Your Wedding Planet

The wedding invitation is the first thing a guest sees in relation to your wedding (other than a save-the-date, if you sent it), so you want to make it good. The way to make it good is to make it memorable by crafting your own creative DIY invitations. A creative DIY invitation doesn’t mean the invitation has to be in some cut-out shape, like a heart or a tree, or in primary colors (unless your wedding colors happen to fall in that spectrum). You can make a wedding invitation creative by just personalizing it a little bit.

Start off by personalizing the images that will appear on your invitation. Including a photo of the happy couple is a good way to start. Typically your engagement photo appears on the save-the-date notices, but if you had two excellent photos from the session or if you didn’t send save-the-dates, include a new photo on your DIY invitations.

You can also get creative with your DIY wedding invitations through the wording on the invitations. While there’s standard phrasing depending on who’s hosting your wedding – and you might want to stick close to that to make sure no one’s feelings get hurt – there are a lot of other ways you can add text to personalize a DIY invitation. For example, add a romantic quote from your favorite song on the front of your folded wedding invitation. Some quotes I particularly like are:

- “With this ring, I give my all to you.” – Clyde Otis and Vincent Corso, “With This Ring” – “How wonderful life is now you’re in the world.” – Elton John, “your song” – “You’re the closest to heaven that I’ll ever be.” – Goo Goo Dolls, “Iris” – “Come away with me, and I’ll never stop loving you.” – Norah Jones, “Come Away with Me”

The best choice might be to pick a lyric from “your” song. It’s especially nice if it happens to be your first dance song. If you’re not particularly musical, but like the idea of special text on your invitations, try a romantic quote instead. Something like this:

“Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies.” –Aristotle “Your words are my food, your breath my wine. You are everything to me.” –Sarah Bernhardt “I love her and that’s the beginning of everything.” –F. Scott Fitzgerald “To love is to receive a glimpse of heaven.” –Karen Sunde

Randolph Quan is a wedding photographers London, and advises people on awedding photographer blog at his website.

He just proposed, and she’s as giddy as a schoolgirl. That happiness will radiate for weeks – or at least until the stress of planning a wedding takes hold! Capture those feelings with pre-wedding photography (also known as engagement photography).

In order to get a timeless, beautiful look for your pre-wedding photography, follow five tips that will ensure the focus is on you, the newly engaged couple, and not your clothes or the background.

1. Dress in classic styles that you’re comfortable in. If you’re normally a dressy gal, then go ahead and buy a special new dress or skirt for the occasion. If you’re a jeans and T-shirt person, though, don’t try to dress up just to dress up. The discomfort will show on your face, so stick to jeans (clean!) and a dressier top. A simple outfit in a solid color is your best bet, and make sure your significant other is wearing a color that complements yours.

2. Don’t dress in up-to-the minute trends. While you think it looks great now, in about 20 years, you’ll feel the same way as you do now when you view ’80s photos. In other words, it dates the photo and makes it more about the fashion than the couple. Along the same lines, take off your eyeglasses for the photos, if possible. They are one of the easiest ways to tell in what era a photograph was taken.

3. When posing for the camera, smile with your whole face. What that means is to let that smile radiate through your face into your eyes. Don’t be afraid to smile with your mouth open a bit or even laugh during the photo shoot. This brings a twinkle into your eyes and shows how truly happy you two are.

4. Push your face toward the camera when posing for a photo. To make this easier, pretend you’re a turtle and crane out neck out your shell toward the camera. This shouldn’t be forced, just a slight push forward to reduce double chins (not that we’re suggesting you have one!) and tighten facial skin. It might feel a little strange to you, but the camera won’t be able to capture your contortion – just the effect it has on your appearance.

5. Go for a fun and relaxed look. Posed photos are boring! You can hardly romp around in your wedding dress, so this is the time for you to get some shots of you and your fiancee having fun! Roll around on the ground, climb a few trees, play on the stairwell – the overall result of your pre-wedding photography will be much more charming.

Randolph Quan promotes a wedding photography blog, and advises people on wedding photographers London at his website.

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