photo save the date

these are two photo save the dates i've come across.. the first one i found last year and the other i found  yesterday.  i really like them both!  when i found the first one, i showed kiwi the picture asking if he thought it would be fun to do something similar for ours.  i mean it wouldn't be difficult since i do those types of edits on photoshop often anyway..

we actually found  a great location for it (via google maps street view..), but couldn't follow through due to "unforseen circumstances" during that particular trip to toronto.  oh well.  maybe we could do it for our thank you card.  during our quick shoot after the wedding, we could stand near a billboard or a fun sign.  hrmm.. the hall's in an industrial area, so it shouldn't be hard!

(by the way, as much as i love the yellow balloon in the second picture, it's not the only reason i love it :P)

from oh so beautiful paper 1 & oh so beautiful paper 2

back up plan

this past sunday kiwi & i were supposed to have our engagement shoot.. i woke up bright and early to wash & straighten my hair AND i even made an effort to wear make up!

by 7am we were both ready to go only to find it pouring rain out :(  of course this is a problem since kiwi won't be back until the wedding, all our pictures were outdoors, and we didn't have a rain plan.

i'll admit i would have loved the pictures had we went ahead with the shoot (especially considering the first time kiwi visited me it was raining - our shoot was based on the activities we did that weekend).  i have no doubt the pictures would have been a mix of fun and edgy.

unfortunately we couldn't risk kiwi getting sick as he had to fly out that afternoon for a big presentation the next day.  oh well.. we'll be doing the shoot on the monday before the wedding.  i hope pre-wedding stress doesn't show all over my face :S  at least there's photoshop!

up inspired engagement shoot

this is super cute: engagement shoot inspired by the movie up. part 1 & part 2.



kiwi and i both love this movie (well, most fun animations for that matter..), so i can totally relate to their decision of doing a themed photoshoot. i can't get over how cute this is! i wonder where they got the model house from..



from the wedding chicks

first look

a lot of blogs talk about the "first look" prior to the wedding. despite it being unlucky for the bride and groom to see each other before the wedding, nowadays some meet prior to the wedding to ease those jitters as well as share a very private moment before you take that big step in your life. an alternative i've read is where they blindfold the bride and groom. instead of a "first look", they only get a first touch. they can talk to each other prior to, again to ease jitters, while keeping the excitement of the first look to happen while the bride walks down the aisle.


i would have loved to do the blind fold idea.. unfortunately there isn't time to do this. and i'm sure the parental units would have a fit at the idea.

a more recent tradition in india (and making its way to north america) is the bride greets the groom with a haar after the mother of the bride welcomes the groom to the wedding. i suppose you could call it a first look, indian style. it's still a rather public moment and sometimes involves the interaction of other family members. (the groom would be lifted by brothers and friends making it difficult for the bride to place the haar around the groom without help from her brothers to lift her.)

kiwi suggested we do that. i suggested we don't. :) to be honest, i really like the idea of anxiousness and anticipation. when i walk to the mandap, a large cloth is held in front of kiwi to prevent us from seeing one another. after i sit, my hand is put in kiwi's, while the cloth is still held up between us. a blessing is done, and then the cloth comes down (which is when we're officially married).

since kiwi won't be able to see me while i walk down the aisle, he'll get to experience that feeling of anxiousness while he waits for me. then there's that feeling of anticipation when all he can do is feel my hand in his. at this point, even though he still can't see my face, you can imagine the wave of emotions simply brought on by touch.

i personally consider that to be the intimate moment that's just between you two right in the middle of a chaotic indian wedding. i'm definitely looking forward to it!

pics from dinofa photography, still motion

up, up, and away

once when picking kiwi up from the airport, i greeted him in the arrivals area with a heart shaped balloon. it certainly got a lot of looks from people, especially the conservative brown indian people waiting for their family to land. i had considered suggesting to kiwi we have heart balloons for our engagement shoot. you know, add a bit of whimsy to our pictures.

these photos makes me sway towards a getting a few balloon pictures taken:




(water balloons.. GENIUS!)

from kumari photo & design, jonathan ong, sarah yates photography, daniel kiyoi

future mrs.

isn't this cute?  not very practical because you wouldn't be able to hang anything on it for a lengthy period of time.. and totally impractical for displaying indian wedding gear in "morning of" pictures.

i still think it's cute.. even the heart hanger is sweet.

from etsy listing: lilafrances

wrestlemania - the wedding edition

one criteria i go by with any vendor i've met is comfort level - do i like them?  do i enjoy working with them?  will they help make my experience more fun than exhausting?

so far i've found a decor person i like who can also supply a mandap i think will create the setting i'm looking for. he also seems to be the only decor person i've met that really understands how much i want to be involved in the decor process.  i don't want people to present me with ideas and i just accept one of them.  i want to bounce ideas back and forth and figure out together what will work and what won't.  this is the part i enjoy most!

anyway, this level of comfort with vendors is really only felt by me right  now.  which kind of makes sense since i'm the only one here.  the kiwi is in another town (country), so he wouldn't be working with them as much as i would.  if i were to book most vendors without the kiwi having met them, it's not a huge deal.  he's probably never going to meet most of them anyway and will only see the final product.

but there's always that exception..

photos and videos - those are the vendors i need him to meet before i book.  those are the vendors he's going to be spending his entire day with.. he'll spend more hours with them on our wedding day than with me!  sad.. but true :P  anyway, because of this one reason, it's crucial that he's comfortable with them.  if he's not, it's going to show in the final product - the one thing we'll be keeping for the next 50+ years.

our game plan currently is scour the web, check out their portfolio (preferably blog), then contact them if we like what we see.  get as much information via email and then set up an appointment for me to meet them.  once i've met a few of each that fit the budget and i like, we'll have to figure out a way to get the kiwi down here to meet them and see if he's comfortable with any of them.  after he's satisfied with the negotiations, then we'll BOOK!

*sigh* i almost feel like it's a tag-team wrestling match where i tire out the opponent then tag kiwi in to finish the job.

vanity fair style wedding photos

i LOVE these!  love, love, love these.  i would so do this layout for all the family pictures right after the wedding if we had the time..





from michèle m. waite photography

attend wedding shows *check*

the two indian wedding shows for the fall season have come and gone (kismet and suhaag). of course i attended both. i have to say, kismet seems to be the far better show.. however, i did miss out on the fashion show. the suhaag fashion show was good, but nothing really stood out.

one thing that annoyed me most was one of the photographers during the fashion show.. he kept standing in the way while taking pictures. it was very intrusive. if he's like that for the fashion show, imagine what they would be like during a wedding?

it's actually one of my biggest pet peeves about photographers and videographers. guests come to see the wedding, not your arses! it's hard to find an indian photographer and videographer that's not so intrusive on your wedding day. that includes stopping your ceremony so that they can take a picture. i really don't like that. i understand your job should be to get the shots, but don't be in the way. i've encountered some really rude photographers before and it bothers me that they feel they have the right to act that way.

i think that's going to be the biggest challenge yet..

in an instant

one of the ideas i would love to implement for the wedding/reception was to have some way for people to post candid pictures from the day on a blank board with a handwritten note attached. a polaroid camera would be fantastic for this, but i think the film may be hard to find these days (i'm pretty sure polaroid no longer manufactures the film or the cameras for that matter). another option was to have a small printer on hand for guests to send via bluetooth or connect directly to print on the spot. problem with this is not everyone has bluetooth and we would have to ensure all types of camera connections are taken into account.

i like the idea of polaroids cause they give space to write and the photos are just retro looking. i'll have to dwell on the idea for a bit to figure out how it could work.

• could i get away with 1 camera, or do i need about 2 or 3?
• given perhaps a 10% reject rate, would film for about 100 pictures be enough?
• i'll have to assign someone responsible and somewhat tech savvy to be the camera(s) keeper.. cause i certainly don't want anything inappropriate to be posted!

so of course i venture on ebay.. and there's close to 2000 results! maybe this could work.. it's pretty pricey though, especially if you have to buy film separate from the camera.