Wedding Tip #9 - How do I match a gold dress?

Robert's suit matches Chantal's gold dress well. I love the touches of orange, yellow, and red they added.

"Hi Katie~ I was just checking out your wedding blog, what great tips! The pictures from your wedding are beautiful, everything came together so well. Congrats! I have a WR question for you. My dress is light gold, and I'm having the hardest time figuring out what Devin should wear. Tuxes are a no, but what color suit or dress shirt would you recommend? Also, I agree with Abby, you should consider becoming a wedding planner!
All the best,
~Meg"

Meg - First thanks for your vote of confidence on my wedding planning abilities! While I LOVE weddings, I really do, I like photographing them best of all. Since I can't be out shooting everyday, talking about weddings and the planning on my blog is a lot of fun for me. I'm excited to be getting all of these questions, so thank you!

When planning your wedding colors there are a few more questions to ask that will help you pick a palette.

• What time of the year are you getting married?
• Are you having bridesmaids? If so what color would you like them to wear?
• What is the style of your wedding? Casual? Formal?
• Do you have a "theme" or color scheme for the wedding?
• Do you know what kinds of flowers you'd like?

No matter what the answers to the above questions, I think Devin should not wear white. Since you've chosen light gold, I think it would look odd if he wears white and you don't. An ivory or cream shirt will be a much better match to your dress. I like cream, gold, and browns mixed together. So, I would suggest a camel, tan, linen or khaki colored suit or dress pants. He can go with or without a jacket depending on how formal your wedding will be. You could stay with creams, browns, and gold or introduce another color into the mix. For example, if you add red and orange, you can add it through flowers without anyone actually wearing the color. If you are having bridesmaids or Devin wants to wear a color he would look nice dressed in a red or orange shirt with a khaki suit. The bridal party could match with red accents on the bridesmaids dresses and red ties for the men. Non-traditional dress colors are becoming very popular! Mine was actually a very pale blush pink. :) Dresses now come in cream, champagne, candlelight, rum, eggshell and many more options! Here are some photo ideas for non-traditional wedding palettes.



Mike wore a ivory suit with and orange dress shirt. These colors look great in the golden sunset light!



Lora and Mike had a less formal wedding, and therefore he didn't need a jacket. His red shirt compliments her fall bouquet.



Poosie is a Harley Davidson enthusiast. So, he chose to wear his leather vest! Juli chose non-traditional wedding attire as well, and I think they look great together.

See more red, orange, and gold wedding photographs in the inspiration gallery.

Wedding Tip #8 - Choosing a dress!

Last night I went with my friend Abby to Spoil Me in Portland, ME to look at wedding dresses. Spoil Me is a new bridal boutique (they used to sell all kinds of women's clothing). I was very impressed with the selection and lovely atmosphere inside their newly redesigned store! After the dress fitting - and hearing my dress advice - Abby asked me, only half kidding, so when are you going to become a wedding planner? Which made me think - I DO love weddings, but I love photographing them more than planning! However, I have a ton of stored up advice since I've planned my own and attended over 100 weddings! Instead of just sharing my advice with my friends... here is yet another Katie wedding tip!



Advice for BRIDES:
Not every style looks good on every bride. It's important to have a vision of what you'd like to wear, but be open and try on a few different styles so that you can see what different bustlines, waistlines, and dress shapes look like on your body. Don't forget that these are sample sizes! Chances are that they will not fit you perfectly and you will either need to have them clipped tighter or leave them partially unzipped. This happens to EVERYONE, so try to look past the "creative" fitting methods you might need to use. Your dress with be fitted to you perfectly - I loved my seamstress! So, take notice of what styles look good on your body - but don't scrutinize very wrinkle & bump in the fabric. You will hear a lot of opinions the more helpers you bring along but remember this is your dress and you should give your own opinion the most weight!

Advice for MOMS, MAIDS, SISTERS and FRIENDS:
Take careful notes for the Bride. While she tries on dresses, for each one she likes you should write down the designer, style # or name, price, and a brief description. I also numbered the dresses in the order she tried them on and took a photo of each dress, with the bride-to-be's camera, so she would have the photos and notes to look at when she went back over the dresses.

I've noticed there is one big question many brides don't think about when shopping for their gown. What will it look like bustled? You should ask your bridal boutique to show you what the bustle will look like. Don't forget that for all of the reception (most of your wedding day) your dress will be bustled, not opened up with it's full train! Some dresses look better with a traditional bustle, others look better with a french bustle. Click here for a bustle description from brides.com. And click here for more bustle descriptions and photos. The french bustle is by far my favorite. I find it to be the most elegant. If you prefer one bustle style over another you should speak to a seamstress BEFORE purchasing your dress so you are sure she can do the bustle you have in mind with that particular dress!

Oh, and have fun! Dress shopping is so exciting! Don't feel like you need to leave knowing which dress is "the one." If you're not sure, look over your photos and notes and visit other boutiques. Many dresses take about four months to come in, and then you need time for your alterations. This means you should be making a final dress selection and ordering 6 to 9 months before your wedding date.

Like a dress that's a bit out of your price range? Don't forget about trunk shows! Here is the listing of trunk shows from Modern Trousseau:
http://moderntrousseau.com/trunk-shows.html

Or you could try your luck at the running of the brides:
http://www.filenesbasement.com/bridal

Happy Shopping!

I've been adding to the Wedding Inspiration Image Bank! Check out the new flower photos... more to come soon!

Wedding Tip #7 - Wedding Timeline & Cocktail hour

In response to Wedding Tip #3 "Venue Rental Packages"

Abigail said...

"Katie - why does the venue offer drinks and snacks for the bridal party before the reception begins? Won't the bridal party be busy at that time?"

The short answer is that a venue might (and I think should) offer a separate "cocktail hour" for the bridal party because they often miss the cocktail hour. Wedding parties typically spend at least the first part of the cocktail hour taking photographs. If you arrive before the cocktail hour is over, you still may want to take a breather in a separate room before your big introduction. When you are taking this breather you might also want a snack or to sip champagne. The fact that this venue goes the extra mile to make sure you're happy and comfortable is a good sign!

And, while we're on this topic - I'd like to share a basic timeline for the wedding day. At every first meeting I go over this with my Bride and Groom to help them plan when and where they'd like me to be taking photographs!



Photography start time: ________________

• ____________________ Bride & bridesmaids getting ready
• ____________________ Groom & groomsmen getting ready
• ____________________ Pre-wedding Formal portraits
• ____________________ Ceremony
• ____________________ Receiving Line
• ____________________ Formal Portraits
• ____________________ Cocktail Hour
• ____________________ Reception Introduction
• ____________________ Dances
• ____________________ Toasts/Blessing
• ____________________ Reception Portraits
• ____________________ Dinner
• ____________________ Cake Cutting
• ____________________ Garter/Bouquet
• ____________________ Dancing
• ____________________ Reception End

This is the "typical" order of events for a wedding - but I love weddings that have a couple's personality show through with new or different traditions. If I can help you with your own timeline line please send me an email, katie.m.ring@gmail.com. Happy Planning!

Wedding Tip #6 - Choosing Vendors

Who should you work with? First hire vendors whose work you love! Make sure that personalities mesh well with yours and that prices fit your budget. You may think, personality...does that really matter? It does! On such an important day you'll want to surround yourself with people who make you feel good and this includes the people you hire. When it comes to price don’t be tempted by the bargains if you don’t love what you see of the person's work. If you love your baker's cake portfolio, chances are you're going to love your wedding cake. Most of us need to settle a bit on our 'wants' to stay on budget (I know I did) so think ahead where you're willing to compromise and where you want to splurge. For vendors without a portfolio, for example D J's, ask to speak to past clients for referrals. Happy brides give great referrals so every vendor should have a few past clients you can call or email!

QMH Photo club

The Quigley Memorial Hospital's Photography Club now has a flickr page! I am the artist in residence at the Chelsea Soldier's Home in Chelsea, MA. My photo club members are Veterans living at the Quigley Memorial hospital. We recently received a grant from the Chelsea cultural council to help fund our club and create an artist in residence program. Our current project is to document our lives through photography. We joined flickr to to share those pictures with all of you! I am helping the club to go digital. You can help us too. We are looking for donations to make our club better. Here are some of the items we could still use:

• Digital Cameras (older models are just fine with us)
• Photography Magazines (any publication, any issues)
• Rechargeable batteries for our cameras
• A computer and/or hard drive to store our pictures
• Picture Frames so we can display our work


See how much Phil likes this new camera? Thanks to Jim & Jason @ the PRC!

Wedding Tip #5 - Using color as a theme

Natalie asked: "Now here is my question for you, and I think you might be able to relate. How do I incorporate my favorite color (PURPLE!!) into my wedding without it becoming obnoxious or annoying people?"

Natalie, of course I understand - I LOVE pink! The key is to use accents of your favorite color so that the room as an nice air of purple but it doesn't seem overwhelming. A good starting point is to choose another color to mix with purple. Using more than one color that compliments your favorite will keep one color from overwhelming your decor. For my wedding I wanted to use pink (because pink is awesome) and Anthony wanted to use orange (Go Syracuse) and now it's a hot color combination! What trend setters we are ;)

To help you see color combinations I'd started adding to my flickr a wedding-planning image bank. (Please bear with me - this sorting and uploading is taking longer than I thought it would!)

If you see images you like there, in a google image search, or in magazines, you can start pulling them together to make inspiration boards (see my last post).

This is how my colors came together:


Invitations: (these set the tone for your wedding) Mine were orange on the outside with a pink bow. They folded open to reveal pink inside and the invitation was printed on white paper with pink and orange lettering. There was a pocket for more hotel & reception information below in the pocket.

Cake: We chose a simple white cake with a white lace pattern of frosting. Then we had the florist add the same petals and roses that we were using in the rest of the decorations. This way we knew our cake would match perfectly and we saved some money on the fondant decorations. Don't get me wrong, if you can afford a beautiful "ace of cakes" style cake go for it - I just decided to simplify here.



Ladies: My wonderful bridesmaids wore dresses that were made of an iridescent fabric. They were mostly orange but as the light caught the dresses it had accents of hot pink. Their bouquets were pink and orange roses. My dress was not quite ivory, not quite blush pink. But a good color for a pale girl like myself! I carried different shades of pink roses and my bouquet was wrapped in extra fabric trimmed from my dress when it was altered.



Gentlemen: The groomsmen wore back suits with ivory shirts. The only color was in their boutonnieres - they had pink and orange small roses. Anthony wore a black tux with ivory shirt, vest and tie so he stood out. He also had a pale pink rose.



Ceremony: In the church we had simple vases of pink and orange roses (same as the bridesmaids bouquets) and a wreath of roses around our grandparent's remembrance candle. We also did small groupings of roses and ribbon on the ends of the aisles. The only other color was the pink and orange (fake) rose petals that lined the aisle. The church doors had wreaths on the outside and we moved these, along with the flowers on the pews to use again at the reception.





Reception: Let's see... we re-used the pew decorations and put them between each of the large windows. We also used the wreaths on the doors of the ladies room stalls. (I thought the bathroom was a bit sub-par and this helped a lot) We chose all white linens (table cloths, napkins, & chair covers). The chairs had alternating pink and orange sashes. The centerpieces were wreaths of pink and orange roses with Eiffel tower style vases filled with orange colored water and bittersweet in the centers. But what I think really made the ambiance in the room was the lighting my awesome DJ, Erich Kruger, helped me add! (see the cake photo above to see the effect). We had lights with pink and orange gels aimed at the ceiling so that the room would literally glow pink and orange. It looked GREAT in person, but unfortunately with some of the photos with flash (like below) the effect is lost. As a photographer I know lighting is VERY important - talk to your reception hall coordinator and ask to see the room at the time of day of your event and with the lights dimmed to their usual wedding levels!

A note on color & reception and ceremony locations. It is best to choose colors that will work well with the decor that is already in the room: Painted walls, carpets, chairs if you're not covering them, ect. Both my church and hall had a bluish teal, but luckily that looked out with pink and orange. If your chosen colors clash with decor at your facilities you may want to consider choosing another accent color of covering some of the existing color at the hall.