Featured Vendor: Erin Johnson Photography

Happy Tuesday!  I hope everyone had a great weekend.  Ours was filled with car shopping (for me, this is about as much fun as getting work done on a cavity!), and preparing for the upcoming baby showers we have this weekend and the next.  It has been a madhouse in the CK Events "studio".  But enough about us - on to the featured vendor of the week!

Today's vendor does amazing work - which you may have already noticed if you have checked out the Harry Potter themed wedding we featured a couple weeks back on Wedding Wednesday, or if you viewed last weeks Wedding Wednesday post.  Not only does the team of Erin Johnson Photography take amazing wedding photographs, but they also take photos for any event imaginable... senior portraits, family portraits, engagement photos, pregnancy photos and so much more!  So read on to learn more about Erin Johnson Photography!

Every child is an artist.  The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up. {pablo picasso}

Erin Johnson of Erin Johnson photography is the epitome of the above Pablo Picasso quote.  She was born into a family of artists and has figured out how to "remain an artist" into adulthood.  Out of college, Erin began working as a painter at a photography studio - it was there that her interest in photography began.  It started with children's photography and grew into assisting one of the photographers with a wedding... and that's where her love for wedding photography started.

While Erin has focused on wedding and engagement photos for years, she loves working at any and all events.  Recently she has had a lot more portrait sessions, including seniors, families, babies and bellies.  "I love working with clients that give me the freedom to execute my vision for them and be creative.  I actually really thrive on the excitement and challenge of an event."  


Artists always have something or someone who inspires them, and Erin is no different.  She gains inspiration from web sites and clothing catalogs {like Anthropologie}, but she also gets inspired by her clients and the locations of the photo shoots.  While her clients are her inspiration, getting them to allow her to show her creativity can be another story.  If Erin could tell her clients just one thing to help her make their experience better, it would be to have them let go and let her create for them.  "The more control I get, the better the images are.  In addition to being a photographer, I am also a pretty good stylist."

I would consider Erin a "model entrepreneur" because in addition to running her business, she gives back to the individuals who aspire to get to where she is at professionally.  She offers a workshop to people looking to start and run a wedding photography business.  {It's always great to hear about successful professionals sharing advice with "amateurs" in the business world - I wish there was more workshops like this available for the events industry.}

Because she's just as passionate about business as she is about her photography, Erin johnson Photography is a successful Photography company in Minnesota. The way she speaks about the business side of her company can reassure anyone that she's knowledgeable in both areas.   One recommendation she gave to individuals seeking to start their own ventures {for any industry} is to protect your personal life and balance between the two.  In addition to finding balance between work and personal time, get out and network, treat your clients well, master your trade and use the internet to your advantage!

Fun facts about Erin:
1. The 5 things she can't live without:
- Jesus
- Family and friends
- Two business assistants {Carly and Ellie}
- Her camera and iPhone
- Her bed

2. Favorite color scheme right now:
- The vintage look - yellow, white and grey.

3. Favorite time of year to photograph:
- FALL!! "I love the high grass and rustic photos with the fall colors"


4. Trends in the photography industry right now:
- Anything vintage looking. Taking furniture outside.

Below are some of Erin's favorite photographs from past clients.  {enjoy}

I'm loving the colors of this photo!  And the beautiful symmetry of the photo!

Oh my! This little lady is too much for me!  Just too cute for words!!

Love, love. love this photo {and that dress!}

Such a unique and creative photo!  Meet Erin - the brains behind Erin Johnson Photography {and under the umbrella}

Such a fun and modern location!

Love trash the dress sessions!  This couples looks like too much fun!

Beautiful and fun photograph!

To view more photos taken by Erin and her team, be sure to head over to the Erin Johnson Photography blog.  You will also find more information on the workshop she offers for learning the ropes of running a wedding photography business.  You can also become of fan of them on Facebook, which I highly recommend because they run some fun contests on their page!

Thank you Erin for allowing us to feature your business and learn more about you!  It was great fun to learn more about you and to see your work!


If you are interested in being a feature vendor, or would like to recommend a business to be featured, please contact us today!

Link Love: lillimandrill

I honestly just came across one of the cutest Etsy shops... with one of the cutest items EVER! Wait for it... wait for it... custom hand-carved rubber stamps... of you, or you and your man {or woman}!

How cute would these be to put on your Save the Data cards?  Or stamped on pages of your guestbook?  Or even the cover of your thank you card!  Seriously, there are so many great ways to use portrait stamps for your wedding day!  And they are pretty affordable - this double face stamp sold for $50!

Interested in getting a solo head shot for just you, too?  Use these for your custom stationery or for your birthday party - people will be sure to know who the letter or thank you came from!  This single face stamp sold for a cheap $28!

Seriously, how fun, huh!  Make sure you head over to the lillimadril Etsy shop right away and check out the great stamps, along with the other merchandise!

Simplest DIY Place Card {and I mean SIMPLE}

If you have a large family like I do, you know seating at the dinner table for holidays and family get-togethers can get hectic.  I found this simple, but fun place card idea on the Rachael Ray site and thought it was adorable... and cheap... and like I said already, SIMPLE!

source

Seriously... easy, right?  Most guest like dinner rolls, so hey, they'll already have one in their spot - one less thing to pass around the table(s)!  Make cute little cards that match the theme of the event your hosting, and VOILA - you have your place card!  How fun would it be to create the little place cards for the kid's table!?!

Real Wedding: Stillwater Library in the Fall

This weeks Wedding Wednesday feature is a Minnesota couple who hosted their wedding on the rooftop of the Stillwater Library on a beautiful fall day {Stillwater is a suburb of St. Paul and has amazing views of the St. Croix River).  The brilliant photographer who capture these photos is Erin from Erin Johnson Photography {you may remember we featured their work a couple of weeks ago for the Harry Potter inspired wedding - if you haven't check it out you must! You can find it here.}. The photos for this wedding are just gorgeous and the style of this wedding is so different than the Harry Potter inspired wedding.  I love how Erin and her team capture the each couples personality so well in all of their photos.

Isn't the bride just radiant?!?

I always love the photos of the grooms expression while waiting to see his future wife!

What a gorgeous wedding party!

Such a beautiful fall day for a wedding!  I love this ceremony location - such a gorgeous background for photos... and guests.

Beautiful downtown Stillwater, right on the St. Croix River

One of my favorite set of photos for this wedding - I just the love the architecture!

The reception turned out just as beautiful as the ceremony! You have to love the classic white scheme.

Congratulations to the beautiful couple!

To view more pictures from this gorgeous wedding, as well as other great weddings and events, head over to the Erin Johnson Photography blog.  And if you are interested in learning more about this great photographer and her team, be sure to check out her Featured Vendor post next week!  There is going to be some amazing photographs you won't want to miss!

If you are interested in having a wedding you planned, attended or were in, please contact us today!  We're always looking for great weddings and events to feature on the blog!

Featured Vendor: A Milestone Paper Co.

Some of you may remember reading my post last week regarding our new series that will feature a new vendor each week whose work we adore!  Because invites and other paper items can totally set the mood for an event, and are one of my own favorite elements to a party, I thought we would kick off our first feature with A Milestone Paper Co., located here in Minneapolis.

Meet Sarah from A Milestone Paper

I came across Sarah's (the creative mastermind behind A Milestone Paper Co.) work at the Twin Cities Bridal Fair last week and loved it!  I must admit, I really loved her business card, too - what a great piece of business marketing material she has!!

With that said, read below to find out more about Sarah and A Milestone Paper Co.

After designing her own wedding invitations, in addition to several friends and family members invites, Sarah and her two sisters, Sue and Kate, started A Milestone Paper Co.  They wanted to start a business that allowed people the opportunity to purchase reasonably priced custom designed invitations.  A Milestone Paper Co. focuses on the customer's individual interest.  They make sure the style and design of the order fits the personality and style of the client, which makes every stationery or invitation set unique.  They also offer services at multiple price-points, making their services available to fit into any budget.

I'm always curious to hear where people get their inspiration, and Sarah says her number one source of inspiration comes from her clients.
"Just this week I worked on Minnesota Twins ticket wedding invitations, tropical invitations for a wedding in Grand Cayman, Art Deco 1920s-themed invitations, vintage-inspired Save the Dates and formal elegant invitations.  This job is never, never boring!"

In addition to her inspiring clients, she finds inspiration on the many wedding blogs, online fabric shops and on Design Sponge for graphic design inspiration.  For business related inspiration, she turns to the vendors she's come to know and work with.

If there was one thing Sarah wishes every client knew to make her job easier to assist them is that she always wants to know their story!
"I really want my clients to share as much of their story/vision/style as possible.  The more I know, the more I can reflect in the projects I create.  I love hearing about little details that are meaningful and finding ways to incorporate those bits and pieces into the designs".

So where does Sarah hope her business is headed in the future?  Well she hopes to continue to meet with clients face-to-face and create custom designs for them.  In addition, she hopes to work collaboratively with other like-minded entrepreneurs in a loft-type space - "there's a lot of positive energy when you gather together people doing what they love to do".  She also wants to share her story in hopes of inspiring others to find a way to do what they love {like me!}!

Because a lot of my readers, and myself included, have hopes of starting their own small business ventures, I wanted to know what advice Sarah had for those starting.  What did she find helpful and difficult when starting her journey as a small business owner?
"Most of all, go for it!  Hone in on what you love, find a way to market it and take the leap!  Reach out to others in the industry who are farther along in their business adventure and ask questions.  Have faith in your unique set of skills and heart and put it out in the world.  Also, I think it's important to identify the things that are holding you back or causing fear.  Then face those things head on - realize that fear is in your own mind and work through it.  For me, I knew the money/business side would be a challenge for me, so I found a good accountant and bookkeeper as soon as I could.  My most important advice though is always BE YOURSELF!"

Fun facts about Sarah:

1. What are 5 things she can't live without:
- Family
- Wine drinking, laughing and chatting with her favorite girls
- Faith
- Challenge
- Chocolate

2. Favorite color scheme right now:
- Deep purple and lime green

3. Favorite time of year to design invites/stationery for:
- summer because of the bold bright hues that are used

4. Trends in the invitation/stationery industry right now:
- a lot of acrylic and laser cutting


Check out some of Sarah's favorite items from past client's events...

super adorable set!

Here's an example of a laser-cut invite - adorable!

To check out more products offered by A Milestone Paper, check out their web site here or become a fan of them on Facebook!  Thank you, Sarah, for allowing us to interview you for our first Featured Vendor post!

My hope for my featured vendors is for my readers to get to know other professionals in the industry, getting them some exposure and allowing me to get to know them better, too!  If you are interested in becoming a feature vendor, please contact us today by sending us an email today!

Real Party: Breast Cancer Fundraiser

First off, Happy Halloween everyone!  It's hard to believe that another Halloween has come and gone and that another October is in the books.  Did your house see a lot of trick or treaters tonight?  We had about 10-12 kids stop by... which was pretty good I thought, being that we're new to the neighborhood.  My favorite was a little girl who was dressed as an adorable witch telling me that Reese's were her favorite candy!  Ah, too cute!


I've been super busy getting stuff ready and brainstorming more ideas for the baby showers I'm hosting in the next couple of weeks - one for my sister on the 13th and one for a good friend from college on the 20th!  Geesh, before you know it, it's going to be Thanksgiving... then Christmas and the New Year!  Where did 2010 go (although, I'm really excited for this year to be over - it's been way too crazy for me!  I'm hoping 2011 comes with a better forecast!)... With the update on the showers, I wanted to apologize for my lack of postings lately - I promise to a better blogger!

Anyway, I wanted close out October with something that wasn't Halloween related, but still appropriate for the time.  I came across this adorable and super cute idea for a Breast Cancer Fundraiser and thought since October's ending, so is breast cancer awareness month - but that doesn't mean we should be supporting the cause and forget about the disease.  I had to share this because the details were just too great - and it was such a sassy party for a fundraiser!

I came across the fundraiser on Catch My Party.  The party was hosted by Aileen's friend Denise, who was raising money for the 3-day Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Walk.  Aileen is the creative mastermind behind Lil' Buckaroo Designs and designed the printables for the event {including the cute little bra art}.

How cute is this hot pink and black invite!  Such a great idea to spend time with your friends while still raising money for a great cause!

Didn't I tell you that bra art was too cute?!?!

Always nice to have some prizes on-hand to let your guests know you appreciate their donation and support!

A great color scheme carried throughout the party - beautiful!

These lovely letters were created by the hostess' twin sister.  If you're interested in purchasing some custom letters, head over to her Etsy shop, Twin Pop Designs, here.

Love how this looks kind of like a fishnet stocking - very sexy! :)

cute toppers!

more of those custom letters - great decor!

A silent auction - very nice touch!

Now, wasn't that a great fundraiser??  Makes me want to host one!  I seriously can't get over that adorable bra art - so cute!  Hot pink and black are one of my favorite color combos!  Great job ladies on the fundraiser - I hope you were able to raise all the funds you needed and more!

To see more details and pics of this party, check out Aileen's Catch My Party post here, or check out her blog post here.

New Series on the Cammi Lee Events blog!

This past Sunday I went to the Twin Cities Bridal Fair at the Minneapolis Convention Center... and there were a ton of great vendors to check out!  After attending the fair, I realized there are so many great vendors out there that I would like to get to know - especially because I'm working toward opening my own event business {it's always good to have more friends, ya know!}.  Any who, that got me thinking - what's the best way to get these vendors to know I'm out here?? And then it dawned on me - why not start a weekly series of interviewing a different local or online vendor!  It's a great way to initiate a conversation with new vendors, while also learning about the business and helping them get their name out there! Brilliant, right?? :)

So I have contacted my first featured vendor, and the post should be up either this weekend or early next week.  Until then... I'll leave you with a sneak peek!

If you have a business (online or in the Minnesota area) and you are interested in being a Featured Vendor on the Cammi Lee Events blog, please send us an email to info@eventsbycammi.com - we would love to showcase your work!!