Archive for October, 2008

Savable Wedding Reception Worksheet

Oct

WeddingMuseum.com for a long time has had a wedding reception worksheet. Visitors could fill out the form, then print the worksheet to give to wedding reception vendors. Now, members of WeddingMuseum.com can complete the wedding reception worksheet and save it for future editing and printing.

The wedding reception worksheet is a form that bridal couples can complete and give to wedding reception vendors for reference. The worksheet offers a list of the bridal party. This is valuable for reception M.C.’s who must announce the wedding party. All dances are listed from bridal dance, father daughter dance to dollar dance. Sections are given for special announcements and instructions. The worksheet also provides an ordered list for the receiving line. In addition, all contacts and venue locations are referenced for completion so all vendors know what times and where to be.

For today’s bride, Weddingmuseum.com updated many lyrics pages to include song sample widgets offered by Amazon.com. In addition, links were added to musicnotes.com for visitor reference. Visitors now can proceed to musicnotes.com to purchase sheet music of many popular wedding songs. They offer sheet music for more than 80,000 songs.

Another cool new feature is that we now list the most popular downloaded songs of the current month on iTunes and the most popular sheet music song downloads on musicnotes.com on our wedding reception song start page.

Lastly, we’ve made a huge stride in improving our shopping area. Many wedding related purchases can now be made through our WeddingMuseum.com Store. We offer great items like wedding favors, unity candles, wedding flutes and more. We are able to offer such a great feature by partnering with Amazon.com. Let us know if you have any opinions or suggestions.

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Don’t turn into a Bridezilla

Oct

Some useful ways to make sure you stay calm in the run up to the big day.

Photographers ,cakes, musicians, dresses, flowers, menus, decorations…the list of things to organize, source and research for your Wedding day is absolutely endless. Nothing is ever simple and every Bride wants to research and check out all the services available. It takes time, effort and patience and with family and friends often wanting their say too on your choices, it can be very stressful. So how do you stay calm in the run up to the biggest day of your life and how do you make sure you are a serene and most importantly, a HAPPY Bride on your big day.

Here are a few tips to help make sure you arrive looking as truly beautiful as you can be, with your sanity intact.

1. Plan well- Nothing is more important to ensure the smooth running of your day than thorough and careful planning. Research suppliers thoroughly. Seek out different quotes, different companies and compare their services and costs. Keep a file with all your suppliers details and keep a financial spreadsheet to keep a track of spending. Keep in regular touch with all your suppliers and confirm everything with them at least 2 weeks before your big day.

2. Invest in yourself- Take regular time out for a massage or facial or treat. It helps you escape the planning for a few hours and helps keep you calm and happy. Don’t feel guilty about it, the time you spend on yourself will mean you return to the planning process feeling refreshed and more energetic.

3. Enlist help – Turn to a trusted friend or family member to help take some of the pressure off you. It’s very tempting to want to control every single aspect of your day, but sharing some of the chores can really help lighten the load. Having a trusted friend helping you will prove invaluable. No matter how small the task they’ll be pleased to be asked to get involved. Mums are especially keen to offer a helping hand, even if its just tying ribbon to the balloons, accept the offer and use their help to keep you calm.

4. Take time out- Make sure you and your fiance take some regular time away from the planning. It’s easy to let every single spare moment turn into another chance to plan something, but you’ll find just taking a day off a week, to spend time together will really help keep you balanced and focused. You may want to talk about your wedding every second of the day, but it can be exhausting and can actually increase your stress. A little time out can make the planning much more fun.

5. Choose calm and helpful people- On the big day itself surround yourself with calm and sensible people. Chose those who can cope in a crisis, and are practical and understanding. You can afford to be selfish on your big day and only allow those who support and help you to be around as you prepare for the day ahead.

6. Relax and ENJOY- on the day itself, it’s time to really relax and enjoy every second. DON’T waste your time stressing and panicking. The day passes by so incredibly quickly, it is such a shame to waste it worrying and getting stressed. You have hired good suppliers and entrusted responsibility to them, so sit back, allow them to worry for you and have THE most amazing day of your life.

Catherine Marston offers a Bespoke Wedding memoir writing service for Bride and Grooms www.thebigdayreporter.com and is a National Television Journalist.

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Children At Weddings

Oct

DO CHILDREN AND WEDDINGS MIX?

Whether to invite children to your wedding or not is always a controversial issue. Everyone it seems has a view. Many Brides worry that the little ones will disrupt the vows, drown out the speeches and slide around on the dance floor all night. Some guests even refuse to attend the wedding if their children are not invited, because of course childcare can be a really big headache. So if you decide to have children attend your wedding how can you make sure they are not disruptive and distracting, especially during the key moments of the day?

Here are a few ideas to help keep the little people entertained and the grown ups happy.

1. For the Ceremony- disposable cameras. A terrific idea to help keep little ones entertained during the big moment. Ask your ushers to hand out a camera to each child as they arrive for the ceremony. You could even put a little note in your order of service setting up a competition for the best photo of the day, which you and your husband will judge when you get back from honeymoon. Children love the idea of winning something for their efforts.

2. Create a children’s area- Nothing makes kids feel more special than an area just for them filled with games, books, puzzles and things. You can create an area in the grounds of your venue if its a summer wedding, or inside a part of the hotel or venue in inclement weather. Use children’s bunting, posters, and decorations to make them feel it’s their unique space. Keep it within eye line of parents too, then Mums and Dads can keep a watchful eye, at a distance.

3. During the Wedding breakfast- create a menu for children. Think about asking one of your older child guests to even pick the food. This means the small people are likely to enjoy their food and stay happy. Always check with parents about particular requirements. It may seem like an added hassle but if you manage to keep the children happy you will find parents genuinely appreciate your efforts and enjoy the day far more.

4. Goodie bags- Put a goodie bag at the place setting for each child. Vary the contents according to age and a boy or girl, and fill the bags or boxes with games, puzzles and treats. Make sure the contents are things they can use immediately and that will keep them occupied especially during the speeches. Drawing and colouring, puzzles and small games are always winners.

5. Entertainer- If the budget will allow its always worth considering a childrens entertainer for during the speeches. They can take the children to a different part of the venue and do magic tricks or painting etc with them. DO make sure the entertainer you book has a full CRB check and public liability insurance. All reputable entertainers will be able to provide this with ease.

6. Awkward moments- Despite your best efforts, and especially with really tiny children, there maybe some fractious or awkward moments. How to handle these without upsetting parents can be a tad tricky. You can ask your ushers to encourage a parent to take a small screaming person outside, or perhaps to the childrens area, or you could put a little note in the order of service asking parents to make the most of the childrens area if their child becomes upset during the proceedings.

7. Include them- asking some of the children to have a role in your big day can also really help combat boredom. They will take their tasks very seriously and will enjoy feeling special. Anything from carrying the bouquet, rounding people up for photographs and announcing dinner, will make them feel grown up and involved.

8. Be accepting-Children can’t be put in a corner and be expected to be quiet all day. They do want to run

around and have fun. Accept their need to enjoy themselves, provide lots of fun and games for them and relax. Parents will thank you for all your efforts, and you will find having happy contented children around brings a lovely extra to your wedding day.

About the Author: Catherine Marston runs the Bespoke Wedding memoir service The big Day Reporter

and is a UK TV reporter.

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Tips for Creating a Great Slide Show

Oct

Creating a captivating video montage or slide show that you can enjoy for years is not difficult, but by taking a few steps prior to creating a slide show or having one created for you can go along way. Here are some lessons that we’ve learned at DVDPhotographs.com while creating our slide shows.

1. Know who your audience is – Knowing who your intended audience is an obvious, but sometimes overlooked step in the process of developing your slide show. For instance, if you’re showing your slide show at your wedding reception, perhaps you’ll want to include some pictures of the guests, and not just pictures of you and your fiancé.

2. Shorter is sometimes better – After you’ve determined who your intended audience is you can start to get an idea as to how many pictures you’ll want to include in your slide show. We’ve found that video montages that are between 8 – 12 minutes in length are ideal for wedding receptions. This usually works out to about 3 songs and 75-100 pictures. While you can certainly display more photos during your slide show, you want to be careful not to overdo it. You may want to create two slide shows, one you show at your wedding, and another you keep for yourself.

3. Choose Quality Photographs – While recent advances in digital photo restoration have allowed torn and poorly developed photographs to be brought back to life, there is only so much that the software can do. Pictures that look great printed (correct lighting, framing, developed properly) will also look great while scanned. Pictures that are extremely dark or grainy, while perhaps improved somewhat, will still not appear the best. Make sure to choose a photo montage company that can make digital enhancements to your pictures.

4. Choose a Variety of Photographs – Even though you may love all the pictures of your dog Rusty, the audience may not want to sit through all the pictures of him. Instead of showing 10 pictures of Rusty, perhaps choose the best 2 or 3. Using a variety of photographs can keep your audience interest.

5. Landscape pictures show better than Portrait pictures – Given the standard 4:3 dimensions of television monitors, photographs that are in landscape mode (vertical) as opposed to portrait mode (horizontal) show better on a TV. While portrait photographs certainly can and SHOULD be used, you should be aware that there will typically be a black border that appears around the photograph. It’s best to use these sparingly throughout the slide show and not clump them all together.

6. Give some thought to music – Choose music that has meaning to you, music whose lyrics go well with the pictures. Also pay attention to how long the music you’re choosing is. If you’re only showing 30 pictures, you might not want to choose a 8 minute song. The photo montage company should be able to give you some suggestions as to the number of pictures with your selected songs.

7. Add short video clips – Do you have any home videos sitting around gathering dust? Think about adding perhaps a 10-15 second video clip in the middle of the slide show. The video clip can help break up the video montage and is a great way to keep your audiences interest. Make sure to choose a slide show company that can convert your video clips.

8. Add motion to your slide shows – Slide shows developed on PowerPoint and other consumer level software will typically be just static photos that go from one picture to the next. Consider having your slide shows created with the “Ken Burns” effects that Pan and Zoom on each photograph. This can help bring your pictures to life. Make sure you inquire to see if your photo montage company can create motion with your pictures.

9. Add transitions to your slide shows – Transitions such as fade in/fade out, dissolve, and image peel are also an effective way to move from one photograph to the next. Be careful not to get too carried away with transitions as they too many of them can distract from the overall slide show.

10. Test! Test! Test! – An event as big as your wedding requires that you make sure you test ALL the equipment prior to the big day. Make sure the projector or television, DVD Player or Laptop, and sound is all working.

Creating a captivating slide show or video montage can be done successfully with keeping a few of these tips in mind. Pictures that are preserved to DVD can be enjoyed for years to come. Partnering with an experienced slide show company like DVDPhotographs.com can help create a slide show you’ll be proud of.

About the Author:
Michael Yared is the owner of DVDPhotographs.com, the countries leading wedding slide show photo video montage production company.

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