Document (more than) the Day: Personalized Photo Albums of Your Wedding Planning

Nothing evokes memories of a cherished moment more than professionally designed photos. While professional photography is likely a given for your Big Day, there are hundreds of moments since you said “yes,” that are photo album-worthy.

Document them.

PhotoWorks offers personalized albums that can be tailor-made for you and your future husband that guarantee to be a lasting monument to your wedding process.

Here is the deal.

- Document Everything

Begin documenting your wedding-planning process as soon as he pops the question. If you aren’t engaged yet, then you are in the prime position to have a complete wedding-planning process album. If you, like me, didn’t get this idea until well into your wedding planning process, then don’t worry. There is still time.

Ask your friends, family members and attendants if they have photos from when you tried on wedding gowns, went shopping with your bridesmaids or had girls’ days and/or nights to plan the wedding.

Other interesting milestones include the following.

- The engagement
- The engagement dinner (if the two of you went out to celebrate)
- The engagement party (if applicable)
- Wedding gown shopping
- Bridesmaid dress shopping
- The boys playing golf, fishing, etc
- The girls having lunch, a spa day, etc
- Pictures of you when you met with potential caterers, bakers, venues
- Pictures of any site tours
- Pictures of you when you sign contracts at your chosen venues
- Pictures of you and your groom meeting with the priest or celebrant
- Pictures of you and your groom at a marriage workshop (if applicable)
- Pictures of your parents, close friends and siblings helping you with details
- Photos of your invitations, menu cards, programs, thank you cards and other stationary
- Pictures of you creating any do-it-yourself items, such as programs, invitations or place cards
- Pictures of your tastings with caterers and bakers
- Pictures of any pre-wedding events, including the days/nights important out-of-town guests arrive
- Pictures from the rehearsal
- Pictures from the rehearsal dinner
- Pictures from post-rehearsal dinner
- Pictures of wedding day (when you are getting dressed, ceremony, reception)
- Pictures of any post-wedding events, such as morning-after brunch or lunch
- Pictures of honeymoon

- After you have documented all of these stages, select your favorite photos and compare them for color and contrast. Choose only the finest photos and crop them, when necessary.

- Be sure to choose photos that tell your wedding story. Don’t include too many photos from your wedding day and honeymoon. You will likely have another wedding album that consists solely of photos from your wedding day and you can create a separate album to document your honeymoon. Remember, this album tells the whole story, so keep the album balanced with a variety of photos from the entire wedding-planning process.

- Go to PhotoWorks.com.

- Choose an album size that best fits your needs.

- Customize the album with fun expressions, silly sayings or other personal moments from your wedding process.

- Ask for feedback from a valued family member or friend before you submit your album to the printer.

Enjoy!

How to Host a Morning-after Brunch

Wedding weekends are becoming increasingly popular, regardless of whether the wedding is an out-of-town affair or hometown event. In fact, they are so hot right now that planners and caterers are actually including them in some of their wedding packages.

If you have been considering a morning-after brunch, then ask yourself the following questions.

- Will you have a large number of out-of-town guests?

- Have people traveled a great distance to attend your wedding?

- Do you anticipate many people staying overnight and/or being available for a morning-after brunch?

- Will your guests still be happy to spend time together and see each other in yet another wedding-related event?

- Can you afford it?

If you answered “yes” to the above questions then you are a perfect candidate for a morning-after brunch.

So here is what you do!

- Plan in Advance
As with other aspects of your wedding, advanced planning pays off! Think of your morning-after brunch with the same forethought and creative mind you used when planning your rehearsal dinner. Additionally, be sure to send invitations to your guests or include the details on your wedding website.

- Location, Location, Location
Although many caterers and/or banquet facilities will encourage you to hold your morning-after brunch at the same location as your wedding ... think again! Consider where you can host your morning-after brunch that will offer some diversity to both the rehearsal dinner and wedding reception. If your reception was ultra-formal, then consider something more laid back. Be careful, however, not to do the opposite. You don’t want any part of your wedding weekend to outshine the Big Event, so plan accordingly.

You should also be considerate of where your guests are staying and how far they will have to drive to attend the event. Unless your wedding reception was held in a ballroom of the hotel where you have blocked your rooms, consider hosting your morning-after brunch there. It is convenient and guests don’t have to worry about checking out early so they can attend your brunch.

- Choose the Time
As with location, the time of your morning-after brunch is crucial. You certainly don’t want to be forced out of bed early on your first married-couple morning and if your guests had as much fun as you anticipate, they won’t want to wake up early, either.

Try to plan your morning-after brunch to span a few hours so your guests can trickle in and out according to their sleeping habits and travel plans.

- Plan the Menu
Since you will likely plan for a two-to-three hour event, a brunch buffet is the way to go. Guests won’t feel left out or uncomfortable if they arrive while others are eating and no one will feel pressured to stay after they have eaten brunch and said their goodbyes.

- Get Some Help
While you will no doubt be the stars of the show at the morning-after brunch, ask your parents and/or siblings to help host the event. Explain the format to them in advance. Ask them to help you meet and greet guests as they arrive and instruct them to pull you away from other guests when someone is leaving. Their assistance will go a long way in ensuring everyone feels welcomed and included in the morning-after brunch.

Are you hosting a morning-after brunch following your wedding? What are your plans?

Four Ways to Show Your Creativity at Your Wedding

Long gone are the days of cookie-cutter weddings with white roses, tulle-tied chairs and assorted mints and nuts. Today’s brides are getting creative. And with more options than ever, it's easy to kick your creativity up a notch and inject a bit of fun flavor into your wedding day.

Not sure where to start?

I’ll help.

Here are four ways you can be creative with your wedding.

1. Accessories
I went to a high-school sweetheart wedding once where all of the bride’s attendants pranced down the aisle wearing a candy ring pop on their left hand. It was fun and youthful and reflected the couple’s jovial nature.

At another wedding, the bride wore an elegant floor-length white dress, but when she knelt for the marital blessing, bright red shoes peeked out from beneath her hem. It was a fun surprise for the guests and it showed the bride’s fun side.

Keeping with the shoe theme, choose a variety of rainbow shades and ask your attendants to each wear a different color sandal. Keep in mind, this only works if your wedding colors are basic and if the girls are wearing a simple solid dress, such as black or brown.

Not into mix-match shoes? Then how about having your toes painted in a bright blue hue to accommodate your something blue. Take it a step further and have your attendants paint their nails, as well.

2. Attendants
We’ve listed ways you can be creative when popping the question to your wedding attendants … but here is one more idea.


I was recently invited to be in the “wedding posse” for one of my closest friends. She created cards for each of us, glued our faces onto the most tragic bridesmaid dresses she could find and tied them together with ribbon and accessories. They were a wonderful souvenir for each of us and they showcased the bride’s creative talents. If you want to see how she made them, read up on it here.

3. Stationery
In keeping with the creative stationery theme, let’s quickly brainstorm all of the paper materials you need for your Big Day.

- Save the Dates
- Invitations
- Reply Cards
- Thank You Cards
- Programs
- Menu Cards
- Table Cards
- Escort Cards
- Place Cards

Now … surely with all of those stationery items we can get creative.

First of all, look through magazines and websites for some of your favorite ideas and think of ways you can reproduce those yourself. You can print cards such as place cards, escort cards, menu cards or programs at home then add theme-appropriate embellishments. This will be a fun project for you and your friends and your guests will think you spent a fortune.

4. Extras
I always say the success is in the details, so think of other ways you can do something new-something your guests haven’t seen before. In each element of my wedding, I asked myself what I could do that would be different.


One of the best things I created was a personalized wedding day activity book for the kiddos. I placed one at each child’s seat, along with a napkin full of colored pencils and an Italian chocolate “Surprise” egg. The kids loved them-in fact, several parents were caught playing along, as well.

What are some of the most creative things you’ve seen at weddings? What do you hope to do to make your wedding more unique?

Photos courtesy of Andrea Unplugged and wedding pictures from CMoore at My Bella Vita