It certainly is 2013 when we’re advising you to hashtag your own wedding, but you wouldn’t believe how awesome it can be when you’re looking back on the memories. Social media is really taking off and there are always new ways of making use of it. Not sure what a hashtag is? Let our friends at urbandictionary.com sum it up for you:

If you have been on Twitter, you may have seen a “hashtag.” To put it simply, a hash tag is simply a way for people to search for tweets (or instagrams!) that have a common topic and to begin a conversation. For example, if you search on #LOST (or #Lost or #lost, because it’s not case-sensitive), you’ll get a list of tweets related to the TV show. What you won’t get are tweets that say “I lost my wallet yesterday” because “lost” isn’t preceded by the hash tag.

By asking your guests to #hashtag their instagram photos and twitter posts, you can easily search the given hashtag and view all the tweets and instagram photos shared from your wedding -all taken by your guests! How cool would it be to have a ton of candid shots to look back on while you wait to leave on your honeymoon? Here are some great ways to show your guests how to capture the fun at your chill day.

And of course chalkboards are a really easy way to get the word out about your hashtag, just make sure your guests see it as soon as they arrive.

What will your hashtag be?

It can also be fun to ask your guests to send you well wishes and advice!

We think you get the idea…. #BETHECHILL

Simplicity is an important factor here, especially when you are newly engaged. Initially, details will cloud your judgement, which is why you need to beat your brain to the punch, so to speak, and focus on the basics. Follow an order of operation so all your thoughts and ideas stay clear and fresh in your mind. So start with an outline and fill in the details later. First wedding purchase, a cute journal to write all your ideas in!

One of the firsts things that will help you when you start your wedding planning is knowing your budget. This gives you the upper hand in planning your wedding because your budget is there to help you decide on “must haves” as opposed to “don’t need to haves”. This will also help you in knowing what to book first. What are important things that you need to have on your wedding day?

You also need to have a support person! Someone who knows you well and can help you when it comes to some of the decision making. Yes we totally agree that your fiance should be involved in the wedding planning (if he wants to and if you want him to) because it is his day as well. But it’s important for you to have another person close to you such as your maid of honor, to give you a personal and outside opinion.

Next comes, choosing your colors, and your wedding date. Both fall within the same step, and generally your colors are going to match the season, which might help you choose your date. Though no one is going to judge you if you really want pastels for your December wedding. But keep in mind that dress stores carry specific dress colors seasonally so certain colors and styles might be harder to find at that time of year. But if you know this in advance your bridesmaids will be able to purchase their dresses the season before. Problem averted!

Once you have settled on a date you can look for a photographer and find your ceremony and reception venues. Just a quick thing about choosing the right photographer for you, you want to love their work but also when you meet with them (and you need to meet with them) you should feel like you made a new friend and feel confident that they will do their job well. Their job is to capture every moment, every emotion, everything and everyone that is celebrating your love. These moments you only get once, so make this decision count. As far as your venue choices, if you’re getting married in the busy season, which is generally from April to October, there will be some places that you have to book at least a year in advance. Just something to keep in mind.

Fifth, and yes ladies the dress has fallen into fifth. Because knowing your ceremony and reception locations along with your wedding date (the season) will help in choosing a dress to fit the occasion. Also make sure to ask your consultant at the bridal boutique what type of dresses they would recommend for your body type and for your wedding theme/location. They will have some good input for you and might even bring out something that you didn’t even think of but love it on. And don’t worry, you will know when it is the right dress and no one will have to tell you so, they will just reaffirm how you already feel.

In the next few weeks we’ll be going over each section in more detail to help you plan your perfect wedding day. Right now we’d like to say to you… Yay you’re engaged! Congratulations!

Blessing
Alaina & Nancy

www.ourheartsphotography.com

Yeah! After a terribly long 7 week wait- we finally got to see our official wedding photographs by Cari. Herself, Emile and Rebecca did an amazing job- go and see more here (if you have  not already)- we love all of them. What a great way to start a Monday!

Today is also bittersweet, since it will be our last post on our wedding blog. A big thank you to everyone who contributed and added to our special memories.

We have not forgotten about formal thank-you’s, so as soon as we receive our high res images you can expect us for a visit with big hugs and wedding album in hand!

xxx Sasha and Angus (7- week- year -old -newly -weds)

I’ve been doing a lot of these collages on canvas lately for my clients, it allows them to relive their wonderful wedding day from beginning to end every time they walk into their home. Ask your photographer for one or if they don’t want to make it for you, I will! Have a great weekend,
Brett

Don’t worry, not the kind you eat! We’re talking paste bling! I just realized that there was no January bling. Or February after I had reinstated the bling posts as monthly. Oops. So yeah, it’s March, which means that B and I have now been married 6 months. I was pretty anti blogging about the wedding for a lot of reasons, mostly because it’s personal and it’s annoying, in a nutshell. Seriously, don’t you want to temporarily delete some people from Facebook during wedding planning? I also felt it would take away some of the meaning for us and our guests if I blogged a whole bunch of planning details here. But I think it’s time to do a little sharing about some of the details that relate to unpatterned and that might be useful to a reader somewhere out there.

I found my wedding dress at a consignment shop with my mom about three months after we got engaged on my first shopping trip. I surprised my mom and myself by finding it that day and committing to it. There were no tears involved, just for the record. Once I had it, I knew that I wanted an amazing necklace to go with it. When B and I traveled through Michigan for New Year’s 2011-2012, I of course did some vintage/antique shopping. I dream of returning to Arcadian Antiques in Ann Arbor where I found this stunning sterling silver and paste necklace, dating from the 1920′s. B was working and I happened to search vintage/antique in my phone on yelp and wandered into the Nickels Arcade shops.

As soon as I saw it, I was immediately texting people photos of it on me as I was hemming and hawing over whether to buy it. I dragged B in there on our way out of town and after many approval conversations from him, my mom, and at least 3 friends and my brother, I bought the necklace. Yes, I called my brother, who has minimal to no interest in fashion or jewelry to discuss a necklace. That’s when I knew I should just get it (and that’s the level of crazy indecisiveness I experience weekly.) But, just like the dress, I never looked back and never saw anything else that I remotely would have wanted instead. Plus it was a way better souvenir from the trip than anything Michigan related. Yuck!

I’m happy to report that I have even worn the necklace multiple times since the wedding, in a dressy and casual fashion. So that is some practical bling and wedding babble I can get behind.

Bottom image courtesy of incredible wedding photographer, Luzco Photography

View all unpatterned BLING here.

*This inforgraphic was provided to us by Simply Bridal.

Your wedding day will be remembered by many, and there are tons of ways to make it even more chill in a personal way. By including small design elements that mean a lot to YOU in your chill day, this will make it even more memorable by you and your future spouse. It’s the simple things like the handwritten chalkboard signs and burlap wrapped bouquets that can make your wedding even more beautiful. Because what makes a chill atmosphere so perfect? The D E T A I L S. Everyone loves a small touch; even if it’s just a welcome sign with food favors for guests that have traveled from miles away or even a dog walking down the alter (you all know we love inviting them too). As a Bridechilla, you will never be the one stressing about the entire ceremony going well, you will be remembering the amazing little touches like the groom’s first look and riding a bike through wine country after the ceremony.

Bridechilla Jennine and her husband Ian having a memorable moment after their wedding!

P.S. Check out Niamah and Darren’s Off The Beaten Path wedding featured on Style Me Pretty to get a real good idea of what we mean by little details!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Details to look out for:

Places they had traveled to as their Table Numbers

Escort cards with clues from their experiences at the places they had been to to help them find their seat.

Luggage tag favors

Lovely cocktail food

Mailbox with vintage postcards for guestbook

Gorgeous Mountain backdrops

Impeccable white centerpieces with orchids, calla lilies and peonies and a gorgeous all white peony bouquet.

Long head table with ziz zaging bouquets as a runner

Wedding advice cards

Cute as a button couple!

The Vendors!

Wedding Planner: Emily Cann (Me!)

Ceremony and Reception Venue: Della Terra Mountain Chateaux 

Catering: A Spice of Life

Floral: Plum Sage Flowers

Photographer: Nathan Dappen Photography 

Cupcakes: Happy Cakes

Liquor and Rentals: Della Terra Mountain Chateaux

Band: Groove Nation Orchestra

Paper designs: Tasha Rae Designs

Hair and Make Up: AK Studio

Watch out for the new issue in April

So, our ceremony is at the college where we met. There’s a cute little gazebo and a few picnic tables, it’s very sentimental and it’s actually also in the same city we live in now.

the site for our little ceremony, which I promise looks much better in the summer time

Then after the ceremony we’re traveling about 30 minutes to the reception lunch. There’s only 35 total people attending the wedding, including myself and Matt, so we didn’t need anything huge or elaborate. We chose a restaurant that is delicious but also focuses on local produce… actually, most of the food comes from the farm they run right behind the restaurant. Perfect! The restaurant is a renovated barn and it is fantastically awesome.

We’re having a little cocktail hour at the bar on the first floor, then everyone will move upstairs to this room for dinner. Look at the light fixtures! The beams! The chairs!

And here’s the other side of the room- a gigantic fireplace. swoon.

We’re going to have the tables set just as they are here, with just the little lantern in the middle. Well, the little lantern and some bottles of wine. It is a par-tay after all

And for dessert, instead of a traditional cake, we’re going to have cupcakes made by my friend Tara at Twiinspiration Cupcakes. She’s hosting a tasting for us in a few weeks and I absolutely can. not. wait.

Just this morning my friend Amy sent me a link to an article about 20 cute & quirky wedding bouquets , and to be honest I wasn’t planning on having one, but then I saw this one and so maybe I’m changing my mind. Especially because creating this bouquet would require some serious thrift store shopping.

this is a bit too extravagant for my wedding, but toned down it could be perfect.

So slowly but surely we’re making some progress. I actually ordered a dress online on Monday but it hasn’t arrived yet so I don’t know if it’s perfect yet. We’ll see!

We’re also planning to have a big backyard bash with all our friends about a week or so after we get married. Nothing formal or fancy, just a bbq with some dancin’ and some dranks. So expect lots of posts about shaping up my yard this spring!

J’Aton

What a beautiful gift it is to be a lady. Today we celebrate beautiful dresses made for the quintessential lady. Simple, elegant and beautiful. First up is this stunner from J’Aton. The back of this dress is a show-stopper in itself. The neon detailing keeps it fun amidst the very serious business of being a show-stopper.

J’Aton

I do love this dress. The touch with the gloves! At the end of the day, the dress you wear on this significant day should speak to you the same way a house does when you walk in and know it’s home. It doesn’t have to be the popular choice but it has to be absolutely you.

I hope you enjoy this sweet little Sugar Shack – Ottawa Valley Wedding as much as I did. These two were fabulous!

Huge thank you to my friend and colleague Alanna Govenlock of Stollen Still Photography. It was such a great time shooting with her. She’s quite a talent! And of course – Christina O. from The Flower Factory, who did amazing job with the planning and design. Beautiful work, gorgeous team!

As a photographer, former bride and a girl, I know how important those thoughtful details are. So that’s where I come in. I know you spent hours with the cake maker designing the perfect cake. I know your relatives flew in from out of town– some you haven’t seen in years. I know that you’ve been dreaming of your wedding day for years, and you even carry around a notebook with pages ripped out of all your inspired ideas. I know that you spent days handwriting your place cards and tying ribbons around the mason jar cake mix you’re giving to your guests. The details of your wedding and all of the special touches you’ve invested so much of your time in are so important, and I am committed to preserving those in memory for you. I also know what it’s like to look back, in perhaps a moment when you’re upset with your spouse, and see the sheer bliss and vibrant love pouring forth from you both on your wedding day that was captured in pictures, and how those authentic, candid pictures are so necessary.

As a photographer, I want you to know that the details matter to me. I want to capture your wedding day as wholly and authentically as possible. Staging isn’t authentic. There is a time and a place for posed photos, but 90% of the work I do on your wedding day I want to be authentic. To represent the real you. To capture the things that you’ve invested so much in and to provide you with images that show just how perfect your wedding day truly was.

KT Merry

Marta Locklear Photography via Style Me Pretty

Laura Murray Photography via Bridal Musings

This guy is all ready for the big day with his beautiful floral wreath…Corbin Gurkin Photography via Style Me Pretty

Larissa Cleveland via Snippet & Ink

Two One Photography via Style Me Pretty

White Album Weddings via Style Me Pretty

They make a pretty cool bridal accessory, don’t you think?  You gotta love these gentle giants

♥,

Kris

YEAH! Finally we have reached the 100th post. We intended this post to be the day before our wedding- but things got so busy! There was no time to do anything else other than wedding day prep. Yes, even if you plan way in advance, the last week to 3 days before the big day is intense!

Here are the questions we get asked quite often since the wedding day has passed:

1. THE number one question is: how are we finding married life?

A: Interesting and fun. It is what I have always wanted.

S: I am still coming to terms with not being at home where I had more closet space, an annoying brother and a Mom to cook meals. It is great fun though, being with my favourite person everyday.

2.  How was your honeymoon and where did you go?

A & S: The honeymoon was wonderful (post to follow shortly). We had a great time being alone and getting a chance to relax after all the wedding mayhem. We spent our wedding night at the Vineyard Hotel. We loved it there and were treated like royalty. The next day we went off to Hermanus where we spent the night at The Bamboo House. We really enjoyed it there and wished we booked for longer … The following day we drove to Knysna. We stayed for three nights at the Turbine Hotel on Thesen Island. We had a great time filling each day with activities, like cycling, visiting the elephants, boat rides, kayaking, swimming, and shopping of course.

3. Do you have your wedding photographs yet?

A & S: No we have not got them yet. We are as eager and anxious to see them as everyone else but we will only get them in about 6-8 weeks. (As of this post say another 3 weeks…)

4. When are you planning to have children and how many?

S: In about 3 years and only one.

A: Preferably in 2 years time and 2 children…two girls (Chloe and Zoe).

S: OMW

Anyway, the big day is over and above are a few snaps taken by our friends as a reminder of how awesome the day was. (If anyone else has a few we have not seen please send our way). Also if you have any other questions ask away…

xxx Angus and Sasha