Jill Christine Design & Photography » Blog

Greenwell Foundation, located in St. Mary’s County within Greenwell State Park, offers a unique setting for your wedding. A beautiful garden, grassy fields, horses, a historic manor house and views of the Patuxent River are just some of the features it boasts.

If you choose to get married at Greenwell, you’ll have the option of holding your ceremony in the garden, by the water, under an ivy covered tree or inside the manor house. You can’t go wrong with any of these settings! Additionally, the manor house provides rooms where the bride and groom and bridal party can get ready.

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Greenwell Foundation books one wedding per weekend which allows for plenty of time to set up and prepare for your big day. You’ll be able to take care of the details before you have to get ready yourself. This will certainly help you to be less stressed on your wedding day!

When you book a wedding with Greenwell Foundation, all of the proceeds go towards supporting their mission, which I’ve included here.

  • To give all people the opportunity to participate in and experience the benefits of recreation and the beauty of nature.
  • To provide an inclusive community for people with and without disabilities to participate in and belong to, side by side.
  • To increase awareness and understanding of people with disabilities.

If you’re looking for a peaceful, relaxing setting for your wedding, and want to support a great cause as well, visit their site to find out more about what Greenwell has to offer!

Greenwell Foundation weddings

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If you’re planning an engagement session or a family portrait session, here’s a list of helpful hints for a great shoot!

1. What to Wear : I recommend choosing solid colored clothing and staying away from anything with a lot of patterns. Patterns can be distracting and also compete with the background whereas solids lend themselves to more classic, soft images. If you like scarves, headbands, hair pieces, jewelry or fun shoes, bring them! These accessories help showcase your style and look great in photographs.

If your photo session will include multiple family members, it’s not necessary, or even recommended, that everyone wear exactly the same color. Wearing coordinating colors or various shades of one color photographs well.

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2. When to Plan Your Photo Session: My preference is to shoot an hour to an hour and a half before sunset. This is the best light for photographs. My second choice would be to schedule sessions in the morning. It’s best to avoid the middle of the day when the sun is the most harsh. That being said, I recognize, this time is not always the best time for children. So if you’re planning a photo session for children, it’s best to schedule it around their nap time and when they will most likely be in the best mood.

3. Where to Have Your Photo Session: When choosing a location for your photo session, it’s important to remember that the background will serve as a vibe or overall feel for the session and being able to pinpoint exactly where the photos were taken is not as important as what will provide the best backdrop or the best light. You and your loved ones will be the focus of the photos more so than the location itself. If your photo session is scheduled for a time during the middle of the day, you’ll want to choose a location that offers a fair amount of shade.

4. What to Bring to Your Photo Session: Bringing an object that reflects your personality or interests to include can add a lot to your photos. At the beginning of the session, when your nerves may be running a little higher, just having something to hold on to like a bunch of lavender, a coffee or a book/leather journal can take a lot of the pressure off knowing exactly what to do. These personal touches also add to the photos and showcase your personality/style.

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Planning a wedding should be fun, but let’s face it, with all the details to consider, it can be quite stressful at times! To take the stress out of the planning process, I recommend hiring a wedding planner such as Shawn Gray of TréBella Events. Not only can she help you with the logistical decisions that need to be made, but she can also take your ideas and bring them to life. Her designs are absolutely stunning!

This once in a lifetime event is something you should enjoy and Shawn can help you do that. By helping your day run smoothly, you’ll be able to relax and truly enjoy the moment. Let her worry about making sure the centerpieces are placed on the tables or that dinner is served on time. After all, she’s a pro at it!

TréBella Events

TréBella Events is based in Southern Maryland, but also serves Annapolis, Virginia and the DC area. They offer a full service planning option that includes creating a wedding budget, negotiating vendor contracts, managing the guest list, directing the rehearsal, coordinating the day’s events and everything in between! They also offer a partial planning option for the bride and groom that need assistance pulling together all of the last minute details. And finally, there’s a month-of package for the bride and groom that have already planned their wedding but are looking for assistance on the wedding day.

TréBella Events also offers design services that can be purchased separately or combined with any of the planning packages. Design services include the creation of inspiration boards, centerpieces, stationary design, lighting design, backdrop design, and linen rentals among other items.

You’ll benefit from hiring Shawn, not only because she’s extremely talented, but also because she’s worked with numerous local vendors and can determine which ones will be the best match for you and reflect the style and vision of your day. Ultimately, her relationships with these vendors can save you time and money in searching for the perfect fit. And who doesn’t love that?

To learn more about Shawn’s services, please email her at ​​shawn@trebellaevents.com.

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Today’s tip is a simple one. When planning your wedding day timeline, involve your photographer in the process. This becomes even more important if you don’t have a wedding planner.

wedding day timeline

Why should you tackle this task with your photographer? Because they know that you’ll need to have your hair and make up done about three hours prior to your ceremony to allow time for formals, a first look if you have one and travel time to the ceremony site if needed. They know that having a receiving line after the ceremony will add 30 minutes to your timeline. They know that your DJ will need 10 minutes to line up your wedding party and confirm the proper pronunciation of everyone’s names prior to your introductions. And they also know to schedule the reception events leaving a 10-minute window for sunset pictures.

Knowing and anticipating how much time various events take is key to creating a wedding day schedule that flows smoothly, leaving you less stressed. So before you start working on your wedding day timeline, talk to your photographer and tap into their expertise!

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To the casual observer, the skills to be a DJ may seem purely technical, but after photographing hundreds of weddings, I can assure you that to get guests onto the dance floor is an art! An art which Ernie Riviere of Invincible Entertainment has perfected. I’ve worked with Ernie at more than a dozen weddings — some of which the guests were eager to dance and some where they weren’t. It’s the ones where the guests are hesitant to get moving where you can really see Ernie’s skills at work. Through conversation and subtle tricks of the trade, he’s able to get even the most difficult crowd out of their seats and dancing. And he doesn’t give up until this is accomplished!

Invincible Entertainment offers packages you can customize with add-ons. Their interactive website allows clients full access to their event planning and timeline tools as well as an extensive music selection database to help you choose music for your event. And they don’t just do weddings! Contact them for your next corporate party, birthday, school dance, arena event or karaoke event. Visit their web site for more information on their services.

Invincible Entertainment

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