Erin & Marty | Madison Wedding

Erin and Marty had a beautiful wedding at Midvale Community Lutheran Church, on Madison's west side. The whole day felt easy because Erin was so laid back. She was relaxed and really enjoyed the wedding day with Marty.

With a downtown reception only a block away, a stop at the Capitol for photographs is almost a "must." Erin's shoes were cute gold flats that we had to show off.

 The reception was at the Madison Concourse Hotel, in downtown Madison. The service and attention to detail is always wonderful! The seating chart (bottom left) listed guests by name with their table number. Hair was done by Rejuvenation Spa. Flowers were by Blooms. The cupcakes were by the Concourse. 

Do You Love Me? Could You Count The Ways?

Valentine’s Day- the holiday everyone loves to hate. 

Why? Pressure.

It’s the one day out of an entire year that you feel like your love is being quantified. And no one likes to feel like they don’t measure up.

There is a certain level of expectation on Valentine’s Day. You feel like you are being judged. You feel like you are being watched and compared, to see how well, how much, you love someone. 

But also, in turn, how much you are loved.

Which brings me to the reason why people love Valentine’s Day. 

Everyone wants to feel like they are worthy of being loved. 

Everyone wants to feel special and appreciated. 

When you look at it that way, giving in to the hype of Valentine’s Day is actually a small gesture that you can do for your honey that has big impact. 

The whole rest of the year can get crazy-busy, and the romantic gestures can get forgotten when you are pressed to deal with schedules and to-do lists. This could be the one day that someone feeling a bit unappreciated is hoping that their significant other will slow down and remember all the tender, mushy reasons they love each other.

So, how do you show it? Easy:

(he/she/him/her used interchangeably)

Open her car door

Hand over the remote and let him choose the show - or better yet, turn off the TV

Write her a letter - Don’t know what to write? Try listing the reasons she makes you feel good or what you love about her. Mail it. Or hide it in a place she’ll find it.

Flirt

Make him a scavenger hunt

Bake her dessert - even if it comes from a mix

Make him breakfast in bed - or if your schedules are different, have the coffee ready when he wakes up

Do a chore that is usually done by the other

Play a board game together

Have a movie night - at a theater or on the sofa

Cook dinner together

Stargaze

Play together- play pool or minigolf, go bowling or ice skating

Change your routine

Turn out the lights and spend the evening in firelight or candlelight

Say “I love you and I appreciate all that you do, even if I forget to tell you the rest of the year.”

See Keep The Romance Fires Burning post for more ideas.

Kera & Dan | Engaged!

Kera and Dan's big day is quickly approaching! For their engagement session in August, we headed to downtown Madison.

For most of their session, the weather was great. There was one small bump, though. I have to admit, I have never had to find shelter and wait out a freak rain storm in the middle of a session before. However, that is what happened to us that day. Kera and Dan were wonderful about the "delay" and the rain stopped just in time for some sunset images by the lake, complete with a rainbow in the background! I think that means good luck with their marriage.

Here are some images from their engagement session.

Sarah & RJ | Wedding

Sarah and RJ had a beautiful day for their wedding. All the little extra touches made it memorable, like the family pin Sarah wore on her dress and the union chairs on their cake. Bucky Badger from UW Madison made an appearance and really livened up the dance floor with his dance moves!

Amanda & Jon | Wedding

Amanda and Jon's wedding took place in the Wisconsin Dells. The location is great for families that are traveling to the wedding destination. It's like a vacation built right into the weekend!

Kendra & John | Wedding

A few images from Kendra and John's wedding:

Too Much Of A Good Thing

You have your Pinterest account and you are following tons of people and accounts. How is that working?

Are you loving the ideas? Are they too much? Are you going to use any of them? Do you have this unstoppable desire to try to use them all?

So many ideas can become overwhelming. You need to know when to look at the pretty pictures and when to stop looking and start doing. No wedding will plan itself just by looking at the bridal eye-candy. These boards from our last post are meant for inspiration, but it's up to you to actually plan the wedding and follow through on all the details.

Remember that a couple of great ideas are all that you need to make your wedding fabulous.

You don't need to stress yourself out with trying to do everything that you see on blogs and Pinterest for your one day. Pick a couple that you feel are really fun or that would add special meaning on the day.

Then, forget the rest.

You want to be able to enjoy your family and friends on your wedding day, not stressing over the fact that you didn't finish your 64 DIY projects. Plus, some of the fun blog posts you see on wedding boards and sites are not even from real weddings, but from stylized photo shoots that were set-up just to show off cute ideas. The blogs know that you can't do everything on one day, so don't measure your real wedding by their pretend ones.

If you are looking for ways to use Pinterest better with your wedding planning, read this from mashable.com: How to Avoid Pinterest Wedding Angst

How do you use Pinterest? Is more better or can you have too much of a good thing? When do you draw the line in looking for new ideas?