Blue Crab Feast Wedding Fuji Album

The inside of this book holds slots for 100 fuji photos. This boho style blue crab wedding book was made for a special couple saying their vows today.

Mr. and Mrs. Moffatt - Wedding

A simple, but elegant guest book, don't you think?

The card entries have been flittering in all month, and I'm so impressed and apprecative of all of your support, as well as I'm sure the Heller Family is too.

If you didn't send in your card yet, today is the last day to put it in the mail! So don't delay have your postal personal pick it up today!!

I'm taking off until next Tuesday in order to photograph and start hanging all of yoru beautiful cards up for display at next week's first friday event!!

Have an awesom weekend!!

New Years Wedding Photobooth Tag Album

I had the privelage of whipping up this custom New Years wedding album in a rush order around Christmas this week.

As you can see by this first page, it's not any ordinary kind of wedding album.  This new years wedding album was design to hold poloraid photos and wish tree tags. Kinda of cool, uh?

I have to admit it was the first time using my sewing machine to stitch paper, but that is probably the coolest part to me on creating this book. The hardest part was making sure the photo pockets lined up so when I stitched the pages the tag pockets matched onthe front and back of the pages.

Along with this special new years wedding album I hand stamped six dozen wish tree tags and strung them with red and white baker's twine. I'm so excited that CTMH will be offering baker's twin in the new idea book coming out in February!

It's New Years Eve! Is the party at your house or are you ending somewhere to watch the ball drop?

Pink Floral Wedding Guest Book Album

The daughter of our previous pastor at our church is getting married this weekend. As a wedding gift, I made this guest book for them. You may have remembered the guest book a made last year for their son, if not you can see it here:

The bride and groom picked out their cover and inside pages and I added a few extra touches of pink and the binding stitching. I couldn't resist adding rhinestones to the name card as an extra touch.
May God bless their upcoming union.

Turquiose Damask Wedding Guest Book Album

Look familaur? Perhaps the cover does from this receipe book a few days ago.  However, this lovely guest book album was created for a couple in London. Yep, you read it right the good ole UK.

It's a lovely day for a wedding isn't it?

The inside pages of this soft cover album are blank and stamped in gold with a floral swag stamp. (Sorry the photo came out blurry so I didn't included it of the inside pages).

I binded it with gold thread to give it a more sophisticated feel.

Love the color, don't you?

Let's Make Music

Let's make some music today, shall we? You might have remembered another music guest book I made a few months ago, this one is simular in style. This guest book has a vellum sheet as the first pages with the couples song lyrics. Then we move on to the inside pages with lines for names and best wishes.

The color scheme of this book is navy, orange, and gray.

It's a medium hardbound 8.5" x 8.5" stab stitch book.

Makes you feel like singing doesn't it?

Oriental Orange Wedding Guest Book Album

Congrats, Kristin and Christopher on your marriage today!

This beautiful soft cover guest book will become a keepsake that will be treasured for a lifetime.

For the Wedding of Marie and Jeffrey Carder

This elegant Beige Bliss wedding guest book album is filled with unlined pages entitled "Family & Friends".

It's soft covers shimmer in the light with it's glittery gloss finish.

A subtle and beautiful edition to today's wedding ceremony for Marie Weeds and Jeffrey Carder.

May your marriage be blessed.

Wedding Guest Book - Truffle

For The Wedding of Taylor and Elizabeth

Simple, elegant, and something blue. Perfect for the celebration of Taylor and Elizabeth's wedding today.

May you have many blessed years of marriage together!

Green Elegance Wedding Guest Book

We went through seeing this book in The Design Process, and then a few post later in the finished details of the triple stitched binding. Today, I'm showcasing this wedding guest book in honor for the couple it was made for. 

This was a custom order designed and created for a gift to the bride from a dear friend.

As you can see, the orginal design was for red butterflies, but we switched the pages to the floral swag stamp in red. Beautiful.

Wishing this couple a blessed marriage.

Wedding Guest Book - Black and Ivory Damask with a Touch of Lime

5.5" x 8.5" hard bound wedding guest book. This book is made from the last of my ivory and damask cover sheets.

As you can see the lime gives it that extra little "pop".

Ivory stamped signature pages and black photo pages.

Congrats to the Bride and Groom!

For The Wedding of Sara & Dave

This special guest book album was personalized for the special union between Sara & Dave.

pink damask soft cover with leaf stamped pages.

Congradulations on your union!

Wedding Guest Book and Pen Set

This is a 8" x 10" wedding guest book album that I custom made from one of my daughter's preschool teachers to give to her daughter. I know, too many daughter's in that sentence!

Anyway, this couple choose steel blue and lime green for their wedding colors.

As you can see, it came out very lovely.

Inside are formal lined pages, entitled "Friends & Family".

I made a ribbon pen, and instead of the traditional feather style, I added a second color ribbon and tied it with a bow. The one end of the pen has a matching rhinestone. It all comes together quite nice with the rhinestone trimmed heart pen holder.

How To Find the Best Wedding Photographer - Part 1

I am very pleased to be able to guest blog for MRsCHADT today.  In fact, she has invited me to be here for three days, and I am very happy to oblige. 

If you are like me, I am sure you appreciate the one-of-a-kind personal touches in treasured items for special occasions. That is probably why you’ve been checking out the beautifully crafted books on this site. As a photographer, I know there are two important ways to preserve memories of a special occasion—guest books and photographs.  There is no more important time to consider these things than when planning your wedding. 

Since you are already in the right place to find the perfect guest book, MRsCHADT has asked me to give you some pointers to find the best photographer for your wedding.  I am tempted to just give you my web address—http://www.wilhelm-photography.com/.  Oops, where’d that come from? But instead, I’d like to arm you with all the necessary information you should consider when choosing the photographer for your big day.  I have organized my tips into the Three P’s of choosing a wedding photographer. I’ll tell you about one each day that I am here.

Being a wedding photographer myself, I hope to unveil some of the mysteries of the business so you don’t have to wade through endless websites and wedding shows trying to find a good match for you.  So, without further self-promotion, here is the first of my Three P’s for choosing the best wedding photographer.

P #1:  Professionalism

A camera does not a wedding photographer make.

I know, this is not the fun place to start.  You’d like to skip this and go right to looking at photos, but today everybody and their uncle thinks they are a photographer and I want you to be sure your wedding is in good hands.

Now, everybody has to start somewhere, but you may not want to put the fate of your wedding album into the hands of the aspiring artist in your family or circle of friends.  Sure, they might promise to have all of your photos on a CD by the time you get back from your honeymoon, but will they really be able to deliver the storybook beauty of the fairytale day you have been planning for…well, since you were clomping around in your mom’s high heels and slip playing dress-up.

Experience is worth its weight in gold when it comes to a wedding photographer!  A seasoned photographer will be prepared for the rush of the day and will anticipate the events to capture the truly precious memories. Don’t be afraid to ask, “How long have you been doing this?”

Say, “How do you do and shake hands.”

You wouldn’t choose your wedding location without going to see the venue yourself.  Meeting your photographer is equally important.  Photographers are part of your day just like the flowers, bridesmaids dresses, and triple tiered cake.  Your guests see and interact with them.  It is important that you approve of the way they dress and carry themselves.  I think most photographers who have successful businesses have a fairly good handle on this-hence they are successful, but it is always good to be sure. 

Maybe you will meet a photographer at a wedding show, or see them working at a friend’s wedding.  These are great times to take notice to how they dress and act in professional situations.  If you found your photographer through the internet, schedule a time to meet with them to ask about their work.  If you plan to have engagement photos taken, by all means, schedule them with the same photographer.  This is the perfect way to get see their personality and quality of work.

A great wedding photographer helps to keep things moving, especially during the allotted time for portraits so look for someone whose personality is both confident and friendly.  A timid photographer might have a tough time lining up and rearranging all twenty three family members including Granny who is four feet tall and can’t stand long because of her bunions, the texting, too-cool-for-a-tie teenage brother, and a nephew who keeps giving everyone bunny ears.  It takes a charismatic person to get that group in place and smiling at the camera.

  

What’s in their bag of tricks?

When you meet with a perspective photographer you will get a feel for whom they are, but there are a few questions you should also ask regarding their professional approach to photographing.  You don’t want to have guest showing up with better gear than your photographer—bad sign!  Ask what equipment they are using.  Do they have back-up cameras?  Can they provide additional lighting sources (unless you like the color of your church’s florescent lights?)  Will there be one photographer or two?  That last one is important if you love candids. I’ll come back to that point in a minute,

A professional photographer’s quality work doesn’t end with the gear they bring to the wedding.  One thing you often forfeit when you use an amateur photographer is print quality.  Will your photographs be retouched?  Do they have software and professional labs that will handle your images with care and perfection, or are they going to take your images to the local drug store?

Now, going back to the importance of having two photographers… The main photographer is going to be very busy focusing on the major events of the day.  I only shoot weddings with a second photographer for this reason.  I am in charge of what I call the “bread-and-butter” shots.  These are images my couple expects to see in their proofs. 

That means when I am securing the tear-jerking toast, I am unavailable to snap a photo of the adorable ring-bearer stealing a taste of icing form the cake.  I bring a second photographer to be on the lookout for priceless moments that are un-planned.  You have to decide if candids are an important part of what you expect in your album, but that brings me to point number two... and that will have to wait until tomorrow.

I hope this helps you see the advantages of hiring a professional wedding photographer.  If you have any questions about my first “P” please post them below.  Or post your experience.  Have you learned the hard way about how important it is to hire a professional, or did picking the right photographer save your day?  I’d love to hear about it! 

I hope you will be back tomorrow.  And if you stick with me all three days, I will give-away a free engagement session to my one of my commenters!  Stay tuned to enter.

Photo Fabulous

I haven't taken a break, still working steady in the studio, but I wanted to let you know that starting tomorrow I've invited a guest blogger here on MRsCHADT.

I'd like nothing more than to see the extrodinary photos in the back of your guest book albums be the kind to make you sigh or even cry from their beauty. That's why I've asked professional photographer Tonya Wilhelm, of Wilhelm Photography, to give us some tips for those brides-to-be out there, who are looking to hire a photographer for their special day.

So be sure to stay tuned these next three days for Tonya's How to Find the Best Wedding Photographer series!

I'll be back again on Friday.

Friends Forever Guest Book Album

We're calling this album "Friends Forever"

I say, "we" because it was a team effort of myself and my two daughters. My youngest daughter picked out the cover design. I have to admit it was challenging thinking of what to put inside this book in order to create something totally unique and extra special.

What I like about this album, as are most of my books, is that you can use it as a photo album or a guest book.

Here are some of the pages. Like my previous albums you can side a photo right into the designated areas without glue or tape. I put little paper inserts that say "YOUR PHOTO HERE" to use a template, but mostly a regular photograph fits right in.

In between the photo pages I put ivory card stock pages that are punched down the edges that are acid and lignin free for more photos or signatures as a guest book. 

 And of course I stitched a felt sleeve with ribbon closure to protect the book when it's not being shown off or passed around.

This size book (5.5" x 7.5") is the perfect sized album for use as a coffee table book. I think the blue ribbon and green mesh ties on the coil make it an interesting conversation piece, don't you?

A Lifetime of Love Photo Memory Album

I put this together last week.

With the stores replacing all the Christmas stuff in preparation for Valentine's day, it had me thinking about my sister. Her anniversary is on Valentine's day. She's been married now for over twenty years.. sorry sis but I can' t keep track of exactly how long.

Anyway, with those two factors, I was inspired and put together this memory album. Everyone knows a book has got to have a title, so I'm calling this one, "A Lifetime of Love."

I picked up some great Valentine's papers right after Christmas when they were first putting them on the shelves, and those same little hands that helped me make book covers, threaded and laced the hearts on the front cover.

What do you think?

There's eleven inside pages, twenty-two if you count front and back, and not counting the various flaps and tags that I stuck inside.

I had gotten this corner rounder punch about a year ago and picked up the wrong kind. Didn't know what to do with it until now. Great for punching corners to stick tags in the album!

Here are just a few photos of the inside pages.

I made a felt envelope to slide the album in and protect it. The idea came from Martha Stewart for gift wrapping alternatives. I used buttons on mine instead of ribbon and added the double hearts to match the theme of the album.

The two hearts on the outside, and the cover of the album can actually be personalized with names, too.

There are so many details of this album I'd like to show off, but it would take a hundred pictures to capture them all, so I tried to make a video of the book. I'll see if I can't get it loaded to share with you all soon.