Wed Recap: Videos and fun pages from our Guest Book

As I mentioned, I wanted to finish up the last 4 or so wedding recaps I had.  So you all know that the guest book was like one of the best parts of our wedding because it involved the photobooth.  I knew I wanted photos of every single guest (as many as we could collect) from our actual wedding day.  So we incorporated the idea of using a photobooth to offer a fun entertaining activity for the guests as well as an extra favor for them to remember our wedding by.  And the second set of photos that they took would be placed on a page from our guest book. 

Here's some video of some of the guests in the photobooth throughout the night:

Rather than using the typical scrapbook with blank pages for our guest book, I found a company called the Guestbook Store online and ordered a book and customized pages for our guests to complete.  The pages have a place for a 4 x 6 photo of the guests - perfect since that was the size our photobooth printed out.

Here are some of my favorite pages of our guest book.  (Please note that the pages are double sided but the photo only goes on one side)  :)

This couple color coded their answers so we would know which came from each of them :)

I love how Kristin even colored in the page in our wedding colors on this page:

I love how our neighbors mentioned the video from our ceremony with such enthusiasm:

I think the best 'real' advice I got from anyone was from Mr Fix It's mother who wrote the following:

I particularly liked that my aesthetician/masseuse wrote under "How do you know Stacey & John?" :  "I make Stacey feel good with my hands." 

And I thought it was pretty profound when one of Jordan's friends wrote under the 'advice' section 'Not to fight because it scares kids.'  :)

Share time:   What did/are you doing for your guest book?  Did you incorporate photos of the guests? 

TODAY'S WEDDING TIP:  If you incorporate a photobooth or guest book that may not be too self explanatory at your wedding, it's a good idea to put up a bunch of clear signs with instructions or even better, have an attendant to direct your guests on what to do and how to use the equipment. 

Wed Recap: Surprise! For the groom and the guests

I really wanted our wedding to be full of surprises for our guests and especially my groom - as much as he would let me surprise him.  :)  I wanted the guests to feel like they were at a sentimental and emotional wedding but also a really fun and entertaining one unlike your typical 'processed' weddings where it's the same expected thing after the same expected thing.

Some of the ways I tried to infuse this uniqueness and creative surprises were with little extra elements that didn't cost much at all and yet added something fun or different to the event.  So here they are:

I'm going to start off with the video today because believe me, you just have to see this first little surprise for my groom *LIVE* :)  Then after you can read about each thing and see the pics :)

1)  Of course, you all know about the one main thing I did at our ceremony that truly set our processional apart from anything else the guests had seen.  I incorporated a spoof of the E! THS as a video to precede my walk down the aisle.  I loved playing it at the ceremony instead of the reception as most montages are now played because it kept the guests all looking in the same place and gave them something to laugh at during what is typically a traditional and sometimes mundane part of the wedding celebration. 

2)  There was a great surprise for Mr Fix It during the processional as well.  I have eluded to the $14 sign I had created in our wedding colors from VistaPrint.com in the past.  Well, I saw a version of this idea on a blog while browsing for parasols for my bridesmaids and just had to do it!  We had our eldest ring bearer carry this fabulous little sign down the aisle.

By Robert Mullins

By Jeff Ezell

By Kristin Jepson

Unfortunately, the two ring bearers in front of him didn't walk quite as fast so he ended up getting real close to them to where it took a minute for Mr Fix It to truly be able to see what the sign said.  But once he and all the other guests got a glimpse of it, they had some great laughs as seen in these photos:

By Robert Mullins

Check out Mr Fix It's face when he sees the sign his nephew is carrying:

Photo courtesy Janet Campbell

I love all the guests laughing in this one :)

By Tanya Beever

By Robert Mullins

3)  For our recessional, I loved the photos I have seen of guests tossing flower petals at the bride and groom.  The shots are just gorgeous.  But I really wanted *ALL* of our guests to get in on the action and so when I saw this idea of 'ribbon wands' on another web site, I just had to incorporate it.  It was sort of inexpensive to make the wands.  I think it was $70 for about 100 of them.  I made one for every other guest and we placed them on the chairs at the ceremony.  Here you can see the guests holding them and playing with them pre-ceremony.

By Robert Mullins

By Robert Mullins

This little one was so in love with them that she collected a bunch during the cocktail hour and made them into pom poms :)  (By Kathleen Wolsfeld)

I was kind of bummed about how this was executed.  I wish I would have made enough for every single guest to have one.  And I should have actually attached a little tag on them letting them know when and how they should wave them because most of the guests either didn't wave them very high or out the aisle at us or they only waived them for a brief moment.  Therefore, we didn't get the great shot I was anticipating of us kissing at the end of the aisle with all these little ribbons flying over the guests heads :(  This was a fail type of idea...but had I done it better (listed it in the program or used tags), I think the guests would have gotten into it more.  Instead, here are the shots we got of a few of them waving around (as you can see, the video footage looked way better than these photos):

By Robert Mullins

By Roseanne Rivoli

 

By Robert Mullins

At least somebody had fun with them :)  Mr Fix It's little niece

By Robert Mullins

4)  And my favorite surprise for Mr Fix It and the guests at the reception was definitely the chocolate fountain.  When we first contacted our caterer, he let us know that they included a chocolate fountain with dippers like strawberries, bananas, marshmallows, pretzels, etc during your reception after dinner.  Well of course, I was not happy with just your typical chocolate fountain.  So I found a site online called http://fondue4you.com/   This place lets you buy different colored chocolate for your fountains.  And they had a wonderful Tiffany Blue color to match our wedding colors!

I mentioned to our caterer that I found the site and asked him to check and see if the cost of their chocolate was comparable to what he normally paid.  He said he would handle it no problem and didn't end up charging us anything extra.  Steve from La Finestra catering was very accommodating throughout the process and we loved working with him.  And look at all he put out (there's actually a lot more on the other side of the fountain)

Though when Mr Fix It heard me confirm the 'blue chocolate' order, he flipped out!  He was pissed that I had yet another 'stupid little detail' that was probably extra money and thought I was going way over on the wedding details.  Plus he kept insisting that colored chocolate was going to taste *horrible*!  Well, come wedding day when that chocolate fountain was all set up, he was eating his words...and the chocolate!  It was the most yummy-licious freaking chocolate I have ever tried before!  I didn't notice it was set up until the very end of the night and as soon as I made my way over there I was all over that thing...as were all the guests.  They raved about it!  I highly encourage you to order this stuff...soooo good!

Photos by Robert Mullins

We made sure all the guests knew about it by including it on the little place card notes we tucked into each guests' napkins.  We also had our DJ announce it after our first dance to let everyone know to go check it out.  It was set up right on the other side of the fire place in the alcove just off the dance floor so lots of people made there way over there.

All in all, these little extra details which didn't really cost much extra truly gave our guests some memorable things to be entertained by that they didn't see at just every other wedding.  Oh, and of course there were the other things like the magician, photobooth, and flip flops that they loved as well.  Lots of fun surprises.

Share time:  Do you plan on having any little surprises for your groom or guests on your wedding day?

Wed Recap: A thank you for your eyes, feet, mouth and hands

I had mentioned in many previous blog posts about the four, count 'em, FOUR different favors that we gifted our guests as a thank you for sharing our special day with us.

My thought process when coming up with our favors was a list of things I wanted to provide our family and friends...meaning, I didn't actually set out to have more than one favor at our event, but when I thought of all the other little things I wanted to do and incorporate, the guests ended up leaving with quite a bit :)

1)  Comfort
2)  Practicality
3)  Memory/Keepsake
4)  Sweets

1)  To keep our guests comfortable, we set out a basket of flip flops near the dance floor so they could kick off their heels to keep sore feet going.  I found this idea on my coordinator's web site and loved it.  At the end of the night, there were only 12 out of 72 pairs of flip flops left so this must have been a huge hit!

My sister made these adorable flip flop signs

2)  For practicality, we wanted to provide them something useful to remember our day and us by.  There was a favor box at each place setting that contained a small keychain. The keychain also doubled as a 5 foot tape measure...perfect for purses, glove boxes or junk drawers at home. And with the help of my creative sister, we designed a little sticker for the keychain that read "Love Beyond Measure". Get it? Measure? As in, like, the tape measure...cute, I know, right?

Personal Photo

The little favor box was a  dark red colored chinese take out box that had a tag on it that we made that read 'The Beever's Blessing - Numbers 6:24-26' This little passage reference was mentioned in my toast I gave and blogged about as our prayer for our guests.

Picture of the tables set up with the favor boxes but no silver or glassware yet

By RoseAnne Rivoli

3)  One of my absolute favorite favors of the night was incorporated into our guest book as well.  I wanted pictures of our guests as they looked on our wedding day in our guest book and so I was so excited when I discovered the idea of a photobooth to take some fun shots to place in the book as well as to print out a duplicate photo for the guests to take home and also remember the event.  Here were some of my favorite sets from the photobooth:

4)  And finally, a wedding favor almost never seems complete without some type of sweet involved.  Being the ever practical and multi-tasking bride I am, I loved the idea of doubling chair shaped favor boxes as escort cards and sweet favors.   I included cinnamon flavored red Jelly Belly Beans and Turquoise and Silver personalized M&M's in the escort card boxes for the guests. 

I didn't like the 'turquoise' color they sent me.  I wish I would have picked a pastel blue instead but I still loved these little personalized gems with our faces on them :)  And they were so yummy I was eating leftovers up until about a week or two ago!

Personal Photo

Here's the picture our photographer took of the escort card table after half the

 guests had already taken their boxes

I absolutely LOVED all of our favor ideas.  And the guests did, too from what I could tell and heard.  We incorporated our wedding colors and the graphic design from our invitations throughout all of these items.  Oh, and there's still one more favor box I'll have to share with you in a future recap about the kiddos :)

What were your favorite ideas or favors that you have received or given (will give) at a wedding or party?

TODAY'S WEDDING TIP:  Try to do something fun and unique and different for your guests as a favor.  You definitely do not need more than one favor as I had, heck, you don't need any if you don't want.  But it is nice to offer something.  You can handmake cookies or bookmarks, just about anything.  My keychains were only $1.15 each and the flip flops were only $1.25 each including S&H and tax.   You can even have a friend stand and take digital photos of your guests as they arrive, print them out at a cheap site like shutterfly.com or at a Costco and send them back with your thank you cards for your guests. 

EXTRA WEDDING TIP:  If possible, purchase and assemble favors as soon as possible.  I bought the keychains and the flip flops a good 6 to 8 months before the wedding and once I had a good idea of the guest count I assembled them in front of the tv and packed them up.  They were all finished a good three months before the big day.

Photobooth photos courtesy CheesyPhotoBooths
Unless otherwise indicated all other photos by Robert Mullins Photography

Wed Recap: Uh-oh...it's magic!!!

There was one thing that Mr Fix It did not fight me on when I told him that I wanted something extra special to entertain the guests during our cocktail hour:  a magician!  If you read my post back here, you can check out the story of how we came to find the amazing Jeff Ezell. 

Jeff did not disappoint on any level!  He showed up before our ceremony started and we quickly greeted him while we passed him taking photos.  He sat in the very back of the ceremony by the bridge and even provided over 30 photos on his iphone for me on Facebook!  And then as soon as the ceremony was over and he and the guests made their way upstairs poolside for cocktails, he went to work!

He wandered around the guests, amazing and bewildering them with card tricks, rubberband tricks and even a trick with Mr Fix It's wedding band!  I'll just let the video speak for itself and then share a few pics with you as well...you *HAVE* to see this!  And tell me if you see his slight of hand moves.

Today's video footage (courtesy of Video Keepsakes of Beverly Hills) is a bit longer than my previous recaps...but only because you have to see Jeff's amazing talents...and try to figure out how the heck he does this!!!

The amazing magician, himself

The kids were definitely loving him!

He gave us a deck of cards signed with his name and our wedding date...it was a keepsake that

had a few cards in it that guests had written their names on as you saw in the video.

But I think Mr Fix It was most impressed with him.  As a matter of fact, he kept pulling him aside to do tricks for his own family and friends!  So much so, that by the end of the night, my mom, sister and some friends said they never even saw him!  But oh no, Mr Fix It made sure he made his way to *ALL* of *HIS* friends and family!  Twerp! 

I love Mr Fix It's reaction in these next few shots!

All above pictures by Robert Mullins Photography

Jeff did such an amazing job, that we asked him to stay during dinner and walk the tables while guests were waiting to be released for the buffet as well.  He did this for a very minimal extra fee.  We were so thankful!

He was more than accommodating and a wonderful vendor to work with - probably our favorite!

All above pictures provided by Roseanne Rivoli

TODAY'S WEDDING TIP:  Find a way to do something different during your cocktail hour if you can.  It can be playing a montage video of photos of the bride and groom or having a photobooth or a game table set up.  You can hire live musicians to walk around serenading guests or even those live moving tables to serve your appetizers on.  I knew I wanted our guests to be entertained throughout the event.  I wanted them to be kept busy and eating and having fun.  Those who saw the strolling magician raved about him and it was definitely a highlight and hit of our event that I was so excited about.