Interview with Randy, by Elizabeth

       

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Engagement_pictures_tips_tags_.zip (245 KB)

We had the chance to talk with Randy Tunnell, a professional photographer. From his 20+ years of professional experience, he discusses his philosophy on engagement photo sessions and shares his favorites places to take engagement photos.

Editor's disclosure: Shiny Orb, a search site for bridesmaids dresses, receives no form of compensation from this wedding vendor.

Where are the best places you've shot at for engagement photos?  What's your favorite place?

Randy Tunnell is a professional photographer and the owner of Randy Tunnell Photography in Monterey, CA. You can find more photos of high profile events and publications he's covered on his website.

Interview with Esther, by Elizabeth

Today we continue our interview with filmmaker Esther Andrews. Check out Part I first.

Editor's disclosure: Shiny Orb, a shopping site for bridesmaid dresses, receives no form of compensation from this vendor.

What's a growing video trend? Are there particular wedding video packages that are popular these days?
 
Out are the boring long wedding videos with the cheesy effects and long clips. The growing trend now is the short form, which includes a shortened version of the wedding video -- the most significant moments of the day -- put together in an artistic and beautiful way. This is the film that couples will watch again and again and proudly show family members and friends long after the wedding. Most filmmakers, as part of this package, also provide a long form video that includes the edited wedding footage as a whole for people who would like to watch the wedding video in more detail.
 
In addition, wedding filmmakers will often offer "cinematic" packages as well as "documentary" style video. More editing time goes into the cinematic packages, which show the footage in an artistic way and sometimes, out of sequence. Documentary style films will show the footage in its original sequence.
 
Another growing trend is the "Same Day Edit". The filmmaker will edit the video footage on location to provide a beautiful and entertaining film that will be presented during the dinner reception. This film will include footage of the ceremony and sometimes even the first dance. The couple's love story can also be added to this film if their interviews were prepared ahead of time. This is great way to introduce the bride and groom to family members and friends who may not have had the chance to meet the partner before the wedding. Family and other guests are always delighted to watch these films, and it creates a wonderfully intimate atmosphere.
 
Finally, another trend is the option of video broadcasting. Almost at every wedding there are family members or friends who live at a distance, and are not able to attend the wedding. The video can be broadcast on-line during the wedding for absent family members or friends to watch.

So there you have it! What kind of wedding video appeals to you?

Esther Andrews is a wedding filmmaker and owner of Newman Media Productions based in San Jose, California. She loves working with people at their happiest time in their lives and being able to preserve their memories in fun and entertaining films.

Interview with Esther, by Elizabeth

We had the chance to speak with wedding videographer Esther Andrews about choosing videographers and different wedding video formats.

Editor's disclosure: Shiny Orb, a shopping site for wedding apparel, receives no form of compensation from this vendor.
 
How would you recommend a bride choose a wedding videographer?
 
Many brides nowadays search on the web for videographers. They look at a number of videographers' web sites, watch the demos on the site, and call the ones they like most. Although booking a videographer over the phone can be a real time saver, I recommend finding the right wedding filmmaker by meeting them personally.
 
There are a few reasons for this:

• Creating an impressive website is a skill on its own that has nothing to do with video production. So having a good site does not reflect on the quality of video the site owner will provide.
• A wedding is a team endeavor and every service provider at your wedding has to be a team player. The videographer has to share the space with the photographer, and has to be considerate of other service providers as well as your guests and most importantly - yourself.
• A wedding video has to reflect both you and your spouse's personalities, as well as your families' characters. If the videographer sees you for the first time at your wedding, he/she will not have enough information to produce the best movie for you. When I show an example of my work, I pay close attention to what they liked about the film, and find out if there is something they rather not have in their own wedding production. This proves to be very useful when I edit the footage and create a film that meets their personal taste.

 Finally, get plenty of information about wedding film production and all that goes into it, so you can make an informed decision about what options -- number of cameras, short form or long form video, etc. -- you would like included in your video.

What's the difference between HD DVD and Blue-Ray? Can you talk a little bit about what each is? With all the different formats for video, is there a best one for preserving wedding memories?
 
High-definition video or HD video refers to any video system of higher resolution than standard definition (SD) video. Most commonly it involves display resolutions of 1280×720 pixels (720p) or 1920×1080 pixels. Picture clarity is higher than SD and more detail is visible. Many film makers use HDV cameras, which provides 720p quality, and some also have cameras that provide 1920x1080, which is considered full HD.

The issue is, how does the video get delivered to the client?

If it gets delivered to the client on a common DVD, then the HD footage will be converted to an SD format in order to get authored to DVD. Blue-Ray, on the other hand, is capable of taking full advantage of the High Definition video. However, in order to watch a Blue-Ray disk, the client has to have a Blue-Ray player and also own a HD TV to watch the Blue-Ray disk. While HD TV's are now very common, Blue-Ray players are not as common, and many clients don't own a player or choose not to purchase one. In this case, in addition to watching the wedding film on a DVD, they can get the HD version on a hard drive for future viewing or view it on a media player that will play the HD film from a hard drive directly to TV. Media players are being made by several companies and are quite affordable, and a good example of a media player is the WD TV made by Western Digital.

Continue to Part II.

Esther Andrews is a wedding filmmaker and owner of Newman Media Productions based in San Jose, California. She loves working with people at their happiest time in their lives and being able to preserve their memories in fun and entertaining films.

     

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Do_It_Yourself_Free_Online_Wed.zip (237 KB)

My husband and I got married last summer at a fairly secluded beach with limited parking.  So when I thought about how all the guests would arrive at the ceremony, I started freaking out.  Even with massive carpooling plans, it would be difficult for the guests to find parking in a timely way.  I really needed to provide everyone with a map that laid out where all the potential parking spots in the vicinity. Since most of my guests were going to use Google Maps to find driving directions, I decided to create an online wedding map with Google Maps. 

Getting started

• Go to maps.google.com
• Click on the "My maps" link on the left (below the Google logo)
• If you are not logged in, click the "Get started" button and log into your Google account
• If you are already logged in, click the link on the top-left that reads "Create new map"
• Add a title and description about your wedding map for your guests.  I'd suggest making your map publicly viewable so your guests won't need a Google account to view it.

Adding places of interest

• Click the placeholder icon at the top of the map
• Zoom to your first location.  
• Click the location of your choice to place the icon -- you can always move this icon later
• Add a title and description for this place in the bubble that appears
• Click the icon in the upper right of the bubble to change its shape/type
• Click "Ok".  Congrats!  You've just added your first marker.  Now, rinse and repeat this section to add other places of interest.  For my wedding map, I added parking markers to indicate parking areas near our ceremony location and also added nearby hotels.  Feel free to add touristy-places-of-interest and nearby eateries/bars to your wedding map.

• After you've finished adding markers to your wedding map, click the "Done" button in the upper left corner of your screen
• Now click on the link that reads "Link" in the upper right corner of your screen.  The first link can be copied and sent to all your guests 

Interview with Steve, by Elizabeth

     

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Wedding_music_band_DJ_songs_ta.zip (672 KB)

We had the chance to talk with Steve Ezzo, a professional musician, band leader, and DJ. He shares great advice on choosing songs for your wedding and on selecting a band or DJ.

Editor's disclosure: Shiny Orb, a search site for bridesmaids dresses, receives no form of compensation from this wedding vendor.

What should a couple consider when deciding on either a band or a DJ?

I always tell couples that a band will have a repertoire of songs that they can play, so they should not expect a band to be a "human jukebox". Also a band will usually have a few styles of music that they are really strong at performing. My band for example, can play all types of music, but we really specialize in playing classic rock, funk, Motown and R&B.

Also, a band has that live energy that you just can't get from a DJ. On the other hand, a DJ can play just about any song that will be requested at a wedding. If I don't have a song that a couple wants, I download it for them prior to the event. Also, I subscribe to a service that allows me to stream songs on the web, so if I have an internet connection, I can play just about any song a guest might request. When a couple hires my band, I also bring my DJ laptop, and DJ the band breaks. This way the couple gets the best of both worlds.

How many songs are played at a typical wedding?

I generally don't like to play any song over three minutes. This would mean that in an uninterrupted hour of music, I would play 20 songs. So multiply 20 by the number of hours of the reception, minus toasts, cake cutting, bouquet & garter, etc.

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08 Here Comes The Sun.mp3 (954 KB)

How about a few songs for wedding inspiration? R&B wedding songs? Father daughter wedding songs?  Wedding first dance music?

A few old school R&B artists are Al Green, Wilson Picket, Sam Cook and Barry White. One of my favorite, current R&B singers is John Legend. My advice to couples for their first dance, and for dances with their parents, is the same. Pick a song that is meaningful to you, then actually try to dance to the song in your living room. You want to pick a song that is special to you, but also one that is easy for dancing. The biggest mistake I see couples make is not taking into account the length of the songs they pick. A five minute song may be great for listening, but five minutes alone on the dance floor can seem like an hour. Also, if you have a five minute first dance, a five minute father/daughter dance and a five minute mother/son dance, you have asked your guests to watch 15 minutes of solo dancing, which can get boring. Work with your DJ or band leader to fade out songs at two or three minutes if you have chosen longer songs.

Steve Ezzo is a professional musician and DJ with Ezzo Entertainment.  He is also the band leader and guitarist for Steve Ezzo & The Monterey Bay All-Stars. You can find more photos and his stellar client reviews on WeddingWire.

by Amy, Christine, and Elizabeth

   

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Creating_a_wedding_website_tag.zip (142 KB)

Editor's disclosure: Shiny Orb, a comparison social shopping website for bridesmaid dresses, is not endorsed by either Google or mywedding.com.

In this modern age, having a wedding website is extremely popular if not critical.  But, there are so many choices for building a wedding website out there.  How do you know what to look for?  What do you add to your site?  Two brides, Amy and Christine, share their thoughts and experiences with us.

Amy

For our wedding, we browsed through a few different online options and ended up using www.mywedding.com. We chose this site because it was easy to use, included all the page options we wanted, and had appealing templates and background schemes. On our website, we posted important logistical information such as where and when the wedding and reception would take place, travel information, and hotel choices. We also included more personal tidbits such as how we met, how he proposed, as well as short blurbs about everyone in the wedding party. For out of town guests, we did some research on fun activities to do around the area and posted those ideas on the website.

Christine

Although my fiance and I looked through several wedding site hosts, we ultimately decided to make our own through Google Sites.  We wanted the ability to completely customize the design and layout but also wanted to take advantage of the preset features available through Google.  In addition, although most wedding sites provide a free year of hosting (for limited features), they begin to charge fees to host the site beyond the first year.  With Google Sites, we have free web hosting, giving us the ability to maintain the site and post updates (wedding-related or not) for many more years to come.  

To take full advantage of Google Sites, you do need to devote some time to familiarize yourself with all the features.  My fiance and I spent a decent amount of time tweaking settings to get the exact look that we wanted.  Although Google Sites has a graphical user interface, basic knowledge of HTML is helpful for manipulating code when things don't display quite right, especially across different browsers.

If you want a distinct and unique look for your wedding website and have the time to master the different features of Google Sites, then I highly recommend trying it out.  However, if you don't have much experience with web design, it may be easier to use one of the free wedding site services available online.

Interview with Marian, by Elizabeth

       

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Vintage_wedding_flowers_tags_w.zip (169 KB)

We're excited to catch up with Marian LeBrun, founder and head floral designer at Savage Rose.  She has fabulous advice on a popular topic, vintage-style wedding flowers.

Editor's disclosure: Shiny Orb, a shopping site for inexpensive bridesmaid dresses, receives no form of compensation from this vendor.

Are having vintage or embellished flowers at a wedding a growing trend?
Yes! Brides today are very in tune with vintage inspired fashion trends and understand how this style can translate so beautifully into wedding flowers. I see many modern brides requesting embellishments to their flowers, such as a sentimental broche added to a bouquet or ivory feathers sprinkled throughout a centerpiece. Vintage style in wedding flowers just works. It feels whimsy, classic, personal, and most of all - romantic.

What are your inspirations when you design these vintage-style bouquets?
My inspiration is always the bride I am designing for and her unique style. I am also very inspired by the bride's gown. This is because I view the bouquets not only as a floral design but as an important accessory that must compliment the woman holding it, much like a necklace or handbag. The bouquet should complete the look and overall fashion of a wedding ceremony. And of course, I am inspired by the flowers themselves. Some blooms are just meant to be in a vintage style bouquet, like Curly Tulips, Garden Roses, Peonies and Ranunculus - just to name a few!

What makes them vintage style?  What kind of materials do you use?
Vintage style in wedding flowers today is the combination of classic and modern, romantic and whimsical, elegant and homespun.
Unlike uber modern wedding flowers, vintage bouquets have a sense of warmth,softness and personalization. Traditionally, vintage style bouquets incorporate soft hues, sparse amounts of greenery and a mix of flowers such as freesia, lisianthus, roses and lavender. Today floral designers have updated this look by using pops of color and delicate greens to emphasize a garden look, as well as vintage textiles in the ribbons used such as polka dots or pinstripes. Materials I typically use in vintage style bouquets are unique and textural ribbons, antique lace, vintage jewels, velvet string, delicate feathers and soft blooms such as Peonies, Poppies and Garden Roses.

If a bride wants embellished flowers, how much more would it cost?
It ranges depending on what the bride wishes to embellish her flowers with. If the bride provides the embellishment from her personal collection, such as a sentimental pendant or a personal trinket, this would cost nothing for Savage Rose to incorporate into the design. To buy an item from Savage Rose's collection of Vintage Touches can range from $18 - $200 depending on the amount used.

What are your recommendations or advice for a bride who may be thinking about a one-of-a-kind embellished bouquet?
My advice is to do what your heart tells you. Your bouquet becomes a very important and intimate part of your wedding. It's what you hold close to your heart throughout the ceremony and in photographs. It's what you smell as you take a deep breath walking down the aisle. The bouquet is what completes the wedding look, it's what says "I am the bride today". So my advice is to get as personal and one-of-a-kind with your bouquet as you wish! Make your bouquet you. Ask your floral designer to somehow incorporate your favorite flower or favorite color. If you have a sentimental necklace, locket, broche, jewel - ask your florist how they can add this to your wedding bouquet. If you want to smell the fragrance of gardenia or casablanca lilies at the altar, tell your floral designer! The Bride's bouquet is very important and should make you smile throughout your wedding.

Photo captions: (1) Vintage Wedding Bouquet - Embellished with Vintage Pendant & Satin Ribbons {Dahlia, Peony, Parrot Tulip, Lilac, Rose, Seeded Eucalyptus} (2) Vintage Summer Bouquet - Wrapped In Ivory Satin {Parrot Tulip, Rose, Peony, Anemone, Ranunculus, Queen Anne's Lace,Garden Roses, Star of Bethlehem} (3) Vintage Bridal Bouquet - Embellished with Vintage Lace and Satin, Charm Necklace, White Feather {Vendella Rose, Ivory Rose, Lamb's Ear, Cream Garden Roses, Curly Tulips, Freesia} (4) Savage Rose Vintage Bouquet -  Embellished with Vintage Handmade Feather, Vintage Blue Ribbon, Pearls {Rose, Ranunculus, Lilac, Parrot Tulip, Cala Lily}

Marian LeBrun is the founder and head floral designer at Savage Rose, a private floral design studio specializing in weddings and events throughout the Bay Area and beyond.

By Jennifer

         

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Blue_Wedding_Flowers_tags_wedd.zip (257 KB)

Editor's disclosure: Shiny Orb, a comparison shopping site for dresses, receives no form of compensation from these vendors.

While blues have always been popular for weddings, according to Shane Murray of The Wedding Report, "Cobalt blues will be the most requested color in 2010." Since flowers play a huge role in setting the theme and colors of a wedding, we've ask a few floral experts to offer their 2 cents on cobalt flowers.

Natural, dark blue flowers can seem hard to find, but a great cobalt blue flower is the Volkerfrieden Delphinium, as suggested by Kirsten Juntunen. Other flowers that can come in many shades of blue including dark blue are hydrangeas, hyacinths, and irises. On the other hand, using dyes or color sprays greatly increase the types of blue flowers available to you while still maintaining a real touch. However, if you do select dyed flowers, Judi Tutton tells us that hand dipping flowers into dyes should be done by a professional so that an even color is maintained throughout your bouquets.

Purchasing wedding flowers online is becoming more popular, and fortunately, many websites will also tell you whether the blue flowers you're purchasing are natural or dyed.  For example, you'll find in the descriptions of the tinted blue flowers on FiftyFlowers.com (as referred to us by Mickey Long, a representative for FiftyFlowers.com) information about whether dyes will seep or stain and how best to handle the blooms.

Lastly, I'll end with a piece of advice from Indigo Daisy Weddings. "Sometimes its nicer to keep the flowers simple, white or ivory and bring in the cobalt blue color through crystals, feathers or ribbons/organza." So if you're a cobalt blue bride, you have a lot of options.

Images: (1) Blue belladonnas and delphinium blooms by Ingela Floral Design (2) White lilies, blue hydrangea, blue delphiniums, and roses by Forget Me Not Floral (3) Hydrangeas, lavender roses, and delphiniums by Savage Rose Florals (4) Scabiosa by Katharina Stuart (5) White roses, white callas, white tulips, and light blue belladonnas by The Flower House

by Amy

Amy got married in late 2009 and was a runner up in Dancing with the Brides. She offers these tips on choosing wedding vendors and getting registered.

Editor's disclosure: Shiny Orb is an Amazon Associate.

Wedding vendors:

When you first get engaged, you are beyond excited and giddy. But once that excitement comes down a notch, you are instantly overwhelmed with the number of things that must get done before the big day. Without a wedding planner, one of the toughest things in the planning process is picking your vendors because good vendors can make your day absolutely wonderful while bad vendors can ruin a wedding. Sometimes, you may hear about vendors by word of mouth from trusted friends or family members. That makes things easy. But if you don't have that option, you can always use the internet to help you make your decisions.

For us, we were getting married on Long Island and as it turns out, there's a fantastic wedding board out there called LIWeddings.com where brides can give other brides advice and recommendations. We used this site heavily to get an initial list of vendors to visit and consider. Then we visited and talked to those selected vendors and made our decisions that way. Another site that is helpful is WeddingBee - there you'll also find reviews and advice from other brides.

Wedding registries:
 
Wedding registries are a really fun part of the wedding process. This is the time for you and your fiance(e) to start imagining what your new home will be like and what you'd like to have in it. We started with one registry at Bed Bath and Beyond because we were mostly looking for kitchen items and BBB had fairly reasonable prices and a very wide assortment of options for each item. They also have a great return policy in case a certain item ended up not fitting into our new home. The key to putting together a good registry is to add items with a wide range of prices and to add a lot of items. That way, your guests can have more options. For us, we thought we had added a ton of things but in the end, as the registry started getting filled, we realized that our friends and families wanted us to put more items on it. We started to go beyond the typical kitchen items to other items that we would like and ended up signing up for a registry with Amazon.com. They often have free shipping for items over $25, which is an added bonus for our guests.

Editor's note: It is also common practice for many stores to offer you a 10% discount on items that remain unpurchased from wedding registry.  So, don't be shy in adding more items!

Interview with Kim, by Elizabeth

           

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Wedding_hairstyles_updos_half-.zip (220 KB)

We had the chance to talk with Kim Larson, an independent professional hairstylist and makeup artist. She's got great advice on how to choose both a hair style and a hair stylist for your big day.

Editor's disclosure: Shiny Orb, a shopping site for inexpensive bridesmaid dresses, receives no form of compensation from this vendor.

What are popular hairstyles you're seeing for 2010 spring/summer weddings?

Popular styles are loose, free-flowing up-dos, sometimes done to one side of the head, pulled low on the nape, with maybe a small decorative pin or flower/feather.

Some of our brides are trying to decide whether to have an updo or half updo -- can you explain what each is and what to consider in deciding on an updo or half updo?

An up-do is a style where the entire hair is up and off the shoulders. It does not have to be a tight, ballerina bun! It can be soft and romantic. A "half-up" hairstyle is a technique where there is some hair up and some left down. There can be many variations.

From your experience, what are some common mistakes brides make when selecting a hair-do or a hair stylist? Or put another way, how should brides be thinking about their hair?  

The best advice is to collect pictures of styles that you like, bring them to the trial run and discuss them with your stylist. The bottom line is really how well you like the style on yourself, not just how it looks on a model.

Ideally, you should have a trial run, which is the only way you will know what to expect as far as your hairstyle on the big day. The trial run achieves two things- you (hopefully) get the look you love and you find out how well it will hold up over time. The biggest mistake brides can make is to skip the trial run, then there is sometimes disappointment on the wedding day.

Factors to consider when choosing a style are - does the style work for your hair type, does it fit in with the gown, will a veil/hair accessory work with the "do", etc??

Any tips on how to choose a wedding hairstylist? 

Choosing the right wedding hairstylist for the bride is an important decision. You want to choose a stylist that not only does a great job but also one that makes you feel comfortable. Typically, your hairstylist is the first person (vendor) that works with you on your big day. As it is a personal service, you want to hire a stylist that will not only make you look gorgeous but will also help you feel pampered and relaxed. The first step is to find someone that is highly recommended either from your wedding coordinator or online. Don't be afraid to ask for referrals or testimonials from past clients. I suggest contacting stylists several months before the wedding and definitely meet with them before the wedding, to see if you "click".

Kim Larson is a bridal hairstylist and makeup artist based in Carmel, CA. You can find more photos and her stellar client reviews on Project Wedding.