Archive for October, 2010

How to Choose Your Wedding Songs

October 30th, 2010 | Rss Feed

How to Choose Your Wedding Songs

Songs add spirit to an occasion. However, to make that happen, you need to choose the right songs. An appropriately selected song, with meaningful lyrics and melodious tune, would help set the situation. It is always better to devote some time selecting the songs you would like to play in your wedding. With so many options, your choice is going to be difficult but here are some tips that should help you in making the right choice:

Make It Personal

The wedding song should be absolutely personal for the bride and groom. The song should not be chosen just to please the guests but to make it memorable for the wedding couple. The first dance of the newlyweds is special to both the bride and groom. A song that is liked by both, or somehow reflects their feelings, would be appropriate.

Borrow From Yesteryear Songs

Popular yesteryear songs, if selected precisely, can serve the purpose. You could always select popular songs of today but they may be the favorite for many other wedding couples of today also. So if you want to be different from others, you can move a few weeks or months back. There could be several other songs out there that would fit the occasion.

Ask DJ to Suggest

If you have no clue which song to play, ask the reception band or DJ to give you some suggestions. Playing music is their job and they can offer suggestions based on the melody and lyric quality of each song. Of course it is your prerogative to select the song. You should select the song which is you think fits the bill perfectly.

Activity Songs

Separate songs can be chosen for different activities during the wedding. You could choose songs for the entrance of the bride, cocktail time, dinnertime, cake cutting and parents’ dance. An appropriately chosen song for every activity would add to the mood. However, play your theme song on your first dance at the reception.

Play Tribute Songs

You can also choose to play tribute songs for your elders, expressing your affection and gratitude for them. Your parents would be pleasantly surprised to hear it. You could play your parents’ favorite songs from their own weddings. In addition, you could request your parents to dance together.  This would recreate feelings from their own weddings. It would be sweet to recognize their past experiences.

Variations would Do

There could be a song that you like but think that the situation would not be appropriate for the old beat. You could ask your band to play the song in different beat. You could tell the band to play an originally slow song fast or you could ask them to play a fast song slower. It is your function and the decision lies with you. It is up to you what kind of music you want.

Check the Lyrics

Go through the song lyrics before you decide upon a song. Some songs have good tunes but lyrics might send out a negative message like frustration and sadness. Some lyrics could have sexual undertone. A song should be judged not only by its melodious merit but also by its lyrics. So check out if the lyrics are appropriate for the occasion.

Check the Band

Check about the past performances of the band you intend to hire. Would you honestly want to hire a band that has no past record? You should also meet the artist who is supposed to perform on the occasion. It is recommended that you should straightly ask him how many functions he has performed in. Of course you would not want a novice for your wedding.

To plan your wedding occasion, you could visit a wedding planner. On the Internet, you would find links to other wedding vendors extending out a helping hand for all brides-to-be.

The author is associated with WeddingMuseum.com, which offers wedding songs, wedding store, wedding ideas as well as services.

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Posted in Articles for Planning a Wedding, Music | 4 Comments »
 

Top 5 Hair Band Ballads

October 27th, 2010 | Rss Feed

WeddingMuseum.com is known for wedding song lists and wedding song lyrics.  However, we wanted to think outside the box to offer our visitors something offbeat.  Therefore, we created a list of the Best 85 Hair Band Ballads.  The list of ballads include mainstream bands such as Bon Jovi, Def Leppard and Whitesnake.  However, we also include some heavy metal bands such as W.A.S.P. and Blue Murder.

There were many popular mainstream hair bands.  However, we we wanted to make a list of our top 5 and 85  songs that meant most to us.  We did not create lists of the most popular and highest charted songs.  Therefore, don’t comment on what songs should be on the list, rather comment what memories the 85 or so songs jog in your brains.

So here are our favorite 5 hair band ballads of yesteryear.

5. Love Song – Tesla What a great song from the album The Great Radio Controversy released in 1989.  Love Song has great lyrics, which include “love is waiting for you” for an anthem to all tenenage high school kids.   To this day Tesla is still rockin’ and producing record albums.  Love song topped at #7 on the Billboard charts.

4. Don’t Close Your Eyes – Kix Kix produced a rock anthem against suicide.  This song will forever be remembered in the youth culture of the 80′s.  In 1988, Kix released the album Blow My Fuse that featured Don’t Close Your Eyes.  Don’t Close Your Eyes peaked at #11 on the Billboard charts.

3. Honestly – Stryper The yellow and black attack will live forever.  We give praise to Stryper for promoting a Christian message to a mainstream audience.  The album To Hell With The Devil featured Honestly and was released in 1986.  Honestly became a most-requested song on MTV and topped the Billboard charts at #23.

2. When The Children Cry – White Lion White Lion came out of nowhere in 1987 to release the album Pride.  Pride featured two top ten hits – Wait (#8) and When The Children Cry (#3).  When The Children Cry became another rock anthem for the 80′s genre of trying to make the world a better place to live for our children.

1. I Remember You – Skid Row What can we say about Sebastian Bach.  With those high notes he would hit and the long hair that girls frolicked over, Bach rocked Skid Row to the top of the charts.  This was definitely one of the most popular rock ballads of the 80′s.  Skid Row’s album Skid Row went 5x platinum.  I Remember You reached #6 on the Billboard charts and will be remembered as one of America’s favorite prom songs.

To see a complete list of our Best 85 Hair Band Ballads please follow the link.  Hope you enjoy and bring back many fond memories.

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Posted in Music | 3 Comments »
 

Building blocks for wedding reception tables

October 17th, 2010 | Rss Feed

A new idea is to use building blocks to decorate wedding reception tables.  Building blocks can be made fun to elegant.  Brides can be eco-friendly by reusing old building blocks for their used and antique looks.  Other brides can purchase new and elegant blocks for their wedding receptions.  Finally, brides with modern style wedding receptions can either purchase new blocks to match their style or redecorate old blocks to match their style.

Brides and grooms can spell their first names, spell their new married name or spell fun words.  Other phrases include “Live, Laugh, Love”, “Wedding Date”, wedding theme sayings and much more.

Have fun with building blocks as decor on wedding reception tables.  For more information about great looking building blocks, check out unclegoose.com or blocks on Amazon.com here http://amzn.to/d7qCSy.

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Posted in Articles for Planning a Wedding, Decor, Reception | 2 Comments »
 

How Can Difficult Lighting Affect My Wedding Video

October 16th, 2010 | Rss Feed

How can difficult lighting affect my wedding video?

Many people still get a relative to film their wedding video. While they do sometimes produce a decent result, there are some issues that occur that the relative cannot overcome.  Lighting is one of them.

Lighting is critical to getting great shots, and the proper manipulation of the settings in more challenging lighting conditions ensures a good shot.  Often couples come to me that had their relative film their wedding, we’ll call him Uncle Joe.

Uncle Joe has a new camera and he films often, but most times he only has a consumer or prosumer style of camera, that does not have full manual exposure, gain and white balance control, it only has automatic settings. What this means is when the camera sees the picture it automatically adjusts the exposure and color to get what it thinks is the best shot.

In most circumstances this is ok, but when you encounter difficult lighting conditions, such as a window behind the altar in a church, the camera exposes for the window and not the bride. The result is a perfect shot of the window, with an almost black or silhouetted bride and groom.

In many cases the camera does not have the settings to override this and there is nothing Uncle Joe can do.  If by chance the camera does have a setting override, and he does know how to get to it, many times he spends 5 minutes trying to get the shot right, going through the different settings, all the while possibly missing out on you saying “I do”.

Professional cameras have full manual exposure control and a good cameraman can produce a good result in almost any lighting condition. Moreover, they will be experienced with all types of lighting conditions and be able to respond with the right setting quickly, ensuring good clean footage of your ceremony.

Some things to ponder…

About the Author: Shane White is the owner of http://www.whitestudios.com.au.  He has been shooting Wedding Videos for over 13 years. He has travelled to remote locations, shot from helicopters, airplanes, moving vehicles, on boats and underwater. Shot with jibs, cranes, steadicams, spider dollies and in almost every situation a cameraman can find himself in.

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Posted in Articles for Planning a Wedding, Videography | 1 Comment »
 

Day Trip from Las Vegas – Area 51 Rachel, NV

October 13th, 2010 | Rss Feed

About 115 miles north of Las Vegas is the infamous Air Force Base known as Area 51.  Area 51 and Rachel, NV are known for UFO sightings.  There has been hundreds of UFO sightings in the area over the years.  Rachel, NV has been designated as the “UFO Capital of the World”.   The only business in the area serving food is the Little A’Le’Inn.  The Inn has a restaurant selling a great burger called the Alien burger.   The Inn also has alien memorabilia, clothing, and area maps.

Rachel does not have any gas stations so be sure to fill-up in cities along the route before getting to the area.  Except for a couple of ranches, the town of Rachel is the only settlement in the 98 mile E.T. Highway drive.  Please see below sign for a reminder.

The “Extraterrestrial Highway” aka E.T. Highway aka Nevada State Highway 375 stretches 98 miles from US-93 in the southeast to US-6.   To get to the E.T. Highway, drive north on US-93 from Las Vegas.  In addition, the  E.T. Highway is the fastest route  between Yosemite National Park in the west and Zion National Park and Grand Canyon in the east.

25 mile south of Rachel is the top secret military base known as Area 51.  There are 2 gates of entry into the base where visitors can stop and take pictures of the “Do Not Enter” signs.  However, driving from the paved main road to the gates is about 10 miles on a dirt road.  See below picture of one of the dirt road drives.

In conclusion, if you want to travel to see Area 51 and Rachel, NV – the UFO Capital of the World, we recommend to see the Little A’Le’Inn and to camp out under the stars to view the unsuspecting UFOs in the sky.  For more information about the Rachel, NV area and Area 51, visit the following web site: Official web site of Rachel, NV.

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Posted in Las Vegas Reviews | 7 Comments »