Why not take your awesome engagement photo’s and have them printed into a custom guest book, so your guests can see these pictures. Gone from this book is the boring lines where guest sign their name, with this book, guest are encouraged to write a short message and words of wisdom.

Each page in the book is 10×10, and it is well constructed with a heavy duty spiral binding. I’m now including this book with all Signature I packages and with any full Engagement Session.

Now, this has got to be one of the best wedding guest book ideas out there. And if I didn’t take your Engagement Session and you would still like to order this book, please contact my office at 407-536-9090 and I can still put the book together for you with your own pictures. You can even submit to me images from when you started dating and I will include them in the book, so your guest can see your entire history together as they are signing in.
 

Rent a Wedding Cake

Yep, you’ve read it correctly, Rent A Wedding Cake.  You can actually rent a cake from this company [Link].

Here’s how it works,  the company will provide you with a wedding cake covered with fondant.  But instead of being made of cake, it actual made with a foam center.  Inside this cake is an area for you to store a small portion of your real cake.  After you feed the cake to each other, the foam cake is taken to the back and the real cake, which is most likely a sheet cake, is cut and served to the guest.

According to their website, a three layer cake can be rented for about $175 plus shipping.  I’ve never seen this done, but I guess it could be a way to save money and have the look of an elegant cake at the same time.  So, I’d love to hear from you, is this something you would do?

Disney World’s Tips for a Wedding on a Budget.

On this 2 minute video, a wedding expert from Walt Disney World gives a few tips to help you save on your wedding while still having a magical experience.  Some of her advise includes:

Think about what you are serving to your guest.  Instead of a large meal, consider heavy Hors D’Deuvres.  I was at a wedding a few years ago and the couple did just that.  They planned their wedding for 2:00pm, the reception started at 3:00pm and ended around 5:30 – 6:00pm.  The only food was Hors D’Deivres.  This is a good idea if you are on a budget and don’t want to spend all your money on food.

Be flexible with the time and day.  A Friday or a Sunday wedding will probably be less expensive than a Saturday Wedding.  Most weddings take place on Saturday, however, most vendors are open and available on other days.  A wedding on a day other than Saturday is like a bonus opportunity.

Ask your Florist what flowers are in Season.  Flowers that are in season are readily available and are less expensive then flowers out-of-season.

Explore Non-Traditional Venues – While the video discusses a wedding in EPCOT’s France, this advice could  also be used for a reception at a resturant like 310 Lakeside [Link], which has an outdoor area overlooking Lake Eola.  This would be a great place for an outdoor reception for a smaller wedding.

Well, that’s it for today, talk to you soon.  Scott

 © Scott Todd 2009

Here few quick links to help you save money on your wedding.

1. When comparing venues, make sure that you are comparing apples for apples when comparing the cost.  One location may quote you a price including taxes and service charges while another may not and those fees could drive up the cost substantially.
2. You can add to your savings by ordering your invitations and save the date cards online.  May I suggest you can further add to your savings by considering a Youtube style Save the Date and if you dare invitation as mentioned in these post.
3. Save on postage and printing by setting up a website.  The article lists 3 companies who will host your website for you.  They include: MyWedding.com, TheKnot.com and Wedding Windows While there is a charge for weddingwindow, I think the templates are better and easier to use on weddingwindow than the others.  If you are really looking for a cheap way to host a wedding website, why not create a blogger or wordpress account?
4. The article discusses how to save money on your dress as well.  If you are are on a tight budget, then you could also consider a used dress, try a consignment shop or even craigslist.  Also, some dress shops have discontinued dresses at a discount.
5. For photography, the article mentions renting a Kedai console, which allows you to have your guest download their cameras onto the device and then you can review the pictures.  If your on a budget, drop me an email and ask about the budget friendly package.
6. In lieu of merchandise gifts, you could open a MatriMoney account at a bank or credit union.  This account would allow gift givers to make a deposit instead of spending money on something you may or may not need.

A Few Questions for You!

That’s the subject of an email I received over the weekend from a Bride who’s getting married in November.  She had more than a few and I called and discussed her questions with her, but I thought it might be interesting to share some of the questions and answers with you.  So, I have created a FAQ page on this site.  I will post the Questions and their Answers over the next few days.

Wedding Photographer Questions

A YouTube Wedding Invitation?

On Friday, I wrote about how couples are using YouTube for their Save the Date’s and I received an email over the weekend with a link to YouTube for a very unique Wedding Invitation.  The video is an short animated story that explains the difficulties bride and grooms have in choosing their perfect wedding invitation.  At the end there is actually information about the couple’s wedding date.  I’m not sure if this was for an actual wedding or just a mockup, but I thought it was funny and unique.  If you are looking for a different type of wedding invite, maybe you should consider YouTube.

Check it out here:

Two Resources for Calligraphy

Are you looking for someone to address your invitations in Calligraphy?  If so, here are two resources for you.  The way this type of service normally works, you would type out exactly what you would like written on each envelope.  The envelope is addressed and mailed back to you for mailing.  Check out these two sites for more information.

© Scott Todd 2009

Wow, I can’t believe it’s Friday already, it’s been a very busy week for this photographer and I’m looking forward to a couple of days off. 

For the next few Fridays I’m going to focus on how brides and grooms are using technology in their weddings planning and generating some great ideas in the process, I’m calling this series Wedding Tech Friday.

Once your wedding date is set, you want to make sure that you let as many of your invites know about the date as possible.  The traditional way that couples handle this is they sit down and begin the process of creating, ordering, labeling and mailing their Save the Date cards to the people that they are planning to invite to their wedding.  Save the Date cards are a lot of work and it’s not a lot of fun, until now.

A few weeks ago, one of my photographer friends, told me that he’s begin seeing videos pop up on youtube were engaged couples are creating Save the Date videos and posting them online.

As an example, here is Melissa and Brian’s Youtube Wedding Save the Date video done by a wedding photographer in Cincinnati OH, take a look.

Melissa and Brian on YouTube

I think this is an awesome idea and one that I’m going to begin including in my wedding packages.  The concept is simple, create a 1 – 1 ½ minute video with nice music, add in some photographs from childhood, from your dating years, and even those incredible Engagement Session photos we discussed yesterday [Link], and we end up with a cool way to promote your upcoming wedding date.

Typically, video production with photos and music and text overlays takes about 1 hour for each minute, so a 1 1/2 minute wedding save the date video would take about 1.5 hour to create.

I think this is a creative and fun way to use technology for your wedding.  What do you think; do you think this adds value to a wedding package?  Would you use it for your wedding?  I’d love to know your thoughts.

Well, that’s it for today’s post and I’m looking forward to seeing your comments on the idea.  Until Monday, have a great weekend.  Scott

One of the first parts of planning a wedding is determining what your budget is, but how do you know what the services you are going to need actually cost in your area?

Today’s resource from costofwedding.com [Link] will help you answer that very important question. 

Upon arriving at the site, enter your zip code and the website will return an estimated total wedding cost for your zip code.  For my zip code in Orlando, the website returned the following results:

On average, couples that live in Orlando, FL 32827 spend between $14,534 and $24,223 for their wedding. This does not include cost for a honeymoon or engagement ring.

At this point, you will find a number of categories on the left side of the screen clicking each category returns the average amount spent on each category.

Out of curiosity, I clicked on photography to learn that the average spent on an Engagement Photographer is $428 – $714 and the average spent on a Wedding Photographer is $1,008 – $1,680, good to know!

Well – That’s it for today, talk to you soon.  Scott