THIS MONTH'S VIVA LA WEDDING Q&A

Q - We have a four year old son and can't imagine not having him at our wedding. There are also a lot of young children in our family and we would love for them to be present on our wedding day as well. Can you give us a few tips on having a child friendly wedding that will help make it more enjoyable for the kids (and their parents too)?

A - Take a child out of his or her normal surroundings, dress them in uncomfortable formal clothes, break their routine, place them in an adult setting - it won’t be long before they are tired and bored. They also have a short attention span and may need a little help if you want them to make it through the day. How can you keep them entertained and having fun? Here are a few tips so that not only will they enjoy themselves at your wedding, but their parents will be able to enjoy themselves too.

Offer a kids meal - While you may be excited for your guests to try the oven roasted AAA rib eye served with exotic mustards and creamed horseradish that melted in your mouth at your food tasting let's face it, the kids at your wedding probably aren't going to be all that excited to eat it. Offer them something that will please their palates like pizza, chicken fingers or mini hot dogs and make sure to ask your venue/caterer if they can be served first. Especially at an evening reception seeing as it will probably be well past their normally scheduled eating time when you sit down for dinner.

Arrange for childcare - Having someone on hand to watch over the kids, making sure they're not getting into the wedding cake before it's officially cut or dipping their little fingers into the candy bar and overdosing on sugar before the night has even begun, can be a real life saver. If your wedding is taking place at a hotel/resort they may already offer this service on-site.

Hire a professional magician, balloon artist or children's entertainer. Not only will this keep them entertained but it adds a fun aspect to the day that's especially for them, and can sometimes be fun for the adults too.

Create special areas with activities for the kids - Set up a children's table using butcher block paper as the tablecloth with crayons for colouring. A children's wedding activity book is a great way to keep them busy and they can take it home afterwards as a memento of your day. The book can include colouring pages, crosswords, and word searches depending on their age.

Goodie bags for each child are a nice touch. Fill the bags with bead sets, bubbles, colouring kits, pipe cleaners, disposible cameras, juice boxes and a few little snacks.

If your venue allows for it, set up a dvd in a separate room along with puzzles, board games and crafts to keep them entertained.

Great find!! - These stuffed paper dolls from Anthropologie are super cute! Included are five water-based markers kids can use to create their own unique dolls. The cool thing about them is that when they get home and days later decide the doll needs a new look, simply throw it in the wash and start all over again.

I've been living under a rock...

At least that's how it feels because everyone I have shown this video to has said the same thing... "seen it".

Even my teenage daughters!

I going to post it anyway, just so the three other people in the world who haven't seen it can be in on "the secret".

Of all the weddings I have photographed, I have never seen ANYTHING like this:

A readers question about textures...

Steve asked a question about yesterdays post, "I am wondering do you use this technique often? If so what kind of images do you mainly use it on?"

The answer is "only occasionally", it's a nice way to bring focus to your subject without using a vignette or edges. The best images to use them on (in my humble opinion) are "portraits".

I am a fairly recent convert to textures, it was after seeing Jed and Vicki Taufer at WPPI Boston and in Vermont, seeing how they used them - in a very subtle way that enhances the photo (not over power it).

Let me share three images from Vicki that made me a texture convert.

(Click on any image to view larger & see more detail. They'll open in new window.)

Free textures and how to use them...

Textures are like spices, when used correctly they really enhance the food, but too much (or used incorrectly) then it just doesn't work.

That being said, I really like textures and have accumulated a long list of sites that offer high quality, high resolution textures for free.

Here's part of my list:

1. CGTextures has some of the best (and most) textures I have seen offered by one site. They have both a free and a paid service. The free service allows you to download 15mb of textures every 24 hours.

2. TextureZ.com also offers a large variety of textures and does take donations that will help support their efforts.

3. Mayang's Free Textures has listed over 3,800 free high res, well categorized textures.

4. Texturise not only offers a large variety (and number) of free textures, but it is also one of the few sites I know of the allow you to use them for commercial purposes.

5. TextureKing, the name pretty much says it all.

6. The Roxor has over 80 high res paper textures. They also offer free fonts, brushes, icons, and more.

Below is a video tutorial on how to apply textures using Photoshop, as there is more than one way to do it, you will find other (really well done) video tutorials here, here, here, and here.

Cinefoil review part 2, return of the dark stuff...

I wanted to follow-up on yesterdays review of Rosco Cinefoil with another way we used it.

We were shooting some product shots for a local company, Mad Gab's, that would be used for their catalog.

The shoot was done on white seamless as all of the images would be cut out, and using the lighter color paper would make that process easier.

A problem arose when we were shooting some boxes that had a highly reflective finish. The side of the box was reflecting back the white paper (see image #1).

Se we slid a small piece of Cinifoil under the offending side of the box and it killed the reflection allowing the vibrant color of the box to come through (see image #2).

The image was then cutout in Photoshop and it was ready for the catalog (see image #3).

You may want to seriously consider adding Cinefoil to your arsenal of light modifying tools.

(click on any image to view larger and in a new window)

VIVA'S BOOK CLUB - FÊTE THE WEDDING EXPERIENCE

FÊTE is a dynamic New York City event planning and design production firm led by Jung Lee and her husband Josh Brooks. Their website is filled to the brim with inspiration and eye candy of the most opulent and over-the-top events (you could really get lost oohing and ahhing for hours).

Jung Lee and her team design weddings that seem bigger than life, but are thoughtfully produced down to the smallest detail.

In her book FÊTE THE WEDDING EXPERIENCE, Jung Lee uses 9 very different weddings as examples of how you too can plan a truly unforgettable wedding. Follow her advice and your wedding will have the energy, soul, and authenticity that makes a wedding truly fantastic.

A KINDERGARTEN WEDDING

As told and photographed by 6 of Four

Every year the Kindergarten class at Berry College’s Elementary School (in Mount Berry Georgia) puts on a Kindergarten Wedding. They study a letter a week. For M they study marriage and have a wedding. It’s the highlight of the year and it’s exciting to have your name drawn as the bride and groom.

They learn about loving one another and take vows to be friends forever. It’s simply adorable. It includes a first dance, cake, and bouquet/garter toss. It’s just like a real wedding... only miniature. Each child brings in a picture of their parents at their wedding. They learn about commitment and the love their parents share. Each child has a role. Whether it’s a reading, a song, bridesmaid, minister, or ring bearer. Everyone is involved.

This wedding feels like it’s in fast forward speed. From getting ready to the end of the reception, it all happens in about two and a half hours so we were running around as fast as we could to capture the day.

For more pictures of this adorable kindergarten wedding check out 6 of Four's blog