Wedding planning requires careful thought, realistic plans, adequate time, concentration, family support, friends etc, and of course money. In my opinion the first thing that needs to be done is a budget. We had 7 months to prepare for our weddings, from engagement to saying ‘I do’. I said weddings because we had two.
The first was the traditional wedding to fulfil all native rights and customs, payment of bride price and dowry, and the second 2 months later was what we call the ‘white wedding’ which basically is the church wedding ceremony. What are we like! 2 weddings for one marriage, after all that you cannot contemplate a divorce, you’ve got to do all you can to make the marriage work. Our church wedding was excellent, apart from one or two hitches, everything went like clockwork. The one thing I would say I got right was choice of our wedding photographer and the design of our wedding photobook.
People have different priorities and place premiums on different aspects of their wedding preparations. I have had privileges to take photographs at weddings and can easily see what aspect of the wedding the couple placed more emphasis. Some of prefer the aesthetics while others place emphasis on catering, decorations, stationery, keep sakes etc. Very few understand the importance of having good coverage of the wedding by hiring a good photographer. More often than not, they try to cut cost by asking friends and family members to take photos or by placing disposable cameras to be used by guests. This should only be a back up option in addition to having an experienced wedding photographer.
Not hiring a photographer can be very costly and can have lasting effect and irreparable impact on the marriage. You see after the wedding, all your guests would have had a nice meal, good time and probably talk about the wedding for a while. But trust me; it would be history to them as they look forward to the next wedding. All you’re left with are the video and photographs taken at the wedding. If you got this wrong, you will regret it.Luke 14:28For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it? - King James Version
I can beat my chest and say we got this right. We hired an experienced photographer that was very patient on the day and captured the event just as we had envisaged. We paid for the photos to be put on a disk and had them designed into a photobook by Rhema Studio. Our copy was made into 2 volumes, while our parents each had a condensed version. Follow this link to an view our wedding photo books – Kanyin weds Pele.
Why is this so important? Ok, I’ll tell you! Apart from the quality of the photographs, the photobook told the story of our wedding as it unfolded with captions and annotations to remind us of the day. Each time we looked through it, we always get a vivid recollection of our wedding and our guests. The crux of the wedding address was included in the book so we can refer to the word of God for us as delivered by the pastor. We wrote our wedding vows ourselves and had them included in the photo book.
As every marriage face, we have had heated arguments, disagreements and misunderstanding. In some of those instances, I’ve retreated to my solitary space and gone through our wedding photobook. What a calming effect it has. Going though the book brought back the joy we felt and took away the present anger and sadness. I am a man of my words, and going through the words of the vows I took awakened my commitment to make my marriage work. Each time I go through the sermon notes in our wedding photobook, the words of prophecy given by pastor becomes more real to me.
Now imagine if we had a disaster by not having good photographs taken or any keep sakes from our wedding! How deep would our sorrow have been? Apart from the pain my wife would have felt, it would have been a total calamity. Of course this one mishap would erase whatever success you had in other aspects of the wedding. I know couples that do not want to talk about their wedding because it brings back the pain of not having good photographs or keep sakes. The arguments that resulted between the couple became fresh all over again as they played the blame game.
You only have one chance to get this right. You cannot relive that day again; once it’s gone, it’s gone. Do not hesitate to pay for an experienced photographer; you would reap the benefits which far out weights the cost. However, for those that do not have very good photos of their wedding, there is still hope. The advent of digital technology has open new doors to photo restoration and retouching. Your photos can be digitally enhanced and then designed in a photo book. For more information, contact Rhema Studio Photography.
Proverbs 15:13A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken. - King James VersionMy advice is invest in your future by getting your photographs right and preserving them for your children and future generations. There is a website called OurStory where you can collect, share & keep the memories and moments from life’s journey in a permanent, secure online archive for FREE. It is a perfect place to save your cherished photographs. Each entry is organized by date, place and topic on your personalized timeline. Many people use it as an online journal, online diary or as a blog.
Perhaps you may want you cannot afford a custom designed photobook by a professional, nothing stops you from designing one yourself. You can download FREE software programs from here or by clicking any of the banners on this page. They are very easy to install and use. Just drag and drop your photos, add texts / captions if you which and you are done.
Recommended Books |
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Wedding Planner : Everything You Need to Plan Your Own Wedding, from Booking the Ceremony to Organising the ReceptionAre you dreaming of a wonderful wedding day, to herald the beginning of a new and exciting chapter in your life? "The Wedding Planner Kit" gives you everything you need to plan your wedding, and make you feel completely confident about every step, including announcing your engagement, church weddings, marrying abroad, civil partnerships, wedding gifts, hair and beauty, duties of Best Man, catering, wedding cake, speeches, stag parties, hen parties and honeymoon. The kit contains everything you need for wedding planning, including more than 30 checklists for tracking progress as well as a countdown calendar of all the vital steps at each stage of the marriage preparations. |
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The Wedding Diaries: How to Get Married in Style Without Breaking the BankA fabulous new book called The Wedding Diaries… you’ll find you won’t be able to put this one down |
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The Step by Step Guide to Planning Your Wedding |
Digital Wedding Photography: Capturing Beautiful Memories |
Start Your Own Wedding Consultant Business |
“A photograph is worth a thousand words, digitally mastered, it’s worth a million, personalised and annotated in a photobook – words cannot express it!”
Pele
