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: Overheard at our wedding...

I think it's funny that it's probably been five or six months since I did a wedding recap but I still had about 3 or 4 in my scheduled posts that I never did publish.   So I thought I would share some of the little things and conversations I heard from some guests at our wedding with you all. 
A conversation between my cousin, Mike & my sister and I:

Mike:  Stacey, you hit a grand slam!  I swear, this is like *THE* best wedding I've ever been to.  All of it - so much fun!
My sister:  And what the heck was my wedding?  Chopped liver?!?

An e-mail from my friend Shelley about her husband, Pat:

Pat was just telling our friend about your wedding yesterday and he said, “It was the best wedding I’ve ever been to.”  Wow, you’d think his own wedding would have been the best…right?

From my mother-in-law:

Stacey, you outdid yourself.  Everything is just beautiful.  It's so wonderful.  We are having such a great time.

And just for fun, though I am not usually a huge fan of this, our videographer went around to the guests' tables asking them if they'd like to say anything on camera to the bride and groom.  Here's a little video sharing some of the more personal and specific messages:

Thanks to Gary of Video Keepsakes of Beverly Hills for this footage!


Share time:  What was one (or some) of the best things you heard or that was said to you at your wedding?

Wed Recap: Family drama

It happens at many weddings...the unfortunate drama that unfolds (usually because of family issues) during the event.  It's truly so sad and frustrating that people can't put aside their differences, or even better, get over themselves during someone's most special wedding day event. 

At my sister's wedding there was a little drama but not much.  One of our Aunts flipped out because as my sister and her hubby were wandering around the guests' dinner tables to greet everyone, they suddenly ran out of time about halfway through.  The photographer was going to be leaving and needed the bride and groom to get on with the cake cutting and bouquet/garter toss.  Since my sister didn't get to talk to our Aunt at her table and it just so happened that we pulled the bride away as she was approaching their table, my Aunt started totally crying and yelling at me for not letting her talk to her.  It was so silly but that's what happens when you add alcohol. 

Then my sister got a little upset later that night when her new hubby's ex-girlfriend shared a cab with her her new mother-in-law to the after party.  It was already a huge selfless act that my sister was even willing to allow the ex-girlfriend to attend the event (which she didn't want to do), but to find out that her MIL offered her cab to the after party to her was just ridiculous!

Thankfully, there was no drama at our big event.  We didn't wander the tables and I made sure to go greet my Aunt so there were no disappointments. 

The only two things I heard about which irritated me on the day after the wedding were that one of Mr Fix It's brothers got into a little spat with him because his brother was yelling at his son about spending too much time in the photobooth.  The kids loved that thing and they were in and out of it all night.  Mr Fix It's nephew was in there a lot and rather than just telling him to get out and wait until everyone else had had a turn inside, his dad decided to make him sit at their dinner table for almost an hour!  That was not necessary and Mr Fix It was pretty pissed when he heard about it.  He told his brother to calm down and not be such a dictator...the kid was just having fun.

Then my sister told me that one of my other Aunts came up to her at the cocktail hour and gave her a hard time about what a horrible job she did bustling my dress.  If you remember from this post, we were rushing my poor sis and I knew I was about to take my gown off to change right after the cocktail hour so I told her not to worry if it wasn't perfect and part of the dress was dragging on the ground.  So not a big deal to me at all but it did bother me that my Aunt felt the need to ridicule my sister about it.  So not cool and so not necessary.  My sister told her that it was the bride's own decision to leave it like that and my Aunt told her she shouldn't have let me walk out into the cocktail area until it was fixed.

People are so silly about what they get hung up on...it really befuddles me.  :)

Share Time:  Did you have any drama (or are you concerned about any potentail drama) at your wedding day?

Wed Recap: Who ARE these people?!?

Today I thought I would take a moment to share some of the photos we have of our many fun and loving guests from our wedding.  So this is a simple recap post in honor of them - with some fun little details or info about each one  :)

Mom, Cousin Amber, Uncle John and Aunt Sue

Aunt Sue flew in from Idaho for the wedding.  My Aunt Kathy (Amber's mom) and my Aunt Sue both were taken in by my grandma when they were days old.  My grandma was a foster parent and raised these 2 girls as her own daughters for almost their entire life.  That's just the kind of person my sweet grandma was.  She couldn't make it to our wedding due to being placed on hospice care and passed away just 3 months after our wedding, but this photo is a testament to the type of woman she was and the family that she raised regardless of blood line.  I am so blessed to have these ladies in my life!

My dad, daughter and mom

Dad flew in from Houston with his wife.  I rarely ever get to see him so it's very cool to have this photo of my daughter with her grandpa and grandma.

My niece (sister's daughter) and my 2nd cousin (flowergirl Tatum)

I love this photo.  It looks like my little niece Analeigh is looking up at her little cousin...maybe she's aspiring to be a flower girl herself one day?

My cousin Amber and her husband, Jimmy (the Greek)

I love that Amber is taking this photo of them.  She was my rescue lady on the wedding day as she took lots of personal photos of the details of the day and got the only shot of me and my mom together!

My Aunt Sylvia (Uncle John's wife), cousin Erin and her hubby, my cousin Mike

Erin is my cousin by marriage...and when I asked her to be in my wedding on Christmas Eve, 2008 she literally started crying.  I adore her!  I was so honored to have her in my wedding...their daughter, Tatum was our flower girl and their son, Chase handed out our programs for us.

Cousin Amber, Aunt Sue and cousin Sarah (Aunt Sue's daughter)

Sarah flew in from Redding where she just graduated from college to come to the wedding.  Her brother, Tyler (my cousin who lives in Seattle and couldn't make it) is going to be a huge star one day!  I am telling you, the kid is all kinds of talented with singing and acting and has a BIG personality.  He already has some YouTube videos out and has also starred in several local community plays and such.

My 2nd cousin, Dimitri (Amber and Jimmy's son)

This kid was a total ham on the wedding day!  I mean just look at this photo!  And he also made us laugh with lots of photos in our photobooth, too.

Mr Fix It's sister, Christy, her hubby, Bill and their son, Caden.

Caden was a ring bearer (the youngest one) and did a great job!  They came in from Sacramento for the wedding and Christy is the only girl and youngest of the 5 children in Mr Fix It's family.

More extended family with my mom.

These sisters, Gemma and Omega and their dad's girlfriend, Rose are friends of the family.  Their dad, Robbie, was the son of my grandma's best friend and was raised like a cousin to all of my older cousins.

My cousin, Kyle and his girlfriend, Kate

Kyle and his brother, Blake are huge basketball players.  Kyle is about to head off to the University of San Francisco (where his brother just graduated from). 

My cousin, Heather (Kyle's sister) and her hubby, Myka and their daughter, Brooke

I adore this photo.  Heather is another one who took lots of photos for us at the wedding but some of my faves are the ones of her little girl.  She hammed it up in the photobooth, scarfed down the blue chocolate from our fountain and partied it up on the dance floor with my niece.  Such the life of the party!

My beautiful cousin, Jane and her daughter, Jenna

One of my fave photobooth photos came from these 2 who pretended they were afraid of the afro wig.

4 of the 6 girls in my bible study small group I lead.

Sean and Melody, Seth and Suzanna (who got married the weekend after us), Danny and Kristin and Jeff and Laura.  The three on the left are now married and the one on the right is currently ring shopping! :)

These girls have been a weekly part of my life for almost 5 years now.  They are beautiful, talented and God loving ladies that truly made our wedding day so special by livening up the dance floor!  Kristin sent me a text message the night of the wedding after we left that said:  "We had so much fun at your wedding.  We partied hard for you guys and can't wait to see you after the honeymoon!  You get to have sex tonight!!!"

All 6 of the lovely girls together:

Kristin, Mercedes (who just got married in June), Melody, Suzanna, Laura and Jen

Jen is the only single lady but I don't think that'll last long.  And Melody and Kristin are now about 25 years old...I first met them when they were my daughter's age!  So scary to watch them grow through high school, college, careers and now marriage!

Andy and Mercedes

They had the super fun country wedding I blogged about in Cayucos

Mr Fix It and his friend, Cordell Miller

If you are a surfer, you may know Cordell's name as he makes some popular surfboards here in So Cal.  I even had a friend come up to me at the wedding and ask "Is that Cordell Miller over there!?!"  So silly.

Mr Fix It, his friend Reed, Groomsmen Jerry and Jerry's girlfriend, Cynthia

So Reed is the one who stayed at our house during our honeymoon and had to tell us that our doggie had passed away.  He was so amazing in taking care of everything for us! 

Jill and Sydney

Sydney was one of the only non-family younger aged guests we allowed at our wedding.  Her parents have been friends of ours for like 10 years through our daughter's playing softball together and she is one of my daughter's very good friends.  (Sorry it's a blurry pic)

My niece and nephew, my brother-in-law and his mother, Kaye

Kaye was so sweet to come and help my brother-in-law take care of the 2 kids at our wedding since my sister was so wrapped up in acting as the MOH.  Once dinner was over, Kaye took the kiddos home so my bro-in-law could party it up a little longer with my sister.

Jake, Jay, Kelly and Brooke

Kelly is my daughter's Aunt on her father's side.  My daughter's father, his mother, his brother, and his 2 sisters and their significant others/children all attended our wedding.  We are very blessed to have a large family surrounding my daughter and her dad and I work together very well to be an equally influential part of her upbringing and caregiving.

Kathleen, Frank and their kids, Kate and Wyatt

These were the other young non family children that we allowed at the wedding.  This family has been some of Mr Fix It's best friends for many years and they came from San Jose for the wedding.   We loved having them and their kids there and the kids had a blast with all that we had planned for them!

My new neighbors from Mr Fix It's street, Bob and Joan

We had about 6 of the couples that live on our small cul-de-sac street at our wedding.  It was so cool to have them there as I don't know all of them that well yet.

By Robert Mullins

Dana and Joe

Joe used to work for Mr Fix It...he's a good friend of his and they are a super cute couple!

By Robert Mullins

Groomsmen, Keith (Mr Fix It's brother), his wife, Jackie and GM Todd (Mr Fix It's best friend)

I love these type of photos that show the guests truly laughing and enjoying themselves!

By Robert Mullins

My 2nd cousins Adam and Ellissa

They came all the way from Tennessee to make our wedding.  I was bummed that their dad, my cousin, Johnny and his family couldn't make it out as well.

Mr Fix It's friend, Sam and his girlfriend, Suzy

Sam and Mr Fix It met surfing but Sam is also a doctor, so now he's our family doctor :)  It's good to have people in these places.  He prescribed us some helpful anti biotics and sleeping pills for our honeymoon.

More new neighbors, Natalie and Debbie

These ladies are *PAR-TEE-ERS*!  They were on the dance floor all damn night long!

Wed Recap: The little ones...

One thing we knew for sure was that there would be lots of kids at our wedding.  Out of a guest list of about 190 people in attendance, at least 15 to 20 of those were kids ranging from 6 months to 16 years in age. 

Our 2 little nephew ring bearers hanging out pre-ceremony

By Grant Sharp

Now everyone knows how hard it is to keep kids entertained at a wedding, at least during the ceremony portion.  So I had lots of ideas to keep them busy and active.  And it had to start with our four ring bearers (3 of which were Mr Fix It's nephews and 1 was my nephew) and our flower girl (my little cousin). 

Our Junior Groomsmen (nephew) keeping some of the ring bearers entertained

Besides the favor boxes that were specific to the younger aged children that I blogged about here, and the little kids corner area that we set up with portable DVD players, lollipops, craft kits, coloring books and two paid babysitters, we had a few things that I didn't share previously.  Oh, and that kids corner with the babysitters?   Yeah, there were at least a couple kids in that room the entire night!  So it was definitely a good idea and money well spent!

Of course, the kids had fun with the ribbon wands that we left on the ceremony chairs for all the guests to wave as we walked back down the aisle:

By Kathleen Wolsfeld

And they loved the flashing sunglasses and mouthguards that we gave them for the reception (though the flashing didn't really show up well in these pictures)

By Kathleen Wolsfeld

By Chad Beever

A big hit were the table top bowling pin sets.  And the older ones danced the night away.

You can imagine how many fun shots the younger ones took in the photobooth (there were at least SIXTY photo strips of my flower girl, junior groomsmen and younger cousins alone in the booth!).

They adored the chocolate fountain...Yum!

By Heather Hughes

And these two would not stop bothering our magician...he was so great with them!

My sister said my little 3 year old nephew is still playing with his favor box toys even today four months later!  But probably the best investment I made for the ring bearers was for the ceremony portion of our day.  When they made their way to the end of the aisle as seen here:

A little bribery goes a long way:

I told their mothers that they could just gather them in the front row to sit down so they didn't have to stand on the altar for a good 45 minutes to an hour.  And waiting on their chairs in the front row, I had these little goodies:

Silent and yummy and entertaining!

I got these little mini travel sized magna doodles at Target for like $10 each and they kept the boys busy during the ceremony.  And you can't go wrong with a sucker!  Especially the ones that last for hours.

By Grant Sharp

But for some reason, my sister's in-laws felt the need to also have a bag of Reese's Pieces waiting for my little nephew.  That was something we had not planned on and right at the beginning of the ceremony he dropped the bag and the little candies spilled everywhere in the front and into the aisle.   Now I did not see them as they tried to quickly pick them up but apparently several of the wedding party and family members at the front of the altar saw all this go down and started laughing thinking it was just hilarious.  Good thing I had the sucker there for him so that he wasn't in tears about losing all of his candies!

And for added convenience for the guests with the youngest kids...these precious babies:

I even had our rental company swap out 4 of the chivari chairs for highchairs....which my family profusely thanked us for!  And as a special treat for these super young ones who can't really play with toys, we gifted them these fun little personalized bibs:

By Heather Hughes

By Chad Beever

Share time:  Did you do anything different or special for the younger guests you invited or included in your wedding?

TODAY'S WEDDING TIP:  Read the above information.  I think it speaks for itself.  Be sure to have little things throughout your day available for little ones to be entertained and kept busy so they don't get bored - or loud!

Unless otherwise noted, all photos by Robert Mullins Photography
All raw video footage provided courtesty Video Keepsakes of Beverly Hills