How To Tell Guests About Your Online Wedding Photo Album!

Guests can share their candid photos from your wedding! Photo from The Wedding Lens!

A friend from The Green Hanger Shop recently asked me about how couples can let their guests know about their online photo albums. After all, one of the easiest aspects of using The Wedding Lens is that you just enter in people’s email addresses and they get a notification (and reminders!) so that the couple doesn’t have to worry about contacting people individually.

Our friend, however, pointed out that not everyone has email! Grandma, for example, is definitely not techno-savvy enough to have email. But she does have a nice neighbor who can help her look at the photos online, if only she knew where they were! With that in mind, here’s how you can let your guests know about your online photo album:

• Email: As I said, you just enter in the email addresses, The Wedding Lens sends invitations AND reminders!
• Printed cards: Stylish mini business cards with your album URL and access code for your guests to take home from the wedding OR for you to include with thank you notes. This comes FREE with the Ultimate albums, but you can order it separately with Standard and Premium albums.
• Thank you cards: Just include your album URL and access code as part of your thank you note. You can handwrite it in if you dont want to print cards for it.  
• Programs or Name Cards: You can also include the album URL and access code somewhere that everyone can see it and bring it home with them: in the program or on the name cards. This obviously requires you to sign up for an album early so that you have that information in time for your printers!

Got other ideas? Let us know! We’re always looking for clever ways to help our happy couples let their guests know about their photo albums.

~ Natasha

Ideas for All Things White at Your Wedding!

In honor of winter (and hence snow), we’re going to share some of our white wedding photos to inspire you to have all kinds of white things at your wedding! Just to be clear, I’m skipping photos of white wedding dresses, ’cause that’s pretty well known.

But you know what’s not always used? A beautiful white hairclip!

Photo from The Wedding Lens!

And white accessories: earrings and necklace!

Photo from The Wedding Lens

And then to get the bride and groom to the ceremony, about about transportation: the white limo!

Photo from The Wedding Lens

Then, to walk down the aisle, have the bridesmaids carry white flowers….

Photo from The Wedding Lens

And ask guests to sit on white chairs during the ceremony!

Photo from The Wedding Lens

You can even decorate the white chairs with white flowers!

Photo from The Wedding Lens

Following the ceremony, a completely white decorated reception:

Photo from The Wedding Lens!

including… a white wedding cake WITH white flowers!

Photo from The Wedding Lens

and white name cards

Photo from The Wedding Lens

And finally, top off the wedding with white favors (or favors in white packages!)

Photo from The Wedding Lens

 Will you have white things at your wedding? Like what?

~ Natasha

How to Tell Your Guests about your Online Photo Album!

I know a lot of you have online photo albums & you want your wedding guests to upload their photos into that album. The only question – how?!

Sample Moo Card (Front)

If you already have an album, you can go to the “Share” tab and you have several options – both web based and printed cards! (For the card options, click on the “Share” tab and then go to the “Printable Cards” tab.)

• Email your guests! It’s the most cost-effective and green option for sharing the info on your wedding photos. You give us your guests’ email addresses and we email them to let ’em know! And we REMIND them; something paper options can’t do!
• Put an album widget on your website or blog that links directly to your photo album on The Wedding Lens!
• Use Moo Cards! You’ve probably seen those little cards that some wedding photographers pass out at weddings, right? They’re small, rectangular cards that tell you the name and link to the bride & groom’s photos. You can print Moo cards that have The Wedding Lens logo on it, the link to your personalized photo album (couplesnames.theweddinglens.com) and the access code so your guests can easily start uploading! They’re $19.95 for 100 cards.

Sample Moo Card (Back)

• Use our template to print your own business cards! Just download the template and replace the template info with your own (the personalized photo album address, access code, and your names. Then get yourself some business cards and print away! There’s no charge for downloading the template, either!

Sample Business Card Template

• Make your own cards! We have a link to the image for The Wedding Lens logo and then just be sure you include the personalized photo album address (couplesnames.theweddinglens.com) and the access code! Your guests will need both in order to get to your album!

By the way, in case you’re wondering, why the access code? The access code allows your guests to upload photos to your album without having to register first! It’s one less step your guests will have to take.

See? Easy as pie! And now your guests can share their photos of your pie (or cake, okay) without wondering where oh where your online photo album is located!

Engagement Photos: At the Beach!

After looking at some of my friends’ engagement photos, I realized that we could all use a little help on engagement photos — what to wear, what we be aware of — when planning them. With that in mind, I’m hoping to do a little mini-series on engagement photos in different locations. First up — the beach!

Photo from The Wedding Lens

Engagement photos at the beach is a great idea if you live near the beach or if the beach is significant to you & your significant other. The natural scenery allows you to be playful with your clothes or props — or do nothing at all and just enjoy the beauty behind you!

What should I wear?

First of all, make sure that you & your fiance(e) match. Obviously this means different things to different people. I just saw some great photos of a couple where the woman was wearing a floral dress and the man was wearing stripes. In my head, that sounded awful, but it really looked great. So that’s the lesson — try on the clothes together before you take the photos. You’ll be gravely disappointed if the proofs come back and you think “Oh goodness, we should have double checked that first.”

Second, at the beach, it’s fun to wear something other than blue so that you stand out a little bit. So, for example, one person can wear a white and the other can wear orange. (yes, I know orange isn’t for everyone!) Or blue and orange works too.

Third, consider changing clothes part-way through. This way, if something doesn’t work, you haven’t put all your eggs in one basket.

Fourth, BE COMFORTABLE! The last thing you want during this photo session is to feel awkward in what you’re wearing.

What should we do at the beach?

Well, there’s the beach – the sand, the water. You can do some shots walking barefoot.

Sometimes there are vendors nearby. They can provide a creative background and something different.

Think about using those plants and animals that are there! That seagull? What about a shot of him (or her, yes) looking at you two! It can be really cute.

What should the photographer be aware of?

Lighting! Hopefully your photo session will be a sunny day — but that also causes shadows. Be aware of the shadows when you’re taking the photos. This also might mean doing the photos at a time other than high noon. In fact, consider doing the photos an hour or two before sunset.

Did you take engagement pictures on the beach? Tell us about it!

~ Natasha

Share your beach engagement pictures in an online photo album!

Summer of Wedding Blog Posts

In honor of the 4th of July weekend (and just passing our first anniversary as a blog!), here’s the top Blogs Posts on TheWeddingsLens Blog — as rated by YOU! Well, okay, I’ll create a list of our favorites too. Since you asked.

1. How to Choose the Right Wedding Gown  (which is actually right up there with Colorful Wedding Dresses!)
2. 75 Cheap Wedding Tips
3. How to Create a Seating Chart
4. How to Write Wedding Vows
5. Which Flowers are in Season for a Wedding
6. How to Ask for Gift Cards or Money
7. Photobooth at the Wedding Reception
8. Creative Guestbook Ideas
9. Invitations and Bringing a Date to the Wedding
10. How to Pick Vendors for Your Wedding

The most read engagement story? Nicole & Kate’s Engagement Story (who just had a beautiful wedding and are using The Wedding Lens to share their photos with their guests!)

Our favorite blog post – aside from those above? Well, it’s tied, I think. Three ways. Or Four. I’d do five, but we’ll be here all day as I list through all the rest of ’em trying to decide. 🙂

1. How to Plan Your Own Wedding (without a wedding planner)
2. 50 Green Wedding Tips
3. How to Meet Your Boyfriend at a Wedding (my personal fav!)
4. Top 10 Reasons to Use The Wedding Lens (duh!)

Three things I notice — the “how to” blog posts seem to do a lot better than the others (generally) and we need you to submit more engagement stories! Email ’em to natasha@theweddinglens.com.

What’s your favorite The Wedding Lens Blog Post ?

~ Natasha

Cool Looking Cakes!

I’ve been perusing some photos on the web and have found some of the coolest looking cakes! I thought you’d appreciate them too.

I like this one because the colors match the wedding color theme: blue and brown/black! It looks so great and I’m guessing there was chocolate under there, so they really couldn’t go wrong!

photo from The Wedding Lens

 This next cake is… um… awesome! It’s Nintendo! It fits the personality of the couple and it’s cool looking too! And, from what I understand, it tasted AWESOME.

photo from deadling

This one is along the same lines — a castle! It’s so cool looking and elegant.

photo by A.M. Kuchling

And here’s a “simple” white cake — with a dash of pink, and stairs, and… wow…. How cool is this?!

photo by avlxyz

Actually, I thought I was going to stop earlier, but I had to include this great cake. This is the tallest elegant, white cake I have seen!

picture by MaoMan

Want your guests to share their photos with you?? Get ’em all in ONE album on The Wedding Lens!

Thinking About Engagement Pictures

I was recently talking with some friends about their frustration with finding information on engagement pictures. They have a photographer and they know what kinds of photos they like, but they felt a little stumped about WHERE to take the photos. With that in mind, I thought I could provide a handy dandy list of different things to consider when you’re figuring out what to do with engagement photos.

Location

Urban vs. Nature: Do you like cities? Or trees & greenery? Or gardens?

Some photographers have great photos with an urban city setting; often the grungy parts of cities provide the most clever, beautiful backgrounds. Picture a couple posing next to a wall of graffiti. In black and white. Could be very cool, if that’s what you’re looking for!

Other photographers prefer the outdoorsy setting. A couple peeking their heads out from behind a tree. Cute, right?

If you like both of these ideas — or want the option of having both types of photos — I recommend going to an urban setting, near a park. Most cities, large or small, have some kind of a park and some kind of a downtown area. And usually they’re not too far apart, making it easy to go from one setting to another.

Studio Setting: Like a clean-cut photo? Want to be able to control the lighting and background? Or want to have access to props?

The studio setting might be a good option if you like to have more control over the photos. There are a lot of different poses you can do: romantic, traditional, creative — you name it!

A Place with Meaning

If you are completely at a loss about what you might be looking for, how about picking a location that has meaning to you, as a couple! Maybe a park where you once strolled together or the restaurant where you met. These are great ideas and, with the right photographer, you can get amazing photos!

Style

There are some photos that are very traditional: the couple in various locations, looking into each others’ eyes, smiling side by side, kissing, laughing. Of course, these can be as creative as you want.

Other photos are completely creative and show the couples’ personality. I really liked these photos because they’re creative AND I feel like I already have an idea about their personalities.

What to Wear, How to Look

I’m a big advocate that you should look how you look! Don’t dress differently because of this photo shoot; that’s not the point. That said, there are some great tips for photo shoots: wear colors that match the location (eg. beach should be tans and blues) and ladies might want to consider foundation (even if you dont usually wear it) because it will look better in the photo.

Sharing

You want to make sure that people get to see these photos, right? Consider putting them on your wedding website, including them in your Save the Date (or making a postcard with that photo as the postcard), or post them on The Wedding Lens so that your friends and family can see, download & print whichever photos they love.

Do you have other tips for engagement photo shoots that you want to share? Let me know!

~ Natasha

Colorful Wedding Dresses!

Obviously there’s a stereotype that the bride’s dress needs to be white. But guess what? It doesn’t! There are a lot of dresses out there that are colorful and add just a little bit to the traditional day. The bride gets to add some of her personality to the dress — and they often look better than the plain white counterpart.

For example, consider this lovely blue wedding gown:

photo by yakobusan

Or, there are a lot of dresses that add just a little bit of color to the white gown… Here’s an example of a dress that has a bit of yellow/gold in it. It’s really nice!

photo from The Wedding Lens

Or, if you’re a nontraditional kind of bride, maybe a bright green will be your best option! You’ll look great and hey, you can wear the dress again!

photo by justlgi

So what do you think? Do you like the other colors? Check out the pictures of ALL the real wedding dresses!

Colorful Tuxedos!

Some people think that the bridesmaids get all the fun with using the color scheme that the couple selected. Not true! There are so many different color tuxedos that look classy and would make the wedding much more lively.

For example, here is a classy red tuxedo that would look great on any groomsman:

photo by ccperkdog

And, imagine how nice it would look if it matches with the bridesmaids dresses. Here’s an example of the bridesmaids dresses and the tuxes matching in their suave blue color:

photo by msciba

And here’s a nice close up of the bridemaid and groomsmen matching their gold colors!

photo from The Wedding Lens

All of these tuxedos look great, match with the color scheme, and make the wedding that much more colorful!

If you want to create your own FREE online photo album — that includes photos of your colorful tuxedos — check out The Wedding Lens!

Introducing Video Capabilities from The Wedding Lens!

You already have a photographer, but you also want to see the wedding from the perspective of your guests.  Instead of putting disposable cameras on every table, you already decided that you’d save some money & the environment by asking your friends to upload their photos into one, online wedding album on The Wedding Lens. After all, unlike other sites, there’s unlimited size uploads and downloads on The Wedding Lens.
 
But, you ask, what about all the videos your friends are taking on their cameras? You’d hate to find them on youtube, searchable by the whole wide world. But you do want your guests to be able to see those great personal videos of your vows, the speeches, and your first dance.

Introducing…. VIDEO capability on The Wedding Lens!  It’s true!
 
Starting now, with a premium wedding album, you and your guests can upload as much video as you want! And if you see a video you want, you can download it directly onto your computer! You can even embed the video on your own website or blog!

Here’s an idea of what the video will look like (though this isn’t a video – just an image of what it will be like!)

 
So now all your photo & video sharing woes are solved — all with The Wedding Lens!
 
Questions? Comments? Let us know at editor@theweddinglens.com