Claudia and Tony were married at St.John Vianney Church in Shelby Township and had their Reception at Pennas of Sterling. Their Photographer was our good friend Michael Sackett…just love his work! The DJ was Fletcher from Music Box; great job Fletch! The word that best describes this wedding is ‘Family’, just a great group of people. We felt like one of the family. Tony really liked the new ‘Sherlock Holmes’ movies, so here is their Trailer, a la Sherlock Holmes:

#6. VOWS/RINGS: WHERE YOUR ATTENDANTS SHOULD STAND

This tip could be considered important for wedding photography, but it is absolutely critical if you have hired multi-camera film crew. A one-camera shoot will always be ‘up the middle’, so unless the officiant decides to stand between you and the audience, there are no problems. In a multi-cam shoot, however, the ‘bride’ cam and the ‘groom’ cam are typically on opposite wings. That means that a ‘horseshoe’ or ‘V’ positioning of the bridal party could very easily result in a blocked shot. If you decide to have bridal party members stand with you during your vows, they should be either in a straight line or in a ‘V’ angled away from the audience. If they are further away from the audience than the bride and groom, any chance of them blocking the shot will be eliminated. Also, since the groom is typically taller than the bride, if you stand too close to each other and directly opposite, the bride’s face may be hidden by the groom’s shoulder. If the bride takes a ½ step toward the audience when she faces her groom, that problem is eliminated. Just remember the old photo adage:” if you can’t see the camera lens, the camera can’t see you.” Help your film crew deliver the absolute best product by eliminating potential problems in the planning phase.

These are two ‘day-of’ tips, something that you might not think about that will have a huge impact on your wedding film and even on your photos. Chewing gum may help to relieve stress, but it doesn’t look attractive on film. It will also give your photographer a headache if you’re one of those who has hired a ‘photojournalist’. Trust me, those close-ups will look so much better if you use mints instead of gum. Have a dish of them on the table for the Bridal Party or hand them out as favors.

Having your favorite tunes blaring from your I-Pod might seem the ‘cool’ thing to do, but if you’ve hired a cinematographer you’ll be missing all those great interactions that can have a huge effect on your wedding film. Talking with your bridesmaids about the day ahead or explaining to someone how you found your dress is simply priceless on film.

Two very simple ideas you may not have thought about…you’ll thank me later

Hiring the right photo and video companies for your event are important because their style will determine your ultimate product. I speak here of ‘style’ as distinct from quality, as a process that determines the type of product delivered rather than the artistic value.  Many of the common terms, like “photo-journalistic” and “cinematic” have been so overused and abused that they are useless. And so I will define terms so that they will have more meaning to you in your search for the perfect (for you) graphic professionals.

In Event Photography there are two broad categories: Portrait and Candid. A Portrait style photographer is ‘hands-on’. They are meticulous in arranging every detail of their composition. The end result can be stunning, but the pictures always look posed. The other end of the event photography spectrum is the Candid Photographer. Capturing a moment in time is more their line, and though they may do some general posing, they’re aiming for a more relaxed look in their photos.

In the Cinema world, the corresponding terms would be Documentary and Stylized. The Documentary Video is the linear, capture everything that happened all day style that’s been around in one form or another since the 1980’s. The Stylized video is more often non-linear, definitely shorter, and more artistic style that has come of age since 2005 or so.

It is very important that you view an entire finished product from your prospective photographer or cinematographer before you book them so that you understand what YOUR finished product is going to look like. Speaking personally as a “Stylized” film maker, I find it easier to work with a “Candid” photographer because they inherently give us more space to get the creative shots that we need to do our work.

One of the major hazards of planning your own wedding is over-planning. It’s a big temptation to want to do it all. Take pictures/ film all over the area like the ones you’ve seen on all the photo/ video blogs; have your hair done on one side of town and your make-up on the other. First looks downtown and photoshoots in the woods. Just remember to plan for travel time and leave a little extra for the unkown snags like traffic jams and late bridal party members. An even better idea is plan for just THE most important things you want to do on your wedding day. A more casual timeline will give you more time to have fun and fewer problems to get frazzled over. Have ‘PLAN B’ ready in case the weather or time doesn’t cooperate. So everything doesn’t go EXACTLY as planned or you weren’t able to do EVERYTHING on your list. That doesn’t mean you can’t still have fun and make your wedding as fabulous as you always wanted!

 Hire a Bridal Consultant

          Honestly, the best advice we could possibly give you if you are just beginning to plan your dream wedding is hire a bridal consultant. We know several outstanding planners who will help you

• Hire the best vendors

The number of vendors involved in a wedding is staggering. You need venues for your ceremony and reception that fit your taste and budget, and are big enough to accommodate all the guests that you’ve invited. You need invitations, a hair stylist and make-up artist, a florist, a cake, a caterer, a photographer, a videographer and a host of others. Your planner can help you manage your budget to get the best of what you want the most.

• Plan your timeline

  Your planner knows the pitfalls of timeline planning and can help you arrange your day so that you have time to do everything that you want without worrying about fitting everything in the time available.

• Assemble all the decorations, favors, centerpieces, etc.

  There are so many ‘little’ things that need to be done, and your planner can help to design, create, and arrange all these so that they look fabulous on your wedding day.

•  Make sure that everything goes as planned on the day of.

  Even the most well planned weddings don’t go exactly as planned on the day of. There are just too many variables. What if it rains or snows? What if the florist’s van dies on the freeway? The list of ‘what if’s could go on forever… and your planner will be there to worry about it so you don’t! Got 50 people in your bridal party? Your planner will get them all lined up so your ceremony-reception start on time. Relax and Enjoy! Your planner will get it done and make sure your wedding is your dream come true.

OK, yeah, I know…you can’t afford a bridal consultant. In these tight economic times that may be a fact of life for you. Still, I would consider getting a planner for “Day Of’ services to take the pressure off you so you can have fun on your wedding. It may cost less than you think.

Here’s a unique part of the wedding.

This is a re-edit of a previous video using music courtesy of The Music Bed