Dispose of the Disposable Camera and get Photo Sharing Cards

If you have been a client of mine, you know that for DJ services you get to go through my 4 page check off list that helps me outline completely your reception and its flow. Maybe it’s a little too detailed but I like it that way. One of the questions on there is – Will you have disposable cameras?

Years ago these were all the rage. I mean, what better way to get even more pictures of your day from actual guests attending the wedding? Custom covers were put on them and little rhyming notes educated those guests unfamiliar what to do with them, or asking them to complete a scavenger hunt of sorts.


But the perfect idea was not without its limitations. Invariably, I found that many people complained about the same things after developing the film

• Dark pictures. Lets face it. Disposable cameras don’t have strong flashes. So trying to take a photo at any sort of distance in a dark room results in grainy and dark pictures that even the best of Photoshop pros cannot salvage successfully
  
• Repetitive pictures. As great as your first dance is – 100 pictures of it in poor quality weren’t the initial intention
  
• Inappropriate pictures. Yes folks, some people have jokers for friends who find photos of…um…anatomy…especially funny.
  
• Disappearing cameras. It’s a given the people will neglect to leave the camera in the table and take them with them, even though they were reminded otherwise. It’s an easy enough mistake. For a while, I advised brides to consider numbering the cameras so at the very least they knew which table’s camera was the disappearing one.
  
• Unused film. I cannot tell you how many weddings I have been to where I have collected the cameras at nights end to find them barely used.
  
• FILM. Remember that? No quick upload via USB. So you are made to spend money developing film which will no doubt be 85% unusable.

If you haven’t picked up on it, I’m clearly not a fan of disposable cameras. In fact I’m surprised when it’s mentioned as still being used. What I do love is the premise that started this as being a popular event item -pictures taken by guests. In every event that a professional photographer is hired, there will be great pictures. Pictures of the guests of honor(s) will dominate, but there will be some pictures of guests alongside, dancing, etc. Yet, those pictures taken by your friends are out there. Pictures that you are part of and will see on things like facebook. Lots of pictures take place now especially with digital cameras, pictures of sporadic groups, inside jokes, and silliness’s. How do you as the bride, groom or guest of honor get your hands on those pictures?

You ask. Lose the disposable camera and invest in the cute sayings to your guests on a photo website reminder. Sign up for a online photo sharing site. There are free sites and paid sites and more likely then not you are already a member of one of them. Sign up for a new account for your wedding specifically and print cards asking guests to upload their photos from the wedding to the site. This bride used an upgraded Flikr account.

You can read about her photo sharing cards here. It is a fabulous idea and you can go a step further in obtaining the photos by not only placing the cards on your tables on the wedding reception, but you can attach them to your favors. Even better, continue to use them by including them in your thank you cards. Before you know it, you’ll have a whole photo sharing site full of pictures of your wedding day or event. Even more pictures to remember the day.

All weddings are beautiful…some have something special

I love most all the weddings I have the pleasure of being a part of. I really do see myself as lucky to be in attendance at weddings because it really is the embodiment of bliss. I love getting invitations to weddings and I have the joy of being paid to be in attendance at so many. And although they all have their singular similarities and intricate differences, emotionally they all have quite the range. And some are more emotionally entwined then others.

Not long ago, I had the distinct pleasure of being at a wedding where the emotional and dare I say spiritual pull was especially strong. A beautiful bride both in spirit and appearance,

a somewhat stoic groom who was endearing and deeply emotional,

a relationship that was years long and a wedding that culminated in a truly blessed event. The ceremony was endearing and the party was exciting. But beyond that these two were blessed. Not only with each other but also by the spirit of the family that could not be there. I haven’t cried so hard in a wedding in a while.

All was wonderful and at the reception, the groom was asked by his sister to dance with him in remembrance of their grandmother with whom he was extremely close and who had passed. He waffled on whether he really wanted to do it and then agreed. He turned to me and said – find me a song. His only direction was to find an older Puerto Rican bolero and he entrusted me with the task of finding it. He was sure whatever I picked would be good enough. I stood by the dj booth and scrolled through a huge collection of music that fell under that genre. If you know anything about this type of music, many of it relates to lost or unrequited love, so to find a appropriate song is none to easy. I came upon a rather old song that wasn’t all that popular but which with the words were perfectly suited and decided on that. I am convinced now that an angel was over my shoulder pointing me in the direction of that song.

Upon introducing the song the groom looks at me. And the stoic and strong man that I have been with all day was lost in emotion. The song I selected was the song his grandmother would sing. It was her favorite. Since her death he had been in search of the song and it so happened that it was the song with which I chose.

I cannot say enough about the perfection that was Tony & Lisa’s wedding. They truly love one another, they have amazing friends and family that surrounded them in love and their wedding exuded a happiness that I could only wish was the reality of everyone’s day. It was Perfection!

Seen it all - Fixing split pants in the men’s room…

I’ve said, time and time again, that in the years I’ve been doing weddings and events, I’ve seen many things. Part of that is being a PART of the many things that happen. Comical circumstances that leave an impression and in turn, generally a fairly good story to tell. So I give you one of my stories, which just so happened to have occurred this past weekend.

During a particularly fun dance set, one of the male guests decided that he’d show the world his ability to do a split. I have to say, being limber enough to do a split in your late 20’s/early 30’s is impressive. Being a guy and doing it made me tap Rob on the shoulder as he was mixing to witness the marvel. After his 3rd attempt something clearly went wrong. His pants were obviously NOT as flexible as he was. After some laughter and requisite pictures with the groom, I made my way over to his girlfriend to offer assistance. Namely, either a sewing kit or a number of safety pins. I do after all pack an ‘emergency kit’ of everything you can possibly imagine.

What happened next is where even more hilarity ensued. His girlfriend claimed “I can’t sew!” and he pleaded with me in his slightly inebriated state to help him fix his pants as he could not possibly do it on his own. Do you see where this is going? I agreed thinking he’d remove the pants in the men’s room, hand them to me where I’d fix them while he waited and then return them. Easy as pie right?

WRONG

On his and his girlfriend’s insistence, I ended up IN the Men’s Room (which was WAY uglier then the ladies room) with him and his girlfriend where he promptly removed his belt and pants in front of me as I stood there staring at the floor. He had managed to tear the pants at the seam from the zipper on the crotch all the way back up to the belt fold. It was quite the tear. I fixed it with safety pins while relentlessly giggling at the conversation between him and his girlfriend and repeating to myself – I can’t believe I’m doing this. And I was stuck doing it in the men’s room as not only was it was the place with the best lighting BUT they wouldn’t let me leave. I was midway done when the groom bursts through the bathroom door followed by a slew of men who had heard that Mr. Torn Pants was in the bathroom with 2 women. And there was the proof as I stood with the girlfriend and him in a dress shirt and boxer briefs! Bathroom party of 3 soon became the party of 20 as everyone crammed in for a photo op as even the photographer had made his way back.

I could not stop laughing. Even funnier to me was the fact that after the photo, one guy turned to me and Mr. Torn Pant’s girlfriend and said “I’m sorry but I can’t wait” and proceeded to make his way over to the urinals to pee!!! I was laughing on the verge of tears while simultaneously being incredibly embarrassed. I finished the fix and was out of there as quick as possible. But that story is definitely a keeper!

The photographer promised to send me the picture.