What to have! Things you need.

You will find you need a lot of things for your wedding day. You will need simple things, like hairspray and deodorant, but you will also find you need things you might not think of, like a cake knife to cut your cake with and a server. Bottle water is a nice thing to have also that you might not think about, you day gets long and you need to remain hydrated. You'll need flowers, something to keep wet them in if they are real. Napkins for the cake, servering dishes if they are not provided by your venue, etc. Below is a short list of things, it may not be everything you need but at least it will be a good start.

Something I have seen people forget about too is their help, i.e. D.J.'s, Photographers, etc. They need areas to sit down their gear (ask then how much) and something to remember is they are working at your wedding as long as you are, be sure to feed them or at least offer them something, it's a small thing, but something very much appericated. While everyone eats there is not much work for either of them to do. The D.J. has a little more to do, but dinner music is not that interactive. No one wants their pictures taken with a mouth full of food either.

1. The number one thing people forget is: Something to cut the cake with!
2. Cake Topper
3. Garter
4. flowers/bridal party/mothers/etc
5. Isle Runner
6. Rings
7. Table Center Pieces
8. Glasses to Toast with/something to put in them
9. Wedding Programs/Guest Book
10. Bubbles, Bird seed, etc (Rice is out)
11. Special Music/Church/reception
12. emergency items/Safety pins/sewing kit/bandaids/hair pins/Deodorant/Tissues
13. Church Decorations
14. and anything else you might need personally

I hope this list at least makes you think of things you might need, if you can add to it feel free to leave some comments or shoot me an email at george@starrphotos.net

Music - Play lists

Music is a very important to your wedding, Selecting your song, and those that are on your play list is important if you want to control a little bit of the feel of your reception. If everyone hates RAP music you don't want the DJ playing a RAP music song every other song. A good DJ will sit down with you and go over what he can play, and even help you pick appropiate music for Dinner and the other dance events. If he is unwilling to do this, you might want to reconsider his services. Again check out your DJ if you can.

This is a short post today, later this week I'll post a more serious one if time allows for it.

Kids at your wedding!

Having children at a wedding brings life to the wedding, sometimes a little chaos. Some brides choose to do a no children wedding and reception which is okay but can prevent some guests from being able to attend the wedding and/or reception. At the wedding ceremony kids are normally pretty well behaved, babies have some issues, especially with the longer ceremonies. We have seen several have to be taken out by Mom or Dad crying, it happens and if it does don’t worry about it, it’s life. After the wedding ceremony kids get a little on restless side if they are kept around for pictures.

At the reception, kids have a tendency to go a little wild, they have just went through a long time in church (20 minutes to sit still is a long time) and have a lot of energy. This is where you hope the parents keep a little control or you have kids circling around under foot when you are announced, when you are eating, when you are dancing your first dance, and generally all the time if they are permitted.

What is a couple to do? Well you can ask the parents to keep the kids under control, have the DJ ban the kids from the dance floor at key moments, and these work pretty good. Now there are a few thing more a couple can do. If you think like a kid what would be neat to do? We’ve seen craft areas set up, even kids sections/tables for dinner, that had fun things for the kids to do. Now not all parents will want their smaller children at separate tables, but it will keep a few occupied. We’ve even seen kids plates prepared for them, and a kids buffet line with kid friendly food.

You can do kids events too, kids want to be included in the fun. Single guys and girls have a Bouquet and Garter toss, why not do something like this for the kids. Do a Candy Sucker Bouquet and include them all, just make sure everyone gets something (extra suckers or something). We have seen separate dance areas for kids to keep the off the main dance floor. I would at least have the DJ ask the parents to keep the kids off the dance floor for the formal dances. After all you don’t want tripped, or to have to dodge kids running around during your first dance. Plus the pictures will turn out. At our wedding, during our first dance, one of my older nieces toddlers broke away onto the dance floor just crossing to the other side, my niece ran after her and the two of them almost took us out.

As you can see from the picture though, not all pictures are ruined by children. and we snapped a few without them showing up too. These kids had a blast and I bet they slept very good that night.

INLAWS – OUTLAWS and more

Dealing with your inlaws has just begun, I’m sure you have your issues, not everyone gets along with their new extended families. Your wedding day shouldn’t be stressful, however, they have their ideas and you have yours and sometimes they don’t agree. What is a couple to do? Well first off remember Don’t fight about it. Most reasonable people will, if you explain to them what you want and why, come around to seeing your way or at least explain their point of view. Getting the issues you know you will have out in the open early is a very good idea so that on your wedding day everyone agrees on how things will take place.

The question on some items is should you give in? Well the answer is YES and NO! If you give in on some smaller things then the major things you WIN will not be as big of a loss for the inlaws. Believe it or not everyone wants what they think is best for you on your big day. You don’t want a disagreement on your wedding day. People have a need to be needed, you might find that you can create a need for you inlaws that just “HAVE TO HELP!” You might put someone in charge of picking up the tuxes, or dealing with the florist, or helping the cake person making sure the cake goes where it needs to go and is how you want it.

One good piece of advice for you and your soon to be spouse it do discuss your feelings and know what your true limits are. For example and this is silly I know, but know that you can not tell her father he can’t walk her down the isle. Okay that was never a real disagreement with a couple, but as long as I mentioned that, another issue to consider is who does walk you down the isle if you have divorced parents.

Along with divorced families comes a whole separate set of problems, we see it at picture time but it’s there for every thing. Where do you sit the new spouses, who dance with the bride or groom first. I like to see these extended families come together for this one day and get along although it doesn’t always happen. There was a reason for them to separate and some people just don’t want to be close to someone they can’t stand to be around. Inform your Photographer and DJ or these issues so they know how to handle the “Parent Issue”

With a little thought to how people feel you can make your day a day to remember (in a good day) for everyone involved.

Btw: I normally do a people picture here... I wasn't going to touch adding a person to this one..