Getting Ready Part III (the guys)

Getting Ready Part I
Getting Ready Part II

While I was getting ready with my mother and mother-in-law at the Aveda Salon in Burlington, Mr. Onion was with his father, brother and best friend (his groomsmen) at The Men's Room getting a shave and enjoying some time together, just the guys. I was so glad our photographer's husband Andy went with the guys so I could feel like I didn't miss anything! It was important to me that Mr. Onion got some papering that morning too so he felt taken care of and special.


Mr. Onion enjoying a face massage after a hot towel. It looks like such a peaceful way to begin his day.



Mr. Onion gets a little trim so he looks his best



A little styling while the guys look on



Mr. Onion's best friend got a shave too and Mr. Onion and his brother look on. Andy was standing on the counter to get this photo from above -- the Bishop's will stop at nothing for a great photo!



A few quick photos before they leave The Men's Room. Mr. Onion gets his genuine happiness and sense of joy in life from his father and you can see that on both their faces in this picture (his father far left and Mr. Onion far right).

I got to get my nails, hair and make-up done with the girls -- I think all grooms should get a little relaxing guy time too! I know this was a great thing for them to do together before the day started rolling.

More to come...

Photos: Daria Bishop Photography

How does it feel to be a bride?

Well, I inspired Mrs. Snow Pea to begin her wedding recap from her stunning August wedding, and she's inspired me to share how I felt on my wedding day instead just sharing the who/what/when and my photos. I hope you enjoy.



This photo really says it all -- I felt happy, calm and ready to get married. Let me back up a little. I am not typically a morning person, but for the days leading up to my wedding, I simply couldn't sleep past 5 or 6 AM. I woke up each morning like it was every childhood Christmas morning rolled into one exciting day literally kicking my feet and squealing while still in bed (much to Mr. Onion's dismay while he was still trying to sleep). Thursday morning we woke up at 5 AM, got dressed, packed the car, and were off at 8 AM for a 300 mile drive to begin the rest of our lives together.

The best part about the weekend, and this will sound like a given, was we just had so much fun -- in everything we did. As long as we're together we can make anything fun, even a 300 mile drive or waiting in line to get our marriage license. We ran all our errands and headed back to the inn to relax before our last dinner date before we were married. On our way back we saw a car and I had to take a picture of the license plate:



It says CHEESE! You've gotta love Vermont :) It made us both laugh so hard. When we got back to the inn I decided that would be the perfect time to give Mr. Onion his wedding gift. Then we got dressed up for dinner and headed to our favorite restaurant in Burlington for a romantic date.

To be continued....

Upcoming Celebrity Weddings

Katherine Heigl and Josh Kelley


Katherine Heigl and her fiance, musician Josh Kelley, met when the Grey's Anatomy star appeared in a video for Kelley's song "Only You" in 2005. Later, Kelley wrote "Katie's Song" for his lady love. "There is really nothing more romantic than that," Heigl has said of the gesture. "It was one of the most thrilling and romantic things that I've ever experienced, and it makes me really like him bad." The couple got engaged in June 2006 and plan to wed before the end of 2007.

Ali Larter (from Heroes) and Hayes MacArthur


Ali Larter and her boyfriend, actor Hayes MacArthur, are officially set to tie the knot. Though the couple have been together for more than two years, Larter knew that MacArthur was the one from the very beginning. "I told my boyfriend after three weeks that I wanted to marry him and that we could do it tomorrow," the Heroes star has said. "He just brought light to my life. I feel lucky every morning when I wake up and see him." While the pair have yet to set a date, Larter is also sure what the future holds. "I look forward to that time when I'm home with babies," she told Cosmopolitan magazine in October.

Jennifer Love Hewitt and Ross McCall


"It's the first time I've ever been in a relationship where you don't have to try," Jennifer Love Hewitt told People magazine when news of her engagement to Scottish actor Ross McCall broke in November. "And I think that's the answer. That's when you know that you're in something really good and healthy and right." The couple—who have yet to set a date—have been an item for two years.

See more upcoming celebrity wedding at InStyle.com.

Wait until you see who Salma Hayek is marrying!

Album Help

We recently got our professional proofs in the mail -- 5 archival boxes of prints with almost 1,900 images. Now I have to start narrowing those down and pick an album style and I need your help.



Daria Bishop Photography offers three different albums -- Queensberry, Leather Craftsmen and Cypress. Based on the information I've found on each companies website, I think I've ruled out the Queensberry albums as I don't love the "magazine style" albums that they offer that are so popular right now. I want our album to stand the test of time both physically and esthetically. So now it's down to the Leather Craftsmen or the Cyress.




It looks like the Leather Craftsmen albums will really hold up over many years and I love the look of the mounted prints -- very classic.



If I was picking just based on what I liked the look of best, I'd pick the Cyress. The hand made paper and the cloth cover is so visually pleasing, sweet and romantic. I'm just not sure that years from now it will be in very good shape.

I'd love to hear feedback from brides who have used Leather Craftsmen or Cyress Albums. What did you like and dislike about your album. Any tips -- it's hard to make this big decision without actually holding samples in your hands. For those of you who aren't familiar with these album companies, you can check out their websites.

www.leathercraftsmen.com
www.cypressalbums.com

Note: These companies will only work with a professional photographer so if you want to make your own album with them you'd have to have a photographer do this on your behalf.

Where's Wes?

Let's play a little game. It's like Where's Waldo, except it's called Where's Wes (Jones)?


This is the first time I'd met Wes in person. He looks a lot like my brother, which shocked me at first. He greeted me, then he said, "OK, this is the last time we'll talk today -- now ignore me!" It was so funny.




All photos above by Daria Bishop.




Can you find Wes in every picture? Of over 1,800 professional proofs and 400+ non-professional photos, these 6 photos were all I could dig up of Wes in action at our wedding. He prides himself on being unobtrusive, and most of the day I really didn't even know he was there. I think I noticed him twice -- while I was getting dressed and once I saw him over my shoulder at the cocktail hour, but for the most part I was totally unaware of his presence. This is exactly what you want in a videographer!!

One of the most amazing things about Wes Jones is he shoots with a digital camera and a super-8 mm film camera at the SAME time! He doesn't have an assistant, he is a one man show. Mr. Onion and I watched all the digital footage first, then the super-8 footage and found ourselves thinking "What a minute, he got that SAME footage with the digital camera!" That's when we realized that Wes has seriously mad skills!! Worth every penny and we were so glad we're hired him.

Stress Less

Stressing less is something every bride wishes she could do. Well, I got a great gift at my shower called "arOmaremedy," which I blogged about right before the wedding.



I actually kept it in my purse for the few weeks leading to my wedding and brought it with me to Burlington. I decided to take a deep breath the morning of the wedding as I was getting my hair done and my photographer got such a kick out of it that she had to get a picture of it! It is actually very calming.

What ways do you ease your nerves when tensions are high planning your wedding or even on your big day? I know Miss Magnolia was considering running a 5K race the morning of her wedding and wondered if she was crazy. Any other ideas, small or large?

What would you do for love?!

Man Carves Wife a 6,000 Stair Path in Mountain



Mr. Onion came across an amazing, almost unbelievable love story from China. Over 50 years ago, Liu, a 19 years-old boy, fell in love with a 29 year-old widowed mother named Xu. At the time, it was unacceptable and immoral for a young man to love an older woman. The couple ran off to live and love each other in peace for over half century.



Liu spent the next 50 years carving, by hand, over 6,000 steps so his wife could get down the mountain more easily. Sadly, Liu recently passed away, but the story has touched so many lives that the local government has decided to preserve the “love ladder” and the place they lived as a museum, so this love story can live forever.

See full article here. Photos from www.weirdasianews.com.

This is an extraordinary story, but have you or your significant other ever done anything amazing for each other just to make the other's life easier or happier? What sacrifices have you made for each other? Maybe moved so the other could pursue a degree or a job?

Is anyone as excited as I am?

About 27 Dresses coming out on January 11th? Katherine Heigl was my wedding hair inspiration after all!



Anyone up for a NYC bee meet up for the movie?? Anyone, anyone?!

;)

Love,
Mrs. Onion

Girls Getting Ready, Part II

After my hair was finished (see previous post) Veronica, from the Stephen & Burns Aveda Salon, began working on my make-up. I was so happy with how natural but polished my make-up made me look. It photographed so well and wore beautifully for over 12 hours. I had never used Aveda products and was pleased with how everything felt on my skin. I very rarely wear make-up so I didn't want to feel like it was caked on my face. Hooray for a talented make-up artist!


Such a cool photo in the mirror. Daria is so sneaky!



Notes from our trial -- Veronica used to be a painter but got tired of that medium, so now she paints on people! She was exactly my age and originally from Connecticut too which was a funny coincidence.


My mother-in-law looks on









With one of my bridesmaids (my best friend from college)


This is one of my favorite pictures of me from the day -- I just love the composition and how calm, confident and ready to meet the day I look!

All photos by Daria Bishop Photography

Super-8mm wedding video

What is Super-8? Super 8 mm film, also simply called Super 8, is a motion picture film format that was developed in the 1960s and released on the market in 1965 by Eastman Kodak as an improvement of the older 8 mm home movie format, and the Cine 8 Format. *Wikipedia, see entire entry here.


Note: this is raw unedited footage by Wes Jones. For samples of his edited videos check out his website.

We had not budgeted for a videographer for our wedding as we simply couldn't afford it. Our wedding ended up being even smaller than we'd planned and we had some money left over in our budget, so I took a chance. I emailed Wes Jones and asked if he was booked for our wedding two weekends away. I expected for him to say "yes," and I'd move on. But much to my surprise, he happened to have our date free! Hooray, I was so excited. One of the things that led me to his work is that he shoots both digital and with Super-8 mm film.



images from wikipedia.org

This film feels like an old home movie which is why I was so drawn to it stylistically. We watched every clip on his website and really liked what we saw. Because we had limited funds we couldn't afford Wes's entire package which includes a wonderful edited video of your day. Because it was so last minute, he was kind enough to shoot the raw footage and gave us the option to do smaller edited segments when we saved up the money. Again, this was only possible because it was a last minute booking.

The style worked so well with the vibe of our wedding and Mr. Onion and I were blown away when we watched the footage for the first time a few nights ago. Looking back, I'm so glad we were able to come up with the money to do this because video captures things that still photos just can't -- taking a deep breath, my veil being placed by my bridesmaid, hugging my husband so tight, our vows (which isn't included in the super-8 footage because there is no audio) etc. I will be so thrilled to share this with our children some day. I just hope they'll want to see it :)

Wes is a great guy and was really easy to work with. If this style is something you're interested in I'd encourage you to reach out to him. I know he travels - he was shooting a wedding in Maine the weekend before ours. He is based in the New York Metro area.

Getting Ready Part I

As many of you know, finding a hair stylist and make-up artist was the hardest part of planning a wedding 300 miles away. Here is my post about my trials so you can see what went into my wedding day hair/make-up.

My mother, mother-in-law and I got our hair and make-up done at the Stephen & Burns Aveda salon in Burlington, VT the morning of the wedding. We had a really nice time and I was thrilled with the final product. First I'll share the hair -- Britney did my hair and she was so patient and sweet.



My mom (left) and mother-in-law (middle) look over my MIL's inspiration photos she brought with her.


My mother being a goof










The clip in my hair was my grandmother's broach that I had turned into a hair pin


Me with my lovely hair stylist, Britney


My mother-in-law checking out my hair

Photo Credit: Daria Bishop Photography