Wedding Advice

Ceremony Basics: The Rules

As in the rest of Nature, there are Natural Laws that govern weddings. These Rules are not arbitrary, nor were they set up by a committee of any sort. They evolved along with our species. – Rule #1: Nothing at a wedding happens quite on time or quite as planned. There is a happy corollary. Rule #1a: You will end up married and will have a good time anyway. Serendipity comes into play. Imagine a jigsaw puzzle, the pieces of which change shape as you’re assembling it. The changing pieces will make you a little nuts! But, in the end, all the pieces magically come together...

Photography and Related Subjects: Before or After?

Formal Photographs: Before or After? – About thirty-five years ago, I began shooting weddings with a business partner who was an experienced wedding photographer. At the time, some studios were offering to do Formal Photographs of the wedding party and family before the ceremony instead of afterward. This was a new idea, and they were charging an additional fee, because it required that they arrive three hours earlier than normal. Dave and I opted NOT to charge more. Shooting ahead of the ceremony was much easier on the clients than doing so afterward, and easier on us, too....

Do-It-Yourself Weddings: Photography and Related Subjects

For the Ultimate Stressful Experience Part IV – The single most stressful thing you will do all day is the formal photography of your family and bridal party. For approximately an hour and a half, you will need all those folks in one place, ready to step up when called upon to feel a little bit dumb (See Rule #2), so they will look great in your pictures. Good luck with that! It is like herding cats. No one is there to work except for your photographer. People come to a wedding to have a good time, to see people they haven’t seen for a while, to celebrate a mile-stone in your life, to...

Small Disasters

Small Disasters “Disaster” is a subjective term. For one bride, if the color of her flowers is half a shade off, the whole day is utterly ruined. For another bride it would take a terrorist attack to ruin her wedding. I have seen just about everything there is to see at a wedding. Relatively few of those things will turn the day into a disaster. Many are endearing – or at least make for a good story afterward. Some, however, will detract significantly from the quality of the day. They are like a bad spot on an otherwise lovely piece of fruit. If you can...

Do-It-Yourself Weddings: But Wait!! There’s More!!

Do-It-Yourself Weddings: But Wait!! There’s More!! For the Ultimate Stressful Experience – Part III There are gobbs of things an amateur cannot anticipate (Yes, gobbs! That is the technically correct term.), and as a result, amateurs often bite off more than they can chew. If you have an experienced guide, he/she can anticipate problems for you. With the advice of a competent planner, you can solve them, avoid them or take a smaller bite. More things will work better with guidance, but your stress level will still be very high. Not only are you The Bride, but you must also fill...

Do-It-Yourself Weddings: Time & Timing

Do-It-Yourself Weddings: Time & Timing For the Ultimate Stressful Experience – Part II In my experience, the single most common cause of problems in any wedding – DIY or not – arises with regard to the time and timing for all parts of the day’s schedule. Knowing how much time each aspect of the day requires and, just as important, how much transition time is needed between things is critical to a smooth-flowing, stress-free day. The first thing you need to know is that everything requires more time than you think – EVERYTHING. The second thing you need to know is...