Get to Know: Leppert Photography

We constantly receive compliments on the pictures featured on our website, blog and Facebook page and we agree that they are beautiful! If you're curious about one of the fabulous photographers who has worked in The Center, we have information for you right here! Laura Leppert of Leppert Photography sent over some of the gorgeous images taken over the years and allowed us to ask her several questions about the company, herself, and her work in The Center...

Background on Leppert Photography:

Question: How long have you been in business? 
Answer: We have been in business since 1972.

Question: How many people are on staff? 

Answer: We are a family owned and operated business.  We currently have 9 people on our staff.

Question: What are your specialties? 

Answer: We specialize in offering elegant, timeless, and artistic wedding images.  We offer a relaxed and fun approach to our image making.  We love what we do!  We also specialize in Children, Family and High School seniors. 

We also offer photo restoration and converting audio to CD.  We also convert old home movies (8mm, super 8mm,16mm film) and all video formats (VHS, Beta) to DVD and converting slides to DVD. 

Personal Background - Laura Leppert:

Question: How long have you been a photographer? 
Answer: I have been working in photography for quite some time.  In high school, I began assisting my Dad and fell in love with photography and weddings!  I started in 1989 and have worked full time in wedding photography since 1997.

Question: Have you worked in other fields outside of photography? 
Answer: I have.  I worked retail during college but the majority of my career has been in the field of photography.

Question: What are your favorite events/things to photograph? 
Answer: I love my weddings.  I love getting to know my couples and their families.   I really get to know my clients and am proud to call them friends.   I was actually introduced to my husband by clients of mine!   It so rewarding for me to get to know them and create images that will be treasured for generations to come.  To do something that means a great deal to them is very special.  We often have clients come in to our studio bringing in photographs from their Parents/Grandparents weddings 50-60 years ago and that really hits home how special our job is capturing moments to be looked at for many years to come.

I also love photographing children.  Being a mother has really brought out my love for photographing children.  To get that special look of a child that expresses their personality at their age is truly priceless. 

I have one daughter and have been married for 9 years to a wonderful man who brings calm and balance to my often chaotic life!

Work in The Center:

Question: What do you like most about the venue? 
Answer: I love the Center!  I love that you can make it anything you like!  It offers a blank slate with so many wonderful options.  The sky is the limit! Holding your event at the Center offers a fabulous location. You have a ton of space to work with and can host ceremonies, cocktail hours and receptions. I also like the friendly staff at The Center.  

Question: Do you have any suggestions for where a couple should have their picture taken in or around The Center?
Answer: I love the location of The Center.  The Center offers many options for beautiful images.   I especially love the architecture of the atrium. You also have access to areas around downtown Cincinnati that allow you to take some fabulous city shots.  You are a stone’s throw away from Fountain Square!  Night shots with the fountain lit up are truly spectacular.

For even more images, check out Leppert Photography's blog

Bliss Magazine

Here is the first ever Bliss Weddings Magazine! Check out all of the wonderful local vendors who can help you to create the event of your dreams!

Open publication - Free publishing - More bliss

Wedding Planning: 11 Starting Steps

Planning a wedding requires an incredible amount of time, energy and money. With everything that has to be taken into consideration – the dress, makeup, hair, flowers, the venue, food... the list goes on and on – saying  that the process is overwhelming is an understatement.

Image from onewithnow.com

Hiring a wedding consultant is one way to ease the pressure, but many decisions still have to be made and not everyone can afford the added expense. So where to begin? Bride and Groom Planner offers many great resources for brides and grooms to consult during the various stages of planning. We pulled some of the information together into an 11-step outline of what to do in the early stages of planning. (Bride and Groom Planner suggests that these steps be taken 12-6 months before the wedding.)

Image from pastoralyn.wordpress.com

Step 1 – Take time to go over the expenses and make a budget. It may be challenging to sit down and think about everything all at once, but if you take the time to plan at the start, you will know what you can and cannot invest in moving forward. For a helpful guide to planning your budget and an outline explaining which items typically make up the highest percentages of the total cost: click here!  This will also help you determine the size of your wedding.

Step 2 - Decide on your wedding party. This includes the Maid of Honor, Bridesmaids, Flower Girl, The Best Man, Ushers and the Ring Bearer.

Step 3 – Set the date.

Step 4 – If hiring a consultant fits into the budget, interview and hire someone fairly early into the planning.

Step 5 – Make the guest list and start getting addresses together for the invitations.

Step 6 – Reserve the site for the ceremony.

Step 7 – Begin planning the reception. Secure the venue for your date. Research and select your vendors. Take into consideration the food, décor, and entertainment.

Step 8 – Engagement photos and announcement if desired and consider the photographer for the wedding.

Step 9 – Select wedding attire – wedding gown, bridesmaids dresses, accessories, and the groom and groom’s men attire. (Bride and Groom Planner's Advice on Gown Shopping.) 

Step 10 – Print invitations and stationery. (You do not need to mail them until 4-6 weeks before the wedding, but you may want to send out a save the date notice.)

Step 11 – Begin planning the honeymoon and scheduling appointments for before the wedding date to ensure no conflicts (for stylists, travel plans, etc.)

Image from razihealthfoundation.org

11 Steps and you are halfway there! From here on out, it’s all about gifts, guests, and finalizing the plans you’ve already made!

View our listing at BrideAndGroomPlanner.com

Dropping the Customs in the "Custom" Event

Last week we talked about the “custom” event and how adding your own style to your celebration is the latest trend. Choosing a blank canvas space like The Center to accommodate a couple’s unique style, getting rid of traditional seating, adding a special twist in entertainment, are all ways of pulling off a custom event. That got us thinking… which traditions are becoming less expected in modern day weddings? As weddings become more unique and customized to a couple’s taste, the decision to eliminate certain wedding traditions is more and more common.

1.       Diamonds don’t have to be a girl’s best friend!

In the 1940’s De Beers, a diamond mining company, introduced the marketing campaign “A Diamond Is Forever.” Since then, our culture has openly accepted the fact that diamonds are the only suitable gemstone to sit on top an engagement ring. Taking a royal cue from Dutchess of Cambridge, Catherine Middelton, why not go with a different stone when choosing the ring?

2.       Top tier saved for a year?

Present wedding day cakes are stuffed with elaborate fillings and topped with beautiful icing. However, saving the top tier to eat a year later, doesn’t sound appetizing. In earlier years, cakes were filled with brandy and fruit and lent themselves to the preserving process.

This tradition is not only, not appealing to the taste buds, but to the wallet as well. Saving the top tier for the purpose of allowing it to become freezer burned, also ties up one less cake for your guests to enjoy and one more to add to your budget. Instead of letting the cake sit in your freezer for a year, why not have the same baker re-create the top tier on a couple’s one year anniversary?

3.       So you cut the cake? No need to rub it in anyone’s face!

Back in the day, it was believed that breaking cake over a Bride’s head increased her fertility. In modern times the belief that being covered in buttercream icing for the remainder of the reception is only going to ruin the makeup, dress, and pictures you’ve already paid for, is more commonly accepted.  Please save the food fights for the children eating in their school cafeterias. Unless, of course, you don’t mind the mess!

          4.       The Garter Toss…

There is something to be said for tradition. In that, traditions originate somewhere and continue on until they make almost no sense. The Bride gets to throw her bouquet to the single ladies, so it is only fair that the boys partake in some healthy competition too. But, why do people launch items at their guests? An accepted tradition it may be, but it hardly seems polite. In the 14^th Century people thought that having an article of the bride’s clothing would bring good luck, so perhaps it was a considerate gesture at one time… However, in the 21^st Century, all that is happening is that a small cloth band is uncomfortably removed from under the bride’s dress and thrown into the air. And, while we’re being honest, no one appreciates it when an already engaged or soon-to-be engaged couple catches the bouquet and the garter – that does not happen by chance. On the other hand, that is probably better than two complete strangers following the custom to the letter and being the next to marry. Awkward! Has that been a movie plot yet?

5.       The Group Dances

Fewer and fewer couples are allowing the DJ to play the classic wedding dance songs like the Macarena, the Chicken Dance, and the Electric Slide. What’s the harm in having people up and moving on the dance floor? Maybe these songs aren’t for everyone after all, and that’s okay, because the custom playlist is just one more way for the Bride and Groom to personalize their event.

Whether you choose to savor your cake, or throw it at your partner (or your guests!) The Center is happy to be involved! We love our traditional Brides and Grooms just as much as the modern couples that walk through our doors. Our favorite part of helping with events is seeing how each couple makes the space their own and creates a special day with traditions that are individually important to them!

Review

Check out our Q&A with a past client!
Event: Wedding Reception

1. What led you to choose The Center as the venue for your reception?

We both grew up in Cincinnati (though we now live in Georgia), and we love our home city.  We both felt strongly about wanting our wedding to highlight the beauty and the history of this town. We also knew that most of our guests would be out-of-towners—so we were also looking to find a space within walking distance to hotels and restaurants in the central business district. That meant they wouldn’t have to rent cars for the weekend.

We looked at several venues—none of which were quite “us”—and we kept saying, “If only we could find a large space with hardwood floors right in the middle of downtown that we could use as a blank canvas to create our own feel.”  After checking out several locations, we came to believe that such a space didn’t exist.  Then we walked into The Center!  The space is both sophisticated and minimalistic—the kind of place we knew would be perfect for tailoring the wedding reception to our own mood, style, and personality.

2. How did you find the planning process – choosing vendors, décor, etc.

Since we were planning a wedding from a distance, we solicited the help of Dawn Dagenbach at Details by Dawn.  She guided us through the process of picking vendors and selecting the décor.  She made the planning process quite easy—and I think she deserves an award for helping us plan our dream wedding in just under three months.    

3. Walking into The Center at the start of the reception, what were your thoughts?

We were blown away. The lighting was moody and whimsical—and the open space felt more like a swanky lounge than a wedding reception.  We knew early on that we didn’t want a formal sit-down dinner; we wanted our guest to be able to mingle and dance and move around—so the set up was perfect for our tastes.  

It was really quite amazing to see all of the small details come together in such a big way:  the back-lit bar, the dance-floor, the flowers, the furniture, the food, our typewriter table, the mime.  We felt like we were transported to a lounge that we’d designed right in the heart of the city.  The moment we saw The Center at the start of the reception we knew one thing for certain: This was going to be a fun night.  

4.What do you like most about the space?

The Center is a creative space—the perfect kind of venue for those who hope to create a particular “feel” for an event. It’s a “white box,” so you can go to town on personalizing it with rental furniture, lighting, or whatever you conceive. It was important to us that our wedding reflected our personalities and be fun for our friends. (We know, having been to so many weddings ourselves over the years, that a wedding can be an expensive obligation: travel costs, a couple of nights in a hotel in a distant city, plus incidental expenses all add up. We wanted our friends to get maximum “bang for their bucks.”)  More than anything, we wanted our reception to be fun, lively, unique, and memorable. We loved that The Center was a blank canvas that allowed us to create the perfect night for us.    

5.Were you satisfied with the service provided by The Center and the Event Coordinators?

Yes! The good folks at The Center provided plenty of guidance, and, moreover, they were flexible and easy to work with.  Overall, it was an extremely positive experience.

6. Would you recommend The Center to others to use a venue for their events?

We would absolutely recommend The Center to anyone who wants to host an event.  Still, three months after our wedding, our guests continue to tell us what a great night they had.  We only wish we could relive it.

The Custom Event

Caitlin Arnold Weddings and Events featured Wedding and Event Trends for 2012 on their blog in December. (To see the post, click here.) The trend highlighted as the “number one favorite” was the custom event, in which, “Couples and hosts alike are looking for those personal, customized details and design to set their event apart, whether that be unconventional color palettes, family heirlooms and traditions, or a full sensory experience that brings the guest into their world and local space.” We at The Center agree that the “custom” event is indeed trendy and are proud of the fact that our venue lends itself to being transformed differently for each event. Our clients are excited about the blank canvas they are given to work with and here are some of the unique and personalized touches we’ve seen so far.

These images are from our very first event, a beautiful reception. With 220 guests, banquet style seating, a large dance floor, a cocktail area underneath the dome ceiling, and customized lighting provided by Goodwin Lighting, this event had a traditional and intimate feel.

But the traditional is not for everyone… Our second wedding reception took on a very relaxed vibe with soft seating and a lounge-like arrangement.

Again, the space transformed with custom lighting, a live band, and for one of the most unique and creative twists we’ve seen at an event, a mime joined the party! For the first part of the evening, the mime mingled with guests, mimicked the catering staff, and helped the Father of the Bride introduce the newly married couple!

The Bride and Groom also had type writers set up so that guests could sit and type personalized messages!

Receptions are not the only events that have received these individualized touches. The Secret Artworks fundraiser featured a cocktail hour and jazz band, a gallery set up in the ballroom, and a VIP lounge with a signature drink.

We have also seen creative food bars that are increasingly popular for events of all kinds!

Popcorn Bar

Snow Cones

We are looking forward to seeing more trendy, custom events in 2012! From lighting and furniture to our favorite snacks, the possibilities are endless.

Photography by Leppert Photography and Christina Littleton