Question from Kathy:

We are having a winter wedding in January 2010, can’t decide on centrepieces. And most important where can we possibly take nice indoor photos in
Mississauga?  Thank you so much.

Answer from Bridal Expert Angela:

Hi Kathy and congratulations on your upcoming wedding.  You might find this video on wedding reception table decorations helpful.  It covers the main types of centrepieces that you can choose from. 

As for indoor photos, I do not live in Ontario, and have only been in Mississauga once many years ago.  Since you live there, I suggest you think about an indoor garden or botanical gardens that may be available.  City historical buildings are another popular choice, and so is legislative buildings.  If you are having your wedding in a church, that could be another option.  I have seen winter outdoor photos taken on a popular foot bridge, as well as a unused railway bridge. 

Depending upon the architecture of your reception site, you might consider photos at that location.  The next time you are out and about in Mississauga, I suggest you look at your surrounds with new eyes and consider everything you see as a potential wedding photo site.  You might surprised at what you come up with.

Angela Fiebelkorn, Ask The Expert

Question from Debbie:

We are having a small outdoor wedding at our home in October.  It’s a second for both of us.  What do I wear, do I carry a bouquet, does he wear a boutinere, do I give favours to our guests?  I’m so confused.

The month before my soon to be stepdaughter is getting married.  Do I wear something to compliment my fiance? The bride is wearing ivory, the bridesmaids are wearing black with red accent.  Please help me!!!

Answer from Bridal Expert Angela:

Hi Debbie and congratulations on your upcoming wedding.  First let’s talk about your wedding.  What do you wear?  Many brides on their second wedding wear a wedding dress, although it is also acceptable in a smaller wedding to wear a beautiful cocktail dress.  Yes, you should carry a bouquet.  It need not be a large trailing bouquet, but, say a posy of flowers instead.  Yes, he should wear a boutinere.  Yes, you should give wedding favours to your guests.  They are attending your wedding, and bringing gifts (presumably), so giving something in return is proper etiquette. 

Think of your second wedding as a scaled down version of a first wedding, especially since you are having a small outdoor wedding at your home.  All the elements should be there, just smaller.  A wedding dress?  Sure, but not a large flowing ballroom gown with a 12′ veil.  Instead, a simple, elegant wedding dress—full length or knee length.  Wedding flower bouquets?  Yes, but proportionate to the scale of the wedding.  Wedding favours give your day a festive flair, but need not be extravagant.  Saying that, if you have a small number of guests you might want to give them something to remember the day like these photo album wedding favours, or even the picture frames with a picture of the two of you.   

As for your soon-to-be stepdaughter’s wedding, yes, you should wear something to compliment your fiance’s dress.  Be careful not to outshine the mother of the bride or groom, but be smart and well put together.  There is no reason you should not look your best. 

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask!

Angela Fiebelkorn, Ask The Expert

Question from Rita:

My daughter is getting married and would like the center pieces to be childhood photos of her and the groom.  What are your suggestions for displaying these?  Thank you.

Answer from Bridal Expert Angela:

Hi Rita.  How exciting that you have a wedding in the family.  Sharing childhood photos of the bride and groom with all the guests is a wonderful idea, and so personal.  If you were to just display an eight by ten photo on each table, it would be sort of empty, and since most banquet tables are round, only a few of the guests would see the picture.  Then you have all those photograph frames left over at the end of the wedding that you would need to find a place for. 

I have a few suggestions.  If you follow this link to Place Card Holders and Frames, you will find a lot of pictures frames that can be given away as wedding favours.  These wedding favours come in a variety of sizes from 3" x 4" to 4" x 6" and can be grouped in the centre for all your table guests.  Different pictures can be in each frame.  They can be suitably placed on a ‘table square’ with wedding confetti strewn around it to create a festive look.  If you follow this link to Reception Accessories and Decorations, you will find a variety of wedding confetti styles that you can choose from.

There are many individual picture frames to choose from, but I personally like the mini photo albums.  There are two types of photo album wedding favours:  those for pictures 3" x 4" in size that hold between 10 and 24 photos, and those for pictures 4" x 6" in size that hold up to 40 photos.  Of course, you would not have to fill all the pages with photos, but a few pictures in each one would be appropriate.  As you can see from the link, you can also have a picture of the couple put into the front frame.

I attended a wedding last year that gave out a 4" x 6" photo album and I have pictures from their wedding in it, and it is a great keepsake.   Those are a few suggestions, and if you have other questions, please feel free to contact me again.

Angela Fiebelkorn, Ask The Expert

Question from Danielle:

I’m getting married in Feb/09.  I was wondering what ideas you can give me about getting winter wedding pictures done.  I think it will be to cold to get them done outside in the snow.

Answer from Bridal Expert Angela:

Hi Danielle, and congratulations on your upcoming wedding.  I’m not sure what you are asking me, so I will answer your question in two parts. 

Yes, photographs can be taken in winter, outdoors without too many problems.  Your photographer will guide you in the best ways to get pictures taken without "frost breath" showing up on the pictures.  I have seen bridal parties shuck their winter coats, quickly get their pictures taken in the snow against a beautiful winter backdrop, and then rush back into their coats and into warm vehicles.  They all wore boots and the pictures taken did not go fully to the ground!  Not the most pleasant, but can be done.  I have also seen a bride in a white fur coat over her gown, and the groom in his suit jacket have their pictures taken on a snow covered bridge.  It was very lovely, but the groom was quite cold.  The last thing you want is to be come ill on your honeymoon because of outdoor wedding pictures.  Most couples tend to be run down a bit before a wedding due to stress over the many tasks, and that is when one is suseptible to illness.

If you are thinking of ideas for an indoor photo shoot, there are a number of options/alternatives.  You can have pictures taken at your church or at the reception hall.  I’ve seen wedding photos taken at the conservatory/botanical gardens, legislative buildings, or other public places.  If you want to use a public place, you need to get permissions to have your wedding pictures taken there.  Maybe there is an office building or mall that has lovely gardens or an atrium, and you can get permission to have your photos taken there. 

These are some ideas, and I hope that I answered your question.  Feel free to email me again if you have any other questions.

Angela Fiebelkorn, Ask The Expert

Question from Jennifer:

We are traveling on a cruise to get married and have asked two couples to come with us giving us a very small wedding party of 6 total including bride and groom. They are good friends of ours and have jumped at the chance to come along. One person from each couple is either the Best Man or the Maid of Honour, while their significant others are spectators. My question is, should we give them gifts as couples or should we give BM and MOH gifts alone?  Is it concidered rude if no gifts are given?
Thanks,

Answer from Bridal Expert Angela:

Hi Jennifer,

It is tradition that the Best Man and Maid of Honour receive a gift from the Bride and Groom.  Usually party favours are given to each person at a wedding reception.  That is the usual way of doing things.

You could combine those two things to give one gift to each couple if you wanted to.  It is important that what you choose reflects you as a couple, and reflects your relationship with your four guests. 

Depending upon your budget, you could give the BM and MOH each a gift, and also give each couple a gift for coming with you on the cruise and sharing your special day.  A common gift for small weddings like this is a photo album with key wedding photos given to them after you have your photos developed.  Alternative to the photo album is a picture frame with a wedding picture. 

These gifts do not need to be expensive gifts, but rather a reflection of your friendship for each other.

Congratulations on your upcoming wedding.  If you have any other questions, feel free to write again.

Angela Fiebelkorn, Ask The Bridal Expert

Having great wedding pictures is something that is very important to me. With out the photos it will be harder to remember how beautiful everything looked. 

Looking through an album of photos helps me trigger feelings and emotions of a events that have took place. So I am making sure that I have everything prepared to recreate the wonderful and unforgettable memories of my wedding day! 

In the future, I want to be able to easily have a nice look of the day of my wedding. I want to be able to feel like I did on that day while skimming though the pages of an album. So I am going to invest in a beautiful wedding album that can reflects the preciousness I feel.

The Silver Plated Heart Photo Album is a beautiful resting place for all your wedding photos. The silver plated cover with a framed heart really shows the romance and love that was there at your wedding. You can put one of your favorite photos of you and your husband in the heart. The silver plated cover is also engraveable, so you can have you and your husbands names with the date placed on elegantly.

I am definitely going to get this Silver Plated Heart Photo Album for the hopefully wonderful pictures of my future wedding. I am so excited for the future when I get to reminisce in this enchanting photo album.

Everyone wants to remember their beautiful wedding day. It is one of those special events that you never want to forget.

Memories are to keep and dear to us becuase we can pass down what has happened in the past and share them with your kids and their kids.

But we are only human and memories will fade with time. So it is very important that you help your memory with having photos and viedos be taken right on the scene.

Keeping all your memories will be safe in A Field of Daisies Book. The photo album makes sure that your pictures are safe and wont go damaged because it is acid free. It is important when looking for a photo album that wont ware your photos through time. So always make sure that you have an album that is acid free.

A Field of Daises also has a Guest Book that can be added to the collection. The books are greatly decorated in a brilliant white with three boxes filled with beautiful daises. It is a great album if you have an outdoors wedding to resonate the spirit of being outdoors.

Ultimately all these memories in photos is to keep that day a memory alive through your whole life and be able to share it with others.

Videos of your wedding are just as important as photos in your memory. With videos you can relive your whole experience again with your loved ones. And here i put a video so that you can see how a videographer thinks when he does his job just for you!

Modern looks are really in these days. Where ever you go, whether it’s a furniture store, coffee, shop or your next door neighbor’s house, you will see chic decor. I decorated my apartment with a high fashion looking Asian theme. I bought things from all around the world to bring a unique eclectic style to my place. I always get compliments on my modern looking pad.

I found some really stylish photo frames. They’re not actually frames, but silver cubes in which pictures can be inserted on three sides of it. Perhaps you could make a sequence of pictures. Put one of you walking down the aisle, one saying vows or dancing, and one leaving in your getaway car. The cube could tell a beautiful story of your wedding.

It’s really neat how you can turn the cube and see each picture at a different angle. It’s suggested to cut a picture into three pieces and insert them so you can see the picture at different angles. That’d be a unique thing to do.

The cubes can also be personalized with an engraved message. Perhaps you can engrave some words from your vows on a cubed photo frame. These frames are a great addition to your wedding memento collection. I’m sure your guests would love to look at the cubes and talk about your amazing wedding experiences. So spice up your place with a contemporary twist for all to share!

You spend tons of money and invest so many hours in preparing your wedding so you definitely want to remember your amazing day. I know I’m going to be ecstatic all day celebrating with all of my friends and family.

I just want to capture all of the moments and save them forever. I want to remember looking into my fiancés eyes and making that amazing commitment to him. I want to remember his face while he says his vows and remember the bliss of being completely in love. This is just a glimpse of what I want to remember from my wedding and I’m sure you all too.

Personally pictures are the best way for me to relive moments in life. It just takes you back to that amazing place in time. I saw these beautiful albums, Flower of Love In Romantic Red Books,made of Mulberry paper that were hand decorated. They have this gorgeous design of roses that form into a shape of a heart.

The heart actually lies on a musical background, adding classiness to the album. The handcrafted paper album combined with the red roses gives a naturally elegant look. It could serve as an anniversary present of a present for other special times but I personally would love it as a wedding present…hint hint to all my friends… haha.

One way to personalize photo albums is to iron on a photo or message onto a cloth covered photo albums. Many stores sell cloth colored photo albums that look kind of drab and boring. But you can take neutral colored ones (those look the best) and use your favorite wedding photo and print it on special iron on transfer paper. You can buy this paper at any local office supply store.

First you would have to download the photo onto your computer and reverse the shot. Then you print it onto the paper. Because the photo is reversed, it will come out correct when you iron it on by flipping it. Then put it on the photo album and lay a cloth over it and iron. When it cools, you can peel the paper off.

This is a really fun idea I found in a magazine. I’m going to do this with all of my photo albums. I’m even going to photo shop writing on the picture I’m using as well like saying Maggie Grow and Levi Henkin. Using this creative idea for your photo albums allows you to find the type of photos you want just by looking at the cover. For example, say you want to find your honeymoon pictures years later but don’t remember which album it’s in. You can personalize the front and can spot it easily.

One of the perks of planning a wedding is planning the Honeymoon. Levi and I have a few choices in mind. We are thinking about either taking a cruise to the Caribbean, go to Australia and swim in the Great Barrier Reef, go to Greece, or swim in the Mediterranean in France, Italy, or Spain.

Too bad Honeymoons are so short. I wish that both Levi and I weren’t so busy all the time that we would be able to take a month off, instead of two weeks. But one way to remember the Honeymoon is to take a lot of pictures.

I love pictures. I’ve been taking pictures ever since I got my first camera in the 5th grade. I still have my old elementary school photo albums and it’s always fun for Levi and I to look through them and see how cute I was when I was little, then how awkward I was as a teen, to how I am now. For my Honeymoon, I’m going to take a lot of pictures and put them in this Honeymoon Memory Book because it allows spaces for you to write what the pictures were about. Normal photo albums don’t do the same.

    I took a lot of pictures when I was growing up. I would always carry my disposable camera around and when I got older, I changed it for a digital. I literally have boxes of old photographs of me on camping trips in my backyard with my sisters, me swimming at the beach with my friends, and now my photos consist of special moments I shared with my fiancé. Also, I love looking at old photographs of my parents and grandparents, especially their wedding photos.

    Aside from the joy of taking the pictures and looking at them later and remembering the good times, I really enjoy either scrapbooking, putting them in frames, or photo albums. I love it so much because this is a way for me to keep these precious memories safe and permanent…almost like how a marriage should be

     Anyway, I found these really cute photo albums on this site. One of my personal favorites is the “Pleasing Roses Books” simply because I love roses. But this site has a variety of wedding photo albums. For example, they have different flower ones (like daisies and other colored flowers too), and ones with small white hearts on it. Which ever one you chose just remember that your wedding is the most important day of you and your fiancé’s lives and those memories should be kept safe and special place.