Asus Laptop Review | Why I chose it over HP Spectra and Dell | Photography

Marcus and I did not have internet at home for the first couple of years of marriage. (*Gasp* ) I can tell you all about the weird comments I get telling people that, but it was something we could save money at that time. So, any online editing that I needed to do to upload photos I needed to be at a place with free wifi. 

A couple of months ago I was sitting at my Caribou Coffee working on editing an event I had shot the night before and my laptop was going PAINSTAKINGLY SLOW. Just hitting the right arrow to the next photo sometimes took up to 30 seconds. I had been working on my laptop from college all 6lbs of this laptop was making me more and more frustrated with it freezing or exerting itself to try to work with Lightroom. Frustrated and defeated, I came to the realization that this was no longer working.  What should have taken me and hour and a half was now taking me 4.5 hours! 

I knew what I needed that was a necessity for my business 1) it needed to have an SD card slot 2) it needed to be fast (no more 4 hr wait time) 3) cost needed to be close to 1k 4) had had had to be lite for portability on wedding days/travel

So after weeks of youtube reviews and information it came down to these computers : HP Spectra 360, which was the most beautiful, review the craziest reviews, and second most expensive on my list (specs: 13.3" - intel core i7 - 16gb memory-512gb solid state drive) | Dell XPS my lightest choice but the most expensive (specs: 13.3" - intel core i7 - 16gb memory-256gb solid state drive) | Lenovo -  Yoga 900 (specs: 13.3" - intel core i7 - 16gb memory-512gb solid state drive)| Asus Q324UA  (specs: 13.3" - intel core i7 - 16gb memory-512gb solid state drive) Note* you will see that Apple product is missing this is due to being out of my price range and me being 100% Android platform user. It would have been weird having one item out of that platform. ;)  

Multiple trips to best buy and talking to multiple sales associates I finally decided on the Asus. It was light, had everything I needed, nice to look at and the price range was perfect. (I looked at it again a couple weeks later and it had gone on sale which helped me save over 300$!!!) 

So I have had it for a couple of months and here are the big things - it is super light. I can carry it to work and around the house without killing my back. It will be easy to take on wedding days and not add too much more weight with my other equipment.   I no longer have long weight times in lightroom, it is efficient and fast. 

My only issue with it is sometimes when I am typing the courser will jump unexpectedly. I have yet to figure out what causes this.  

So I was able to make a good investment in my business and it so far was well worth it! 

First Easter In Our New Home

For the first time we are hosting Easter at our house! Both of my parents have decided to be in Greenville packing up my little brother Christian as he is graduating in just a few weeks!!  Traditional it is at my folks house but since that didn't look like that was an option, we invited everyone else to our house! 
One thing I love about out place is that we actually have enough room to host our friends and family; it really has been a big blessing to have that space to make those memories! 

After a beautiful church service celebrating and singing our heart out, everyone joined us  at our house for some fellowship and banana cream pie.  Although the sun was shinning we determined it was still a little too chilly to eat on the porch so we ate inside. Grandma made ham and we got to use our electric knife (from our wedding) for the first time! 
After lunch Marcus and I played Summer and Jenny (two of my sisters) in one of Jenny's newer games - Ticket to Ride. We both really like it! We all played while consuming hot chocolate with homemade whipped cream and Starburst Jellybeans ( One of my favorite things about Easter are the Jellybeans). Jenny ended up being the final winner! 

All in all It was a good happy Easter!
 

When Should The Ring Bearer & the Flower Girl be ready for photos?

 

One  of my favorite stories of ring bearers was one of my little brother; Christian was a ring bearer for one of my cousin's weddings. He was terrified because he thought he was getting married to the flower girl. He was extremely hesitant, but eventually persuaded by a giant water gun this size of his torso that my grandma Gertie was holding out in the middle of the aisle. To this day it still one of my favorite family wedding stories.  I share this little piece of family history to let you be aware when you have kiddos in your wedding, they have a tendency to think this big party is for them!

Kids have there own schedule but working with them can also be a joy because they are only this little once. For wedding party photos and family photos you want the ring bearer and the flower girl to be ready at the location 20 minutes before we start shooting the full wedding party. In your timeline you want to plan to have them there for long enough that they can be included without it being too much time in between that it is overwhelming for them. If that is too early or interrupts nap time consider doing separate wedding party photo with them after the ceremony.  

As learned with my family, bribes are always acceptable!