Weddings
Bellies & Babies
Engagements
Families & Kids
Posted on October 17, 2011
First, I need to thank every one of you who participated in this contest! I had such an amazing turn out. 16 couples in this contest!! That means 15 of you will receive 25% off of any photography package you choose when you book with me! And one of you will receive 8 hours of photography and a high resolution CD FREE! Also, all 16 of you will receive 25% off your cake when you book with Honey Bee’s Cakes! To all the voters who helped every one of the contestants. Especially those who posted on their own walls and business pages. You helped out tremendously! And a special thanks goes out to Melissa Niezgoda of Honey Bee’s Cakes for pitching in!
Last year, there was no guessing who was the winner. This year, the top two winners went back and forth throughout the contest. And the winner only won by 5 votes!! You guys were driving me crazy!
So! Without further ado, the winners are…
THIRD PLACE (16×20 Gallery Wrap) – Jenna Levato & Michael DeMarchi – 215 votes
SECOND PLACE (Free Engagement Session) – Jenna Van Dyk & Jesse Van Maanen – 364 votes
FIRST PLACE (Free Wedding Photography & CD) – Angely Dykstra & Harry Helmus – 369 votes
CONGRATULATIONS to every one of you!! I’ll be contacting all of the contestants today, so look out for an email from you! Thanks again!
Posted on October 4, 2011
I know what you’re thinking. At least, I think I do. “I thought you weren’t doing weddings anymore?” I’m a liar, liar, pants on fire. Ok, well I didn’t lie. I wasn’t going to do weddings until both my girls were in school. My husband and I made the decision because we were feeling overwhelmed with the amount of work this year. God was pressing me to change, and I decided to just stop doing the work I love most, because I couldn’t handle all the work. I felt torn, because I was so thankful that God gave me my best year in business so far, and then, I just couldn’t handle the stress and the sheer amount of work that went with it. What’s a girl to do?
Make a business plan, that’s what! The hubs and I sat down, crunched numbers and realized that I could take on a LOT more weddings if I just let go of the reigns a little. Editing a wedding takes up the most amount of my time. I literally sit in front of my computer ALL day. The beautiful weather out there right now? Yea, I don’t get to enjoy that. Cant take a glaring laptop outside and expect to get pretty pictures out of it. My stress level is through the roof some days. I want to be a good mom to my girls, I want to play with them instead of telling them to go upstairs and play, go outside and play, go anywhere other than right in front of me to play. I’m missing out on them, and they can’t wait for daddy to come home because he plays with them. So, I needed an editor. And the obvious choice is my sister, Jessica. A great photographer, and equally great at editing. Having her on my team would allow me to do far more weddings than I was able to, and it would allow me to be able to blog again, focus on the business side of everything, and have more time to enjoy my family. And, if I’m able to get enough weddings, I’ll be able to hire more editors. My business is expanding and I am SO excited about it!!
That brings me to the title of my post today. Last year, I did a free wedding contest and it went over SO well, that I’ve decided to kick off my next year with another one! Read below for details and get your entries in by October 9th to qualify!
***UPDATE***
The contest flyer below states that people have to nominate themselves or have someone nominate them. And to vote, people just have to “like” their favorite couple. THAT HAS CHANGED.
If you’d like to enter the contest, there is no need to nominate anyone. Simply:
***CLICK HERE TO ENTER***
**THIS JUST IN**
What a sweet deal!! In addition to all the goodies the nominees in my Free Wedding Contest will get, how about adding 25% off their wedding cake from Honey Bee’s Cakes?? Let me tell you, from first hand experience, these cakes are gorgeous and delicious! Get your nominations in quick!!
Posted on November 29, 2010
Happy Cyber Monday!! It’s my favorite day of the year! Ok, maybe not favorite, but it comes pretty close. Its that time of year that I get to sit in my house in my pj’s, surf the web and shop like mad! AND I get to simultaneously thumb my nose (what does that even mean?) at all those crazy people who enjoy braving the crowds and horrible weather for hours and hours on Black Friday. I’ll just enjoy sitting here with my coffee, thank you very much.
Anyway, on to the business at hand. I have fallen in LOVE with Stella & Dot jewelry! Head-over-heels in LOVE! So, the only way to satisfy my newest obsession was to become a Stella & Dot Stylist! I know, because I don’t have enough to do, right? Hey, I’m all about free jewelry! So, to kick off mmy newest endevor, I’m having a Cyber Monday Giveaway! I’m going to give away a pair of these gorgeous cubic zirconia Glint Flower Earrings from Stella & Dot! I love these! Simple, but fabulous. Wear them with a t-shirt and jeans, or that little black dress. It gives any outfit just the right touch!
To enter:
1) Visit my Stella & Dot webpage here, look around and find your favorite item, or an item you’d like to give as a gift.
2) Then, visit my Stella & Dot Facebook page here, “like” the page and leave a comment (on the FB page) letting me know what your favorite piece is!
That’s it!
BUT WAIT! There’s MORE! (Can you tell I’m having fun?) Order anything from my Stella & Dot webpage today and you’ll receive a FREE 8×10 of your choosing from LilyBelle Photography! You can use that on any past or future session, event or wedding. ALSO, if you book a trunk show with me today, you’ll receive a FREE SESSION from LilyBelle Photography! Free jewelry AND free photography? How could anyone pass that up!?
Contest ends TONIGHT at MIDNIGHT (CST)! I’ll announce the winner tomorrow! GOOD LUCK!
____________________________________________________________________________
And the winner (selected by Random.org) is:
Jessica Peters!
Congratulations Jessica! Please email your mailing address to christina@lilybellephoto.com
Thanks also to Mandy Raimondi for booking a party with me! Thank you to everyone who participated! I’m having my official launch party on December 11th, so make your wish lists now! Thanks again!
Posted on November 1, 2010
First off, I have to thank each and every one of you. You are ALL amazing and I am so thankful to every one of you! Thank you to those who nominated all of the couples. Thank you to each of my wonderful nominees! I loved your stories and I hope to be able to photograph each one of your weddings! Thank you especially to each one of you who voted for your couple! My fan base on Facebook has more than quintupled since the start of this contest! AMAZING! So, sincerely, thank you from the bottom of my heart to each and every one of you!
Now, for the prizes. You all know that the winner of the contest gets free wedding photography. That’s 6 hours of full coverage photography by me and a high resolution CD/DVD of all of their wedding pictures. I decided before this contest started that I would give goodies to second and third place as well. In addition, ALL of the couples in the contest will get 25% off any wedding package from LilyBelle Photography! So here are the prizes for everyone:
First Place: 6 hours of wedding photography by me & high resolution CD/DVD
Second Place: Free engagement session with me
Third Place: Free 16×20 Canvas Gallery Wrap
Everyone: 25% off any of my wedding packages
So, how did I tally the votes? Painstakingly. Ok, it wasn’t that bad. Every morning, I went to my FB page, copied the votes from the previous 24 hours and pasted them into Word (text only). I went through, deleted all of the “likes” and extra comments, unnecessary words, etc. Then I copied that, pasted it into Excel and sorted the list into alphabetical order. I had a running list going that I added to each day. From there, I scrolled down and deleted any double (or triple, quadruple) vote. I then sorted each vote, by keyword (Dana, Kevin, Chad, etc) and the votes for each couple got a specific color. I then sorted each color into it’s own column and made note of the number next to the last vote in each column. That was the vote count for each couple. Fun, huh? Hello? Still there? Yes, I know it’s boring. I did it every day for 2 weeks. Then this morning (because I’m a procrastinator) I went through and did that for ALL the days. I wanted to get an exact vote. I checked it 4 times and in the end! Lots of fun, let me tell you.
So, here are a few fun facts from the contest:
1. In my final count this morning, I had 85 extra (double, triple) votes that I deleted.
2. There were 7 Leah’s who voted, all with very close short last names, all voted for one couple. I did a double take every day.
3. Before this contest, I had 580 fans. I now have almost 3,100 thanks to you AWESOME people!
4. Yes, I will be doing this every year.
5. The total number of votes was 2423.
6. My least favorite part was deleting all the “likes”, extra comments, and then deleting all the extra votes.
7. My favorite part was the final vote count each day!
8. It’s not easy to count votes when you have this face trying to pull you away to play:
9. Lily is very fond of turning on and off the lights when I’m counting votes. I’m not.
10. I had a BLAST with this contest and I’m SO excited to announce the winners!
Ok, now that I’ve tortured you enough, I’m sure you’d like to know the winners!
Posted on October 8, 2010
A wonderful photog friend of mine had this fabulous idea and I asked her if I could borrow it! If you’re like me, you’re feeling the pressure of this economy! Who has the money to get married now? Well, I’d like to help:
Posted on August 13, 2010
First off, I want to give everyone who entered a HUGE thank you to all of you for your entry. I am just THRILLED with the turn out for all of this. Really, I can’t thank you all enough. Just your willingness to enter has given hope to Laura and Tim. A BIG thank you To Amy Soden and Mandy Raimondi for booking parties with Laura. You guys are amazing! I will be emailing you your free session certificates on Monday! And don’t let the contest stop you from booking a party with Laura! If you didnt win, you can always earn free chocolate with a party! Thanks again, all of you!
And without further ado, the two winners of the Dove Chocolate Giveaway (selected by Random.org) are…
Liss
&
Jen Bretz!
CONGRATULATIONS! Please contact me with your choice of bundle from Dove Chocolate Discoveries and your mailing address and I’ll have your bundles in the mail asap! Thanks again to everyone!!
Posted on June 2, 2010
I think I’m becoming addicted to actions. I can’t get enough of them. Which could be detrimental for my wallet. Which is why I thought I’d let you all in on this amazing giveaway of Life. Camera. Actions. at Photographer Cafe. If you win, you should know that I will be coming over and editing on your computer at odd hours. Just a heads up.
Posted on April 28, 2010
I’m so excited to finally launch this website! So excited that I’m giving away a free 11×14 Gallery Wrap print to one lucky winner! That’s $175 value! To enter, all you have to do is book your wedding, session or event between now and May 31st. Everyone who books will receive 25% off of the package of their choosing and will be entered into a drawing for the Gallery Wrap. On May 31st, I will randomly choose one entrant to win the 11×14 Gallery Wrap of the picture of their choosing from their booking. To book your wedding, session or event, call 708-808-0813 or click on the “Contact” tab above.
Enjoy the website and good luck everyone!