The post Weekly Wedding Inspiration: Beach Wedding Ideas! appeared first on Bride Vs Groom.

Wedding Traditions – Something Old Vs Something New

In the Red Corner, recommending boldly going where no bride has gone before (yes we did watch the new Star Trek movie this week!), throwing aside tradition in favour of something new it’s Dom “The Tog Bride.”

In the Blue Corner, all in favour of sticking to tradition and particularly looking to revive his old family tradition of having Fish & Chips every Wednesday… man I miss those fish & chips! It’s Matt “The Gormless Groom.”

FIGHT!!

Dom: Traditions can be great, but it’s your wedding day and I think putting as much of a personal stamp on it as possible is important. If you don’t want to have a cake to cut why should you? If you want to say your own vows I think that’s lovely, don’t let tradition stand in the way of having the wedding you really dreamed of!

Matt: Traditions have stuck around so long because they work: they form a structure and a method to the wedding that genuinely works. It’s a tried and tested formula, with each traditional part of the day such as the speeches, the cutting of the cake, the first dance heralding the next stage of the day and acting as a fixed point of entertainment for the guests.

Dom: Most of the traditions associated with weddings come from a spiritual background and many have religious connotations. The idea of something old, new, borrowed and blue for example was originally meant to ward off evil spirits. For those that don’t hold religious beliefs some of these traditions may feel inappropriate.

Matt: But whatever their origin traditions take on new meaning over time – the father giving away the bride is a beautiful moment, but he’s no longer passing on ‘ownership’ of the bride, it’s simply an acceptance into the family by the father to his soon-to-be son-in-law.

Dom: First looks are far from traditional and break probably the number one rule of the traditional wedding: the groom not seeing the bride before the wedding, but they can be absolutely magical. Having that moment in private and defying the tradition actually helps make more of the moment and make it even more special.

Matt: First looks can be magical, but I also think that seeing the bride for the first time as she walks up the aisle to marry you is pretty darn special too!

Dom: You want your wedding to be unique, to be memorable and different from all the other weddings you’ve been to. Traditions create a very rigid structure and it’s hard to be original whilst adhering to them, sometimes it’s better just to break free completely.

Matt: Traditions can be particularly important to older generations and it may be upsetting for them if you break away from wedding traditions completely. Doing it your way doesn’t necessarily mean abandoning tradition, perhaps just updating it!

Dom: It’s your wedding and you should have it however you want it even if you might run the risk of upsetting someone. Once they get used to the idea people will generally come on board and embrace your new ideas!

Matt: Carrying out those traditions you’re taking part in something that your parents, and their parents before them along with all of your ancestors have all done on their wedding day and that’s a really nice feeling. It’s great looking back at all the photos of your parents and grandparents cutting the cake and comparing them to your own!

So those are our points but we’d love for you all to add your points to the fold! Leave a comment below, but not before you’ve placed your vote on which side you agree with!

The post The Friday Fight-Out: Wedding Traditions – Something Old Vs Something New appeared first on Bride Vs Groom.

Check out Phase Eight’s Website here:

www.phase-eight.co.uk

But before you jump online to buy your wedding dress why not have a go at winning it free! …

We are giving you the chance to win the dress of your dreams with the stunning Phase Eight Bridal Collection.

This season, the enchanting bridal collection from Phase Eight twists romantic, whimsical detailing with a modern silhouette, perfect for every fairytale romance.

Revisit a time when Jackie O and Audrey Hepburn were the style sweethearts of a nation, with vintage-inspired full-length gowns and Fifties-style prom dresses, in duchesse satin and delicate lace.  Exquisite floral appliqué and pearl beading details add a feminine elegance and delicate charm to the clean, fluid shapes.

On the one day that all eyes will undoubtedly be on you, why settle for anything less than a dress inspired by some of the most stylish women of all time?

The prize includes:

• One wedding dress from the Phase Eight Bridal Collection (worth up to the value of £750)

To find out how to enter the competition just click on the link below!

Win Your Wedding Dress!

Good luck!

The post Win Your Wedding Dress With Phase Eight! appeared first on Bride Vs Groom.

The post Something Old – A Simply Bridal Infographic appeared first on Bride Vs Groom.

Meredith & Darrell’s wedding was so clearly full of love, laughter and sentiment that we’re so grateful to Josh for letting us share it with you all. Featuring a first look so supercharged with emotion that tears were shed even before Darrell took his first glance at his glowing bride. It was clearly an absolutely beautiful wedding, captured perfectly by Josh for the happy couple. But don’t let us spoil it for you, hit play and take a look at Meredith & Darrell’s stunning wedding tale.

Based in Harrisonberg, Virginia, Josh Gooden is a photographer and Cinematographer shooting both in the U.S. and abroad (and apparently with a burning desire to shoot some weddings in the UK!) You can find out more about Josh and see further examples of his fantastic work on his website or catch him on Twitter and Facebook:

www.joshgooden.com

Facebook.com/JoshGoodenCinematography

Twitter.com/JoshGooden

The post The Best Version of Me – Meredith & Darrell’s Wedding Tale appeared first on Bride Vs Groom.

T

THE MYTHS

1. It’s essential for your photographer to see the venue before the big day.

Some photographers prefer to see the venue beforehand to scout it out and look for good locations to shoot. The fact is though that the quality of the photographs is determined more by the quality of the light at the time of shooting than the location, and for most photographers (unless it’s a particularly enormous sprawling venue), they will simply be inspired by what they see on the day and can assess the spots they want to shoot either as they go along or by arriving slightly early on the morning of the wedding.

2. You MUST have an engagement shoot to get to know your photographer and get used to the camera.

Many photographers offer engagement or pre-wedding shoots and it can be a helpful way to get to know the couple, build trust and help them to get used to being photographed. However whilst they can be great and a fantastic opportunity to get some extra photos an engagement shoot should be thought of as an optional choice rather than being considered essential. As long as you put your trust in them a professional photographer should be able to put the couple at their ease and get some great shots without having photographed the couple before.

3. The group shots will only take a few minutes.

Group shots tend to take longer than you expect, in part because it just takes a while to get all the right people into each shot, but also because the more people there are the more difficult it is to get everyone doing what you’d like them to do. However good your photographer is, if you want lots of group shots you should allocate plenty of time to do them.

4. You need to provide a list of photographs that you want your photographer to shoot throughout the day.

Unless they really are only just starting out your photographer will know effectively how the day is likely to run. If you have something particularly unusual happening on the day then of course let your photographer know, and if you have a rough breakdown of the day that can be very helpful, but you don’t need to provide a list of every shot and every last moment of the day. Most couples book their photographer because they like the style of the shots they take over those of other photographers. If you specify every shot you’re actually making it harder for the photographer to be creative and get the sort of shots you chose them for in the first place.

5. You can’t get any good pictures on a rainy day.

Rain does make it harder to get good photographs, but that’s as much to do with the way you react to it as the weather itself. Rain can make for really good dramatic pictures if you’re willing to grab a brolly and brave the conditions for a few shots! Some of my all time favourites have happened when the sun has briefly hit a patch of rain and created some beautiful light reflections and rainbows!

6. Documentary style photographers never take formal portraits or group shots.

There are some documentary photographers who refuse to take any group or portrait shots, however in the majority of cases documentary / reportage photographers are happy to do formal shots as well, candid shots are just their main focus rather than the formals.

7. Having a beautiful scenic backdrop will make for a great picture.

Epic backdrops can look amazing in photographs, but remember wedding photos aren’t about landscapes, they’re about people, and it’s the people that will nearly always be the main focus of the picture. Sometimes backdrops that look epic just don’t work as a wedding picture, it all depends on the focus and the light. Sometimes it’s a backdrop you wouldn’t expect that actually makes a great picture – a dilapidated building, a torn piece of wallpaper – trust your photographer to choose the right backdrop, not your preconceptions.

8. You should book a ‘day after’ shoot in case of bad weather on the day itself.

Wedding photos are all about emotion. The day after the festivities all that wedding day magic is lost. No matter what the conditions your photographer should be able to get some great photographs. A day after shoot, should you choose to have one, is for getting MORE great shots, not replacing missed opportunities on the day.

9. Your photographer can get great portraits even if you really don’t want your picture taken and refuse their requests.

If you want those great shots you booked your photographer for in the first place you need to work with them in order to achieve it. Photographers can choose all the right angles, get the best location and the perfect light, but if you don’t want to be in that picture they can’t make it a great shot. Work with your photographer and they can get a far superior shot and do it much much quicker than if you fight against them!

10. The quality of the picture depends on how many megapixels the camera is capable of.

Camera shops often sell cameras based on how many megapixels they have but once you hit a certain level it becomes almost irrelevant. Photographers do tend to have very expensive equipment, but it’s more to do with the way the camera manipulates light than the number of megapixels that defines how good the image will be. In terms of equipment it’s predominantly the standard of the lens that defines the quality of the image, not the body of the camera itself. Ultimately though, as Ansel Adams once said “The single most important component of a camera is the twelve inches behind it.”

11. It’s really helpful to put together a collection of photographs you like to show your photographer the sort of images you like.

This massively varies from photographer to photographer. Some photographers like to see the sort of poses you like to try to understand what you’re most likely to be comfortable with. For some photographers though, being told you like another’s photographers poses can really throw them, particularly if they’re just a completely different style. Showing your photographer the types of images you particularly like from their own portfolio is probably the safest middle ground!

12. The look of the photographs is all in the editing.

The look of the photographs can be massively adjusted in the edit, but if you’re looking for that golden orange sunshine you’ve seen on some of those American blogs and your wedding took place on a grey day you should probably go and have a second wedding in California. Your photographer will aim to tell the story of the day, and if the day was cloudy and grey then that’s the story they should tell. Your wedding day is about you and your partner, not the weather and grey skies don’t make it any less beautiful. Attempting to photoshop that golden Californian sunshine on afterwards just makes the image false, not more appealing.

So we hope our little myth-breaker helps, but if any of our readers have further myths you’d like us to comment on or disagree with any of our points then please let us know in the comments section.

The post A Photographer’s Thoughts – The Wedding Photography Myth-buster appeared first on Bride Vs Groom.

N

No matter how geeky I may have been though there was always one boundary that I refused to cross: I was NOT about to become a Trekky! I may have been a massive Star Wars fan and spent half my life messing around with computers and stuff but I was not going to be the complete stereotypical geek who was obsessed with Star Trek and kept telling people to live long in prosper, I simply refused. I hated Star Trek and all that it stood for, and I guess I’ve carried that hatred through into adulthood.

So when Dom recently told me that she (who I’d always considered cooler than I) loved the last Star Trek film and wanted me to go with her to watch the new one I thought I heard the distant ringing of divorce bells. When my brother-in-law Liam (a man who generally has impeccable taste in films) also started to rave about it I naturally just assumed they’d just lost their minds after a tough double-wedding weekend. It wasn’t until another future film hit the headlines that I started to listen.

Image Source: openroadmedia.com

After Disney’s takeover of Lucasfilm and their announcement of a new Star Wars film I was, as a big fan of the first 3 films but not so much the second trilogy, naturally intrigued by who would be directing it. When JJ Abrams name came up Dom suddenly got very excited about it, proclaiming that the new films were suddenly going to be awesome. She explained that Abrams had directed the latest Star Trek films and that they had basically been his version of a Star Wars film before the possibility existed of him ever actually directing one. My interest was peaked!

And so, finally last night I put my lifelong prejudice aside, sat down and boldly went where this gormless groom had never been before – I watched a Star Trek movie. And, having sat through 127 minutes of it… I can’t wait to watch the next one!

Yes I have finally crossed the line, I’m officially a Star Trek fan. I would however like to point out that I’m also a football fan so that makes it ok right??!! Oh sod it, I already got a girlfriend so I think now’s the time to start liking Star Trek… she even married me so it’s just awkward for her to proclaim me a geek and ignore me now! So for those that are unconvinced there’s a point to marriage there it is: locking in a relationship before you cross the line over to total geekiness… oh and, you know, love and commitment and stuff… that too.

So assuming I don’t have to walk out of the cinema later this week whilst watching the brand new ‘Star Trek – Into Darkness’ film I can rest safe in the knowledge that the upcoming Star Wars films are in safe ‘Jar Jar Binks’ free hands. Come on Abrams, right now the force is with you.

Image Source: tshirtbordello.com

The post The Monday Musings – To Boldly Go appeared first on Bride Vs Groom.

The post The Weekly Round-Up W/C 13-05-13 appeared first on Bride Vs Groom.

We’ve called this picture “Second Shooters” as the Bride and Groom enjoy brief celebrity status as the guests all simultaneously reach, paparazzi like, for their cameras before congratulating the newlyweds and the rest of the wedding party – a fantastic moment!

www.yorkplacestudios.co.uk

The post Story Frames – Second Shooters appeared first on Bride Vs Groom.

Oh ok here’s the bloomin Mario cake as he won’t shut up about it! He’s such a geek!

weddingomania.com

The post Weekly Wedding Inspiration: The Cool Board! appeared first on Bride Vs Groom.