Another cool invitation idea!

Here's the "playing card" invitation for Victoria and David's wedding, complete with their initials as queen and as king of hearts. It's a beautifully printed double-sided concertina-folded card with all the details their guests could ever need to know, presented in a neat hinged tin box complete with ribbon to lift it out by!

The Ball

Well, we've had a vicar use a toilet roll as a prop during his address before now, but at Emily and Darryl's wedding we had the vicar lobbing a rugby ball to Darryl, who did indeed catch it.

And no, that ball was not Photoshopped into the top picture after it was taken!

The Bit You Don't Normally See #7

The Bit You Don't Normally See #6

On the day Georgina's dad was, as ever, always attentive to his daughter's every need ...

Hats #12

And unfortunately we have no idea at all how it stayed put ...

South Africa Style

Just heard from Mariska that while she and Andrew are signing the registers next month, their guests are going to be ushered out of the church ready to greet them at the door when they exit together as husband and wife!

So often when things are done as usual the couple emerge to congratulations from just Ann and me, and then wait ages while their guests try to set a new record for how long it takes to empty a church. This South African way of doing things sounds good to us, and if I forget to report how well it works in practice, can somebody please remind me?

Why?

Why do they do this?

Is it not obvious to any keen amateur photographer that if they look through their long lens and there in the background of their picture they see the professional photographer aiming a whacking big lens straight back at them, they and their camera are going to feature prominently in pictures for which the happy couple have parted with a considerable amount of money?

OK, everybody can make a mistake, but when this goes on for quite a while during the ceremony, both with and without flash? And every time the bride moves slightly, the pro has to shift his position to try and keep a tall guest and his camera behind her head?

Even lowering my camera and giving him the evil eye bigtime had no effect, so I really do hope that in the end he got the shots he wanted. And that for once the couple actually get to see them.

Here endeth this short rant, and we return you now to our normal programming ...

Things To Think About #4

Thinking of sending your bridesmaids up the aisle first, US-style? In our experience it's a great builder-upper to the entrance of the star of the show, and it can also avoid a bit of a scrum at the end of the aisle as attendants try to get to their seats without treading on the bride's train.

However, beware of one potential pitfall if you have young attendants going up first! What can very easily happen is that everybody processes serenely up the aisle with the kids leading, but everything grinds to a halt when the kids reach the end because they've forgotten where to go.

This does two things: it adds a bit more tension when the bride least needs it, and it tends to screw up what would have been some really cool photos as the couple see each other for the first time on the day.

The way to avoid the problem is to brief the first adult behind the kids to sort them out PDQ if they don't go straight to the right seats, and above all else don't set off up the aisle too close to those in front of you. Leave a reasonable gap between yourself and your supporting cast - and don't close it up in your haste to get the ball rolling!