My parents recently attended a wedding that started at 3pm for a church ceremony. On the invitation it said “reception to follow at 6pm”. The ceremony only lasted about 30 minutes and all of the sudden they had two and a half hours of lull time. The reception was about a 20 minute drive, so they couldn’t figure out why the bride and groom put such a huge gap of time in between their ceremony and reception. It turned out that they wanted that time for pictures around town.

Photo Credit: ThroughfullySimple.com

For a wedding that was about 180 guests, and 70% of those guests from out of town, my parents didn’t understand why there wasn’t a plan. And so what happened is that most guests just stood around outside the church, some people went and got drinks in town, others drove out to the reception site and stood around there. Not really what I’d want my guests to be doing, but maybe that’s just me.

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Many couples have a “Do Not Play” list for their DJ or Band. I am in the process of creating a “Do Not Snap” list for our photographer.

At some point, much closer to our wedding our photographer (digital504.com), will send us a questionaire so that he can tailor our wedding photos to what we want.

There are some photos that I just don’t want to waste our time with. Here’s a sneak peak at the pictures that I don’t want (and why):

1. The whole family (as in anyone remotely related to the bride or groom). I have a huge family and this photo takes forever to organized with the 45 or so people for my side. I’d like to keep it to immediate family and grandparents.

Immediate family is good. Photo from weddings.sc

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It’s been a long time coming but here, at last!, are the little details that made our wedding special.

The view from our Hyatt suite

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I know it has been far, far too long since I updated my recap! Mea culpa– I’ve been a very bad Blossom. I could tell you all about how I have this awesome new job with lots of travel & that Plumeria Dude and I are pretty wrapped up in house-hunting. But let’s get to the good stuff instead!

Plumeria Dude and I decided we wanted to do all of our photos before the ceremony. We’re not superstitious, and we also wanted to maximize our time with our guests. Plus we really wanted to dig on that yummy cocktail hour food! With that in mind, we staged a “first meeting” before we did our couple photos. Here’s how it went:

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Choosing your photographer is very important, because he/she captures the special moments you’ll have forever.  When I was going through our wedding album, each picture showed the love between Lavender Dude and me– and ultimately that’s what you want each photo to portray, right?

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Hi Buds! A funny thing happened during our wedding planning. I took so much care and consideration planning the reception and decor, that I didn’t give much thought to the ceremony itself!

Our goal was to have a simple, beautiful ceremony in a natural setting. To make this happen, we chose to have our ceremony on the golf course where our reception was also being held. We found a location that was secluded, yet close to the parking lot, and far enough away from flying golf balls!

The only decor items added were the 4 urns of flowers, which allowed the beautiful trees that hung over the guests to be the center of attention.

Walking down the aisle with my dad was a real highlight.

Our minister is a family friend and neighbor, which made for a perfectly personal ceremony.

Our 2 1/2 year old ring bearer Riley was a perfect addition. When using children in your ceremony, don’t set them up for failure – only require them to do tasks that they can handle easily. We only had Riley walk a few steps up to hand me the rings, and it was well worth it for the cuteness factor!

Leading the way back to the reception had to be the most fun part!

Next post: reception details!

Before our ceremony, Hydrangea Husband and I staged a “first sighting” and took pictures with our wedding party.

Hydrangea Dude's reaction to seeing me for the first time.

Me, nervous and excited that the day is really here!

The first sighting was great! It was so nice to be able to get Hydrangea Dude’s reaction to seeing me for the first time, and it allowed for us to get a second “mini-rehearsal” since we had the first sighting in our ceremony room. Our bridal party was there, so they lined up, as if it were the ceremony, but I walked down the aisle by myself, instead of with my brother, unlike the actual ceremony.We got to give each other a kiss, and then we started taking some of our formal shots.

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Photo Credit: Stella Alesi Photography

I’m sure we have all been to weddings where the bride and groom have arranged old family photos at the recepetion and many will include wedding photos from their parents’ and/or grandparents’ weddings. I love this idea. There’s just something about these old photos that evoke a sense of true love and happiness.

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So I am FINALLY doing something with our wedding photos. I found Blurb.com (am I the last person to hear about this site?) and I am hooked! Last night, I started working on our hardcover photo book. I figured it would be a nice (and fairly inexpensive) holiday gift for our families. The hardest part so far is trying to decide which photos to use. It’s fun though, I feel like a professional! I will let you know how it turns out…

This is not mine, but just an example