FYI

I will be having my gall bladder removed tomorrow morning and will be unavailable until next week. I'm not sure when I'll be feeling better as I've never had an organ removed before. LOL

I will be taking my video camera with me in the hopes of recording a podcast. We'll see how that goes. Below is a diagram courtesy of www.webmd.com in case you were wondering where your gall bladder is.


Luckily, I'll be having the lapaoscopic version... otherwise my bikini days would be over.

Episode 7

This episode is the second in a series of 2006 vendor reviews and the topic is DJ's. As described in the podcast, a well thought out DJ would not put a blue spotlight on the bride and her father as they share their first dance. Please watch the episode to hear my criteria for selecting a DJ.


I am really impressed with Eric's site because not only is there a ton of information, but you can plan everything online (search for songs, set the schedule, etc). He has a really slick database to capture your information.

Jeremy's website is just really cool... probably because he's a cool guy.

Randy, you're a great DJ, but you really need to do something about that website! LOL

Click on their names below to link directly to their websites.

Eric the DJ
Jeremy Ganss
Randy Barker

Heather Lahtinen - Pittsburgh wedding DJ recommendations

Feedback

In an effort to continually improve my services, I recently sent a form to my 2006 brides that were married during the second half of the year. Below are just a few samples of the overwhelmingly positive feedback that I received. I cannot thank them enough for trusting me enough to capture their wedding day, their comments move me to tears.


Jill & Adam
I really appreciated the level of ease and comfort that we felt with Heather on our wedding day, during the engagement session, and throughout the planning process. There was never a worry in my mind that my photos wouldn't turn out fantastic!! Plus, she was so much fun to work with!! Throughout the planning process and on your wedding day, you want to have chemistry with your photographer and 100% confidence that she will be professional and produce brilliant and unique photos!! Heather was all of those things and so much more!! We met with many prospective photographers before Heather and no one compared... or even came close! We knew we HAD TO HAVE HER photograph our wedding from the moment we met her!


Robyn & Jon
Heather was fantastically easy to work with - she gave a lot of information prior to our wedding day to help us get things in order. I was totally at ease that she would be where she said she would be, when she said she would be there - her suggestions on the flow of things, time-wise, for preparation, photographs, etc. were so helpful. On our wedding day she was prompt & ready to go AND during our preparation, ceremony and reception she was unobtrusive - and still managed to capture amazing images. I recommend Heather to everyone!!!! She is a breath of fresh air to be around. She is professional - on-time, considerate, so easy to work with etc. One less worry and her images are priceless! The pictures are fantastic - I get compliments from everyone under the sun and my friends that were married in the last couple years all wish that they'd known about her at the time of their weddings. Our pictures were also available for viewing & ordering quickly - within a couple days we were able to get a sample, and within about three weeks, we were able to look at all of them.


Danielle & George
Heather was great to work with - with such a large wedding party and I'm sure numerous pushy people making requests, Heather remained upbeat and you could tell she was having a great time while doing it! Also, getting the opportunity to design the photo book myself - most other photographers wouldn't have agreed to that! Heather is wonderful. It's so refreshing to be able to show friends and family all the great, not so "traditional" photos from the wedding. There were things that we didn't notice the day of the wedding, and Heather caught all the little details that we did and didn't know were going on around us! Being a graphic designer (aka visually anal), I was extremely concerned with finding the right photographer - and Heather was definitely the right one!


Kim & Doug
Through Heather's sincere love of romance and her amazing natural talent is born the most creative, awe-inspiring wedding photography my husband and I have ever seen. We had decided from the start that we would not compromise when it came to our wedding photography. We wanted the absolute best, and we feel without a doubt that is exactly what we received from Heather. We owe Heather a debt of gratitude for documenting our best day so beautifully. Her enthusiasm shines through all of her work -- from the first minute you begin discussing your wedding to the day you slowly page through your proof book the first time. It is no surprise that all of our friends and family have a jaw-drop reaction when we show our wedding photos, and I never hesitate to recommend her services to anyone.

Click here for previous feedback.

Weddings by Heather - Pittsburgh Wedding Photographer

Episode 6

This episode is the first in a series of 2006 vendor reviews. Of course I started with make-up artists because I LOVE make-up. I plan to discuss more vendors in the upcoming weeks.

Sorry about the slowly wandering camera at the end, it's hard to podcast in a mirror. If you listen carefully, you'll hear me use inappropriate language at the very end when I noticed that I was not focusing the camera well. I certainly could have edited that out, but I thought it was funny.


I highly recommend both Jennifer Palermo and Lisa Johnson because they not only do a great job, but they are also very passionate about their work. Click on the image to link directly to their websites.




Products discussed:
Mac Cosmetics
Sephora
Benefit Eye Bright
Kiss Me Mascara
Max Factor Lipfinity
Smashbox Photo Finish

Heather Lahtinen - wedding tips, Pittsburgh Makeup Artists

Episode 5

I PASSED, WOOHOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am very happy to report that I passed the Adobe Certified Expert (ACE) Exam for Photoshop CS2. I took the exam earlier today and even though I am very confident in my knowledge, I was still really nervous. For today, I would appreciate it if you would please refer to me as Ms. Photoshop. LOL Watch the podcast to learn more.

For the record, the exam is fairly rigorous... you know, like the bar exam, medical boards, etc. Ok, I'm exaggerating, but it was somewhat tricky and I'm very proud to put ACE after my name.

Heather Lahtinen, ACE

Element of Love

I am ecstatic to announce my new venture with Joanne Bartone, click here to experience Element of Love!!

Joanne and I have both been independently successful with our businesses, and we have a blast when we work together... so we decided to combine our success, along with our chemistry, to form Element of Love.

We will be offering photography seminars and workshops, as well as a wedding coverage package for couples who wish to have us both at their wedding.

We believe very strongly in what we have to offer, and look forward to helping others develop and achieve their own formula for success!


We will continue to operate our independent photography businesses as well.

Heather Lahtinen - Photography seminars

Photoshop Secrets!

You may remember this post that I made back in September about teaching a Photoshop course at The Community College of Beaver County. While I haven't received the finalized details just yet, it looks like it may be held on Tuesday evenings from 6:30pm - 8:30pm beginning in mid January.

If you have already emailed me expressing interest, then I will be sending a follow-up shortly. If you haven't contacted me and you're interested, I need to hear from you AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

Send me an email by Thursday January 4th: heather@weddingsbyheather.com

Heather Lahtinen - Photoshop Instructor