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