Adorable Lingerie Collection from AdoreMe

Have you ladies heard of AdoreMe?  They're an online lingerie company that sells super cute matching sets of bras and undies.  They just released some items from their sexy lingerie Spring Collection, so we thought it would be fun to create wedding mood boards around the colors of these new sets--check them out below!

The Lace set comes in a gorgeous shade of pink called blush, which has been (and still is) one of the most popular choices in wedding color palettes.  We envisioned Lace paired with some really pretty uses of blush--within wedding flowers, an invitation suite and even fabulous wedding shoes!

Next up, we have the Bonnie set!  Anyone who knows me knows that blue is my absolute favorite color, so we really had fun with this one.  We used turquoise as our color inspiration and paired the set with some bridesmaids' dresses in various shades of blue, simple but elegant blue hued vases (for more of a rustic or vintage wedding theme) and a gorgeous blue wedding cake.

Yellow has always been a popular spring and summer wedding color, so the Sharieta set really caught our eye.  We were inspired by lemons (mostly because we recently planned a wedding that used lemons as centerpieces!) so chose images that best reflected that!  If having a yellow themed wedding, a candy bar with lemon shaped candies work well, as does a macaron tower for a wedding dessert twist and a beautiful bouquet with succulents and yellow craspedia (also known as billy balls). 

And last but not least, we've got the Kacie set in a fiery (and sexy) shade of red!  Most people think you can only use red for fall and winter weddings, but we were inspired by the idea of pairing red with some lighter shades which can easily work for a summer wedding.  Pair it with pink or blush in a bouquet, white on a cake or with black(berries) for a fun signature drink.

Which set is your favorite?!

Ask Primpy: How Do I Choose the Perfect Wedding Photographer?

This is another question we are often asked by couples--with the vast array of talented wedding photographers out there (especially if you live in or near a big city), how do you choose the one that's right for you? For this Q&A, we chatted with the super talented Connecticut photographer Joanna Fisher of Joanna Fisher Photography!  Joanna's work has recently been featured in Style Me Pretty and she gives some excellent tips below on finding the perfect wedding photographer for your big day.

All photos by Joanna Fisher Photography.

How early in the wedding planning process should a couple start looking for a wedding photographer? 

If you have your heart set on working with a particular photographer, give them as much notice as possible! A great time to start searching for your photographer if you don’t have a particular one in mind is right after you book your venue. This allows your potential photographer to check their availability against your wedding date so they can hold it for you.  

Alternatively, if you don't have a specific date in mind, you can work alongside your potential photographer and venue to ensure that both are available on the same day!  

What’s the best way to figure out if a photographer is the right fit for you? 

There are so many amazing photographers in the industry and it can be a daunting and difficult task to decide who might be the best one to capture your wedding day. It’s been my experience that the best way to get the most out of your photographer is to make sure that your personalities really click. Beautiful photographs that you love and fit your style are important - but your photographer’s personality can make or break your experience! 

Your photographer is going to be with you for the better part of your day. You want to be sure that you get along, that you trust them completely...and a sense of humor never hurts!  After all the planning you put in to your wedding day, it often happens that the wedding day timeline simply doesn’t happen the way you’d planned.  You want to be sure your photographer can roll with the punches, adapt to the situation and laugh about it with you! 

What if I’m shy/not photogenic/hate having my picture taken, etc?  What advice do you have for people who are uncomfortable in front of the camera? 

A great way to make sure you’re going to be comfortable in front of the camera on your wedding day is to take advantage of an engagement session beforehand - this is something that many photographers are now including as part of a complete wedding package.  Not only is this a cute way to create Save the Date cards and a fun way to spend a few hours with your love, but it’s the perfect practice run before the big day! Your photographer’s personality should shine here.  Wedding day portraits can sometimes feel rushed, but during an engagement session you get to slow everything down and focus on just the two of you - which will in turn allow you to relax and get used to the camera being pointed at you all day! 

 What should a couple do when they’ve found their dream photographer, but find out they are totally out of their budget? 

This can be such a tough spot to be in - especially if you’ve found a photographer that you click with and who’s work you love.  My advice would be to see if the photographer has a “basic” package.  For my brides who want the quality of my work, but don’t have an unlimited budget (because who does, really?), I offer a completely “a la carte” Wedding Collection.   This is for coverage only, but allows the couple to add on things that are most important to them - whether that be digital files, an album, or anything else.  

Deferring the cost of those products until after the wedding (and after the couple has received any monetary wedding gifts!) can also allow the couple to get exactly what they’re looking for in their photographer without compromising their immediate budget.

How long does it typically take to receive your wedding photos? 

Every photographer is differrent, so this is an important question to ask your photographer during any initial consults.  I promise a turnaround of 6-8 weeks in my contract, though it’s often much sooner - my average is about 2-3 weeks.

Start your search early for your photographer to ensure availability and if photography is one of the top priorities for your wedding day, splurge a bit on the one you love (and cut the budget elsewhere on things that don't matter to you as much).  Happy hunting!

Ask Primpy: New Q&A Series!

 We are launching a new series on the blog called "Ask Primpy", where we answer your most burning wedding planning questions.  I'm kicking this series off with the most popular question I hear from engaged couples which is..."How do we cut down on wedding costs?"

By far, the most efficient way to save money on your wedding is to cut down your guest list.  The cost per guest you incur usually includes catering, rentals and even the number of centerpieces needed (most couples are surprised by this but think about it--more guests + more seating = more centerpieces).  Because the number of guests directly impacts all of these things and more, this is where you'll see the biggest cost savings when planning your wedding.  

Cutting the guest list can be done in a number of ways, but there are certain things to consider before deciding if sweet Aunt Josie will make the cut or not. First, who is paying for the wedding?  If you and your spouse-to-be are responsible for most or all of the budget, then you pretty much have free reign on determining who will be invited or not.  If either of your parents are paying for the wedding, this is where things get much more complicated.  As the hosts, your parents can pretty much dictate the guest list.  So unless they have explicitly told you that they are leaving the list in your hands, avoid going bridezilla on them if they decide to invite their childhood friends, college friends and the guy at Starbucks who makes their coffee "just the way they like it".  After all, they are footing the bill!

Now if you are in charge of the guestlist, cutting the number of invited guests can be done in a number of ways.  Here are my top tips on saving big bucks for your wedding!

Have your ceremony and reception at the same location.  This can potentially save you a ton of money and stress.  You'll be saving big on transportation costs and having to pay for separate ceremony and reception rental fees.  And having all of your events at one location is less stressful overall since all of your vendors only need to show up to one location.  

Make it an Adult-Only event (aka leave the kids at home).  If this is the route you decide to go, it's fine if the only children invited are ones that are in the bridal party. 

No Unknown Plus Ones.  What this means is that instead of giving guests free reign on the RSVP to invite "Guest", make sure you actually know who "Guest" is and that person is invited by name. 

Consider having a destination wedding.  If you are really keen on getting your guestlist down, but know it'll cause lots of drama if you have a local wedding and don't invite certain local family and friends, my favorite solution is this...have a destination wedding!  For the most part, your key guests will make an effort to travel where ever your wedding will be and you won't offend guests (if you invite them and they can't make it, that's not your fault!).  Just note: if your destination is far enough to require getting on a plane, obviously this won't work if any of your VIP's have a flying phobia, so chose your location wisely.

Have a wedding planning question that is stressing you out?  Send an email to info@thismodernloveevents.com and we'll answer it on the blog!  And if you find yourself in need of a wedding pro, check out the various wedding planning services we offer at This Modern Love Events.  We'd love to help you plan a stress-free wedding day!

$1,000 WeddingMix Wedding Package Giveaway: Early Access for Primp My Bride Readers!

Our friends over at WeddingMix (aka our favorite DIY wedding videography service out there!) are doing an awesome giveaway in partnership with SimplyBridal!

The grand prize winner will receive a $500 SimplyBridal Package to use towards couture wedding gowns and accessories, as well as a $500 WeddingMix video package to receive an edited video filmed by those they love! Each entry will also receive a 10% WeddingMix coupon good for any of their video packages.

The giveaway doesn't officially start until tomorrow, but Primp My Bride readers will get early access to it today!  Enter here for your chance to win :)  Good luck!

How the Modern Bride Uses Social Media for Wedding Planning

We are big believers in using digital media to plan your wedding day.  In fact, this is why we offer a digital wedding planning package through our events company, This Modern Love Events!  Check out this eye-opening infographic below from TheKnot & Mashable to learn more about how today's modern bride plans her wedding in the digital world.  Are you using social media or the internet in any of these ways to plan your big day?

The First 5 Things To Do When You Start Planning Your Wedding

If you recently got engaged (congrats by the way!) you are most likely still basking in the glow of sharing the news with friends and family, envisioning married life with your future spouse and of course, flashing your ring bling everywhere.  But sooner or later, you will have to start the process of planning the most fabulous day of your life--your wedding!

So now what?  For those of you who have no idea where to start, or even if you are Type-A and already have a wedding to-do list a mile long, I wanted to share some helpful tips that will get you on the wedding planning fast track in no time.

Image via Etsy

Read at least one wedding book.
I've grown up in the digital age--nearly everything I do is strictly online and on a smart device.  However despite the wealth of wedding resources the internet has to offer, to me there is nothing like getting your hands on an actual wedding book.  If anything, it'll help you get a deeper understanding of all the moving pieces involved in planning a wedding and will give you a frame for organizing and prioritizing all aspects of your wedding.

There are numerous wedding books out there, but one that I find the most comprehensive and well-written is The Wedding Book by Mindy Weiss.

Determine your top 3 wedding priorities with your fiance. 
So when you envision your wedding day, what 3 things are most important to you that will contribute to the overall awesomeness of your wedding day?  Food?  Photography?  Flowers?  Whatever it may be, it's crucial to sit down with your fiance and decide on your top 3 wedding priorities.  This will help you focus your attention on the areas you care most about--and allow you to feel okay about saving money on areas that don't rank high on your priority list so that you can splurge a bit on what does matter.

Create a free Google Drive account.
There's no doubt that you plan on having paper copies of your wedding vendor contracts, but chances are in this day and age, you will probably receive the majority of your contracts online.  It is vital that you back up every single wedding vendor contract on the cloud--in this case I recommend utilizing Google Drive (if you have a Gmail account, you can start using Google Drive right away for free).

If your computer ever crashes (as mine did 6 months before my wedding--eek!!) you absolutely must have a place where you can easily recover your documents.  External hard drives and flash drives are nice, but you usually have to manually back things up.  Saving things in the cloud makes it so much easier because there is no extra step--just save your files in your cloud folder and you are good to go!

Use Pinterest to organize your ideas.
I truly believe that Pinterest is one of the greatest things to hit the internet in the past few years.  Collecting dozens of wedding mags, cutting out pages and images and adding them to your wedding "vision board" is so 1999.  Now with the simple click of a button, you can make this experience digital, instantaneous and best of all, free!

But be careful not to get too carried away with pinning every single thing you see as this can quickly overwhelm you.  Narrow it down by choosing images that fit your wedding style.  If you don't know what that is, take this fun quiz to determine your style! 

Consider hiring a wedding planner for your various wedding planning needs.  

When you think "Wedding Planners" you should no longer think of them as a luxury solely for big budget couples.  Nor should you rule them out because you plan on doing all of the wedding planning yourself.   Wedding planners can provide some invaluable and time-saving guidance (in the form of pre-wedding consultation) or manage the actual wedding day (as a day-of coordinator because do you really want to be running around making sure everything gets done on your wedding day?!?)

Wedding planners nowadays offer flexible packages from full wedding planning to digital consultations.  Assess your needs, then find the perfect planner out there for you.  Most wedding planners even offer free initial consultations, so even if you don't know what you need, it's worth taking advantage of this feature and chatting with someone who is a wedding expert.  You'll be glad you did!

About the blogger: Martine Boursiquot-LaConte is the Owner & Founder of This Modern Love Events, a wedding planning company offering digital and traditional wedding planning services.  She is a Certified Wedding Planner and member of the Association of Bridal Consultants.   

How To Be a Good Wedding Guest

Related to my previous post on how to be a good wedding host, below I've listed out some top tips on how to be a good wedding guest.

Please, please RSVP on time.

Check your answer then mail in the card--it's that simple! / Image via Crafty Pie

Sigh...this was the one thing as a bride that was THE most frustrating.  Luckily we had a decent RSVP card return rate of about 65% (I think I read somewhere that the average was about 50%) but still!  For those other 35% who didn't respond, I don't know how much easier we could have made it.  We choose RSVP postcards in favor of RSVP cards with envelopes because we figured it was one less step for people.  All they had to do was check their response and pop it in the mailbox (as we already addressed and stamped each one).

On that same note, if you RSVP'd yes but can no longer make it, PLEASE do not wait until the day before or the day of to cancel (and unless it's a life or death situation, never, ever be a no-show.)

Do not be late for the wedding.

Someone's wedding is not something you need to be fashionably late for.  Generally things are running on a specific schedule, so aim to be on time for all of the events that you are invited to.

Respect the dress code.

There is endless information available on the interwebs about wedding dress codes / Image via Brides

Simply put, if you do not understand dress code terminology (i.e. black tie optional vs. black tie), there is a thing called Google--look it up to see what it means.  Or ask the bride, groom, maid of honor, or mother of the bride.  I know I had to look up all of the formal terms because I didn't know what they meant in the early stages of wedding planning.  And beyond that, unless the invite says casual, skip the Hawaiian shirt or an outfit that you would wear to a dive bar and put on something nice!  It's better to be over-dressed than under-dressed at a wedding.

Keep it classy.

It's totally fine to let loose and get drunk at a wedding (after all, isn't that the point of the reception?), but remember to keep it classy and don't get stupid drunk.  That means no barfing at your table or on the dance floor (run to the bathroom instead!) or getting too freaky on the dance floor--at least wait until the old folks have left before you start twerking or grinding!
 
Throw your hands in the air and wave them like you just don't care.

BM K and GM Z at my wedding / Photo by Sarelle Photos

You're there to support the bride and groom and enjoy a free meal (and free booze), so have fun!  Don't sit in the corner with a sourpuss expression on your face.  If you hate dancing then hit up the photobooth, play some games or go mingle.
 
What are your top tips on how to be a good wedding guest?

How to be a Good Wedding Host

Before I officially say my goodbyes as a Bee blogger (can't believe it's almost that time!), I wanted to share some last thoughts in my next few posts.

With many of you recently getting engaged over the holidays (congrats!), I wanted to put together some observations, based on my experience of hosting a wedding as well as being a guest at many weddings, on how to be a good wedding host.

Don't be late to your own wedding.

I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date! / Photo via Destiny in Bloom

 

Making your guests wait a long time for the ceremony to start is a MAJOR don't (obviously unless the delay is caused by an act of God and not just because you snoozed through your alarm or decided to sneak in a episode of Orange is the New Black the morning of your wedding).  If you or anyone in your bridal party is notorious for being super late, schedule any morning activities an hour earlier and tell bridal party members that they need to be ready thirty minutes or an hour before they actually need to be.  

Aim to create a wedding day schedule that's seamless so guests understand where and when they need to be somewhere.

On that same note, try to avoid super long gaps if your wedding will be an all-day thing.  If the "Catholic Gap" is a must, either schedule your cocktail hour during that time or at the very least, give guests recommendations on where they can go to kill time until the reception (a local bar, restaurant, casino, etc.).

If something doesn't go right, don't throw a tantrum--especially not in front of your guests. 

Don't make this face at your wedding / Photo via Wedding Party App

Remember to breathe and either ask someone you trust to handle the situation, or just let it go.  Nothing makes guests more uncomfortable than seeing the bride flip out.  Luckily I've yet to see this in person, but I've seen enough episodes of Bridezillas and Four Weddings to assume that this is an awkward situation.

Make sure to thank your guests for attending your wedding (especially if it's a destination wedding!)

You don't necessarily need a receiving line, but either a speech at the rehearsal dinner or toast at the wedding thanking everyone for celebrating your big day should suffice and make guests feel that you appreciate their presence. 

Always send a thank you card within 2 months of receiving a gift--even if you are receiving gifts before the wedding or well after the wedding.

Mind your manners! / Photo via The Sole Mates

I know this can get very overwhelming, but never ever skip out on thanking people for gifts.  Not only is it poor form to not send a thank-you note in a timely manner, but guests also want to make sure you actually received the gift they sent.

Be gracious and say thank you to everyone who helped make your big day possible--from your wedding planner to the coat check boy.  

A lot of time, effort and coordination will go in to making your big day possible, so if you happen to see your vendors throughout the day, make sure to give them a quick thanks.  They'll appreciate it!

But the most important tip of all?   

Be happy and enjoy your big day!!

Smile!  You just got married :) / Photo via Munaluchi Bridal

It's hard to believe (or describe) how fast the day goes by, so make sure to enjoy Every.Single.Moment.

What are your top tips on how to be a good wedding host?

The Most Notorious Question You Get Asked Post-Wedding

With the holidays right around the corner, I wanted to discuss a question that you as a newlywed, will get asked over and over again (especially at family gatherings).  Other than "How's married life?" the most notorious question is......"So, when are you guys having kids?"  While I understand the intent behind the question (family members are generally excited at the prospect of having the family expand), it can get pretty frustrating hearing this question all the time, particularly because it hasn't even been a year since we've been married.  Can we have a little bit of time to enjoy newlywed life please?!?! 

The most famous baby born this year / Photo via US Weekly

I also have a few things I want to do/accomplish first before bringing kids into this world.  I'm in the midst of starting a new business (more on that next month!)  I want to take a trip to Argentina (I've never been to South America).  I want to go to Coachella, which will complete my U.S. music festival trifecta (we've been to Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits).  And for the first time in my life, I want to get a real pet (I grew up with fish and plants, so Mr. M and I would like to get a dog next year).  And to put it frankly, I just don't have baby fever at this time.  This in no way implies that I never will, this just means that at this moment in time, I'm just not in the baby-making mindset.

And that should be okay.  I shouldn't have to apologize for it.  I shouldn't be made to feel awkward when some people then say "But you're going to be 30 next year!  Your biological clock is ticking!  You better start making babies now!".  I shouldn't have people scrutinizing my Facebook pictures to see if I have a drink in my hand or not.  Oh yes, it's gotten that awkward.

This question also frustrates me for married couples in general for a number of reasons.  First of all, in this day and age it's extremely presumptuous to assume that 1) a couple even has the ability to have children 2) a couple plans to have kids at all and 3) you will just announce to the world exactly when your bedroom activities will include pro-creation.

I could go on and on about this topic but I'd really like to know what those of you out there have experienced.  Are you tired of hearing this question as well?  How do you respond?  Do you give people an actual timeline or do you have a funny/witty response that will make people stop asking you?

Post-Wedding Dress Cleaning

After the wedding, I started to get concerned about what to do with my dress.  More specifically, would I keep it or sell it?  I'm a very sentimental person, so I always thought I would keep it.  But for practical reasons I wasn't sure if that would be the best option, especially considering I could probably make a decent amount of money if I sell the dress.  But regardless of what I decided to do, the dress needed a serious cleaning.  I specifically remembered dropping poutine somewhere on the skirt and the bottom was pretty dirty since we had trekked around outside in the rain to take photos.

I know Mrs. Funnel Cake has an excellent tutorial on how to clean your wedding dress yourself, however being the non-DIY person that I am, I didn't want to take on such a massive project and potentially ruin my dress.  At first, I was just going to bring my dress to the dry cleaners but after doing some research, I wanted to make sure I put my beautiful dress in the hands of someone who was an expert specifically in wedding dress cleaning (as I've heard and read horror stories about bringing it to a regular dry cleaner).

My Pronovias Benicarlo--the second love of my life / Photo by Sarelle Photos

So after a quick search on Google, I came across Orange Restoration Labs, a company that specializes in wedding dress cleaning.  And better yet, it was just about 20 minutes south of where I live in Connecticut.  So I set up an appointment and brought my dress to Sally, the owner of the company.

She was wonderful when we met, thoroughly explaining to me the "green" process (which included using carbon-neutral products) in which they use to clean all types of wedding gowns and specifically what they would do for my dress.  Once the dress is cleaned, they use acid-free tissue paper to carefully package the dress in a high quality box and a guarantee that the dress will never yellow if handled properly.  When it was time for an estimate, I thought it was going to cost a fortune, but it was actually very reasonably priced for the amount of work and the quality guarantee for the dress.  I didn't have a specific due date that I needed the dress by, so I let her know it was totally fine to take their time with it. 

When I went to go pick up my dress about a month and a half later, I was stunned by the results.  It looked like it had the day I picked it up from Pronovias!

All photos personal.

The dress looked brand new

I wish I had taken a "before" picture of the bottom of the dress--it was now spotless!

She then took out the box that the dress would be stored in.

And then began to carefully pack the dress into the box--I opted for the larger one that was about 3 feet tall since my dress is huge.

After the dress was in the box, she made a few last adjustments. 

My favorite part of the box is the see-through window--I can open the top flap and look at the dress whenever I'm feeling nostalgic!

Perfection!

I absolutely adore my dress and I'm happy I decided to spend the money to get this cleaned--it deserved to be cared for in a professional way.  For those of you interested in getting your gown cleaned in this way, Sally belongs to the Association of Wedding Gown Specialists which includes hundreds of cleaners who utilize this method of cleaning and storing the gowns.  They are not just located all across the U.S. but there are also international members as well (like Canada and now even Australia).

And another great feature is the guarantee seal that they include on the backside of the box.  Not only is the dress 100% guaranteed to never yellow (if stored and handled properly), but if I ever move to a different state or country, I can go to any other local cleaner within the association who will press the gown for free.

The Association of Wedding Gown Specialists logo on the top flap of the box

Would you consider getting your dress cleaned by a professional or will you DIY?

Top 10 Wedding Decisions We Made

Now that you've all gotten a good idea of what my wedding day was like, I wanted to share the top ten decisions we made that helped make our wedding day exceptional.  

All photos by Sarelle Photos (unless otherwise noted).

1) Having a destination wedding.

 As I said before, this was the BEST decision we made for our wedding.  Not only did it helped initially cut down the guest list (which in turn saved us a ton of money), but it gave us a chance to spend even more time with our guests by extending the wedding festivities over a long weekend.

2) Choosing a boutique hotel for the wedding.

Ceremony + Reception decor / Personal Photos

The fact that we were able to have the ceremony, reception and room accommodations eliminated day-of transportation costs, thus saving us hundreds of dollars.  We looked at six different hotel venues initially, but ended up choosing the Hotel Nelligan (as opposed to the Hyatt or Westin) because of it's uniqueness to Old Montreal. 

3) Hiring a wedding planner for day-of coordination services.

Our wedding planner Rachel from An English Rose

 I can't stress enough how important it is to have someone running the show the day of the wedding.  Just having the weight of last minute dilemmas lifted off your shoulders is well worth the cost of hiring someone to make sure your day goes smoothly.

4) Creating a wedding website.

This was the perfect place for guests to get information about all things related to our wedding weekend, including travel info, FAQs and registry information.  Plus, it was also a place where some guests could learn a bit more about us (i.e. the specifics of how we met, the proposal story, etc.)

5) First look and bridal party photos before the ceremony.

We decided on this solely because we didn't want to miss cocktail hour (nor did we want our bridal party to miss it either), but even if we didn't have one, we would have done this to avoid a super long gap between the ceremony and reception. 

6) Hiring a DJ instead of a band.

BM M and BM K with DJ Yo-C / Personal Photo

 I think if you find the right wedding band, it could make the wedding a truly amazing and unique experience.  However, because of all the different types of music we knew we'd have to play at the wedding, it was no question that we needed a DJ to fulfill our crazy musical needs.  

7) Scheduling a seamless reception flow for an uninterrupted dance party.

 What I mean by this is that the reception entrances were immediately followed by the special dances (First, Father/Daughter, Mother/Son, Anniversary dance), which were immediately followed by dinner with speeches sprinkled throughout.  AFTER all this was taken care of, the dance floor was officially opened for dancing and wasn't interrupted for the rest of the night--we even cut the cake on the side of the dance floor just so we didn't have to stop the party.

The takeaway here is that if having a packed dance floor is a priority, avoid interrupting the flow of the dance party as best you can.  Depending on your crowd, it can be hard enough getting people on the dance floor, but if guests keep being told they can dance, then 30 minutes later have to sit back down for this dance or that speech, I can pretty much guarantee that you will not have a packed dance floor by the end of the night.

8) Renting a photo booth.

When have you ever not had fun in a photo booth??  Whether you DIY your "faux-to" booth or rent a traditional one, you're guaranteed to get some awesome and silly shots of your guests.  Don't forget the props!

9) Using DIY technology to capture special wedding moments.

Photo via WeddingMix

 Instead of hiring a videographer, we saved thousands of dollars by renting flip cameras from WeddingMix and having a select group of trusted friends and family record specific moments of the day.  Afterwards, we mailed back the cameras to WeddingMix and in just a few short weeks, we got a full-length wedding DVD and a wedding trailer on YouTube.  It's genius!

Photo via Wedding Party App

We also told all our guests prior to the wedding to download Wedding Party App on their smartphones so they could share photos they take on our wedding day in real time.  We also put a note in the welcome bags AND had a printed sign at each table.  As a result, we had over 300 photos that guests added to the app.  It was so great seeing the different shots that people took throughout the wedding weekend and best of all--the app is FREE!

10) A keepsake "guestbook" idea. 

I am so thrilled with how our signed record albums came out and that we were able to use the albums afterwards as artwork in our living room.  The days of the old traditional guestbook are over.  Feel free to get creative or have guests sign something that's meaningful to YOU as a couple (whether that be puzzle pieces, fabric swatches, a photo poster board or record albums).

What were your top wedding decisions?  Were any of them on this list?

This Modern Love: Reliving the Memories through WeddingMix

Since we didn't have room in the budget to drop thousands of $$ on the videographer we wanted, we decided to work with WeddingMix instead.  With them, we were able to rent several flip cams which we entrusted to certain guests to capture certain footage throughout the wedding day.  While looking through the hundreds of photos from our photogs, I actually managed to find these pictures below that show our friends recording footage with cameras!

All photos by Sarelle Photos.

My bridesmaids took turns capturing footage of the girls getting ready.

 Mr. M's brother got him opening up my wedding morning gift and card.

 We had a friend and Mr. M's uncle capture the ceremony;

Another friend captured all the dances.

And another friend got footage of the speeches.

Now granted, if you are looking for the movie trailer cinematic quality of a professional videographer, then this option isn't for you.  But if you would love to capture the most beautiful day of your life on camera, with footage taken by your closest friends and family at a fraction of the cost to hire a videographer, then this is hands down the best option out there.

Not only do we have our short wedding trailer living on YouTube, but we also have a full-length video of the wedding day, with scenes chosen by me after combing through hours of footage (you can also pay a bit extra to have them choose the footage for you). WeddingMix's editing team then did their magic and turned the video into a keepsake DVD for us to have forever.  Photos are amazing and wedding-must have, but there is nothing like being able to watch your husband get emotional as he reads his vows or your dad's awesome moves on the dance floor!




Would you consider DIY videography or will you hire a videographer?

Missed a recap?  Catch up here;

• Midnight snacks and a love circle last dance.
• Cutting cake and sneaking off to the hotel roof.
• People get silly and naughty in the photo booth.
• Guests drop it like it's hot on the dance floor.
• Dinner, speeches and partying ensue.
• The anniversary dance and celebrating the grandparents' 65 years of marriage!
• Mr. M and I share a moment and I cut a rug with my dad.
• We enter the reception to some bad-ass tunes.
• Our record album guestbooks wow the guests.
• Peacock theme done right.
• Officially husband and wife!
• We write vows that make everyone cry.
• Our officiant and readers say some lovely words during the ceremony.
• We walk down the aisle to beautiful music.
• Despite the rain, we get creative with bridal party shots.
• We have a fun first look session.
• We get all bridal-y and groom-y.
• I put on the most beautiful dress I’ll ever wear.
• The guys do guy-like things and get dressed.
• We jam out to seriously awesome tunes and get very pretty.
• The girls get gifts as we prep to get primped.
• How I became the most relaxed bride ever.
• With a potential crisis thankfully averted, I reveal my welcome dinner surprise to Mr. M.
• A scary and dramatic start to the welcome dinner.
• Feelin’ hella good with hella expensive champagne.
• Practice, practice, practice!