I have a friend who is getting married in Australia (yes to an Australian) next year which prompted me to write this post. She has hired Veri Wedding Photography as her wedding photographer. So I was checking out their site and I just love this photo below.

Their website advertises them as an an award-winning photographer with sensitivity and spirit. Veri Wedding Photography is a specialist wedding, fashion and event photography business based in Melbourne. If you’re looking for an experienced photographer to tell your story with heart, insight and style, then look no further. Their progressive approach to photography sets us apart. We push boundaries. Challenge comfort zones. And strive to tell a unique, inspiring story with every new image. Wedding photography is their specialty and they travel anywhere throughout Melbourne, Geelong and surrounding areas as your chosen wedding photographer. They believe in spontaneity - but take no risks. It’s no secret that life’s most magical moments are those that are unexpected. That’s why we aim to produce candid, unposed images that evoke the special mood and unique subtleties of your big day. Less is not more… when it comes to wedding photography. We believe you deserve an abundance of photos to assess and choose from. With Veri Wedding Photography, you can expect to receive at least 100 photos for every hour we are retained. We won’t miss a thing. Every special moment will be captured, often from a range of angles. They capture the hidden stories. Your wedding day will be nothing short of overwhelming. You’ll be on the go, non-stop. That’s why you need a photographer you can rely on to record as many moments as possible. A good wedding photographer will enable you to reflect back and relive your day. But an excellent wedding photographer will also open a window into the stories you missed. At Veri Wedding Photography, they capture those special moments going on around you - the ones you were simply too busy to notice.

First Peony Flower Of The Season

We cut the first peony flower of the 2013 season today!  Isn't it a beauty!   This is a nice large, very full and very nice pink colored peony.   

We cut 3 peonies just like this on today. If this peony season is like ones of the past then tomorrow that number of flowers we cut will double or triple, and the next day the same thing will happen. Then on about the 4th or 5th day the peonies will start popping faster than we can cut them.   We are expecting that the peonies will be in full bloom by the beginning of next week.

If you are within driving distance of the Ann Arbor, Michigan area and would like to attend our peony open house on Saturday June 8 please read about it here 

Factors to Consider When Choosing Wedding Decorations

When your guests arrive at your wedding venue on your very special day, you will want them to be impressed by the lovely details of your decor. It is the decor on the wedding venue that can really make the difference between an average wedding and a truly unforgettable event that impresses your guests.
When you are choosing wedding decorations, what are the considerations that you should keep in mind? Here is a list of some factors that you should consider in choosing the right decor for your wedding.

The Wedding Theme
Many weddings are decorated around a specific theme chosen by the couple that reflects their tastes and interests. For example, a nature-loving couple could have a rustic outdoor themed wedding decor with centrepieces made of flowers and wood. A couple who travel a lot together could have an “Around the World” themed wedding with maps on the walls and photos of themselves in exotic locations on display. Choosing a theme will help you select the right decorations for your special event.

The Location
Remember that when you choose where these wedding decorations will be on display, they should fit perfectly in one area of the venue but could look very out of place in another. Before you start choosing the decorations for your wedding, take some photos of the wedding venue, which you will use as a reference. Take these photos with you when shopping for decorations so that you can imagine how the decor will look at your wedding venue.

The Budget
Of course, it is also important to think about the budget for your wedding decorations. Realistically, how much can you afford for your decorations? To spend your decoration budget wisely, decide which piece will be the most important element of the design. For example, you might choose to invest most of the budget on the centrepiece that you really love and spend less on chair covers or flower arrangements.
 
Family Traditions
When it comes to wedding decor, another aspect to consider is the family tradition. What elements of the wedding décor can you include that will reflect the traditions of your family and your culture? These tiny finishing touches will certainly impress your guests and add more meaning and significance to your wedding decorations.

Let the Professionals Choose Your Wedding Décor
Choosing decorations for your wedding can be a lot of work. Save yourself the hassle and leave the job to the professionals to ensure that your wedding decor looks beautiful and elegant. One Heart Wedding is a professional wedding planning company in Hong Kong that will listen to your descriptions of your dream wedding and assist you with all your decoration needs.

One Heart Wedding has a team of professional designers, with extensive experience in putting together customised wedding decoration Hong Kong tailored according to the taste of each unique couple. One Heart Wedding will assist with you all the aspects of your wedding, including creating a logo, designing invitations and decorating a stunning venue with flowers, lighting, wedding decoration HK, and more.

Bridgewater Gardens Peonies Open House in Saline Michigan

We are anxioiusly awaiting the peonies flowers to bloom and expect them to start blooming sometime during the first week of June.   For the past few peony seasons it seems like every weekend we would have customers who just wanted to come over and see the peonies and purchase some cut flowers.  Each year this group seemed to get larger so this year we thought we would host an open house and invite all of our Michigan based customers to join us.

Please join us for our first peonies open house, Saturday June 8 from 12 noon - 4pm.  Please note this event is weather permitting. Be sure to check back here for updates or contact us ahead if there are any questions.

We will be offering cut peony flowers for sale by the stem, peonies in vase arrangements, refreshments and tours of the garden.  Please join us to see some beautiful peonies in bloom.

Peonies Open House In Saline, Michigan

If you need to have cut peonies flowers shipped to you for a wedding or other special event please complete our contact form or visit our website http://www.bridgewatergardens.com

Wedding Venue in London

If you have just been proposed to then you will undoubtedly have the word wedding on the brain. Questions are likely to be racing through your head at a hundred miles an hour … What are you going to wear, who are you going to invite and perhaps most crucially where are you going to hold both the wedding ceremony and the reception.

With many people now looking at alternative venues to churches to get married in the list of available options is endless. One of the benefits of living in a large city like London of course is that it offers some slightly more quirky and unusual venues.

A particularly popular London Wedding Venue is one of a floating nature. Moored in the city amongst many of the cities famous landmarks such as St Paul’s Cathedral, the London Eye and the Southbank are a number of vessels that are available for hire. Not only do these venues cater for wedding receptions but there are also some which hold a wedding and civil ceremony license enabling you to get wed onboard should you wish. Of course even if you do decide that you would prefer to get married in a church you will of course still have the reception venue that you will need to consider and organize.

Your chosen London Wedding Venue will likely have an experienced events management team and/or wedding planner provided to help you plan your day. Whether you want your wedding to be formal or fun or intimate or grand they will work closely with you to ensure that even the smallest details are addressed and considered and that it runs smoothly from start to finish.
In terms of budget there will likely be a number of different wedding packages that your chosen London Wedding Venue can provide you with. These will range from a standard Classic package to as the name suggests an Indulgence Package. The size of your budget will likely dictate which package will best suit yourself and your husband to be.

It is also worth considering though whether a midweek wedding might suit you as whilst most brides and grooms prefer to get married on a Friday or Saturday many wedding venues will offer a package that is of the same quality but is more attractive from a cost viewpoint.
Opting for a midweek wedding may then free up some of your budget allowing you to choose some luxury add-ons. Perhaps a themed wedding is something that you would like to consider. One possibility would be to play on the venue itself and choose something such as a James Bond theme. You could even excite your guests and extend your theme further by arranging either for yourself and your future groom or your guests to arrive at the venue via speedboat!

Whatever you decide you can be certain though that choosing a unique London Wedding Venue such as this will make both friends and guests envious and provide yourself, the groom and them with a day to remember forever.
For more visit http://hmspresident.com/

Are you thinking about having a Stag and Hen parties in Surrey?  Stag dos and hen dos can all be a little passé sometimes, can't they? It's never quite made clear whether they are supposed to be tacky affairs and that those who buck the trend by doing something a bit nicer are the ones in the wrong, or if all those cringeworthy stag dos and hen dos are actually the wrong way to do it. Perhaps there isn't a real answer. On one hand you can put these things down to taste entirely, so it may seem that the western world has a very tacky sense of taste when it comes to celebrating the night before a bride or groom is supposed to be married.

Well actually, these days stag and hen dos are leaving more and more of a gap between these events and the weddings for which they have been organised. It never used to be the way, not as far as probably a lot of people can remember. It's probably for good reason, however - there is something awfully seedy about either bride or a groom getting completely drunk the day before a very important day in their lives and ruining the whole day with a massive hangover that means they'll be no fun and possibly moody: and these are just the problems for other people, what about the sickness and the terrible headaches for the brides and grooms themselves? A very bad idea!

And another thing: you can go out drinking any day of the week (in theory). So why would you make a point of celebrating a once in a lifetime event (hopefully!) with a very common, everyday thing? Perhaps it is better the way it seems to be leaning these days - leaving a long gap between the stag and hen dos and the wedding and making a big event of the dos themselves. This way people can appreciate their friends more and actually do something interesting, different and worthwhile rather than just spend another night drunk.

For example you could look into going somewhere outside of big cities, like London, away from pubs and night clubs. There are much better locations for stag and hen events - Surrey, for example, would be a charming place. There are a lot of things you can do in the countryside, a lot of methods to create an unforgettable memories with your buddies - rather than having one that you're probably not going to keep in mind anyway! And if you do experience the need to consume alcohol, well, you could just take some with you!

How to Take the Perfect Wedding Photographs

When planning a wedding, almost any way of saving money without compromising on quality is welcome: weddings are, after all, quite expensive affairs!  One of the most obvious ways of saving cash – and one that many people don't consider – is getting someone you know to take the photographs.  Because many modern cameras are of such high quality, you'd be amazed at the results you can get.  That's why we've put together this list of tips on how to get great shots without breaking the bank.

1)  Plan a 'shot list'.  One of the best ways of ensuring the couple has everything they want in terms of photographs is to ensure that they let the photographer know in advance the sort of things that they want shot.   For instance, if the happy couple is in love with the location of the wedding then the chances are they're going to want a fair few shots of it.  It's important to consider this, as whilst the normal shots might be obvious – bride and groom, best man and maid of honour etc – the couple are likely to have a couple of less obvious shots that are more personal to them.

2)  Get a partner in crime.  If you're to be the photographer, it can really help to have someone to work alongside to help co-ordinate everything.  You're going to need time to set up your gear in the various different locations, and this means that you just aren't going to be able to rush around and chase up everyone you need at that specific time.  There's a reason that photographers have assistants, you know!  If you're a friend of the couple, then rope in another friend or family member to help you out: they'll normally be happy to do their bit!

3)  Focus on detail.  Some of the most charming wedding photographs are of the small things: the details on the back of the programs, the rings resting on the bible, the table detail.  Whilst you should certainly make sure you get the classic shots, you should spend a lot of time focusing on the smaller, more individual shots: whilst you might not end up using some of them, you never know what the bride and groom are going to fall in love with.  The worst that can happen is that you can add some your own favorites to your portfolio.

Don't be too obtrusive, but don't wimp out, either!  The last thing any happy bride and groom wants is to have a whole host of wedding shots that are just average.  If you know that you've got a great shot, then take it!  Obviously, though, it's important to make sure that you don't overdo it – if you find yourself leaning over the vicar's shoulder to get a shot of the bride, you're probably overdoing things!

This article was written by Canvas Prints UK experts Somer Print  who worked together with freelance writer Charly Daniels to created this piece.

Order Peonies Now!

The warm spring weather has arrived here in Michigan and we are anxiously awaiting the peony bloom which I think will start in about 2 weeks or around June 2 or 3.     Bridgewater Gardens is accepting orders for peonies flowers for the summer 2013 peony season. To order peonies please fill out our contact form  Please be sure to include your zip code if we will need to ship the flowers to you.

Bridgewater Gardens is located just west of Saline, Michigan.  We are about 15 minutes southwest of Ann Arbor, MI, about 1 hour east of Detroit, and about 1 hour north of Toledo, OH.   In addition to providing peonies for local weddings in Ann Arbor or Saline, we have many customers each year who are brides or wedding parties located in the metro Detroit area of southeast Michigan or northwest Ohio.  When you arrive to pick up your peony order we will have them ready in 5 gallon buckets of water for you.   You do not need to bring any buckets for teh flowers. We will have them looking just like this for you:

Peonies Wedding Flowers, From Left to Right, Light Pink, Medium PInk, Bright Pink, White

We usually place 18 stems of peonies in each bucket so you just need to make sure that whoever picks the flowers up has a vehicle that will hold the flowers.   For more information on ordering peonies for overnight delivery please visit Bridgewater Gardens 

Wednik - A Great New Wedding Planning Tool

I recently came across this great new wedding planning tool called Wednik.   When you register for an account tell Wednik your total wedding budget and wednik will break down your budget with suggested budgets for your wedding expenses.

Wednik will also help you find local wedding vendors in your area, manage seating arrangements, send reminders to your guests, track your wedding tasks, and even assign wedding tasks to your family and friends.  Wednik even has wedding planners on staff to help you plan your wedding.  The first consultation with a wedding planner is free.   They offer free, silver, gold,and platinum accounts.

Peonies Season 2013 Is Almost Here!

Spring is here and I am glad to report that the peonies are up out of the ground and growing!   Other than the past week we have had a pretty cold spring and are expecting the peonies season to be a few days late this year.   Just to be safe we are taking orders for peonies for weddings and other events that take place on or after June 8, 2013

To inquire about ordering peonies flowers or our peonies season please complete our Contact Form  Once we receive your form we will respond back with pricing and availability for your date.  If that sounds good we will add you to our list and invoice you with Paypal.   Please be sure to include the date of your wedding or event and  your zip code.