Archive for January, 2009

To see or not to see? My thoughts

I know lots of times one of the things a bride and groom have to decide on right away after they are engaged is will they see each other before the ceremony.  Tradition says NO!  Having done many weddings now over 9 seasons I have grown to appreciate both arguments.  I understand those that don’t want to see each other before the ceremony and those that do.  This blog article explains the argument FOR seeing each other before the wedding.

Many customers don’t want to see each other before the wedding because that magical moment when the bride walks in just won’t be the same.  My experience has been that most of the time the groom’s reaction when he sees the bride walk in is just as emotional when he has already seen the bride before the wedding.  The same with the bride seeing the groom.  There’s just something about the “moment” that emotionally charges you (as well it should).  One way to assure that special moment of seeing each other for the first time is a special moment is to setup a private time for a few minutes when you see each other before the ceremony.  Sometimes that can happen in the church or at a pre-determined location.  The videographer and photographer can cover this as personally as you want or from a distance to honor your quiet time.  It’s your call. 

Another reason to see each other before the wedding and have most of the photos finished, and this is from a wedding planner, is because the brides hair, makeup and dress are still perfect.  After the ceremony your hair and makeup may have slipped a little and your dress may be a little dirty especially if the wedding was outdoors. 

Here’s another benefit of seeing each other before the ceremony.  In June we did Josh and Amy’s wedding at the Olympia Spa and Resort in Oconomowoc.   They chose to see each other before the ceremony and so the photographer, Justine from Justpix could take them off site for some extended time of romantic photos.  We got to go along off site and between the footage at the resort and off site we got some incredible shots.  It also helped that Josh and Amy really wanted these photos and video to be good so they factored in lots of time for us to do all this before the wedding.  Normally our preceremony video is about the bride getting ready, sometimes the groom getting ready and usually some of the individual formal photo session before the ceremony.  Their preceremony clip was so much more than that as you can see below.  This was possible because they saw each other before the ceremony and gave the videographer and photographer lots of time to do what we do best….be creative.

I’m not telling all my customers and potential customers they should see each other before the ceremony.  I just wanted to let you know some of the reasons people opt to see each other first. 

Click below to see Josh and Amy’s Preceremony Video.

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We’re back!

Some of you may have known we were gone for awhile but if you didn’t we just returned from a few weeks in Miami and Ft. Lauderdale, FL visiting family and doing some work.  We had a little fun along the way as well.  Some of you remember last year where I created a post in the fun stuff section of the blog chronicling our trip through the eyes of “Tad” our stuffed frog.  Well that was lots of work so I decided to take it easy this year. 

If you are interested here are some highlights from our trip.  Right after arriving my little brother, Steve, hosted a cookout in his back yard.  Below is a picture of his pool and tiki hut where we ate.  Quite a nice little setup and we had a good time.  That’s his crazy dog on the right.  You throw a toy and he will grab it and run in circles around the pools.  Too dumb to know that if he gives it back you will throw it again.  When he is tired of running in circles he usually drops it in the pool so you have to swim after it. Crazy dog.

Below is also a family shot of everyone around the pool.  I won’t try and list everyone out.  Sherry stayed at her brother’s in Ft. Lauderdale that night to see our niece play basketball so she is not in the picture.  My parents are in the chair and my aunt and uncle from Houston were even there so it was a good family time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One day while there Sherry’s brother wanted to make a trip to the Bass Pro Shops in Ft. Lauderdale.  Right next to it is the International Fishing Hall of Fame.  Sherry and I decided to check it out later in the week with my parents and make a day of it.   The main entrance showed all kinds of record size fish with plaques on the floor explaining the size and who caught them.  Was quite interesting to see them all.  There were boatloads of other fun things to do there.  One room had virtual fishing where I caught a 126 pound Blue Marlin and Sherry got a 5 pound Bass.  It was very realistic and quite fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the fishing hall of fame we headed to a big park where they have a huge RC Flying park for planes.  I used to mess around with RC planes and have always enjoyed aviation so my dad thought we would have fun there.  Wow is all I can say.  There were some expensive toys at that place and lots of great pilots as well.  Below are a few pics from there.  Yes those are RC jets.  The camo one is an A10 Tank Killer that was absolutely huge.  I have never seen anything like it. Unfortunately we didn’t get to stay long enough to see it fly.  There is another shot of a jet there that we did see fly.  Those things are crazy.  They have real ramjet engines and sound like a real jet flying and they are fast too.  Way cool and I bet very expensive.  The other pic was a nice 1/4 scale stunt plane doing some tricks.  The pilot was excellent and doing some very difficult tricks.  Overall a very fun day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also did lots of fishing from my brother-in-laws back yard and boat.  Sherry and I both enjoyed sitting outside and enjoying the sun and sipping coffee.  We got a little work done as well but took some time to enjoy family and warm weather.  What a shock to come home to -10 degrees and I hear we missed the coldest temps by one day.  Don’t worry, we have no plans to move south anytime soon, but it did cross our minds a few times.

It’s good to be back and ready to get rolling on more wedding edits.