredible friend to me since moving here to Texas
Today is This couple’s TWO year anniversary and I said hey! Why not make an incredible anniversary blog! So were going to say a big Happy Anniversary to one of the weddings that took my business farther than I ever expected!
Let’s talk outdoor weddings… Something we are either like yes! or HELL no. Personally…… as a nature OBSESSERRRRR, I say Hell YES!
Some awesome tips I can give as a photographer might be helpful in your decision of if you make the jump to have an outdoor wedding.
What time of year is your wedding? If you live in a hot climate state and you want to get married during the hottest months of the year…. maybe reconsider. OR you can provide some cute gifts on every chair like a fan, or awesome Disney misting machines (obviously a cheaper version) have them monogrammed and they get to keep them!
Do you have a lot of older family members coming? Sometimes wanting to get married is this field 1 mile away from your cousin’s mountain house might be a little difficult for grandma to join and enjoy.
Does your outdoor venue have a plan B. in case of rain, snow, whatever type of weather that could come?
This is so important! to your decision of if you want to truck all these guests out to have a wedding in the rain. Maybe if you see bad weather in the forecast you can get some awesome umbrellas, clips for women’s dresses and say lets do this! rain or shine! And have a sheltered area for anyone who wants to watch from afar or not get dirty and can enjoy the party with you later!
Make sure your ceremony location is facing the right direction for pictures. As this can make or break your outdoor wedding. The sunsets in the west so if you have your back to the east, you won’t get that incredible sunset light during your ceremony, OR even worse you will be directly in the sunlight and your faces and wedding party will be completely blown out and uncomfortable. This wedding is an amazing example of incredible light during their sunset wedding.
Ask your photographer for advice on your timeline! Every photographer is different but something we have in common is shoooting a bunchhhh of weddings. We are here to help guide you with how much time you need what time you should have your ceremony to give you that awesome light and prioritize what is important to you!
Is an outdoor wedding something you have always dreamed about? Then do it! That’s all it comes down to. :]
Vendors
Venue: Swank Farms
Hair and makeup: DG Pro Muah
Event and Floral Designer: Justglam Events
Photographer: Rkm Photography
Caterer: Mississippi BBQ
Rentals: ECP Event rentals and Design
LOOKING TO BOOK YOUR EPIC WEDDING? CONTACT ME HERE!
AHHHHHH! It has been a crazy ride but man am I pumped. Ashlee and Bobby were seriously so much fun!! All they wanted to do was party and celebrate with their family and covid didn’t stop them (with protections and mandates in place of course).
I started a new thing and you can let me know if you like this format or nah… but I decided I wanted to feature my couples answers to a small questionnaire I send after the wedding to help me give you better content/ reading material as well as just ideas!
SO here we go: How did you meet? To our surprise, online dating isn’t that bad after all!!!!
When was the first time you knew you wanted to marry eachother?I don’t want to be long winded, but it was a beautiful November night and my now hubby asked me to attend his Aunt’s birthday party in Houston Texas. At this party the music, food, and my dancing skills were on point. Towards the end of the night, the photographer asked for his family to get together and take a picture. Not thinking anything of it then proceeded to my chair, because I knew I wasn’t family. Quickly, I realized that Bobby’s mood changed and boooyy did it go downhill after that. Our first major BLOW UP occurred after 8 months of being together. Come to find out the blow up was due to our own insecurities about how deeply we were in love with one another. You see, I went to my seat because I knew I wasn’t family and would of been deeply hurt by the rejection if my boyfriend told me to sit down. For my now hubby, he took that as a sign I wasn’t ready for that level of a commitment. Once we realized the root of our disagreement and expressed how we felt about one another. he then asked me to marry him.
What’s your favorite activity to do together? That’s a hard one, because we have some many. But if I had to narrow it down, we take pride that we are Leo’s and our birthday’s are a day apart. With that being said, we love to travel and celebrate our birthday’s together.
If you could give one piece of wedding planning advice to future couples what would it be? Just know that something isn’t going to go right and it will still be beautiful. With that being said, hire a day of wedding coordinator at the least. If you can afford a wedding planner, hire one (we used Lilliejane designs)
and lastly my personal favorite question becaue well coffee and beer is life 😀
What’s your favorite beverage of choice? My husband’s favorite beverage is a Jack Daniels Margarita. My favorite beverage is a drink called a painkiller.
I am obsessed with these two and how much fun they had with each other and their guests. Just want to give a big thank you to the vendors of this beautiful wedding down below and really hope you enjoyed this style of blog! Please feel free to leave a comment below about things you would like to see more of here :}
Venue: The Woodlands Waterway Mariott
Florals, and planning services: Lilliejane designs
Photography: Rkm Photography :p
But enough about that… I have never made a formal THIS IS ME post. So here goes nothing…
Some of my favorite things are in no particular order (my dog being first though).
My dog (Mufasa) Beer (Crawford Bock is definitely my new fav Coffee Video Games Trees (really anything outdoors) and sadly.. I love reality tv!
If any of these things we have in common you should definitely message me!! I am so excited to share a little about myself, and learn more about you in the process!
But i am here to help you make the best of a stinky situation. Your wedding doesn’t have to be boring and lame, due to a lame situation. Some of my favorite weddings have been small, intimate, and emotional. Let’s look at some ideas that can help you plan the most epic backyard small wedding.
Tip 1.) inviting fewer people allows you to have more fun! When you invite a small number of guests it allows you to spend more on each of those guests, making them feel special and loved just as they make you feel attending your small intimate wedding.
Tip 2.) Now that you have spent less on your number of guests ( food prices, table settings etc. Spend more on your decor, photographer, vendors, etc. The vendors can make or break your day. Get that video you’ve been eyeing or that incredible photographer who is out of this world but you just couldn’t afford with a big wedding.
Tip 3.) Rely on your vendors to help you plan and organize and enjoy! With way less people and way less moving parts, you can just sit back and enjoy! I always like to help plan epic locations or the timeline for my clients and with a small wedding you tend to have more time to play with!
Tip 4) Pick an epic location and ask them about their offseason, or days during the week to get a better deal!
let's make magic together!
