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Everyone takes a ton of pictures at weddings. Nothing new and different about that! However, brides and grooms are now setting up areas at their reception designated for striking a pose. Many couples are creating an area with a beautiful backdrop to take pictures of their guests and to take some formal pictures. If the picture station is decorated right, it can become a beautiful decoration in it’s self. This is true in the above picture. In this picture Lena and Joshua (the bride and groom) are posing against a backdrop of Marimekko fabric reproduced from an early-1960s pattern. This makes for a beautiful backdrop that helps create the retro atmosphere at the reception.

 Okay guys, here are the pics from my wedding that I have been promising you for so long! Let me start by saying everything went so well. Well… except for the unplanned weather. We were suppose to get a dusting of snow. Instead we got like 6 inches. It made for beautiful pictures but not so beautiful driving. Luckily everyone made it safely and the wedding turned out beautifully!

The colors for the wedding were red, white, and black.Therefore, the something blue did not exactly fit into the color scheme. To solve this problem, I did blue rhinestones with our initials on the bottom. I also added a little something special to my bouquet. It was a locket which had pictures of our belated grandparents inside. It really meant a lot to us to include them in the ceremony. We also had memorial candles at the ceremony that our mothers lit before they took their seats. We also took these candles to the reception to sit on the head table.

The church was so beautiful that we only did a few decorations. We both thought that the architecture in the church was too pretty to cover up!

 We did two different centerpieces at the tables. Half had the floating candles and the other half had a simple display of red roses in a square cube base. Instead of wedding favors we made a donation to The American Cancer Society and to the Heart Foundation in honor of our grandparents.

Photographer: Jody McDevitt

Lime green is no longer just for the Grinch at Christmas time. It also makes for a beautiful winter wedding color pallet. The inspiration board below is simply beautiful and bound to make your heart grow!

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Help guests find their seats with whimsical tented cards featuring photos of the bride and groom. They’re great for an informal wedding, rehearsal dinner, or shower. Take photographs of the two of you holding signs with table numbers; you can use different poses for each number. Have them made into 4-by-6-inch matte prints (you can use black-and-white film so the photos wouldn’t clash with the flowers or table setting). Glue each photo onto 4 1/8-by-6 1/8-inch paper. To make the “tent,” start with a piece of 11-by-17-inch card stock and cut a strip that is 17 by 4 3/8 inches (each piece of card stock can make two); fold strip in half widthwise. Score, and make a fold 2 1/8 inches from each end to form flaps for base. Glue photograph to one panel of the tent. Overlap base flaps by about 1 inch; use double-sided tape to secure.

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Brides are always looking for unique takes on the traditional guest book. Often the traditional guest book ends up in the back of a cabinet or closet and is never seen again. Brides now want something unique that can have a purpose afterwards. That is why I love this idea of a guest painting. Shawn and Owen had their guest contribute to painting as their guest book alternative. Shawn and Owen assigned their friend Kathleen as the “art director”. Kathleen sketched an image of a sunflower on the canvas and divided it into squares. At the wedding, each guest was to paint one square on the grid. The couple set up a table full of paints and directions that explained the project in detail. Afterwards the couple had a wonderful piece of artwork that went wonderfully in their new home. Check out One Love Photo for more information and another wonderful creation!

Do you have a wedding picture that you absolutely love? Or maybe it is an engagement picture. Whatever the occasion, you can now make your prints into a work of art. All you have to do is go onto Shutterfly.com and upload your image and they will make a canvas wall hanging for you. Your photos can be printed in full color, black & white, or sepia tones and are available in 16×20, 20×30 and 24×36 sizes. This would be perfect for a shower gift, a gift to mom or dad, or just a great addition to your home. One more reason to buy the rights to your wedding images.

When picking a wedding photographer the one thing that can coast the most is the wedding album. Some photographers do not even offer this as an option for the lower packages. So, if you are on a budget or just don’t want to pay an arm and a leg for your album, you may want to check out the blurb.com. This is an online book publisher. They offer many options of books that you can choose from starting as low as $12.95. All you need is the high resolution images from your photographer and you can design your own book with there templates. I highly recommend getting the high res. disc of your images for a few reasons. The first is that you are able to make prints for whoever you want whenever you want without going back to the photographer—which prints are a lot cheaper this way! Also, in case the studio goes out of business or a natural disaster happens you have a hard copy of all your images. The last reason is you are able to make tons of things with the disc and totally utilize all of your pictures. You can make calendars, thank you cards, and many other items for half the coast the studio would charge you. Another idea is to get the high resolution disc of your engagement session and go onto the blurb.com and make your own guest book. You can have your engagement pictures on the pages that everyone will sign and have them do it yearbook style or add lines for them to sign on. It makes a truly unique guest book that you will want to look at! Check out blurb.com! 

Here is a neat way to preserve your wedding memories—turn them into a flip book. All you have to do is choose a video and upload it into MotionBox.com. You select the cover, and the title and they will take your video and make it into a flip book for only $8. This would be a great gift to dad showcasing the father/daughter dance. You could even get on of your wedding vales or a special moment in the wedding. Make a flipbook and share it with everyone! It is a fun rendition of a brag book and can be given out to parents or the bridal party as a special thank you. Check it out!