Weddingbee PRO
I have been seeing these luxury tent locations popping up all over the place. I can't help but think what an amazing wedding location one of these would be. Having all the guests stay at the property -a very unique destination wedding! This first place I stumbled upon over at the amazing Wide Open Spaces blog. Clayoquot Wildnerness Retreat looks absolutely amazing! From gourmet food, to plush tents and fun outdoor spaces that I can already see the cocktail hour happening at…
Jerry is off to another workshop, this time in Kansas! This leaves me no choice but to do sneaky pranks on his tooth paste and shoes. 
Jerry and Aubrey shot Wency and Steve's wedding together. Two awesome first shooters, a ridiculous lovely couple, their super cool friends and family and DJ lights! Oh yeah, Jerry caught the bouquet! And by caught, I mean the bouquet fell directly into his lap.
I'm huge fan of the neckties from Cyberoptix Tie Lab (they are one of my favorite gifts to give). They are elegant and a little subversive -perfect for a young professional who wants to stand out a bit in the job search. Professor Lasertron always complains about how men have it harder in the fashion arena, because they have fewer options, but luckily Cyberoptix makes the neckwear choice a little easier.
I found Cyberoptix's photostream on Flickr, and I've been having so much fun looking through it today. There are some very creative color combinations!
In my previous post on skincare, I stated that there is no easy fix to great skin, and my opinion is that the best thing you can do for your skin is to exercise, wear sunblock and eat well. And of course, you want to cleanse, gently exfoliate and hydrate your skin.
Take the money you would’ve spent on pricey skin care products and put it towards a gym membership and great sunblock. Instead of spending time and energy on “miracle cures”, spend that time designing a lifestyle that incorporates activity and nutrient dense foods. Treat yourself to a wonderful facial as your reward for protecting your skin. Eat vegetables and healthy oils. Your skin is alive and needs nutrients to look healthy. Treat your health like a savings account. You put a little in every day and even though you don't see a big change right away, in 10 years you will be really glad that you did.
I'm 41 years old, and I am very happy that for the last 25 years I have forced myself off of the couch to exercise, and I embraced my skin color (fair) and use self tanner when necessary. Most of us will spend much more time over 35 years old than under, so we need to change to long term thinking instead of short term.
Okay, I am going to get off of my soapbox and share with you some of my local favorites for my plan of attack.
From Anne's intern Alexis
I don't know about you, but I definitely have a love-hate relationship with my speedlight. I'll use it if I have to, but most of the time I'll go to extreme lengths to avoid pulling it out of my camera bag. Probably 90% of the time it makes a better paperweight than it does a piece of camera equipment.
Anne showed me a nifty trick last week that will tip the scales more toward the “love” part of the equation. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I'll post a few by way of demonstration. You definitely have to see it to appreciate it (that, plus the fact that I don't really feel like writing a 3,000 word blog entry. I'm sure you appreciate THAT, too.
Just to preface this, I was shooting at f/4.5 at 1/50s (manual mode). My speedlight was set to E-TTL, with no light modifiers on it.
Exhibit A: Neo (yes, named after the Matrix) relaxing on an unseasonably warm spring evening. The flash is on-camera, pointed straight at him. The verdict? EW. Ew ew ew. Nasty shadows, cold, harsh light…just…ick. We can do better.
So, all the votes are in for the amusement park theme ring pillow, and #1 is clearly the winner! This was also Miss Popcorn's choice when I sent her the sketches. She got back to me with an answer right away. I showed it to my husband and mother-in-law Barbara, and they also picked #1. My husband actually helped me narrow it down to the two drawings from a group I had. It's great to have a second set of eyes at home other than my own when doing creative work. I can get too critical, and/or I start going in circles -he is a huge help.
When I shared my ideas for fun eco-friendly wedding favors a while back, I was excited to get some great feedback, including an email from our designer, Beth Ann, when she saw the post. Beth Ann worked with one of our Bella Figura brides, Stewart, a while back on letterpress favor tags to include with the tree saplings they were giving as favors at their wedding. Stewart was delighted to share a photo of her favors with Weddingbee readers, and shared with me the wonderful inspiration behind their fabulous wedding favors.
I thought I’d share some details behind the Modern Bride photoshoot!
Remember how I did redid my workspace back in January? It was this photoshoot that was the impetus! When they said they wanted to shoot in the apartment that I just moved into, I knew I had to get cracking. Kim of Inspired Goodness (aka SIL Cupcake) did a fabulous job revamping my workspace!
We’re very excited to welcome another member to the Weddingbee PRO family, New Jersey based officiant Jessie Blum! She has tons of amazing tips on everything ceremony related from music to readings to interfaith ceremonies! Here is the gal of the hour to tell you a little bit about herself. 
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Hi! I’m Jessie Blum and I’m a celebrant and wedding officiant. That means that I write and officiate at completely original wedding ceremonies for my couples. I work closely with the bride and groom - incorporating stories of their relationship, any traditions or rituals to honor their backgrounds, readings, poetry, and all of that fun stuff into what becomes a wedding ceremony that is just perfect for them!
The story of how this all got started is kind of strange. When we were in college, my best friend asked me to officiate her wedding - honestly, we don’t know how it came up (we were both always wedding obsessed, so the topic wasn’t too strange), or how we decided on it, but I said sure, and that was that. The only other part of the conversation I remember was us deciding that, if I was her officiant, I would wear “multi-colored robes,” whatever that means.
Fast forward four years and her boyfriend proposes! And then she reminds me that I’m not going to be her Maid of Honor - I’m going to be her officiant!
Of course, it made sense - I had been there for their entire relationship, and though they were both culturally religious, neither was really practicing. They had a bunch of different traditional elements they knew they wanted to include (Lutheran ring vows, the Jewish chuppah, yichud, ketubah, & seven blessings, a handfasting).
Read more…
We love Aubrey and Blake. Some of you have already met them- they are our STELLAR associate photographers. We absolutely love their work, and we love their personalities. There is so much to say about these two but these photos will have to do for now. For my birthday, these two rascals stuck googly-eyes on all our plants, which was both eerie and hilarious…I'll have to show pictures later.
You can see some of Aubrey's portfolio here.
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