Insider's Tips: Tip #55: Late Night Snacks

Back on the Insider's Tips: Tip #37, I talked about the fun trend of the After Party.  But you don't have to do an After Party to offer your guests this wonderful new creation of the Late Night Snack!  

Just imagine at your reception, your guests have had dinner and now everybody is partying and having a good time.  It gets to be around 10 and out comes the LATE NIGHT SNACK!  It is not only perfect timing but delicious as well!  All guests are happy with their tummy's full!  You might dance a little more before you make your grand exit.  And as you drive away, your guests will be thanking you for the delicious snack before the party ended! (And the fact that they don't have to stop at Waffle House, or some other all night establishment, on the way home!)

A special thanks to Intimate Weddings for their picture!  

Insider's Tips: Tip #54: Going Away from the Ceremony

You don't see if often, and of course, it wouldn't work in a church, but for an outside ceremony, it is PERFECT!  After you say "I do" and share your first kiss as husband and wife, your guests throw rose petals or lavender as you exit the ceremony!  

So many wonderful things about this. The first is that you don't have to worry about having enough guests to "fill the picture" at the end of the reception.  Everyone knows that your guest count will dwindle as the evening progresses.  I say that your older guests tend to leave right after you have your 1st dance and cut the cake.  

For your photographer and videographer, they (we) will be excited because the lighting will be excellent if you leave after the ceremony!  

And although I don't recommend this, but we have done it a couple of times in nine years, it does allow you to stay and continue to party and have shorter hours for your photog and videog.  The times when we have done this is when the couple is not planning on a traditional going away from the reception, their reception could even be at a hotel and they just plan to ride upstairs.  They might have tons of friends and family from out of state that they don't get to see very often and really want to stay and play.  (or go to the hotel bar afterwards)  

We like to tell the story of the wedding day so having a formal going away at the reception helps with the natural flow of the video.  But our solution is to do a great "last dance" before your vendors leave.  It is a perfect way to end the day!

Here is a gorgeous picture taken from Style Me Pretty of a couple doing the formal leave from the ceremony.  A special thanks to The Studio B Photography for their picture.

Insider's Tips: Tip #53: The Return of the Insider's Tips!

So I am not promising one tip a week like last year, but I will still post something when I see a great idea or when you need a heads up on something.  I have had so many people tell me how much these tips help them in planning their day.  But remember my disclaimer, I am just a videographer, not a wedding planner.  None of these tips can replace their expert advice.   

One of the cutest things that we have seen recently at weddings is when the bride embroiders her new name and wedding date in blue on the slip of her wedding dress.  I found a great shot of an example on Martha Stewart Weddings.  Please give the credit to photographer Lauren Kinsey - check out her other pictures from this real wedding.  And we LOVE the venue, Cabana Blue/Bentley's on the Bay! 

Insider's Tips: Tip #52 - And the final tip of the year....

So if you have been one of the loyal and avid readers of these posts, you know that so many things can pop up during your wedding planning and on the day of.  Things that you might not ever think of unless you go to a lot of weddings and hang out in the background.  We do.  We see most everything that happens - the good, the bad and the ugly.  

Just the other weekend, the band was complaining about their stage not being big enough and not having the electrical requirements that they needed.  How's your knowledge of power requirements???  I don't know about you, but on my wedding day I wanted to be the bride, not an electrician.

What if you change the time you want to leave your reception?  Who is going to have the number of the car company to tell them the new time?  Sure you have it in your book, but where is the book?

Short a corsage from the florist?  You can't leave that one grandparent without something to wear!  Who is calling the florist???  Who is stressing about this?  You will be!

Imagine the photographer trying to take all of the family pictures, but where is the family?  Uncle Bob is over there, Aunt Sally is still getting ready, Aunt Sue went to sit down in another room.  Who will be yelling trying to get everyone to be in the same room at the same time?  Yep, you again.  

There was one reception that I heard about where the venue had to make a rain call while the ceremony was taking place at a nearby church.  No big deal, right?  Well the florist was already set up and wasn't made aware that the rain call had taken place and everything (but her flowers) were moved inside.  Fortunately she decided to run back by the venue to double check everything 30 minutes prior to the guests arriving.  She was able to redecorate everything before the couple arrive for their reception.  

I wonder what you can do to help ensure that these things don't happen?

If the couple had hired a professional wedding planner, none of this would have been an issue.  

Don't make your friends, your mother, (or you) have to deal with this stuff.  You don't want to be interrupted while you are taking pictures or getting dressed in your beautiful wedding gown - hire a professional wedding planner to handle everything for you.  You will just have to trust me on this one - it will be worth the money!!!!

Insider's Tips: Tip #51 - All about Videography

We are videographers.  We are cinematographers.  We are film makers.  We are video ninjas.  Whatever you want to call us, fine.  We are passionate about the work we do.  The work speaks for itself.  But not everyone is like that. 

 

When you are searching for a videographer (and you should be!!!), look for someone that you connect with.  I feel that you should have an emotional reaction to our work.  Brides call/email us crying because they just watched the clips on our website.  That’s an emotional reaction.  If you don’t have this emotional reaction, then we are probably not the company for you.  

 

I got two calls in a row one Monday looking for a wedding videographer for a low budget.  We get random calls like this thanks to our Google ranking – they do keep me entertained!  One groom told me that his fiancé was trying to find someone and the cheapest she could find was $700.  He thought that price was ridiculous!  Well, so did I, but not in the same way!  He was looking for someone that would stand in the back and press record.  We were not it.  I may or may not have had fun quoting him our top package just to hear his reaction!!! Hee hee.  He didn’t value our work – we were not going to be a good fit.

 

I hear it over and over from bridesmaids and others.  "I just got married last month and I didn't hire a professional videographer for my wedding."  It's unfortunate because you can't go back and redo your wedding day.  If the company you hire knows what they are doing then you are going to get a priceless treasure from your wedding day.  

 

Last year, a bride's grandmother got very sick the day after the wedding and never recovered.  We had captured some great footage of her at the wedding.  We were able to use every piece of usable footage as a tribute to her grandmother. We even had natural audio of her grandmother laughing.  I don't know if you have ever lost a loved one, but to be able to remember how they looked and sounded is such a gift.

 

The above example was used to help you understand that a wedding video not only will capture the things that you understandably find important  - your wedding ceremony and vows, your first dance, the funny moment during cake cutting - but it will also capture the things that you might not realize how very important they will become.