How much coverage do you need on your wedding day?

All of it!  Just kidding...seriously, how much coverage do you need on your wedding day?  What pictures do you want?  Deciding on what types of pictures you want is your first step.  Talking to your wedding photographer will help you outline your day's events, and figure out what your priorities are.


Getting ready  There are a lot of classic photos to take during this time, that will help tell the story of your wedding day, including pictures of your dress hanging, your shoes, your mom adjusting your veil.  It is important to talk to your photographer to find out how much time you'll need before the ceremony.  We tell our brides to not get dressed before we get there, so that we can get all of the detail shots that you'll adore.

Sneak Peek  Some brides decide to get their portraits done before the ceremony, to help ease time constraints between the ceremony and reception.  The sneak peek idea, is that the bride can sneak up behind the groom, and when he turns around and sees her, she still gets to see the element of joy and surprise on his face.  These images provide a more intimate and emotional scene.

60-minutes of bride and groom time  Your wedding day is short, and there is almost no time for brides and grooms to spend any time together.  Most couples are busy with receiving lines and family portraits.  There have been countless couples who look at their pictures after the wedding, and wish there were more and better photos of just the bride and groom.  These are the photos that you'll hang on your wall, send out in thank you cards, and put on your facebook profile. 

In addition to the great pictures we capture during this time, it is a very peaceful time for you and your new husband to actually have a few minutes alone that day.

Ceremony This one seems like a no-brainer.  Everyone knows that they want the wedding ceremony covered.  You want the pictures of you walking down the aisle, lighting your unity candle, and giving roses to your moms.  Depending on your location, there may be certain restrictions for the photographers to adhere to, and time restraints as well.

Portraits  This is something to discuss with your wedding photographer.  Are you planning a lot of group shots?  Do you want to go to different locations for portraits?  These things can affect how much time you need for your portraits on the day of your wedding.

Reception  What kind of reception are you having?  A traditional reception can include toasts, dinner, special dances, cake-cutting, dollar dances, bouquet and garter tosses.  In addition to which formalities you want to include, dinner can be a buffet or a sit-down affair, and that affects your timeline, too.  Whether you decide you want to have coverage of all the formalities, or only some, will also affect how much coverage you need on your wedding day.

When you schedule your bridal consultation with us, we will go over your timeline for your wedding day, and help you determine how much coverage you'll actually need.  While every wedding is unique, we typically recommend coverage begin an hour before the ceremony and end two hours after the reception.  Factors that might affect this would be things like getting your portraits finished before the ceremony, a large family or lots of family pictures, locations, dinner type, and formalities included at your reception.

How to get the most out of the bridal fair

Hello Brides!

It's engagement season, and that means one thing....Wedding Fairs! The one-stop shopping and inspiring trade shows created just for you! All of the vendors pay to rent a booth, so that they can be there in front of your eyes. These are great opportunities for you, to see vendors' work, to taste their food, to meet them and talk to them and ask all of your questions. How can you, as a bride, get the most out of these opportunities?

First, buy address labels and print them out on your printer the night before. Include your name, address, phone number, email address, and wedding date. Most vendors will want to collect your information and it will be quicker and easier to peel and stick your label than to hand-write all of that information 100 times that day! Also, it's much harder for your vendors to screw up your email address if you have it typed instead of handwritten.

Definitely create a separate email account for your wedding planning!  Most bridal sites, wedding fairs and vendor booths ask for your email address, and it's great to have a separate account for all of those emails!  You can get creative and use your names and wedding date.

Travel light! You will be receiving a lot of information from the photographers, caterers, bakers, venues, dj's and florists. Most of us will give you a flyer or brochure for you to look at later. If you come in with lots of belongings, you may find yourself with too much to carry!  Also - dress comfortably (especially comfortable shoes!).  There is a lot to see, so lots of walking!

Stop and talk to the vendors! Many vendors will include drawings, freebies, or show specials for brides who book from the show. Many of these great deals won't be advertised on their website or on their facebook page. If you don't go and talk to the florist, how will you know that she's offering a free toss-away bouquet- or maybe you already have a florist in mind, but find a great bouquet idea at her booth!

Make sure to remember which vendors stood out.  It is hard at the end of the day when sorting through your packet of flyers to remember who your favorites were! Some of our brides have written on the back of flyers, or brought stickers to mark their favorite vendors' flyers. 

Look through albums and prints on display.  You can get lots of wonderful ideas by looking through vendors albums and prints, such as flower bouquets, color combinations and definitely portrait ideas!

Be prepared to make appointments with the vendors you like. Not many vendors will expect you to commit to their service the day of the wedding fair, but many will ask you for an appointment for further consultation. If you like the vendor and their services, be prepared with times that you are available to meet with them. This is especially true if you have a popular wedding date!

If you can get a list of the vendors who are going to be at the show beforehand, take a look at their websites and be prepared to meet them with a list of questions. This is your opportunity to ask questions and get their answers!Here is a list of questions for you to ask your photographers.

Lastly, be sure to have a good time and enjoy yourself. Bring your girlfriends or your mom, and make a day of it! Depending on the vendors at the show, there might be hair or make-up stylists there to give you a make-over, or bakers who have a cake for you to taste! Many of the bridal fairs will have fashion shows for the boutiques to show off their dresses, and who doesn't love a good fashion show?

**We are offering $200 off of our wedding packages until the end of this month, February, 2013 as our bridal show special!  Email us at info@tomorrowstreasuresstl.com for package pricing information!

6 ways to personalize your engagement session!

We've had brides ask us, "Do I need an engagement session?", and we wanted to share a list of ideas for you to consider. This is a list of ideas that we've had previous brides share with us, and we were very impressed with the many different ways to incorporate your engagement session pictures with your wedding!

 

1. Invitations - Jen and Brandon chose Twin Oaks Park for their engagement session. The pictures were beautiful and full of color. They chose to have their engagement session done during the fall, since they had a fall wedding date the following year.










2. Save the dates! If you're going to send out any save-the-date cards, it's a great idea to bring something with your wedding date to your engagement session. It can be a banner, a chalkboard, homemade crafty items or anything else that shows your date. Below, is a picture of Karley and Kyle at their engagement session, showing off their save-the-date idea! Thank you, Karley and Kyle!

3. Show off what's important to you! These couples all asked if we could photograph their furry family members, too! We were happy to oblige, and there are some great pictures to share. Pictured below are Sam and Danielle, with Phantom and Dundee, Molly and Tim, with Murray, and Denise and Dan, with Giovanni and Mia.

4. Wedding colors - Carl and Stephanie wore purple to highlight the accent color of their wedding. It went really well with their decorations, and an added bonus - their guests wore a lot of purple, which was very pretty in their wedding pictures.  This was a genius idea - keep reading to see why!

5. Candy bars, souvenirs - Carl and Stephanie used their engagement session to create the souvenir for their guests. They chose to use www.CandyWrapperStore.com, and enjoyed the ability to have a short thank-you note printed on the back of each candy bar.

Of course, candy bars are a great idea, but they aren't the only thing you can do with your pictures! You can also use www.Zazzle.com to order stamps with your pictures on them. What a unique touch for your invitations!

6. Guestbooks - A picture guest book is a beautiful and personal addition to your wedding details. There are different styles available, and different colors, too. Your guests will really enjoy looking at your engagement pictures while signing their names or personal messages, and you will always have a special keepsake. Imagine, brides who got married ten years ago (like myself) had to make due with boring white books with just a list of names!


Thank you for reading this blog!  If you have any other great ideas to share, please leave it in the comments! We would love to hear your great ideas for engagement sessions!

Congratulations, Jim and Christy!

Last weekend, Jim and Christy pledged their love to each other in front of family and friends at The Ivory Theatre, in St. Louis, Missouri. We arrived a bit early, since this was a new venue for us, and we were able to spend some time planning our coverage for the ceremony. Meanwhile, Jim showed us Christy's rings, and we realized exactly what a lucky girl she is! Wowza!


The ceremony was heartfelt and sincere, performed by Ron, a friend of the family.


After the ceremony was over, we followed Jim and Christy to The Ivory Coast Bistro, which was the bar where they first met (and conveniently across the street)!


There was even a hand-written sign for our bride and groom!


The wedding party jumped into the Road Pony's elegant party bus, and headed for downtown! We stopped by Busch Stadium for a few quick pictures of the whole party, and then the bridesmaids and groomsmen boarded the bus while we had a few more intimate pictures of Jim and Christy. When we finished, Jim and Christy flagged down the driver of the bus, and off we went!


We headed next to Union Station, and thank goodness for that! It was cold outside, and exactly perfect inside. We were able to get some really fun shots here, and really relax a bit before getting back on the bus and heading to Andre's!


Once at the reception, the party was in Gary's hands, and he was an amazing MC for the evening. Our time at the reception seemed to fly by, but we did get some great dancing pictures before we left!


Congratulations to Jim and Christy on your beautiful wedding, and we wish you a long and happy marriage! Thank you so much for choosing Tomorrow's Treasures!