2011 "Best of the Best" Contest!

It's that time of year again! Before we gear up for our 2012 wedding season, we wanted to thank all of our 2011 couples for sharing their weddings with us!

This is an awesome prize that will look great in one lucky couple's home. Last year's winner had over 400 votes so start spreading the word to your friends and family on Facebook!

Here's how to Vote: Just follow these TWO easy steps!

1. "Like" Mark Garber Photography on Facebook.

2. Cast your vote by COMMENTING under your image. A COMMENT can be something as simple as 'vote' or 'Got my vote.' Simply hitting the 'like' button under your image will not count as a vote.

Bridal Sessions!

Don't you just hate that you only get to wear that gorgeous bridal gown one time? It seems like such a pity to take the most exensive article of cothing you've ever owned and box it up never to be seen again after just wearing it once.

Doing a Bridal Session after the wedding is a fun way to enjoy the dress just a little bit longer. It is also the perfect opportunity to shake things up a little. By changing your accessories, the groom's attire or photographic backgrounds you can get an entirely new feel to your images. The best part is that you are also no longer so worried about getting the dress dirty either.

Kristen decided to do a Bridal Session the week before she was to have her dress cleaned and preserved. They are then going to use these images to decorate their newly decorated home office. You can see their actual wedding day photos here.

Joshua & Kristen's E-Session

This past weekend we photographed Joshua and Kristen's engagement session all around downtown Dayton. For those of you who don't know, Joshua is Mark's son. We've been having a lot of fun helping them plan their wedding parties.

Joshua and Kristen are doing a destination wedding in Florida next year, but are having a 'Send Off' Reception in Dayton first. In the top photo, we are going to be using the chalkboard photos for their Ohio party invitation's, favors and an interactive guestbook. We'll show you the finished work to you soon!

It's a lot of work to plan two separate parties, each with different themes and styles, but it will be a lot of fun too! We'll keep everyone posted with wedding updates as we go through the planning process.

Abby & Matt's Highlight Reel

Abby and Matt Highlights from Dan Choi on Vimeo.

We don't normally get to see what videographers produce for our clients, but videographer Dan Choi sent us the link to Abby & Matt's highlight reel. Abby & Matt found Dan on Craig's List...or I should say Dan found them...Abby & Matt had put an add on Craig's List looking for a videographer. I don't recommend that people do that, but fortunately for Abby & Matt they found someone who did a good job for them. Thanks for sharing Dan!

PPA Magazine Cover Contest

We have each entered a image from the 2009-2010 wedding season for entry into The Professional Photographer Magazine Contest. Voting ends June 1 so please be sure to vote for one (or both) of our lucky couples! How cool would it be to have your wedding image on the cover of a national magazine!

Each voter is also registered for the chance to win a Canon Powershot G11 camera! Good Luck!

Jennifer's Submission: Abby & Brian

Mark's Submission: Quentin & Moira

Simple Joys!

So it really is the simple pleasures in life that make you happy. What am I talking about? Might sound silly, but I love my address stamper from Expressionery.

There are many designs to chose from and the stamp is very easy to use. The ink that comes with it is said to last several thousand stamps before replacing. I've had mine for almost two years and its still going strong.

For the bride that has to address a million cards and invitations this year, it is a perfect way to increase efficiency. You don't have to just use them for your return address. Use your monogram and/or wedding date and use the stamps on table favors, programs, etc..

Expressionery has lots of other great stationary, embossers, etc. that can be used for the wedding. Even better still, you can save 40% off your entire order with the code "MOM2010" at checkout. Orders need to be placed before May 31, 2010 to get the savings.

Bonzie...what!?

So when someone asked me if I had heard about Bonzie's, I'll admit that my curiosity was peaked. I'll have to admit that its love at first sight too!



Bonzie is quickly becoming a big name in the fashion industry with a lot of recent press. Bonzie (an aunt and niece duo from Ireland) designs shrugs, wraps, collars and more with a romantic feel.

I adore the look of the wraps and boleros with a strapless gown. What a fun way to incorporate your wedding color into your dress. I think they would be great for a Mother of the Bride or Mother of the Groom's dress too. The price point is between $100-200, which isn't bad for an accessory you could use again.

You can check out their web site above or their shop on Etsy.

Rain or Shine!

So every bride has that panicked thought of, "What if it rains on the wedding day?" Well, fear no more. You could turn that rain into a new wedding trend...umbrellas. Umbrellas can be used for decoration, props in photos or shield your guests from the rain or sun. Check out umbrellas.net or bellaumbrellas.com for chic umbrellas. Bella Umbrella has umbrellas for rent so that you don't have to purchase a ton of umbrellas...great for decor or wedding guests!

On Etsy, you can have umbrellas designed with your monogram, Just Married or Thank You, which make for great 'Thank You' cards after the wedding. Just goes to show that you can turn those rainy day lemons into fun wedding day lemonade!

Weddings by iPhones

For the iPhone, I mean bride, that has it all. Now introducing the Wedding Planning App for iPhone. The list of features is pretty impressive. I haven't tried it out myself, but for $7.99 what's it hurt to try...

The Extensive Feature List includes (just to name a few):

- Invitation style Home screen with date & time, venue and a Live Countdown to your big day

- our Home screen quick view ‘Binder’ for access to To-dos, Notes, Budget and photos

- Fully customizable To-do list

- Automatically created Scheduled To-do list- Keep Simple Notes

- Keep track of your Budget automatically or manually

- Budget spending assistance

- Record all guest details in ‘The People’ section

- Record guests attending day or reception

- Record Invite, RSVP and status of attendance

- Record meal choices for reception

- Record if a guest is bringing extra people in the evening

- Seating Plan for Reception

- Seating Plan for Rehearsal Dinner
- Gift Tracker

- Export the important guest section info by Email

Pretty crazy, huhh?

Wedding Plans...Part II

In keeping with the periodic updates on Mark's son's wedding, here is the second installment. Josh and Kristen are doing something similar to our wedding, which is to have a big 'send off' party locally and then do a smaller more intimate destination wedding later.

Well they've looked in their dates and locations, and we are looking forward to working with both venues. Their 'send off' party in Dayton will be at the Taj Ma Garaj, which we thought would be a fun party atmosphere for their cocktail party. There are lots of kids and tweens in the family so the upstairs game room will keep the kids busy allowing the adults time to mingle and dance. Kristen and Josh love the color red so the red Porsche room was a great fit too!

Their wedding will be in Sarasota, Florida just a few weeks later at the Crosley Museum. The Crosley Museum was a private estate that then later became a museum after being placed on the National Registry of Historic Places. Its Spanish mission architecture and ocean views are perfect for a destination wedding. Can't wait to do photographs there for sure!

That's it for today's installment, but stayed tuned for more...

Lillian's Bridal

As some of you may know, we have a wedding of our own to plan in the family. I thought it would be fun to periodically give you updates as we navigate our way through planning a destination wedding and send off party here in Dayton.

I got to go bridal dress shopping with the bride, Kristen, and had such a marvelous time at Lillian's Bridal in Centerville. We've always loved Lillian's for their beautiful decor, unique selection and personal service. I have sent a lot of bride's to Lillian's and knew it would be the first place we would go too.

Kristen found her dress after trying on just a handful of them, and it had all of us in tears. She went with a Winnie Couture that is a 'contemporary-classic.' I promised the bride I wouldn't post her actual dress until after the wedding so that the groom wouldn't see it...sorry for the suspense...although you can see it's reflection in the mirror.

A special 'Thank You' to Lillian's owner, Kriston, for making the experience so lovely! It was truly a perfect day!

Lillian's Bridal

5763 Far Hills Avenue, Dayton, OH 45429-2207

(937) 433-4494‎ (By appointment only for the bridal gowns)

Thank You Too!

It always amazes us at the thoughtfulness and kindness of our clients! We are, of course, thrilled when we get 'thank you' notes and emails from clients mostly because it lets us know that we are doing what we should be doing, which is taking care of you! We are very blessed to have so many amazing people share their lives with us, and your words of kindness and praise are very humbling. {{Group Hug!}}

Happy Valentine's Day!

3D Photo Montage!

imacron + garber project from imacron on Vimeo.

Well, we're back from our National Convention and getting back to normal. Just thought we would share the amazing 3D slide show that Dominic with Imacron designed for our program. It's amazing to think that he animated our still images for the video, which we think turned out great.

A lot of couples show highlight videos during their reception, and Dominic can design one for you too. What a cool way to take the normal 'been-there-done-that' highlight video and turn it into a reception hit! It takes about 200 hours of labor to make one show so just know that its not going to be cheap, but if you want something different that's the way to go!

New Year Bridal Resolutions...

Happy New Years to all our brides-to-be out there! Christmas is a big time of year for proposal's (even Mark's son popped the big question...date to be announced)! I just thought I would take this time to offer some wedding resolutions to help make those weddings plans go smoother.

This list of tips comes from a lot of experience as a photographer, and as a bride myself. Hopefully there are some things that you will find helpful (or at least entertaining) and maybe even some things that you didn't even think about...

DO make the day your own...even if friends and family try to pressure you into something you don't want.

DO see each other before the ceremony...why hide from your best friend on the most important day of your lives. This is a life experience that is meant to be shared...every precious minute!

DO have some fun! Have the guys all wear silly socks, wear colorful shoes with your dress or blow kazoos instead of blowing bubbles. Weddings don't have to be stiff and formal. Guests remember fun twists more than anything else.

DO avoid tan lines and especially farmer's tans...that should go for all the bridesmaids too.

DO schedule dentist appointments before the big day. Tea-stained dresses are pretty...teeth, not so much.

DO have your groom do some manscaping before the big day, unibrows and tuxes don't mix l~)

DO have your groom wear sunblock and a hat if they're doing a golf outing before the wedding. Bright red skin and sunglass tan lines are almost impossible to retouch.

DO hire a professional makeup artist and not run through the mall in your veil to the Clinique counter....DO a test run with your makeup artist & hair stylist. Take pictures so they can match what they did...trust me they won't remember your up-do from the 500 others they've done this year.

DO have a smooth timeline and not make guests eat cheese and crackers and listen to Kenny G for 3 hours.

DO let your guys buy suits instead of wasting money on a tux rental. Suits are the new tux. Plus, instead of the trusty old flask groomsmen gift, you can gift them their ties and/or shirts. See the J. Crew suit (above) paired with a real bow tie....you can always tell.

DO feel free to have a 'adults only' reception or at least hire a babysitter and have a kid's corner of activities for them. Kids are cute, but not when throwing tantrums in the middle of your vows or upstaging you on the dance floor during your first dance.

DO avoid the cliche Hersey Kisses table favors and do something unexpected like custom rub on tattoos, silly fortune cookies or even beer koozies...have fun with it!

DO delegate responsibilities or hire a wedding coordinator so that you don't have to work your own wedding.

DO plan for an 'after party' towards the end of your reception. Bring in pizzas or a hotdog cart or some other fun food to keep the party going.

DO hire reputable professionals...they hold your wedding memories in their hands.

Hope this helps or at least gave you a chuckle...did I mention this list comes from past experience...Happy Planning!

-Jennifer

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G Wedding Videos

2009 WEVA wedding demo gold winner from imacron on Vimeo.

We are super excited to be working with Imacron USA on a video/photography project. We're collaborating on a five minute slide show that they will put 250-300 hours of labor into! Can you believe it for five minutes of product...definitely worth it when you see their work!

Imacron is a Philippines based company, but has a location in the US too. Be sure to see their award winning wedding demo as well as their 3D photo montages. They have won numerous top honors from WEVA (Wedding and Event Videographers Association). WEVA does have a Brides Guide to help brides learn more about video like different styles, questions to ask and what to look for in a professional video...definitely worth looking into. Dayton and Cincinnati have many talented videographers to choose from, but stylistically there are huge differences.

Since so many brides are looking for photojournalism or a more 'natural' feel to their image, it would make sense that you would look for that in a video as well. A more cinematic feel to your wedding video will keep you watching it for years. California based cinematographers, 50 Foot Films have an amazing style. While they are an investment ($12,500 plus travel), you can get an idea of what true wedding cinematography can be.

Just for fun...

MSNBC featured a story today about Trashing the Dress and other popular wedding trends.

While the image on the left, courtesy of Sara Wall, maybe a little extreme, it is fun to get a little more mileage out of your wedding dress.

All of our brides receive a complementary bridal session, where we can do anything from something classic, sexy, urban to fun.

Even pairing totally different accessories with your dress can change the look dramatically, without hurting the dress. Instead of white accessories, try red or black. Gloves, stilettos or boots, blusher veils, and big bold jewelry transform the dress without any fear of damaging it. Don't forget to complete the look with bold and daring hair and makup too. So have some fun on us!

PS. Fun places to look for cool accesories: Bluefly, Etsy, Overstock.com, Stella and Dot, Turq Jewelry, Forever 21

Yummy Wedding Jewelry!

Stella & Dot were at the booth next to ours at the Manor House Bridal Show a few weeks ago. (Mark knew he was in trouble the moment they started setting up their booth ;)

They had gorgeous custom made jewelry that would be perfect for any wedding or rehearsal dinner. I just treated myself to the necklace on the left (happy b-day to me). It was designed by Jason Wu, who did Michelle Obama's inaugural dress. Believe it or not, its a necklace made of fabric and is completely stitched by hand.

Lots of beautiful items to see and very well made I might add...since I tried on most of it at the show :) Go see for yourself!

PS. Turq Jewelry is great too. Most pieces are made from semi-precious stones. That's were I got my wedding day jewelry...my necklace was made from crushed topaz and freshwater pearls. Featured as Oprah's 'Favorite Things' a few years ago.

Carnies never looked so Cute!

Leah and Anthony indulged me in going to the Green County Fair last night. Normally Mark and I shoot together, but he was in Atlanta last week on business so I went solo. We had lots of fun even when all the kids would 'gross out' whenever they kissed. Not many men could pull off a baby blue cotton candy mustache either, but Anthony worked it. We did turn a few heads, but that's okay because it was sooo worth it. Enjoy!

Headline MSN.com

Opening news article on msn.com today was "Wedding Day Downers...Nine Things that Secretly Drive Your Guests Crazy."

What's funny is that most of them are ours too. We talk about many of these things in our wedding pretalk with couples, but we still see these common 'downers.' Just something to think about when you're planning the day...

This was taken at a wedding a few years ago. We were photographing at this historic home in Cincinnati when out of nowhere a black cat crossed our bride and groom's path. Definitely made for a good laugh! No bad superstitions here...we just photographed a portrait for Bud and Debbie, and all is well!