Dear Engaged or Recently Married Couple-
You spend all that money on a photographer, and then, sadly, after the wedding you get a CD maybe, or your pics are posted on a website. Maybe the photographer presents you with a beautiful photograph album. At the next family gathering, you and your beloved , and your closest relatives, gather round the computer, the ipad, or the album, and you study each pic. You remember fondly the hubbub just before the wedding—when a seam in Celia’s bridesmaid’s dress gave way and you had to quick find a safety pin. There she is in one of the photos, posing at an angle so the popped seam won’t show. You and everyone else sheds a tear when they see the pic of Uncle Jim. Remember the toast he offered at the wedding reception? Who knew he could wax eloquent? But by the NEXT family gathering, a year and a half later, everyone has moved on. Maybe by this point there is even a little one on the way, and family conversation revolves around pregnancies, and newborns. Toward the end of the holiday, someone asks you, “What did you do with all those lovely wedding pictures?” You pretend not to hear.
The answer is, “Nothing.” The album is in a box somewhere in the attic. You never got around to unpacking everything after the move. Or, the pics are on that CD—in a desk drawer. You meant to get some of the pics framed, but it just never happened. You promise yourself you WILL—one day….
Please don’t let that happen! You paid too much money, and the photographer worked too hard for them to be hidden away from view. And probably, I’m just saying, you looked your very best on your wedding day—all clean, pressed and coiffed. As the years go by, don’t you want to remember how stunningly beautiful/handsome you were (and hopefully, can be again!) ? Finally, isn’t this the day you want to return to every so often—to remember how it all began?
1) The photograph album. If you didn’t order one from the photographer, here’s your opportunity to pick out your favorites and put them together between two covers. One on-line site I visited, allows you to pick photos and text. Your text might be your vows,or part of a reading from your wedding service. Maybe it’s something memorable that someone said at the reception—again, Uncle Jim. Within days, your album is at your doorstep. The site to go to is http://www.mixbook.com/wedding-photo-books. What a wonderful display for your coffee table for years to come!
2) Pictures for your home. Why NOT display your wedding pictures on a fireplace mantle, a prominent wall, as a collage or pics , on your nightstand, at your desk. Note the wall display one newly married couple has created in their living room. How nice!
Turn your wedding photos into wall displays, gifts or cards.
3) As gifts. Wouldn’t Grandma and Grandpa love a framed photo of the two of you for a Christmas present; or wouldn’t Mom and Dad appreciate a pic as a bread-and-butter gift when you come to visit? I guarantee THOSE pics won’t end up in a closet or a drawer!
4) As cards. I officiated at the elopement of an older couple several years ago. It was an intimate affair with only close family members present. The couple wasn’t sure how they would announce their marriage to friends, colleagues and more distant relatives. Then they hit on an idea. Why not have one of their wedding pics made into Christmas cards?
So again, please, please don’t hide those Wonderful memories. What to do with those wedding pictures?! Display them, gift them, send them. Give the world one more reason to smile.
Happy wedding planning, or after-wedding bliss!
Your Wedding Preacher for Hire
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