My dear friend, Stephanie, has been in my life since middle-school. She balances me out so well with her fun sense of humor and her laid-back outlook. She is a super-spiritual lady and I'm so excited to share some highlights from their fun photo shoot.
Love his smiles!
Stephanie lost her little baby Joseph June of 2012. She has been amazing in sharing her experience with coping with his loss and I wanted to include him in these family pictures. I love hearing Stephanie's testimony that family's are forever! It's so inspiring!
Children. They are spontaneous, wild, and full of life. More often than not your wedding day will play host to one or many children. For some brides, thoughts of children at the wedding cause panic attacks as they worry what mischief will be made or if their special day will be ruined by fussing kids.
In this two-part segment, we'll explore a few ways to take the sticky out of those wedding-day kids.
Kids Entertainment
One of the best ways to set-up a stress-free kid-friendly wedding environment is to plan simple ways to keep them entertained. Depending on your wedding theme and venue kids entertainment can be a fun part of the wedding for more than just the children. Here are some ideas.
Photo booth: Rent (or set-up your own) photo booth, complete with funny props. Kids and adults will get a kick out of posing and you'll get some amazing and fun pictures of all your guests.
Kids table: At the wedding dinner or engagement party, include a kids table. Feature kid-friendly food and allow for coloring with coloring pages (or with fun coloring table cloths like this one)
Kids Sign-in: The adults get to sign-in to your custom wedding guestbook but kids can be tricky, since many are still learning how to write (and you may worry they'll write across the groom's face). A scrapbook style custom-sign-in book can feature fun little colored messages for the bride and groom at the back of the traditional guest-sign in pages.
Kid's Activities: Weddings are often formal events but depending on your wedding-theme you may be able to get away with a few kid activities. For example, Carnival-themed weddings could feature a balloon-making clown. Rustic-themed weddings could feature a dress-up box with old-time gear or a hay bail maze for the little ones.
Kids with Special Needs
Many brides are looking to accommodate children who have unique needs. Children with special needs, like autism, for example, may find a formal wedding atmosphere with lots of strange people in fancy clothes overwhelming. Depending on the need you are accommodating, you may need to consider the best table to sit a child at, make accommodations with the venue you've chosen etc. Here are some ideas of ways to make a child (or children) with special needs more at-east for the big day.
Talk to a close friend or family member who can be assigned to the task of ensuring the child(ren) are accommodated throughout the day so that you're not worried about it.
Ask parents for ideas on how to make the child(ren) more at ease (perhaps their favorite chair or stuffed-animal could be brought from home).
Know when to include and when to exclude. Children with special needs often want to be included in the wedding celebration, however, be sure to address how much they will be expected to participate in wedding day festivities. Sometimes it may be best for them to be allowed to remain away from the crowd and the celebration.
If desired, include them in smaller, more intimate wedding celebrations. Family dinners prior to the wedding or even one-on-one dates with children with special needs may prove to be more meaningful and less stressful to everyone.
Kids and the Big Day
When all is said and done, your wedding is your big day. Make every effort before the wedding to accommodate the kids in your life, but realize that children are unpredictable and that the best way to take the sticky out of kids is to not worry about them too much. As the bride, it's not your job to tell children how to behave, where to go, what to do, etc. (Even if they are your kids, it may be wise to enlist a family member or friend to take this task on for the day). Enjoy your day and the kids in your life will take your cue!
Children. They are spontaneous, wild, and full of life. More often than not your wedding day will play host to one or many children. For some brides, thoughts of children at the wedding cause panic attacks as they worry what mischief will be made or if their special day will be ruined by fussing kids.
In this two-part segment, we'll explore a few ways to take the sticky out of those wedding-day kids.
Kids and Wedding Pictures
If the kids in your life are anything like the ones I know- they are likely to be super adorable and super photogenic. Ensure your photographer captures them. Better yet, have them help capture memories for you.
Many brides in the past used disposable cameras to have guests help capture their wedding day, but with everyone having access to a smart phone, why not set up a special wedding-day email and ask guests to send their mobile pics in? You can then easily use sites like Walgreens to order prints by simply forwarding on those emails to their photo-site email address (for Walgreens it's save@mywalgreens.com).
Kids and Props The right prop in the hands of a child can do wonders. A typical favorite prop is small vials of bubbles for children to blow towards the bride and groom as they leave the wedding. Here are a few other fun ideas:
One couple had success finding a vintage tricycle and painting it to match the wedding colors. They were able to involve a nephew in the event as he rode around the wedding party.
A child can help keep track of favorite family pets at a wedding- just hand them a leash and a stash of doggy treats.
Put thank-you gifts in a decked-out wagon and have the little-ones hand out the gifts to guests at the wedding.
Props should align with the theme of your wedding and should help you (and your guests) enjoy your special day.
Join us for Kids and the Wedding {Part 2}! I'll discuss fun ways to include children in your wedding party from showers through ceremonies.
Till next time,
Good luck, warm wishes, and sweet memories always,
Want to know a little secret about photographing children? Never make it about the photographs.
You can make it about a silly little doll who tries walking all over your camera.
You can make it about how scary they look in their nice clothes and try hiding from them behind the camera.
You can make it about jumping off things that their parents would scold them for.
You can make it about playing superhero, or trying to get grandpa to laugh.
But whatever you do- don't make it about the photos.
Unless of course they like to pretend they are super-models. Then go all eccentric Italian photographer on them and tell them "I love it! Work it!" in a funny accent.
Assuming all goes well, even the most-ardent "I hate photos" child will end up looking like this:
Enjoy a few highlights from the Wrigley's family photo shoot....
I still remember growing up, hearing Butterfly Kisses by Bob Carlisle would always get me tearing up. It was a daddy-daughter song, all about the love shared between a little girl and her daddy. Since dancing with your father is part of wedding tradition, over time many such daddy-daughter wedding songs have been written.
I can't tell you how bad I cried the first time I heard this song:
Leave it to Carrie Underwood to so perfectly capture a moment that was missing for so many brides- that special connection that the bride has with her mother.
I so look up to and respect my own mother. Becoming a mother myself continually teaches me just how much she has done for me. Honestly, I wish on my wedding day I could have given my mother a parting gift like the one featured in this song. It's definitely a regret of mine that I didn't take the time to recognize just how much my parents, and especially my mother, had done for me.
You, dear bride-to-be, don't have to worry about these regrets. Mother-of-the-bride books are not just for the famous- they are for your mama. Take the time to select a few pictures from your childhood that feature you with your mother and combine them in a book- even just a small photo album will make your own mama smile.
Not sure you have any good photos of you and your mom from growing up? For various reasons, you may opt to include more recent photos of you with your mama.
How about including her in your bridal photos? This is really such a fun idea, most moms attend the bridal shoot for sentimental or logistic purposes anyway, why not ask her to dress up and get in a few of your bridal shots with you? This would help the two of you further connect as you prepare for your big day and the pictures will honestly become quick family favorites.
If you're not sure where to get started on honoring the Mother-of-the-bride, use the contact form to shoot me a quick message. I'd love to give you some inspiration!
Remember when I wrote last I talked about how the things that make you uniquely you are a great source of inspiration for engagement photos? Well, uniqueness is pretty much requesite for a custom guestbook.
Sure, you could buy a standard guestbook where people can write their names in cursive handwriting that is pretty much not legible. You could even splurge and buy more customized guestbooks that feature photos of you but not much else in the way of personality.
Or, you can tell a story, YOUR story and share it with every guest who is there to celebrate your wedding day. Your guests can write you advice, favorite memories, or congratulatory messages.
Here are a few snippets from the custom wedding book I am working on right now. What started out as an ENORMOUS challenge of combining all the little details that make this couple unique has become a beautiful, visual story of their love for each other and their special day.
Here are the inspiration points Brittany and I discussed.
Their wedding colors are yellow and gray
Their theme is rustic/country (they are having the wedding party in a barn! So cool!)
They are doing a lemonade bar as part of the wedding and will be incorporating both limes and lemons into the decor- so she wanted hints of a happy green included throughout
The venue is a bright red barn- she wanted this incorporated as well
Additionally, Brittany LOVES everything Disney and will be having a very sentimental Minnie and Mickey figurine incorporated into the decor
Their wedding song is "Wanted" by Hunter Hayes.
This may seem like a lot of information to incorporate into a custom guestbook at first glance but keep in mind that you'll want plenty of pages for guests to sign-in on and each page can tell a bit more of your story.
Here are a few of the spreads that I've already completed. I'll keep the rest a surprise until the big day! ( I think if you click on them you can get them bigger to see the cute details).
Good luck Brittany and Josh, warm wishes, and sweet memories always,
Here's a couple of images I love of a fun couple. I loved getting to know Brittany and see this cute couple interact.
The day of the shoot I was so bummed.....weather was cloudy and dull. Not a good combination- especially since we were shooting up the canyon!
With some keen attention to where light was falling, where clouds were and with post-processing help we were able to get some gorgeous shots. We live in a beautiful world!
Here is my request for all brides and brides-to-be reading this: Don't forget about all the amazing things that make you who you are, and clue in your photographer.
A few days before the shoot, Brittany and I discussed the theme that she was hoping for with the pictures (country/rustic) which was great, but after asking her about her interests I learned that both she and her fiance Josh loved cooking. This was fabulous inspiration for the shoot!
Yes, that's a skillet :)
And that's a rolling pin....
So fun :)
Well, I hope you enjoyed a few highlights from the shoot and remember- relish in sharing who YOU really are with your engagement and wedding photos- it makes for great inspiration and wonderfully unique images!
I'll post some layouts from their adorable country/Disney themed custom guest book next time!
Till then, Good luck, warm wishes, and sweet memories always,
