Emotions pass away, while photos stay

All brides want to remember happily their wedding day. This is a special day, which you have prepared for months, and you spent a lot of money. Hair dresser, makeup, dresses, flowers, decorations… so many things. From all these, in two weeks from now you’ll have only memories, and in two months (or 20 years) from now, all you’ll have left will be your photos, to remind you of your special wedding day.

Here are 10 tips to help you get great wedding photos:

1. Don’t be cheap when you choose the photographer. You are spending a lot of money for the weddinng ceremony anyway. It would be a shame to be so cheap and ask your friends and relatives to take the photos. And photos you’ll have! Good photography requires a photographer. They know their trade well, they know how to put you in the best light, how to take the shots, how to arrange the frames to create a great effect. Besides, they have professional equipment, which is much better than the point and shoot cameras you may have at home. So, get yourself a real photographer for your wedding day!

2. Always ask to see the photographer’s portfolio. Serious photographers have albums with their creations, and they can show you photos from other weddings, so you make yourself an image about their style. Discuss with him your favorite photography style. Do you want that classical touch, gramdma-like, you you want rather something modern, with shiny, bright colors?

3. Give yourself enough time for the photosession. Many brides neglect this aspect when they plan their wedding day hourly schedule. Once you decide to spend a little fortune on your wedding photos, let the photographer do his job properly! Allocate at least one hour for the photosession between the church ceremony and the restaurant party.

4. When you hire the photographer, discuss in detail what you’re going to get for your money: how many photos, in what format (digital, at what resolution, prints, what size, what type of paper…), if the amount includes also photos retouching (such as red eyes effect ellimination).

5. Try to hire the photographer for the whole day. Anyway, discuss the timing, and ask him if he wishes to come earlier, for a private mini-photosession with you and your groom only. You will have the advantage of an impeccable look (as your makeup, your hairstyle, your dress and the flowers will be fresh and good looking)

6. Ask the photographer if he works alone, or with an asisstant. You may have the pleasant surprise to get two photographers for the price of one . Advantage: you’ll have photos of the same moments, taken from different angles.

7. Make sure your photographer has spare equipment. You don’t want to find yourslef in the situation that something happens with the camera, leaving you without photos. You may say you won’t pay the photographer. That is correct, but you won’t have any photos either.

8. Ask the photographer to make sure he takes photos of all the guests. You don’t want to have the surprise that the bride’s best friend does not show up in any photo, after she spent a fortune on her dress and makeup! Or even worse: the mother of the groom appears only in one photo, and she has been caught with her eyes closed! You can ask some of your friends to take some photos during the ceremony, just in case the photographer misses some guests.

9. If the photographer’s price is too high for you, ask him what he could possibly offer you for x amonut. For example, he could deliver you the photos only in electronic format, and you’ll be able to make prints later on, when you’ll be better with your finances.

10. If you don’t want classical photo prints, you can make yourself an online album, on a dedicated web domain (it’s about $8 a year for the name, plus $2-3 a month for thr hosting), and you can simply send the link to all your friends and relatives. Or you can open an account with Flickr or Photobucket, where to upload your photos.

Good luck with your wedding, and send us some pictures: we will publish them here

Every bride wishes to look her best that day, to be admired, to feel like the most beautiful woman in the world. For this to be possible, you have to consider makeup as being one of the ingredients of a glamorous look and of wonderful photos.

What you need to consider for the bridal makeup:

1. Go to your cosmetician for advice. She will know if you need a cosmetic treatment and she will give it to you, for your skin to look its best.

2. Eyebrows: tweeze them two days prior the wedding day. In this way, you’ll be able to prevent irritations.

3. Makeup basis: apply it with a special sponge, or with your fingers, and make sure it is uniform and skin-like. Avoid too intense colors, because they will make you look unnatural. The powder will be your friend in the wedding day: you’ll have to refresh your makeup from time to time (emotions, dancing… all these can spoil your makeup if you are not careful)

4. Eyes makeup: match the colors with your skin, hair and eyes color. Beware at glossy products, as they will be very evident in natural light. You don’t want to look like a bronze statue, do you? A white basis applied on your upper lid, gives more luminosity to your look. For more intensity, you can use an eye liner for the superior lid. To atenuate a bit the effect, wipe the line with a brush.

Tips: if you think you are going to cry, don’t apply makeup on the inferior lid. Make sure your mascara is waterproof, and use it with scarcity.

5. Use powder blush to give your face a healthy look. Choose a pale shade (like pink or peach) and make it perfectly match your skin.

6. Lips: they will be very busy with kissing, so your lips makeup must resist to all that stress. Use a lip liner, then apply a longlasting lipstick. Match the color with your hair shade, with your face makeup and with your flowers bouquet.

Special tip for good looking photos:

This is the difference between the bridal makeup and the day-to-day one: your wedding moments are going to be immortalized in photos which you are going to show many years after the happy day. Makesure your makeup has enough contrast, so your face looks attractive in the photos. Ideally, you’ll want to organize a “rehearsal” session: put on your wedding makeup and ask somebody to take you some pictures, then look at the result and write down what makeup products, colors, style you used, so you can redo it in the wedding morning.

We’ve got a message from a future bride, asking us to detail a bit the topic of theme weddings.

Theme weddings are the best way to offer your guests a memorable experience, which they will wish to share with all their friends. Here you can find a few ideas:

The Zen Wedding

• main feature: simplicity
• dominant colors: red and black (you can go for a Chinese restaurant)
• decorations: orchids, bambus, paper lamps, pagodas, bonsai, paper fans
• Chinese food: you can serve them with chopsticks (but make sure you have also normal cuttlery available, for preventing some of your guests to get nervous)
• invitations: make them in origami shapes, and use satin, glossy paper
• music: relaxing, with chinese bells tones (except for the moments you wish to dance)
• wedding dress: kimono-style
• wedding favors: fortune cookies
• wedding cake: it can have a pagoda shape.

The Cinderella Wedding

• main characteristic: ball atmosphere
• place: very wide, with columns, marble, chandelier lights
• decorations: balloons, giant ribbons, candles in shapes of carriages and pumpkins
• set up: the bride and the groom can arrive at the ceremony in a horse carriage (or a retro car)
• wedding dress: princess-like, decorated with Swarovski cristals or pearls (if you are superstitious, don’t use pearls, it is said that they bring tears)
• bridal shoes: transparent, glass-like
• wedding favors: small cristal shoes or hearts, with interior laser engravings
• music: musical theme from Beauty and the Beast, or Walt Disney’s Cinderella
• wedding cake: castle-like

Do you think wedding themes are a good way to make your wedding unique and memorable? Which theme would you like to use?

There are many kinds of brides: blondes, brunettes, redhaired, slim, chubby…

But when it comes to their attitude, most of the brides fall under one of these three categories: good, bad and awful. Some brides to be can spread out terror inside their family, because they are so obsessed with perfection, that nothing is good enough for their wedding day. They can force everybody to rehearse the ceremony for hours, making them feel like in a bad movie. Thier intentions are not bad, they just want to be the perfect bride, in the perfect wedding day, when everything goes exactly as planned.

Do you have a friend who has married recently? Try to answer the 9 questions of the Bridezilla test, to see if she is one of the monster brides who scared averybody on a range of three miles from the wedding place.

If you know a funny story from one of your friends’ wedding, you are invited to publish it here (with your friend’s approval, of course), so we can have a piece of your fun.

Many brides to be like to plan their wedding ceremony in advance. They want to make sure that they’ll have the best day of their life, that everything will go smoothly, and the guests will be impressed by the party.

As it is known that the best spontaneity is the one you bring from home, future brides need to carefully choose and prepare all details. The best way to see very quickly what’s available on the market, is to go to wedding fairs. These fairs are organized usually in spring and in fall, and they gather together offers from hundreds of wedding accessories and services suppliers, from flowers and napkins, to wedding planning and ceremony ideas.
If you’re like most prospective brides and grooms, you’ll want to shop around for wedding-related services and compare quality, and this is the most efficient solution, which can save you lots of time and nerves.

Where to find a wedding fair?

1. The Association of Wedding Professionals International publishes a calendar of bridal shows in U.S. (grouped by region) and around the world, in Asia, Africa, Australia, Canada, Carribbean, Europe, New Zealand or South America.

2. For Canadians: check out Wedding Fair Canada, for details on next bride shows in your area.

3. For UK: Guides for Brides helps you discover when and where the next wedding fairs are going to be held. Starting Together is another site which gathers resources from many wedding fairs in UK.

Watch your local specialized magazines: they announce all wedding fairs, so you’ll know when to go.

Happy wedding!