Aii Papi!! Where do I start!!!!

X-quisite Photo & Video Stories

So he bought the ring, (he may have asked your parents permission) he made the perfect evening and blurted out those words "Will you Marry Me?"

It is only right that you float on up to cloud 9 (Assuming you said Yes) and forget that there is a lot of work to do in transforming an engagement into a lifetime dream of a wedding!

So here are a couple of steps to help you stay in between Ground Zero and Cloud 9!

Step 1: As Asians, it is probably 95% true that our parents know little about our love lives, because well, we are Indians! (Enough said) So now would be a perfect time to tell everyone and share the news!! FYI - be very careful who you spill the beans to! You don't want your mum to find out about the engagement through the 'good ol' grapevine' i.e. the gossip aunt. This is also true about friends, you don't want your best friend to hear it through Facebook! Goodness NO!

Be meticulous! Being a bride is hard work and don't let anyone tell you otherwise! Tell your parents first - maybe arrange a nice meal so all parents can meet each other and hear the news together! And if they want, chat and get to know one another.

So after your parents comes your siblings, any close aunts and cousins then best friends and then work colleagues and everyone else. Don't worry about not telling everyone because everyone will hear from someone else so news will travel faster than an internal email!

Step 2: (Probably a lot easier than step 1) Put together a budget! How much would you like to spend on the wedding, how much can you afford and which other parties will be contributing to the cost of the wedding! Do take in to consideration the sums of deposits you can put away monthly leading up to the wedding. A separate wedding account is a good idea to manage finances! Opening Loans and starting married life in debt isn't the best way to start Newly Wedded Bliss!

Step 3: Hire a Wedding Planner if your budget is large and you have an excess of 100 guests. You do not want to be folding napkins and arranging centerpieces or worrying about why the DJ is late - and HE WILL BE LATE!! You want you (the bride), the groom, each of your parents and your friends to enjoy the day that is your wedding! Not rushing around missing key parts of the ceremony! (I am totally Biased - but a Wedding Planner is a care free solution to all your wedding stress)

Step 4: Find a Venue! Note that if your ceremony and reception are in separate Locations - they should not be further than 30 minutes drive! If you are planning on getting married at peak wedding season (April-September) be prepared to book well in advance and to pay more than off-peak! As soon as you have chosen the venue and the date - send invitations out! These should be sent out no later than two months prior to the wedding!

Step 5: Work with your Wedding Planner to create a theme, decide on what you envision for your wedding day, pick colours. And let your wedding planner pretty much do the rest!

Step 6: This is probably when you should get together with your bridesmaids, and the women in your family and fly to India to do your Bridal outfit shopping! Erm ... this goes to the men also!

Step 7: It seems that if you're getting married, you will be sure to know that all of your friends appear to be getting married at the same time also! Chat with them about which suppliers they used, who they would recommend and who you should avoid! Just so that you don't go into planning your wedding completely blind folded!

Step 8: Meet all your suppliers first hand, go to food tastings (the best part!!), negotiate contracts, pay deposits, sign on the dotted line and hey presto! You think that was easy - now try catching up with all your guests RSVP's and get to work on your table plans! Be careful who you sit where!!

Step 9: Ensure you have accommodation arranged for after the reception if you aren't flying straight off on your honeymoon!

Step 10: Sit back, let your wedding planner take care of coordinating the event, and scheduling everything! Enjoy with your family and friends and be proud to be the new Mr & Mrs Newly Weds!!

PhotoShop-ing

Ferhan Photography

Q - "My partner and I need help deciding on a photographer for our wedding", Asha, To be Wed: Autumn 2011.

A - Asha, Congratulations on your engagement! Choosing your photographer is an immensely important decision. As the bride and groom, you will be travelling on an emotional rollercoaster with floods of excitement and tears. The wedding day will pass by you so quickly that it’ll just go by as a blur. The photographs your photographer takes will be a great insight on everything from behind the scenes to the main event!

I would not risk cutting your costs by getting a cousin to use his brand new digital camera to take snaps of the day. A photographer depending on which style you end up going for can capture the most intricate details that you will want to remember, capture natural shots of everyone and be able to touch on an emotion. Photographers have a skill of being able to tell a story and it’s that story that will capture your hearts every time you open your wedding album (And believe me – in the first year, that’s all you will be doing when you have guests round).

A couple of tips on choosing the right and most respectable photographer for you...

1. Probably the first thing I would recommend doing is to trawl through portfolios and Photographers websites. You will definitely get a better idea of what you want and the different styles you will like. This can give you some great inspiration and may even get your mind thinking over time so you will have questions to ask your photographer when you meet them.

Here is a low-down of some of the main styles wedding photographers use:
Reportage; this is a much less formal approach, usually including photographers following the guests without them really noticing. This is for more natural, relaxed shots.
Contemporary; this is a more modern approach – but everyone appears to have their own ideas of Contemporary. This style needs to keep up with what ‘contemporary’ actually means in today’s fashion.
Traditional; this is a very formal way of photographing, including posed pictures of groups and settings.
Photo-journalistic; this is a little bit like reportage and contemporary when the photographer follows your guests around capturing the day as it unfolds.

2. It is a MUST to acquire as much information from people around you who have similar tastes or who definitely have had similar experiences. Ask friends and family members who are recently married to see their wedding album. Maybe they have some good advice from their research. Most wedding suppliers usually get their clients through recommendations so ask around and look at reviews.

3. Create a shortlist of at least 2 or 3 photographers. Visit them and interview them. Matching their personalities with yours is an important attribute. This is the same with all your wedding suppliers. You have to work with these people for the next 12 months or however long there is until your wedding. Your suppliers must know your vision for the day and SHARE it with you. They should also be reliable and professional and get along well with you. The last thing you need is to be worried about your suppliers whereabouts the month before the wedding. Hiring a wedding planner can of course relieve your stress (hint hint!!)!

4. Find out what the photographer’s price includes and what happens with prints and copies. You may need more than one photographer on the actual day to take informal shots of your guests while one is concentrated on the bride and groom and the bridal party. Finding out who owns copyrights to your wedding photos is important. Some photographers will hand over the copyrights to your photos which mean they cannot make copies without breaching the copyright. But then others will hold on to them. Be aware of this before booking your photographer.

5. Negotiating with your photographer: if you love their work but it's slightly over budget! Don't negotiate the lowest price possible - because every supplier has a valued skill that you want their duties on the day done professionally. So ask them whether they are willing to cut the price or make a deal. Maybe you only need one photographer; maybe you only need them for a few hours at the reception instead of all night etc.

6. Map out their responsibilities and where you need them to be. So they know what you expect of them and where their money shots are. Also don’t forget your ‘Pre-Wedding Shoot’! They always are amazing!

Wedding Expert - Wed-In-Style

Bijal Patel from Wed in Style talks about wedding design and hire. Informing you of whats on offer to todays brides and providing some great tips and advice.

The right wedding decorations/mandaps can transform any location into a magical place. However the style of your wedding venue will also influence your decorations. If you are hiring an elaborately decorated room, you should keep your decorations simple, but if you are using a plain marquee or function room, you can afford to go overboard on the decorations.

Determining a theme or colour scheme for your wedding will make it easier to coordinate your decorations, favors, flowers, dresses, menu and all the other items required on the day. Whether you have a traditional wedding, a winter wonderland theme, a vintage style reception, or a tropical theme, there are bound to be decorations available to complement your choice. The same applies when choosing a mandap. With the largest mandap portfolio in the industry clients are spoilt for choice.  From crystals, wooden carved, intricate fibre glass to traditional, and even open plan mandaps clients are guaranteed to find a mandap from our range which not only complements the venue and theme but also highlights the bride and grooms personality.

Before you decide on your wedding decorations/mandaps, it is extremely important to check out the locations and find out if they have any specific rules or regulations regarding wedding decorations. Also find out what decorations will already be in place on the day of your wedding. I.e. Table Linen, Chair Covers. After all, you don’t want to spend a lot of time and money getting beautiful wedding decorations and then find out that they look all wrong in the location or that the rules of the venue forbid you from using those or that you didn’t need them in the first place. Also keep in mind the style and colors of the wedding and the theme, if any. When thinking about the wedding decorations, keep in mind not just the decorations themselves but also the kind of lighting you need.

With all this to consider, we recommend couples and their families to visit any one of our showrooms in Harrow, Tooting or Leicester. This gives couples an opportunity to browse through our extensive portfolio and discuss their events and ideas in greater detail. As we have the largest portfolio in the industry, clients are very often spoilt for choice and find that having a professional consultant at hand for advise really helps bring their ideas to life.

Our experience within the industry, has allowed us to build great relationships with other suppliers, who also offer our clients their expertise and great package rates. I.e photographers, hair & beauty, entertainment, wedding invites, favours etc.

www.wed-in-style.co.uk

Bijal Patel - Manager of Tooting Branch

Wedding Expert - PJR Wedding Cakes

"Quality hand crafted cakes designed individually to complement your special day" - PJR Wedding Cakes

Amarjit from PJR takes us through what we should think about when it comes to our wedding cake and what questions to ask.

Some couples know exactly what type of wedding cake they want, how it looks, how it should taste and how much everybody is going to love it!

Even those couples have a few things to bear in mind before ordering their dream centre piece, some questions you may ask are:

How many guests are you expecting? You must tell your cake maker how many guests you will be catering for. When telling them how many, don’t forget to mention how your cake will be served, either as a main dessert or a side dessert. If it is a main dessert this means bigger portion sizes, thus more cake is needed! However if it will be served as a side dessert Asian wedding caterers serve other desserts which mean the cake portions may be a little less, hence less cake!

Thinking of eggless? Eggless cakes are very common, simply meaning no eggs were harmed in the manufacturing of your cake – also meaning the taste of your cake may be a little dry. It is not uncommon to lose moisture when using certain eggless mixes which is why it is important you TEST THE EGGLESS CAKE! Almost all cake makers offer a free consultation/testing, so take advantage and find a delicious tasting eggless cake.

Is marzipan an ingredient? Marzipan is that layer between the icing and the sponge, some love it, some hate it. It is used to keep the shape of a cake hard and solid. Try and avoid this because the main ingredient in marzipan is almonds, which will cause problems for any guests who are allergic to nuts.

Do you require a Halal wedding cake? Clients always ask – how can your cake be halal???  Well this simply means there is no animal product or bi-product used ANYWHERE in the cake. So ask your cake maker to be sure about the ingredients they use in their cake mix, the sugar paste/cream, the food colouring and even the oil they use to line their cake tins.

www.pjrweddingcakes.co.uk

Amarjit