Getting that Photojournalistic Look

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Kathy is the first in my run of guest bloggers. I thought you might like to hear the musings of some of my wedding industry friends.

It seems that every bride wants that photojournalistic look for her wedding day images. Who wouldn’t, they tell the story so eloquently & evoke so much more emotion than “camera aware” images. One thing I do to try to help my brides accomplish that is to send them these “last minute pointers”, since most aren’t models.

Photojournalistic shot of Smiling Bride

Photojournalistic shot of Smiling Bride

Avoid looking directly at the camera whenever you feel it on you. If we want some of you looking into the camera we will ask for that too. Be playful & show lots of emotion & these pictures will sing. You may feel silly but that will just make you laugh & those pictures will be great too.

EXPRESSION IS EVERYTHING IN PICTURES!! Laugh, cry, look into each others eyes & touch each other to show your connections to the people you love. Especially during those candid times where you may be walking with family, or your wedding party, or putting on your dress – look happy even if you may be more nervous than you ever dreamed possible.

When you come down the aisle, coming & going, look at your family & friends or each other, not your photographer! During your ceremony, look at each other with that love or nervous laughter you feel. When you make your entrance into your reception, show your joy by holding your arms up together in celebration or look at your friends or each other.

Bottom line…….have fun & celebrate your love!!!!

Beautiful Bride in Quiet Moment

Beautiful Bride in Quiet Moment

Kathy Ziegler has been a successful wedding photographer for 12 happy years in San Diego. She recently moved East to enjoy the beauty of Mt Juliet Tennessee with her loveable husband of 19 years & her 2 dogs & 2 horses. Her work is fresh, fun, classy & timeless.

She is also pretty darn modest, she didn’t even mention that little “Best of The Knot” badge on her website when she sent her bio. Gotta love her! You can find out more about Kathy and view her portfolio on her website.

Captured Emotion at a Wedding Toast

Captured Emotion at a Wedding Toast

Filed Under: Finding Inspiration, Guests @ The Dish

Escort Card Alternatives

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Sometimes I get tired of seeing the same old set-up for escort cards: lovely cards surrounding elaborate floral centerpiece. Why not do something a little different with either the display or the ‘card’ itself.

The first three are cards but displayed in an interesting way.

The next three are unique items used as escort cards and the last three are full on favors. I just think that idea is wicked cool.

All of them are very DIYable. OK, so maybe not that last one is a little trickier than the rest. I promise you it is doable, I did about 100 for a bride once. They were time consuming and tedious, but doable none the less.

Filed Under: DIY Weddings, Real American Wedding, Wedding decor, What Planet? Tagged With: , , , , ,

WedFog Searchable Image Wonderland

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If you want to see pictures of what other brides are really doing as opposed to what bridal magazine and website editors think you should be doing there is no better place to look than the websites of real wedding photographers. Well kiddies, I just found a bonanza!

WedFog Wedding Image Search

WedFog is a directory of wedding photographers designed as a resource for brides. I know, big deal, right? What makes this one Dish worthy is the searchable gallery.

Wedding photographers from all over the US and Canada upload their images in hopes of getting you to hire them for your wedding. So what you end up with are tons of beautiful images of real weddings. Then WedFog went the next step and made the whole thing into a searchable database. Cool. Looking for pink, summer bouquets? Bingo. Looking for red shoes? Bingo, I found over 50 by doing a search. What fun.

I warn you, this is one of those sites where you could get lost for hour, days, weeks. Have fun and send me links to your favorites in the comments. I would love to see what everyone is loving.

WedFog Wedding Image Search

Filed Under: Finding Inspiration, Wedding planning advice

Wedding DIY Bonanza

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If like me you are a fan of gorgeous wedding DIY, then this is the week for you. Abby over at Style Me Pretty is posting wonderful DIY projects submitted by her reader all week. It’s only Tuesday and there are already several that I love, love love.

My favorite so far is the apothecary jar table numbers.

Apothocary Jar Table Numbers
Apothecary Jar Table Numbers

Here is a tip, see if you can rent the jars before you go out and buy them all. It will save you money and you won’t have to worry about what to do with them when the wedding is over.

Do checkout Abby’s blog and if you are a crafty bride looking for some great DIY projects. Be sure to check out her DIY archives.

Filed Under: DIY Weddings, Wedding decor Tagged With: , ,

Fruit Centerpieces for Flower Friday

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I love the way fruit adds to centerpieces. In the fall it gives a feeling of bountiful harvests and in spring a touch of joyous exuberance.
A couple of these are pretty elaborate, and some are simple enough to do it yourself.
Fruit and Candle Centerpiece

Fruit and Candle Centerpiece

Autumn Centerpiece with FruitI

Autumn Centerpiece with Fruit

Spring Centerpiece with Asparagus and Artichokes
Centerpiece with KumQuats and Dahlias

Centerpiece with KumQuats and Dahlias

In all honesty, not much is easier than a footed bowl filled with a variety of seasonal fruit with a few blooms and a couple of leaves tucked in to hide any hole. Sometimes nature at its simplest is all you need.

Filed Under: DIY Weddings, Flower Friday, Wedding decor Tagged With: , ,

More Candle Centerpieces

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With the long nights of winter rapidly approaching I am longing for the warm glow of candlelight. Candle centerpieces can be a wonderful way to decorate your wedding. If you have read Wedding Dish for very long, however, then you know I am on a personal mission to stamp out bad ones. So let’s look at some great ones and see what sets them apart.

Sparkling Winter Candle Centerpiece
Sparkling Winter Candle Centerpiece
Candle Centerpiece with Orchids

Candle Centerpiece with Orchids

Blue and White Candle Centerpiece

Blue and White Candle Centerpiece

What makes these arrangements special are three factors:

  • Variation in height and shape.
  • Abundance
  • The “sparkle” factor.

These were all done using glass containers and candle holders. The light reflects and twinkles off the shiny glass. One of them has the added shine of iridescent snow, sparkling snow flake and silver balls.

A single floating candle in a low bowl surrounded by rose petals will never have this kind of impact. For that matter neither will a grouping of pillar candle, even if you use a ton of them.

Which leads us to the question of where the heck do you get all that glass and what do you do with it after your wedding? Here is the simple answer: rent it. Check with your florist and your rental company, both should have a nice selection. When your event is over, they take it all back. Easy and usually a lot less expensive than buying. While you are at it, they will most likely have a few bits of silver to add to the mix to bump the shine quotient. How about adding a silver sugar bowl filled with 3 roses cut short? Be creative and think outside the box.

Filed Under: Wedding decor Tagged With: ,

Finding inspiration.

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Sometimes putting together a color palette for your wedding seems to be a bit of trial and error for some brides. Oh, maybe not picking the main colors, but finding the accent colors can be a bit hard. If this is true for you then I have a great tool for you.

Colour Lovers is a tool a have been having a ton of fun with lately. The palette creator tool lets you pop in any image from the internet and pull the palette out of it.

In this example I used two different beach photos to put together the palette for a beach wedding. First, the pictures.

This one I used for the blues.Wedding set-up for a Florida Beach

This one I used for the sable colors

Beach Wedding Set up

Beach Wedding Set up

I plugged them into the “find inspiration” box on the palette creator tool and this is the palette that I created.

Color Palette fo Beach Theme Wedding

Color Palette for Beach Theme Wedding

You would be amazed at the colors you will discover if you look closely at something. Here is another one I did recently along with its inspiration.

Palette taken from a Tulip

Palette taken from a Tulip

The inspiration

Tulip Inspiration

Tulip Inspiration

Filed Under: Finding Inspiration, Wedding decor Tagged With: ,

Cakes with Fresh Flowers

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Sometimes even the simplest cake can become a stunner with a few fresh flowers. It might even be a money saver. Check with both your baker and your florist and be sure they are working together.

Filed Under: wedding cakes, Wedding planning advice Tagged With:
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