Wedding Planning (Part I)

Being a wedding photographer and not yet married, I get to see all the fun and creative things people do for their wedding that I can pick and choose to do at my own wedding. Over the years I’ve accumulate a bit of ideas here and there that I wanted incorporated. It could be overwhelming and expensive though as everything looks so pretty and you feel like you have to have it, thus adding to the already long list. Of course at the very top of my long list is photography :) I can lower my expectations on a lot of things but not when it comes to pictures.

Below are some things that people plan for in their wedding:

FLOWERS
Which bride wouldn’t walk down the aisle without holding a bouquet of flowers? I love all flowers but really have a soft spot for orchids and large peonies. I’ve seen a lot of brides choose calla lily because of their simplicity and structural shape, but roses are always in. Rose is like neutral colors; it’ll go with anything.

CAKE
The yummiest cake I’ve ever tasted was this cake:

I don’t know what’s in it but holy moly it was good! The coolest looking cake I’ve seen was when the couple incorporated their own personality and lifestyle into the design of the cake. In this case, the couple was really into theater and acting.

I like best just having flowers scattered here and there on the cake. It makes the cake much more of an eye candy.

Don’t like having a traditional wedding cake? How about cup cakes?


TABLE SETTING
Nice table setting sets the theme for an enjoyable evening. From what I noticed, as long as the decoration fits your particular wedding palette, then it should be fine. If your color palettes is very modern and clean looking like the one below (with the white lantern), then adding more colors like pink and yellow would be too distracting and breaks the color flow.

Structural table setting looks cool but you have to plan accordingly how people get serve food at the table. If each person is getting their own plate of food it wouldn’t be a problem, but if it’s a buffet style where everyone shares a big plate of food at the table then eventually the flowers will need to be move. Typically at Asian weddings I don’t see a lot of flower decorations at the table because of this reason. If there are flowers it gets taken down.

I think it looks nice but I wouldn’t want tall vases as table decorations. I haven’t seen it happen yet, but I definitely don’t want to witness vases crashing down on my guests. Plus tall table setting block certain people’s views.

A compromise? How about something more manageable like a medium size vase where it can be easily move and won’t block anyone’s view?

MISCELLANEOUS DECORATIONS
Having party favors and other decorations can really help tie everything together. I am a hug fan of having candles. Nothing is more intimate then having candles underneath a ceiling filled with lanterns.

To be continued…..