Ogden Bride Blog

By Roland Lepore
For the Deseret News

On a recent visit to Paris I noticed something somewhat unusual I had never seen, or at least not to the extent I witnessed this time.

Bridges I had crossed multiple times before were now covered with padlocks as a representation of a couple’s love for each other. I later learned that this new phenomenon has been spreading all over Europe. Newlyweds will select a certain spot that is meaningful to them and their relationship and will “lock up” their hearts using these “love locks” as a symbol of what they hope to live — an eternal love.

You will see all over town padlocks engraved with names and initials hanging from both sides of bridges. As it appears, they close the lock and together throw the key in the water right below them. This seals their eternal love. The ritual also symbolizes that their hearts will never be separated and no rival will ever be able to find the key to the heart of their beloved, since the key has disappeared in the water. In this manner, they have found a way to bind together what they hope will remain eternal.

For complete article go to:
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/print/865553489/The-locking-of-hearts-in-Paris-France.html 

Roland Lepore is the founder ofwww.lessaintsdesderniersjours.com. He just moved to Lyon, France, with his family after living in Utah for the past 10 years.

I like this idea.  What do you think??

After 23 years in business we at Camelot Party Rentals have got a solid foundation when it comes to tenting events. Tents are no longer just for Girl Scouts and die hard campers, these days they are an elegant affordable way to have an indoor outdoor wedding. Here are Camelot Party Rental’s top reasons to tent your wedding.

By Tasha Wheeler Director of Sales and Events Designer for Camelot Party Rentals
For more info: http://www.camelotpartyrentals.biz    

SALT LAKE CITY — Online classifieds ended up getting Tyler Newman far more than he bargained for. While looking for a good deal on a road bike, the 27-year-old Riverton man ended up with a wife, too.

"I thought it was a great deal," he said, standing hand-in-hand with Michelle Oliverson Newman, 22, at the Salt Lake LDS Temple. The two were wed Friday, following almost a year of courtship, which began with an advertisement posted online last May.

Newman had been looking for something to help him train for an upcoming triathlon and a used Dawes Lightning bicycle he found on ksl.com seemed to have the perfect price tag — just $300. Several other callers had inquired about the bike, but Oliverson said she held onto it for the seemingly "serious" first caller.

Turns out I was really serious," Newman joked.

When he showed up to check out the merchandise on a May day in 2010, Newman said he had a hard time keeping his eyes on the bike. He was pretty taken by the seller.

For complete story, wedding photography and videos go to:

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865551413/An-advertisement-for-a-bicycle-leads-to-lasting-romance-for-buyer-and-seller.html
and/or  http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=19439694

LAIE, Hawaii — Elizabeth Smart and Matthew Gilmour were married Saturday on the North Shore of the island of Oahu.

The couple exchanged vows at the Laie Hawaii Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in front of a small group of immediate family members, according to a statement released by Smart family spokesman Chris Thomas.

The wedding party was celebrated at a private reception and luau. Following Saturday's festivities, the couple planned to leave on an extended honeymoon to an undisclosed location.

"Elizabeth's desire was for what most women want — to celebrate her nuptials in a private wedding with family and close friends," Thomas said.

When the couple became engaged just last month, they made plans to get married this summer. But the couple recently decided the move the date up by several months.

"After the story broke about her engagement and the media became increasingly invasive, Elizabeth recognized it was going to be impossible to have a traditional wedding devoid of distractions and unusual challenges outside of her control," Thomas said. "She decided, about a week ago, the best way to avoid significant distraction was to change her wedding plans and to get married in an unscheduled ceremony outside of Utah."

Gilmour, of Aberdeen, Scotland, and Smart met while she was serving an LDS mission in France.

For Complete Article, go to:
http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=19283570&s_cid=article-related-1

By Jasen Lee   February 18th, 2012 @ 7:13pm

Email: jlee@ksl.com

Planning and Budgeting are keys to a successful wedding.  Watch this interview with Brigham C. Young, owner of www.SaltLakeBride.com and www.WeddingSoEasy.com.  Remember to relax, enjoy and HAVE FUN!!

For the last few years, couples made their special day unique by copying coordinated dance routines down the aisle and at the reception, after that one couple did it on YouTube. Now, there’s a whole new “unique” thing everyone is doing: Marryoke.

Marryoke is lip-synch karaoke that a wedding videographer captures your guests performing at different times of the wedding. When they edit it all together, you get a music video of your wedding, set to the timeless song of your choosing: Classic wedding songs like Etta James’s “At Last” and — nope, actually, Marryoke is mostly done to songs that aren’t likely to stand the test of time, like LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem,” or the Black Eyed Peas’ “The Time,” a remix of that song from “Dirty Dancing.”

The trend began in the U.K., but has made its way over to our shores — so don’t be surprised if you’re asked to lip-synch to some Katy Perry at a wedding this summer. Wedding trends, like the coordinated dances to Justin Bieber and Chris Brown songs, spread like wildfire among brides looking for a way to distinguish their wedding day from all of the others. Videographers even offer special “Marryoke” services as part of their packages, now.

What will a Marryoke video look like at the 50-year anniversary? Probably really cheesy — but if the couple makes it to 50 years still happily in love, it doesn’t matter.

Posted at 10:03 AM ET, 01/23/2012 By Maura Judkis
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/arts-post/post/marryoke-the-new-cheesy-wedding-trend/2012/01/23/gIQAmIByKQ_blog.html

Would you do this at your wedding??

January 20, 2012 - ALEXANDRIA, VA — Brides to be can get ready to mail their wedding invitations now that the Postal Service is issuing a 65-cent Wedding Cake stamp that goes on sale today. The stamp, issued in sheets of 20, is a perfect addition for mailing wedding invitations weighing up to 2 ounces or other First-Class Mail such as oversize cards or small gifts requiring extra postage.

“Sure to add a touch of beauty and romance to wedding correspondence, the Wedding Cake stamp, first introduced in 2009, is a timeless addition to the U.S. Postal Service's Weddings series,” said U.S. Postal Service Stamp Services Manager Stephen Kearney. “Often the centerpiece of a wedding reception, the cake has been a wedding tradition for many generations.” The stamps are available at Post Offices nationwide, online at usps.com and by phone at 800-782-6724.

Pastry chef Peter Brett of Washington, DC, created and designed the cake photographed by Renée Comet of Washington, DC, under the art direction of Ethel Kessler of Bethesda, MD. The three-tier wedding cake topped with white flowers and green stems leaves a delightful contrast to the cake’s creamy white frosting.

Customers may view the Wedding Cake stamp as well as many of this year’s other stamps on Facebook at facebook.com/USPSStamps, through Twitter @USPSstamps or on the website Beyond the Perf at beyondtheperf.com/2012-preview.

For more details see: http://about.usps.com/news/national-releases/2012/pr12_008.htm

A summer wedding is planned, said Chris Thomas of the Salt Lake public relations firm Intrepid Group. Thomas would neither identify Smart's fiancé nor confirm how the couple met. The pair became engaged this past weekend.

Sources, however, have identified him as Matthew Gilmour of Scotland.

Smart, 24, is "happy and excited for this next chapter in her life," Thomas said. "She has planned to be very public in her child advocacy work but wants to keep the details of her personal life private."

Elizabeth Smart's father, Ed Smart, said he and his wife, Lois, are "just very happy for Elizabeth. He seems like a fine young man."

Smart would not release additional details at the request of his daughter. "She feels he's the one so we are very happy for her," Ed Smart said Friday.

Smart rose to international prominence after she was kidnapped at knife point from her parents' home in June 2002 by Brian David Mitchell. Smart, then 14, was held by her captors for nine months, enduring repeated sexual abuse. Smart was rescued when she, Mitchell and Mitchell's wife, Wanda Barzee, were spotted in Sandy in March of 2003.

Smart testified against Mitchell, who was convicted of kidnapping and rape in U.S. District Court in 2010. He is serving a life sentence. Barzee is serving a 15-year sentence in federal prison for her role in the crimes.

Many people who watched Smart testify against Mitchell at trial and during sentencing commented on her poise and confidence on the witness stand.

Smart has said on a number of occasions that she has been guided by the advice of her mother, who told her the day after her rescue that Mitchell may have taken nine months of her life from her, but she must not allow him to take one more minute.

Smart has advised other victims "not to let it hold them back."

Since her rescue, Smart has served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in France, formed a foundation to advocate on behalf of children and has worked as commentator for ABC News.

By Marjorie Cortez, Deseret News    E-mail: marjorie@desnews.com
Published: Friday, Jan. 20, 2012 5:25 p.m. MST

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705397732/Elizabeth-Smart-is-engaged-summer-wedding-is-planned.html

Old: White Wedding Dress

New: You can still wear the traditional white or ivory wedding dress but how about throwing in splashes of color with sashes and colorful jewelry. Wake it up and rock it out with your favorite colors.

Old: Confetti of Rice

New: Sparklers (the colors of your wedding theme), glitter and air-popped popcorn. Instead of tulle bags try tossing cones.

Old: Bridal March Canon D

New: Have the Wedding DJ play your favorite tune, hire a cellist or quartet to play an instrumental version of your favorite rock song that has a special meaning for both of you. (clear the music selection with your church pastor if ceremony will be held in a church)

Old: Getting Married In the Church

New: Pick a wedding ceremony location that has meaning for the both of you, it doesn't have to be in the church to be "legal". It can be a park, gallery, backyard, even an old theater where you had your first date. Think outside the box and find your very own special ceremony site.

Old: Exchanging Traditional Wedding Vows

New: Customize your own wedding vows by blending your personalities and your feelings into an amazing set of wedding vows that will have way more meaning for the two of you than a vows template will ever have. Then for added memory frame it as a beautiful keepsake.

Do you have suggestions to shake things up?

From: Kesha King - Opulent Custom Event Planning
www.opulentcustomeventplanning.com

An album of wedding photographs has been returned after going missing for 17 years.
 
The wedding images commemorating Nigel and Gillian Stewart's marriage had been in their caravan which was stolen.

Following failed media appeals for its return, the album was left outside their home in Gilford, County Down, inside a plastic bag on Tuesday afternoon, BBC News reports.

Gillian said: "I thought I was seeing things. I was absolutely stunned. Speechless... It's lovely for the children - they only know their dad with grey hair."

She called on the person who left the wedding photo album to make themselves known even if they had stolen the caravan, adding: "You needn't be a bit afraid to come forward to me, because I bear no grudges.

"The past is the past, the future's the future. I would just love whoever it was to come forward, so I could thank them in person."

Earlier this year, a wallet belonging to a 9-year-old boy was returned with its contents still present after he wrote a letter and put it up in the store it was taken from.

A woman also had her belongings returned with an apology letter after they were taken from her.

Published Thursday, Nov 10 2011, 1:53pm EST - By Mayer Nissim
Source: http://www.digitalspy.com/odd/news/a350263/stolen-wedding-photo-album-returned-after-17-years.html 

By Andrew Adams, Deseret News            
Published: Friday, Nov. 18, 2011 7:34 p.m. MST

BIG COTTONWOOD CANYON — Pennsylvania newlyweds are out their wedding pictures and a Utah-based wedding photographer is missing his gear, after his truck was burglarized in the canyon.

Now, the couple is offering a $1,000 reward in hopes that their photos can still be recovered.

Photographer Sean Sullivan went fly-fishing in the canyon last week and was gone for just minutes. He said Friday the burglar or burglars broke through a window on the right side of his pickup and took his laptop, external drives, photography equipment and even his debit card.

“I guess we’ve got the memories, but we don’t have the visuals — we don’t have photos of my wife with her mother and her father in her dress,” Josh Smith said from Philadelphia. “We could not have asked for a better day. No complications. You put in all this work. Everything goes perfect. The last possible thing that you would think is that your wedding photography would be stolen."

“My hope is that we can get these pictures out there and this person can return the stolen goods,” Sullivan said.

For complete story and additional photos see -
"Newlyweds hope reward helps them recover stolen wedding photos"
http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705394637/Newlyweds-hope-reward-helps-them-recover-stolen-wedding-photos.html.

Are you a hardcore Android fan?  Probably not as much as Vanessa Kenworthy and Rhys Kenworthy. They took Android love to a new level with their Android themed wedding and reception!
 
Starting with the 30” Android wedding cake to vows exchanged via their Android phones, this was a wedding like no other.

Be sure to check out the news coverage and weding pictures -

http://youtu.be/4-3_hyq-0RE

October 4th, 2011  From: http://alwaysablogsmaid.com/

 The Q: I’m debating having my wedding over Labor Day weekend. The thing is, my family loves the idea because it gives us a long weekend to celebrate, but I personally actually HATE traveling over holiday weekends and having them committed to a wedding. Do you have any thoughts about this, pro or con? In your experience, is it better or worse for guests?

The A: Hmmm. This is a good one. One of the greatest weddings that I’ve ever attended as a guest was over Thanksgiving weekend. I was 25 and probably just prime to NOT spend Thanksgiving doing what I’d done my entire life AND the alternative idea of spending the weekend drinking and running on a beach in the Dominican Republic sounded absolutely perfect.

That said, I’ve also had endless streams of brides and grooms come and go from our offices lamenting spending Memorial Day weekend in traffic heading to a beach-side wedding or the cost of flights and hotel rooms to get to a hot-spot over 4th of July.

Ultimately, I think the best thing to do is to ask yourself a few questions about your wedding plans AND about your guests that should help you decide if this will be a great idea for your guests or if your invite will induce an eye-roll when the save the date comes in the mail.

1. Does your venue/ locale offer something special for the holiday weekend? 
Obviously, your love should be enough, but if you are asking people to fly, fend off traffic, pay inflated hotel rates and miss a BBQ or other fun holiday activity… does your weekend offer something equally enjoyable. Last summer we had a wedding on the 4th of July in Manhattan. While most of the city runs for cover on long weekends in the Spring and Summer, this wedding had such an amazing location (right off of the West Side with FULL VIEW of the fireworks) that it was WELL worth asking NYers to stay and non-NYers to come to town. It was a once in a life-time experience for many of the guests.

2. Do your guests have the economic capacity to take this trip during a holiday weekend?
Travel and lodging over long weekends is often inflated. Before you make grand plans to head to an island over Thanksgiving or to the Vineyard for Labor Day, check out hotels and airfares and make sure that it seems like your plans are something that your guests (at least the bulk of them) can afford. If this isn’t an issue for your guests, than by all means, go ahead… But, a lot of guest resentment can result in worries about personal finance…

3. Would this make it EASIER vs. HARDER for my guests?
For some of our clients, it’s easier to have a Sunday wedding (for religious reasons) than a Friday or Saturday event. When that factor is coupled with a lot of out of town guests, it’s almost always easier for their guests if the wedding is on a 3 day weekend. This way people can come, attend the wedding and have a travel day afterward without having to take a day off from work. However, for other families, when the wedding sits on a Saturday evening over a three day weekend, you may just be making the Friday a traveling nightmare.

Socially, this is applicable as well. We are working on a New Year’s Eve wedding currently and I think it’s just PERFECT for this particular client (and would work for some of my friends as well). Their friends often spend New Year’s together and the family portion of the crowd has a history of weddings on New Year’s Eve. SO, not only is it a tradition, it also solves the never-ending dilemma of “What should we all do this New Year’s Eve?” And, in case you are wondering… that’s what WE’RE doing too!

So, hopefully if you run through these questions with your guests in mind, you’ll come to the conclusion that will make everyone shout with glee at the thought of spending a holiday weekend with you and your intended!

From: http://alwaysablogsmaid.com/2011/10/04/good-and-bad-holiday-weekend-weddings/

This gorgeous wedding dress was made even more special by the installation of about 300 warm white LEDs throughout the skirt. The lights simulated the effect of candlelight with the gold-tinted color of the LEDs, and with a soft random flickering pattern.  The lights were arranged in a random pattern, with the density increasing towards the bottom of the skirt. The batteries were hidden inside the wider part of the skirt, and the lights were turned on by remote control. 

In the video below, the bride revealed the lights as a surprise, during the first dance at the reception (around 1:55 in the video)

So as not to be outdone, these are also available for the groom in tuxedos.

 If you want to see more  - http://enlighted.com

What do you think. Would you do this??

As social media becomes more and more a part of our lives, etiquette failures can occur when there are so few precedents.

A wedding day is the perfect example of this. You want to share your special day with your social circle, especially those who can’t attend, but where do you draw the line?

We’ve talked to experts in the wedding industry and a recent bride to try and establish the ground rules for tastefully using social media at your wedding.

Check out their advice and let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments below.

1. Pre-Wedding Preparations

Introducing wedding attendees online before the big day can help you avoid any day-of awkwardness. This will give people the chance to break the ice and virtually get to know a little about everyone else.

“Help your wedding guests mix, mingle and stay in the loop with a private social network created just for engaged couples, like OneWed’s Wedding Pre-Party,” suggests Azure Nelson, the marketing manager and editorial director of OneWed.

“Wedding Pre-Party allows wedding guests to see who’s invited to the wedding (and lets the singles scope potential hotties before they meet face-to-face), interact and post comments on a wall, upload photos from pre-wedding parties and post-wedding, and much more.”

If you’d like to skip the specialized sites route, you could also create a pre-party on Facebook using its “Groups” functionality. This can be a clever way to avoid cluttering the news feeds of folks not invited to the wedding, both before and after the event.

2. Stay Offline During the Ceremony

“We’ve all seen these goofballs that bring social media right to the forefront of their ‘I dos,’ and in my opinion, there’s nothing tasteful about this,” says Nelson. “Tastefully using social media at your wedding means incorporating it before and after the actual wedding. The wedding ceremony should be off limits.”

There’s plenty of time during a wedding day to connect with the online world. Doing so during the ceremony is definitely not the right time for the principle players or even the guests. Mindy Howard of @TweetMyWedding has some advice for attendees:

“Be polite. Don’t tweet when you should be participating and listening, specifically during the liturgy or the ceremony.”

3. Appoint a Chief Tweeter

If you want your wedding to be recorded for posterity in 140-character posts, then let people know and even encourage them to get involved by creating a hashtag.

“Print up some tented cards on your menu or program with the hashtag for your event and encourage your guests to send you their well wishes, touching moments and snap shots. These are moments that otherwise would have been missed.”

You can take this even further by appointing a “Chief Tweeter” — or several — to document the day.

“Have an Official Tweeter and Well Wishing Station — have one or more ‘Tweets of Honor.’ Have some technologically obsessed friends? This is a great job for them! These folks can quietly tweet from a corner as not to be obtrusive or can come out of the shadows and provide you with a full on social media guest book station,” says Howard.

And you can even incorporate social media into the more traditional parts of the day. In addition to reading cards and messages out loud from family and friends that couldn’t make it, why not read messages from Facebook and Twitter too?

“Have your Tweet of Honor compile some well wishes that have been tweeted out and share them during the toasts. This can be a very fun twist on the traditional toasting time,” suggests Howard.

4. Set Up a Social Media Station

There’s a way to keep a traditional look and feel to a wedding celebration and still make room for social media. A “social media station” is a place where those who want to connect or comment online can do so, without forcing the issue onto the uninterested.

This can also work for photos, as well as text-based communications. A live stream of photos from the event can be a fun way to engage people and encouraging sharing.

“Ditch the tacky disposable cameras and set up a shared Flickr account so that guests can upload any photos they may take,” says Liene Stevens, former wedding planner and CEO of Splendid Communications.

“This doesn’t replace hiring a professional photographer, of course, but it does allow you and your guests to share in their view of your wedding,” Stevens says.

Jodie Welton, a founding partner of Connected PR who got married this summer, went down this route and had a huge projector showing images of the day for her evening reception, as well as a separate area for filming.

“We thought it was important that the guests are absorbed in the wedding and that social media enhanced the experience, rather than distract from it. So, to keep it ‘away from the party’ we had a designated area for guests to be filmed,” explains Welton.

“The DJ also took pictures and uploaded to Flickr there and then. As a nice touch, he then projected the Flickr stream across the walls so guests saw images of themselves. The DJ gave everyone the Flickr URL so all of the guests could view and add to it later.”

5. Live Stream for Those Who Can’t Make It

Thanks to the wonders of modern tech, nowadays you can share your special moments with people who can’t make it in person. Ustream is one such site that can help you share your ceremony with those well-wishing from afar.

“Live weddings give our users an opportunity to experience Ustream in a completely new way. It’s very exciting to see our broadcasters offer unfiltered access to the best moments of their lives. That’s one of the many reasons we’re here,” says Ustream’s Tony Riggins.

Howard notes it’s a particularly useful option for anyone getting married abroad or far from home.

“The use of Ustream to share (publicly or privately) your day live online for friends and family that cannot make it to your ceremony is especially useful for those having destination weddings. If Great Grandmother cannot make it, she can still virtually attend and share in your joy,” Howard says.

And don’t think this means you’re spilling private moments all over the web; there are ways to make this a private process, Stevens points out:

“If you have loved ones who are unable to attend the wedding, collaborate with your videographer on showing a live feed of the ceremony via Ustream or another online video streaming service. You can make these password protected if you’d like, so that you can share your joy only with people you know and not random Internet strangers.”

Welton streamed some of her special day to far-flung elderly relatives, and even got them involved in the speeches:

“Some of my family in Italy couldn’t make it to our wedding and we wanted them to get a sense of our big day. Being able to stream live video and pictures meant they could get a more authentic sense of the atmosphere. Amazingly, they even broadcast a live message (they are in their 80s!) after the speeches.”

6. Don’t Forget to Enjoy the Moment

“Changing a Facebook status from engaged to married just after the vows is a growing trend, but don’t miss taking in those moments with the people actually there with you. Put down the phone and enjoy the company of those who came to celebrate with you,” says Stevens.

You only get one wedding day — if things go as planned, anyway — so don’t waste any precious moments you could be interacting with real-life people. Rest assured anyone who is following your day online will certainly understand your priorities.

“When you’re one of the major participants, you need to unplug for the day and focus on the people who are actually there with you. Weddings go by in a flash anyway, and you don’t want to sacrifice seeing your crazy Uncle Wally doing The Worm because you’re crafting some clever tweet. Leave that to your guests,” says Sally Kilbridge, BRIDES deputy editor. “In fact, part of the fun of weddings nowadays is seeing how fast they can make that video of Uncle Wally go viral.”

That, of course, is a whole other story…

From: http://mashable.com/2010/11/09/social-media-wedding-etiquette/
November 09, 2010 by Amy-Mae Elliott 39

Would you ever virtually attend a wedding - let alone be a digital bridesmaid?

That's what Renee did at her best friend’s marriage ceremony in Colorado. She was asked to be a bridesmaid, but was unable to make the trip from Richmond, Virginia.

That's when she virtually pinged in using Apple's FaceTime app for the iPad 2. One of the groomsman carried the iPad down the aisle as Renee Armstrong was able to see the whole ceremony. The bride, Jamie Alberico, was ecstatic to have her friend attend her wedding.

Even though she wasn't wearing the same wedding attire, “she got to see the whole ceremony. She got to meet everybody and be here for the reception," Alberico told the news source.

Would you plan this at your wedding???

Associated Press
July 29, 2011

HOUSTON (AP) - You could call it "My Big Fat Computer Geek Wedding."

After a Houston couple couldn't get a friend to serve as the minister at their wedding, they decided to create their own.

When Miguel Hanson and his fiancee, Diana Wesley, get married on Saturday, a computer will conduct the ceremony. Well, technically, a computer program Hanson wrote will serve as the minister.

During the wedding, to be held in the Houston home of Hanson's parents, the couple will stand before a 30-inch monitor in the backyard. In a robotic voice, the computer will greet the guests, say how the couple met and go through the ceremony.

The ceremony won't be legally binding. The couple will still have to get a justice of the peace to sign their paperwork.
 

Would you do this for your wedding??