charleston - part one :: greensboro wedding photographer

Last year, Josh and I took a trip to Savannah, Georgia for our first wedding anniversary, and promptly upon returning, it seems like everyone told us, "If you like Savannah, you'll love Charleston." So when the opportunity arose for us to take a little weekend vacay to Charleston, we jumped at the chance.

We left early this past Friday morning but were met with torrential rain (i'm talking cats and dogs, folks. cats and dogs.), delaying our arrival by a couple of hours and resulting in my husband having a very wet pair of Toms, which happened to be the only pair of shoes he had with him since I mistakenly listened to him when he said he wouldn't need more than one pair of shoes for the trip. After arriving and checking into our hotel, we made a trip to the nearby outlets to purchase Josh a new pair of sandals and were on our way to downtown Charleston.

Our first stop was for a late lunch at Hominy Grill, and let me tell you people, I am in LOVE. I know I say that i'm in love with things alot, but this time, I really, really, really mean it. This place has been featured in all kinds of magazines, The New York Times, and on Food Network's "$40 a Day" hosted by Rachael Ray, and there's a reason for it.

The waiter had two recommendations for us, so we decided to just order exactly what he said and split both entrees. I had my camera prepped and ready for when the food came out, but I was so drawn in by these gourmet delights, that I forgot to take a picture before I devoured it like a ravished animal. In all seriousness - this could very well be the absolute best food i've ever eaten.

Pictured above is the tasty shrimp and grits (a Carolina dish that we've grown to know and love). Below is the fried chicken in a little puddle of sausage gravy, the scrumptious mac 'n' cheese, and a Southern staple - collard greens. Seriously people, if you don't eat greens (collards, turnips, mustards, etc.), you are truly missing out on some good eats. In the words of Rachael.... YUMM-O!

After we were thoroughly stuffed, we strolled around Charleston for the next several hours. Honestly though, this would be the way to get around. We decided that next time we visit, we will definitely be bringing our bikes...

We made our way to the waterfront, which was a great place to relax on a park bench, rest our aching feet, and cool off a little. I saw this cute couple laying in the grass talking and giggling and asked if I could take their picture... they, of course, obliged. Oh so young and in love!

Josh let me take his picture in front of the fountain...

Then I got in the fountain... 

I look a little scared, but honestly, I could have stayed there all day, despite strange looks from my fellow adults since I was probably the only one over the age of 8 that we had seen in the fountain. 

After playing in the water for a little bit, we made our final stop at the Candy Kitchen, where we had chocolate pralines (you can't even imagine how good these are) and gophers, which are pecans and caramel with a dollop of dark chocolate on top. So yummy! If your mouth is already watering, you can order these goodies online here.

Part Two of our trip to Charleston will be up tomorrow, so be sure to check it out!

the friday five - pinterest :: greensboro wedding photographer

If you checked out Tuesday's blog, you know that there's a new installment called How-To Tuesday. Well today, I'm starting another weekly (I use that term loosely) installment called the Friday Five.

For those who know me, you know that I am not an incredibly organized person... sure, I tend to keep myself in order on the business side of things, but I like to think that my home (and my mind) is more of an organized chaos. I may have a stack knee deep of clothes in front of my closet, but I know that all of them are clean and have just been pulled from the closet and tossed to the floor in the urgency of finding something appropriate to wear out to dinner.

Because I am incredibly self-aware of my tendency to be a mess, I love lists. I like lists of what I need to get accomplished today, lists of what I'm going to make for dinner this week, shopping lists, packings lists... the lists go on and on. Thus the creation of the Friday Five, more lists for you brides, fellow photographers, and wedding junkies.

Today's Friday Five is dedicated to Pinterest. I was introduced to this site several months ago by my dear friend Miranda, and I must say, I'm jealous that she found it first. It is incredibly addictive (great for procrastinators like me) and a great tool for just about anyone, but especially all you engaged ladies (and gents) out there.

So here goes... my five reasons you should be on Pinterest NOW:

1. It keeps your ideas organized. If you're anything like me, you come across a recipe, wedding bouquet idea, or things you just want to buy, you bookmark the site, and you never return to it again. Especially when wedding planning, it's exhausting and frustrating to try to go back through hundreds of sites you've bookmarked to try to find the one with the picture of that bouquet you just loved. Pinterest makes this easy by allowing you to create an unlimited number of inspiration boards for absolutely anything. I have several boards for a variety of different categories, including recipes I want to try, style and fashion, wedding stuff, books i like, photo inspiration, and lots of other great stuff. The great part is, once you've "pinned" something to one of your boards, it shows you a photo of what you've pinned, ending that tedious task of clicking through each of your bookmarked links to find the photo you loved.

2. It's an excellent tool for planning your wedding. This kinda goes back to keeping things organized, but it truly is the best place to store all your wedding dreams and ideas. You can create separate boards for bouquets you like, colors you want in your wedding, cake ideas, bridesmaid dresses you like, hairstyles you're considering, and on and on. The best part is it's all in one place.

3. You can use it to share your ideas. Especially if the people you want to share it with are also on Pinterest, you can "tag" them on anything that you "pin" so that they're sure to see it. Even if they're not on Pinterest, you can simply send them a link to your boards. This is great for getting input from your bridesmaids about dresses your considering, sharing DIY ideas with friends who may be helping you create decorations for your wedding, and even sharing ideas with your florist, baker, and photographer. It's also a great way for you to share your vision with your wedding planner and even for her to share ideas with you. Personally, I've had brides share ideas for photos they'd like to try for their wedding or engagement session simply by tagging me. Oh and you can share pins via Facebook and Twitter too!

4. It's easy. Like ridiculously easy. Easy like Sunday mornin' easy. Pinterest makes it super simple to pin items from any website that you're on by having you install a "Pin It" button on your bookmarks bar in your web browser. Whenever you come across a cake you love on the Southern Weddings blog, just click the "Pin It" button, select the photo you want, write a caption, and pin it to your selected board. It automatically show up on your Pinterest page.

5. And the last reason you should join Pinterest is because I'm on it... duh. Check out Glessner Photography on Pinterest for wedding ideas, photo inspiration, blogs I like, books I've been reading and lots more.

Pinterest is free, but by invitation only. If you want an invitation to join Pinterest, leave your email in the comments section below and we'll send you an invite right away!

Wishing everyone a fabulous and safe weekend! 

how-to tuesday... Facebook landing pages :: greensboro wedding photographer

Hope everyone's week is off to a great start! Today, I'm starting a new installment called How-To Tuesday. I know that I am an expert at very few things, a novice at many things, and trying to learn as much as I can in this crazy game called life, but I feel a responsibility to share what little I do know. So sometimes, this how-to may be for all you brides out there, some weeks for fellow photographers and wedding vendors (holla!), and some weeks just for the average Joe (or Jane). WARNING - it may not happen every week, but I'll try to keep it up at least a couple of times a month.

Enough talk - let's get to it. This week's how-to is for all you photographers (or even other small business owners) out there. After having it on my to-do list for months, this very day, I finally got around to creating a Welcome tab for Glessner Photography's Facebook page. These landing pages are great way to have a good first impression on your potential clients, showing them a bit of your personality and what your business is all about instead of that boring old Wall.

To some, this may appear at first glance to be a daunting task, but I'm here to tell you that it is actually incredibly simple (I did it in about an hour, folks) if you know how to use Photoshop and are familiar with Facebook. Let's get real here - who under the age of 40 isn't on Facebook by now.

1. You'll want to start by designing your landing pages. On Facebook, you can have two separate landing pages or Welcome tabs - one for those who already "like" your page and one for those who are not yet fans. I used Photoshop to design my landing pages, with dimension of 500 x 720 pixels. You can design your landing pages to include anything you like, but there are a few key components you may want to include, depending on your business and your target audience. Beware people - I'm about to go all marketing on you.

The number one, most important thing you can include on your Facebook Welcome tab is a call to action. What do you want the person coming to your page to do? On your landing page for non-fans, your first goal is likely to have them "like" your page. As you can see on my Welcome tab above, the call to action is at the very top, asking you to do this very thing. I even have an arrow pointing right at the button to make it easy on you. On your landing page for current fans, you may have a different goal. Create this page to include whatever your goal is for those who already "like" your page - encourage them to visit your website or blog, have them sign up for your newsletter, get them to check out your photos on Facebook, or ask them to contact you.

After you've included the call to action, everything else is secondary. A big part of our branding for Glessner Photography is us as a couple, so we've included our photo on the landing page. We want someone coming to our Facebook page and our website to know who we are, what we look like, and what we enjoy before we even have that first meeting. You may want to include a wedding photo or photos of your product, if you, for example, own an Etsy store. This landing page is also a great place to announce contests or promotions.

2. Once you've created your landing page designs, you'll want to host them somewhere online. You can always host them on your own site, but I choose to host mine on Photobucket, which is completely free and gives you a quick share HTML code for your photos. You'll need these links in the next step.

3. Next, you'll want to get the Static HTML: iframe tabs app. To do this, find the app by clicking the link above or typing Static HTML: iframe tabs into the search. In the lower left column, select Add to My Page. Next, go to your business page and select the Welcome tab under your profile picture. Here - you'll see two boxes. In the first, where it says Enter your content here, paste the HTML code for the design you've created for non-fans. In the second, optional box, you'll paste the HTML code for your design for those who are already fans. Click Save and view tab at the top right to check it out.

4. Last, but not least, be sure to go to Edit Page on your Facebook business page and under Manage Permissions, change your Default Landing Tab to Welcome.

And voila - you've created your very own personalized Welcome tab for the world to see.

I hope this helps some of you out... If you liked this post, we'd love for you to head over to our Facebook page and "like" us too!