Archive for January, 2011

Jan 2011

Wedding Graduates: Elizabeth & Harrison (As Written By The Groom)

Ok, so I get asked *a lot* why I don't have more men writing for the site. The short answer is simple: they almost never send things in (even though enough men read this site that they recognize me on the street in San Francisco, and give me free tacos.) But the long answer is something like this: I'm not really sure that men think about weddings and marriage quite the same way that we do.

Once, for example, I had David write a guest post for APW, and he said that 'your wedding should not be the happiest day of your life.' Readers, of course, flipped out.. What if it WAS the happiest day of someone's life? How dare he say that? And I turned to David, who shrugged, and said, "I just don't think it should be the happiest day of your life, and I don't have anything else to say about that." Which? I love. Simple, and to the point.

All this is a long introduction to one of our only Wedding Graduate posts written by a groom. Harrison's post is short and sweet and hilarious. Also? Their wedding was shot by Emily of Emily Takes Photos, who did the bride's hair too... because what? She's full service. (UPDATE: Harrison has just offered to write more for y'all. This was just his prelude. So stay tuned. The grooms are going to keep on speaking. RAD!)

The Where (though it was spring, so the grass was green, not brown)

Creative: Flying over the reception? The rubber chicken/chattering-teeth/flask instead of a garter Choreographing our own first dance? How about keeping it all a secret? You should ask my wife about our engagement party.

Thrifty: Pretty standard affair, shopping around for catering, making some food ourselves, borrowing equipment, holding the event in a county park, paying $200 for a wedding dress, buying wine that was on-sale, etc...

I'd be happy to show you the spreadsheet containing attendance probabilities, bathroom equilibrium calculations, and dancer-density-expectation values...but that's the boring stuff that only nerds like me and my wife enjoy. Continue reading Wedding Graduates: Elizabeth & Harrison (As Written By The Groom)

Posted in: Wedding Graduates | 95 Comments »

Jan 2011

Sponsored Post: Zachary Hunt Photography

It’s extra fitting that we’re talking about Zachary Hunt Photography in Austin, Texas today since we started out the week talking about the fabulous Lauren McGlynn in Scotland. Zach and Lauren are best friends, who used to collaborate as photographers, and now run very different and very vibrant photography studios halfway around the world from each other. So those of you that were sad about Lauren being all the way over in Scotland? Zach is your guy!

Zach’s work has a slightly different quality than the work that I normally feature on APW. His portfolio has a dreamy, introspective quality, mixed with a rawness of emotion – an earnestness, peppered with moments of sparkling delight. This sequence of photos of a bride getting ready completely grabbed me by the heart, because one shot is the pure joy of the moment, and the next shot is this art book quality image of the bride’s long veil against her still bare feet.

Which is, in sum, what I’m looking for in a photographer. Honesty, truth, versatility, and their own voice.

Zachary Hunt Photography still has low rates, compared to his talent (seriously, every time I look at his work, it gets better). But because he loves APW couples, he’s offering this deal: 20% off for the first two couples that book through APW. Cut off date for the deal is February 28^th, and the wedding can take place at any time (so lets hear it for those of us that like to plan in advance!). Zach is based in Austin, TX and San Antonio, and travels to Houston and Dallas for a low (and negotiable) fee. So APW Texas? You’re welcome.

At this point, Zach has worked with a number of APW couples, and had this to say about why he loves you guys in particular, “Team Practical couples are so charming, original, savvy, and (needless to say) practical. One upcoming APW wedding I'm shooting will take place in rural Texas at a winery, while another involves photo shoots in a record shop and a grocery store before the reception. I get inspired thinking about the photographs that will come out of these weddings. It is a privilege to photograph APW weddings, and I can't wait for more.”

Which, of course, delights me. So ladies of Texas? Go browse Zachary Hunt Photography’s beautiful work, and then go make some art with him. I can’t wait to see what happens!

Posted in: Sponsored Posts | 11 Comments »

Jan 2011

Ask Team Practical: Wedding Dates

It's a brand new year, which means a lot of brand new engagements (Hi Leigh Ann, congratulations!), which means a lot of head space devoted to picking wedding dates. Earlier this week we talked about off-season weddings (because they save you so much money), and today we're talking about picking wedding dates, and the inevitable conflict that comes with the territory. It's hard to pick a wedding date that works for everyone, and it's not uncommon to find out that the date you were shooting for is a problem, in one way or another. When that happens, what do you do? Well, lucky for us, it's Ask Team Practical Friday, and Alyssa is here with her always sage (and hilarious) advice.

We talked before about starting to set dates, but what happens when you set a date and then you run into a snag with guests or your wedding party? That's what our brides Desiree and L. are facing.

Desiree writes:

My fiance and I finally decided on a date that worked for us. He is a touring musician and he leaves at the beginning of July so we decided on June 11th to give us some reconnecting and set up time before the wedding and to give us some marital bliss time before he's off again. Plus, I really like the number 11. I feel like the number looks like two people standing side by side. (I know that is cheesy). [Editors Note: Is not.]

Anyway, I told my Maid of Honor (who is my closest friend for 20yrs) our date. She said that her daughter's last day of school is on the 10th so it might be a little tricky but she could make it work. Her situation is amplified by the fact that she is moving at the end of June so she is worried about being there for her 7 yr old daughter on her last day with her friends. But she assured me she could make it work.

So my fiance and I continued to tell people via word of mouth our date. And as time went on and I talked to her about the wedding she would gently bring up her concern over not making it to the rehearsal dinner. I told her that I understood if she couldn't make it and that being there the day of was enough.

Well, we are only 5 months away from the wedding date and she tells me that her daughter's recital is the day after my wedding which is going to make it even more difficult for her to be there for me. She also said that if there was any flexibility on the date she would be so happy because she really wants to be there for me.

I understand and empathize with her situation. She is a great friend and I know she wants to be there and she even said she would fly out for just the day. I want her to be there too but it isn't very realistic. Unless we change the date.... Do we change our date?

If we don't change it I am afraid I will be sad she isn't there and I squelched her opportunity to be. Am I being a bad friend and selfish if we do have the opportunity and we still don't change the date? I am already tired of having to consider and juggle so many outside factors to do something so personal as get married. It is reeeaalllyy stressing me OUT and making me a little bitter! HELP PLEASE!

L has a similar situation:

I am of the "pre-engaged" set, my guy and I have been dating for 4 years and my ring is being made right now and I am just (im)patiently waiting for it. I've already bought my dress. [Editors Note: Babydoll, you know you're getting married and you've bought a dress? You're engaged. You're just waiting for a ring. Own it.] We've picked a venue and we were really hoping to have our wedding 9/15/12. It's a good time for an outdoor wedding where we live, and our anniversary is the 15th of June, his parents is the 15th of December, and my birthday is the 15th of August. Just an all around great number. Anyway, none of our friends know about any of this.

One of his close friends got engaged this past fall and we found out last night that they are hoping to get married 9/8/12. No date has been set yet, but that's the date they're looking to book. Out of allllll the dates in a 2 year span, that's the one they picked. I'm really, really bummed. I acted like a baby and started crying when I found out. I don't know what to do. I wouldn't mind not having it the 15th -- I'd be OK with the following couple weeks but the further we push it, it will get colder and colder and then our lovely outdoor wedding will not be fun/we'd have to spend more money on heat lamps. But isn't the entire month of September "out" now, anyway? Their wedding will be a car ride away/night in hotel and so will ours (for all our mutual friends -- probably 8 friends total). And I don't want to "steal their thunder" especially since they got engaged first [Editors note: Again? They went public with their engagement first is all. We're splitting hairs here.] We can't really say anything to them about it, especially since we're "not engaged" and I don't want to seem like a b*tch. I'm just so bummed. What would you do?

Ok, all: say it with me. You should only change your date if it benefits you or your partner first, and everyone else second. And by everyone else, I mostly mean your parents. Period. The End. Fin.

Okay, first, go read this post on how your wedding is not an imposition.

Done? Good. Now you have to believe it. Continue reading Ask Team Practical: Wedding Dates

Posted in: Ask Meg, Planning, Planning | 190 Comments »

Jan 2011

How To: DIY Your Wedding Decorations

When we re-launched the APW How-To series, I told y'all that my goal was to create a Lazy Girl's Guide To Making Sh*t. No overly intensive DIY tutorials here, just a simple over-view of the project, and common sense plan for getting it done, should you choose to attempt it. Well, I should have know that Lauren, she of Suburbalicious, and she of getting married the same day as we did, would create the best lazy girl's guide of all. Here is here tale of tackling decorations: first pick a place you don't need to decorate much, and second make paper flowers. Wheee! Also? Funny. Here we go:

How to DIY your reception decorations. On the cheap.

Step 1. Pick a reception site that doesn’t really need to be decorated. This could be the first and last step if you find a great place. We decided on a bar/restaurant in downtown Boston with floor-to-ceiling windows, red drapes, and couches and lounge chairs in the main space. It was pretty, but I wanted something to distract from the ugly drop ceiling and the bizarre fish tank in the middle of the room. I did not, however, want to spend any money on it. Enter: paper flowers.

Step 2. Email the delightful Kimi for directions on how to make the gorgeous paper flowers that she had at every place setting at her wedding. Attempt to make equally pretty ones and fail. Miserably.

Step 3. Look up incredibly simple Mexican paper flower instructions online. Remember that when you were little and would go to Disney World, you always wanted to buy a giant paper flower that they sold outside of Pirates of the Caribbean. Your mother, every time, waved her had dismissively and said “No way. We could make that ourselves.” But she never did. Decide that making hundreds of paper flowers for your wedding is the perfect payback for this. Continue reading How To: DIY Your Wedding Decorations

Posted in: How To | 69 Comments »

Jan 2011

Altitude Design Summit 2011

{picture from the Alt Summit Flickr stream}

So, as you guys know, last week the whole APW team went to the Altitude Design Summit. It was my first official blogging conference (Mighty Summit was more of a retreat), and my first official business trip (when I worked in Theatre, I lived in New York. No one really traveled for work). Oh, and I did this important thing while I was there: I spoke on a panel.

I'm trying to figure how to sum up the whole experience for you, which lives in my mind as a flurry of glitter and balloons, business cards and not enough sleep. Here is my stab at it.

{Picture by APW Assistant Editor Lauren}

First, I spoke. I'm not big on making my life list and Mondo Beyondo goals public (practices I've been doing for the last five or six years), but at the end of Mighty Summit we all committed to try to make five things happen for ourselves this year. Oddly, for me the scariest thing was trying to speak at a conference. Working for myself managing a creative business full time? I figured I had that. But getting asked to speak at a conference? That seemed insurmountable.

Well. I got asked to speak at Alt on the subject of Growing Your Community. And if there is anything I know a little about, thanks to APW, it's community. My slides were filled with so many pictures of you ladies grinning at the camera during book clubs and sisterhood of the traveling dress handoffs, that I had to explain that the pictures were not stock photos... they were my real readers who were really friends in real life. Suffice to say, you guys blew the crowd away.

{Picture by APW Assistant Editor Lauren}

So there I was, speaking at my first ever conference. And because the universe has a sense of humor, I somehow ended up being on the first panel on the first day. Well, actually, I was the first speaker on the first panel on the first day, but that is because I have an under-developed sense of fear, and volunteered to go first, before I really thought it through.

So I spoke. And people took notes like crazy, and didn't laugh at all (which made me nervous, as someone used to doing comedy), and came up and complimented me on my talk afterward. Which made me feel useful and informative, which was lovely. But mostly? I checked that sucker off my life list. Rad.

{Picture by APW Assistant Editor Lauren}

But far more to the point, I met amazing people. I spoke with amazing people. And that, of course, was the whole point of the trip. I was blown away (again) by the generosity of the blogging community. As Lauren realized during Alt, blogging is a business, and it's not all sunshine and roses. There are power dynamics and there is competition, and there is money to be made. But what I was struck by again on this trip is the fact that for every person that tries to tear you down, there are four other women ready to lift you up. And there are people (like my panel moderator, Sarah Bryden Brown, from Babble) who will see a spark in you, and invest time in showing you the ropes. And when that happens? That's a pretty amazing gift (Thank you Sarah, I'll remember that for a long time).

So what did I take away from Alt Summit? Continue reading Altitude Design Summit 2011

Posted in: Entrepreneurship, Life, Meg's Thoughts, Personal Thoughts | 100 Comments »

Jan 2011

Sponsored Post: Lauren McGlynn Photography in the UK

I'm delighted to get to talk about a long time and awesome APW sponsor - Lauren McGlynn Photography in the UK. Lauren has been a sponsor of APW for a year, but in that year alone, I've seen her work change and grow. I can only imagine what *this years* wedding pictures are going to look like, but I know for a fact she's under charging.

How do I know? Well, because I get to announce Lauren's APW wedding package, which is good for bookings for the next four weeks (so get on that UK and EU!) This offer is good for any wedding in 2011, and expires on February 21, 2011.

APW Package
Up to 8 hours of wedding day coverage
DVD with 200 high-resolution individually retouched images
DVD with all of the additional unprocessed images from your wedding day
Password protected image gallery
Personal use license for all images
No travel fees for weddings in the UK (travel in the EU for roughly £300)

£800

But Lauren McGlynn Photography is way more than a great APW wedding deal, and beautiful pictures. Lauren is the whole package. She's got the APW ethos through and through, and you guys will love her for it. This is what Lauren told me about why she loves working with APW-ers, and believes in the Team Practical philosophy:

I encounter a lot of wedding media that, while trying to provide inspiration, can make people (especially women) feel a lot of pressure: pressure to have the perfect details, pressure to look perfect, pressure to spend a lot of money. At the same time it implies that women should not get overly emotional or anxious about their weddings for fear of being labeled a 'zilla. I love APW because it switches the focus from perfection, to being thoughtful about the meaning that your wedding holds, and the impact that it will have on you, your partner and the people in your community. I am absolutely on board with that message.

However, I am also on board with the side of APW that says that it's okay to show that you care about your wedding. I get so many e-mails from clients asking me lots of questions, or sending me a long list of details about their big day, and inevitably they wind up saying something like: "I'm sorry if I'm being a bridezilla, but..." and it always makes me sad. Why should a woman feel like she's turning into a monster just because she cares about her wedding, or because she feels stressed out or anxious, especially when she feels the weight of everyone's expectations and all that pressure to be perfect? I think it's good to care a lot about your wedding, and it's okay to show that you're upset on your wedding day if you're feeling really stressed out.

I know that other APW photographers have already said this, but I have also found that for me a big part of being a wedding photographer is not just taking pictures, but also offering encouragement and being supportive in the time leading up to a wedding, and especially on the wedding day [Editors note: THIS. This is what you should be looking for when you hire your photographer.] I try to approach every wedding that I photograph with compassion, empathy, and a sense of humor. That is how I make people feel comfortable, that is what helps me to handle other people's stress, and that is how I find the images that I capture.

So Team Practical UK? Lauren will travel from Scotland (she just moved to Scotland from Austin, TX, brave woman that she is) to wherever you are for FREE. And she'll get you, and you'll want to hang out for hours and get drinks, and then she'll take beautiful, dreamy pictures (and you'll be able to afford it!) Team Practical EU? Lauren's travel costs are so affordable, that you've totally got this.

So go, browse, book her, and then send me pictures. Oh. And. Did I mention her photo-shoot by a castle in Scotland? Yeah. You're going to want to check that out.

Posted in: Sponsored Posts | 18 Comments »

Archive for January, 2011

Friends