Workshop Wednesday: Planning Your Wedding Day Photography

This year, we’re so excited to have have so many great photographers at Wed By Hand to offer you advice for your wedding day.  Amna Hakim we will hosting one of our photography workshops and definitely has the talent and experience that you want to hear about.  She has been an Ottawa based photographer for 4 years, photographing a variety of lucky couples.  Amna finds the most common questions she gets from her brides are about how to plan their wedding day pictures with their photographer.  So, saving you time, and from stress, which in turn will get you the most from your money, Amna will be showing how to be completely prepared for your wedding day pictures.

Amna travels extensively for her work, and absolutely loves what she does, “I get to be a part of people’s lives at one of their happiest moments and I feel honoured to be able to preserve this for them.”  Amna’s photographs are colourful, dramatic and at times playful capturing the true essence of the emotions of the day.  

In Amna’s workshop you’ll learn the importance of planning your day with your photographer, and all the answers to your most important wedding day questions such as, how long the getting ready shots take, how long the portraits take, and how important is it to have an engagement shoot.  You’ll also have time to ask Amna for her expert opinion too, and I’m sure some of you have questions you’ve been dying to get answered.

With Amna’s experience, knowledge and friendly demeanor you’ll walk away with all the knowledge you need to hire a great photographer, perfectly suited to your needs.  As well as how to communicate with your photographer, prepare for your shoot and ask all the right questions, making the most of your wedding day photos.  

With countless engagement and wedding photos left from the big day, there are endless possibilities of what to create and what to do with them. Instead of letting them sit in a box and never re-live their true beauty we have brainstormed a few great ideas and picked out some DIY projects to help you get started on using your photos to their true potential. We have included some DIY tips and steps to create your own great projects with your own photos.


At the Wedding: Create a Guestbook with your Engagement Photos

What You'll Need:

+ 1/8-inch-thick acid-free paperboard
+ White glue, a special synthetic glue available from art stores or bookbinding suppliers
+ Four sheets of decorative or handmade paper and 20 sheets of white, ivory, or cream paper
+ 1/4 yard of bookbinding cloth
+ Two yards of strong ribbon that won't fray easily
+ Needle with a large eye
+ Hammer and four nails
+ Cutting board and metal ruler
+ Your favourite photos

1. Cut the 20 sheets of paper to fit your book's desired size (in this case, 11" x 15"). Your book can be as thick or thin as you like, depending on your taste and budget. I chose this size because it's half the size of the paper I bought, so I could just fold the sheets in half and cut along the fold.

2. Cut two pieces of paperboard for the book's front and back covers. Add 1/4 inch to the size you've chosen for the inner sheets (11 1/4" x 15 1/4" in our example). Then, cut a strip from each cover that measures about a fifth of the cover's width. This book is 15 1/4" wide, so I'll cut off a 2 1/2" or 3" strip. You now have two pieces of each cover. The two thin strips will be the binding strips, the area of the cover where the book is bound together.

3. Cut out two pieces of bookbinding cloth that are big enough to cover the binding strip and extend a couple of inches into the other piece of the cover, leaving one full inch all the way around to fold over. Our cloth measures 13 1/2" x 6 1/4."

4. Lay newspaper over your work area. Align the two pieces of board (binding strip and main board) spaced 1/4 inch apart. Glue the cloth to the board, making sure to leave 1/4 inch between the pieces and allow the one-inch border of extra cloth to hang over. Flip the glued board over, neatly fold over the cloth edges, and glue them down. (Tip: It helps to trim the corners for a neat fold.) Repeat this step for the back binding strip and cover.

5. Next, cut the paper for both book covers. The pieces should overlap the point where the bookbinding cloth ends by an inch; leave an inch on the other three sides for folding over (for our book, 11 3/4" x 13 1/2"). Glue the paper to the front of both covers, then fold it over and glue the one-inch edges to the inside. At this point, you have one side of both the front and back covers completed.

6. To make the inside of the covers neat, attach a sheet of decorative paper to hide the folds. Cut two pieces of paper (about 1/4 inch less than the size of the covers), and glue one piece into each cover.

7. Whew! You made it this far -- now it's time to put everything together. It's a nice touch to use a sheet of decorative paper for the first and last book pages. Gather the papers for your book and place them, like a sandwich, between the two covers. Make sure they are neatly arranged. Hammer four evenly distributed holes in the center of the front cover's binding strip. (Tip: Leave a nail in each hole to keep everything lined up.) Tightly thread ribbon, jute, or string through the holes, as simply or as elaborately as you like.

8. Now add your photos with double sided tape within your guest book. You can also add photo corners to add an extra special touch. These can be purchased at Walmart, Michaels or any scrapbooking store.

9. If you like, you can also buy pretty paper frames and put them around your photos or around the areas where you want your guests to write.

10. And you’re done!

Read more: DIY Reception Ideas: DIY Wedding Guest Books - TheKnot.com



With your Wedding Photos - Unique Photo Book

Photo books make great memories! If you order digital prints, use them to make one using these following sites. All you have to do is: Upload your photos, edit the content, and click order! They are often customizable to suit your needs, require almost no effort and are gorgeous.

Shutterfly
Mix Book
Walmart Photocentre



With your Wedding Photos - Thank You Cards

What You'll Need:

+ 8.5″x11″ Sage cardstock from Michael's or online at http://www.paper-source.com
+ 5×7 envelopes, also from Michael's or online at http://www.paper-source.com
+ Double-sided tape
+ MS PowerPoint (or Photoshop, inDesign or Illustrator)
+ Color printer

Instructions:

To create the collage:

1. Start by drawing a 5.5″x8.25″ white box in PowerPoint. To do this, go to “Insert –> Picture –> Autoshapes”. This should pull up the autoshape menu. Click on the button with the shapes, select the rectangle, and draw it on your slide.

2.Right-click and go to “Format Autoshape”, which takes you to various options that allow you to specify the size and color.

3. Once you have done this, insert your photos into MS PowerPoint by accessing the “Insert” menu and selecting “From File…” Select the files. This can get a little messy if your photos are very large. You may have to patiently find the corners of the photos and then resize each one so that you can see them all on one slide.

4. Once you have inserted all of your photos and can see them all, you can adjust the size of each image and arrange them inside the white rectangle as you prefer.

5. To insert text, go to “Insert –> Text Box”. Click somewhere outside your white box, and then type out the main message (which was just a simple “thank you” on the front in our case). Highlight the text, right-click, and select “Fonts”. Tip: Try to use a font that matched the one used on your invitations. Once you have chosen the color and sized the text appropriately, click on the edge of the text box and drag it to the location you want the text to appear.

6. At this point, everything on your collage should be in place. Click outside the white box, drag over everything, and let go. This selects every object on your slide. Right-click and go to “Grouping –> Group”. Then right-click again and select “Save as Picture”. Save it as a .jpg file.

7. The whole collage has now been turned into an image that you can edit and upload for printing. It can also be scaled for 4″x6″ photos. You can now bring your image to any print shop or upload them on their website. Tip: Try using a matte paper or even a paper with a linen finish for a fancier effect.

To create the backing:

1. Cut the card stock to the size of 9″ x 6.5″. Call around, you may be able to find a place that can cut the entire stack for you.

2. In PowerPoint, draw a 6.5″ tall and 9.0″ wide rectangle, in the same way as you did in steps 1-2 for the photo collage. Format the box (right-click on the box) and select “Format Autoshape” to have a clear fill and for the outline to be a dotted 0.25″ very light gray line.

3. Create the text using text boxes (see step 5 under the collages). Rotate the text boxes and arrange them as follows:
(photo 5)

4. Next, do a test print using regular white paper with you printer. This allows you to figure out how to feed your already-cut card stock into the printer.

Tip:
Check your printer for its settings, it’s possible that you may only have the option of inserting your pre-cut sheets flushed to one of the sides of the paper feeder. The test print may help you figure out that the box you draw on Powerpoint needs to be flushed to the other side of the slide (see image above).

5. After you’ve finished your test prints (hopefully it only takes you one try!), insert your pre-cut card stock into the printer and print however many copies you need!

6. And the last step, of course, is to mount the 4″x6″ photos on to the card stock, fold in half and write out your personal messages inside!

Tip: Try using Scotch’s double-sided photo safe permanent tape, it’s less expensive than mounting squares.

Remember, it’s more time consuming to write out your individual handwritten messages than it will be to make these cards, so make sure you allow enough time if you have a time frame in mind for sending out your thank you cards.

Written By Andrée and Heather, Wed By Hand Coordinators

Meet Our Vendors: Photography & Videography

This year at Wed by Hand we are featuring several lovely photographers all with their own unique style. Photography plays a huge role in how you can create, document and remember your big day. Without further ado I present to you our photographer roster!

AMBphoto by Anne-Marie Bouchard With ten years of photography experience, Anne-Marie decided in 2009 to start her own business. Working weddings gives her the opportunity to blend “all sorts of photography: landscapes, portraits, macro, high speed, candid, you name it – you get ALL this when you photograph a wedding.” All of these styles come together during the challenging, surprising and exciting event that is a wedding. Having worked in the business for many years has taught Anne-Marie the important lesson that “It’s ok to say no. I’m not the right fit for everyone and everyone is not the right fit for me.” This is because she understands how important it is to really build a relationship with the couple and be able to capture their magic. The days are long and the editing process can be longer but for Anne-Marie one of the best parts of shooting weddings is getting to know the couple, hearing how they first met, and watching them to fall in love all over again through the lens of her camera. As the official photographer of Wed By Hand, many of the photos you will see from our show come from AMBphoto.

Becca Wallace Photography Blending fine art work with commercial wedding work pulls together a unique set of images that can themselves be seen as works of art. Processed images are combined with watercolors, pastels, and resin resulting in enhanced details, colors, shapes and textures within each photograph. Believing that “everyone should have access to excellent, high quality wedding photos,” means that she has packages to offer couples with any budget. Becca Wallace Photography is artistic with a personal touch.

{First Kiss Films} Inspired by her father and getting an early start filming her first wedding at the age of 14, its no wonder that {First Kiss Films} creates unique multimedia for your wedding day. {First Kiss Films} specializes in hand-cranked 16mm and super 8mm film. In a world where much of our photography and videography have gone digital, owner Bridget's use of 8 and 16mm film is a truly special way to capture your wedding. The cameras capture onlooker’s attention with the classic sound, originality and beautiful designs. The film is processed, digitally edited and transferred and then charmingly packaged in a chic DVD tin. As one of only five companies across Canada creating lifestyle films using solely vintage cameras, not only will the experience be completely unique, but you can be sure that your wedding film will preserve the emotions and energy nostalgic to the retelling of your wedding day.

Monique Simone PhotographyUsing an editorial aesthetic to stylize her shoots, Monique Simone photography helps to put her clients at ease while providing a natural, fun, fresh set of photos. Offering personalized services such as hand-made books, custom production and retouching, and full film options really helps to give the couple final say on the overall mood and feel of their special day. Feeling like her craft is to “tell the story of weddings through photographs”, Monique Simone photography is truly able to provide photos that are made to measure, as opposed to the traditional cookie cutter shots.

Natalie Lyle Photography Natalie Lyle focuses on capturing of a story with a photojournalistic focus and expressive, natural, cinematic style. As a small photography business Natalie Lyle Photography can provide accessible and flexible packages to suit every couple and bring out the essence of their special day. Clients can rest assured that each image will be retouched with custom processes in order to suit the couple and their individual story. As she sees it, Natalie is sincerely honored to get to be invited into the preservation and commemoration of such a personal day.

Vanessa Dewson Photography + Design Need a break from all the hoopla that is planning a wedding? Why not turn to a vendor that can tackle more than one aspect of your special day? The answer is Vanessa Dewson Photography + Design. Working with Vanessa gives you access to a photographer with an eye for photos as well as printed materials. Vanessa also works while keeping the environment close to heart by utilizing digital photography, natural lighting as much as possible, rechargeable batteries, eco-friendly suppliers, materials and packaging from 100% recycled materials. Not only are the soft proofs of images and design concepts shown through in-person viewings, on-line galleries and email (good for the environment), but add that familiarity and personal connection that gets you through the stress of dealing with a million different people leading up to your special day.

Voulez-Vous Boudoir PhotographyMany people hear wedding photography and think of engagement shoots, groomsmen peeking out from behind trees or bridesmaids doing synchronized jumps in a field. Voulez-Vous Boudoir Photography offers something a little different: owner photographer Bri specializes in ladies boudoir photography. Each session is tailored to the client in order to bring out her vision, highlighting her sexy, naughty, or sassy side. Keeping in mind that the company’s motto is “Boudoir for real women by real women”, inhibitions and insecurities should be left at the door. Being one of the few Ottawa photographers who specializes specifically in boudoir, Bri and her team really go the extra mile – with outfit, jewelry and shoe consulting and shopping if necessary, with the goal of making her clients feel comfortable and at ease. Far from the traditional wedding photos, Voulez-Vous Boudoir Photography aims to leave each client with a heightened sense of confidence and a resonating beauty while embracing the sexy from within.

Post written by Thea, Wed By Hand Coordinator