AG WPJA Q4 contest

That is the Artistic Guild of Wedding Photojournalist Association. 

And every quarter they have a wedding photography contest, which they just announced for Q4.

I got addicted to the sites, AGWPJA and WPJA when I was a bride figuring out our wedding photographer and what pics to take for our wedding. (btw, if you're a bride, I recommend finding a photographer from this site!) Even though our wedding is over, I check in from time to time, because there is usually an array of the most amazing photographs. And I like to check on how our photographers, Paul & Elaine Soong (Just Married Photography) are doing (since they usually place in the contests)....

When I checked today, I saw that Elaine had placed 6 images (there were only 4 categories) and Kenneth had placed 2. One of Elaine's shots had even placed first in the getting ready category. 

Good job guys! You are the best!

(Photography by Elaine Soong from [ag]wpja; 1st place in getting ready category of Q4 contest)  

Photo books

I think that out of everything that we did at our wedding our photo guestbook might have been the biggest hit. 

(pic by Just married photography)

For our wedding guestbook, I had put together a Mypublisher photobook of Josh and me - our pictures over the years with friends and family. I tried to put in all the pictures of our friends and family attending the wedding and the idea was that the guests would probably sign near/around their picture.  

Well... The guests loved it. The idea of a photo guestbook. But more importantly a photobook itself with great quality of pics. 

We all have tons of digital photos stored in our hard drive. Now, instead of going through the hassle of getting the photos printed and putting them into an album manually, with the new photo developing sites, you can forego the manual labor and just use software to print all the photos out in a book. Eureka!

Since then, I have gotten so many questions from people about Mypublisher. As I have written earlier, I have been quite happy with all the books I have gotten from them so far, and I would not hesitate to recommend them. But you can also get them through other photo developing sites. Other brides have recommended Blurb, Lulu, Shutterfly, Mpix (I haven't used them for books, but I use them for prints and they are amazing) and of course, Apple iPhotobook. 

Most places only offer canvas cover (in boring colors) or photojacket cover (which you can customize), but if you want something a little more ready-made snazzy, consider Kodak Gallery. They've partnered up with Martha Stewart to make the cutest photobook covers:

Tips for a Destination Wedding

Our wedding is over, but I still have a habit left over from my wedding planning days, which is to visit certain websites and blogs. And one of them is Style Me Pretty. Abby Jean is a stationer (is that right?) and she has the most beautiful images of wedding related stuff on her site and I am hopelessly addicted to her inspiration boards, like this one...

(image from Stylemepretty.com)

Her most recent post was on Destination Weddings and tips that one might have. So as I am a recently married destination bride, I left a few tips, which I am also writing here.

Here goes.

1) Write everything in detail and send it to your vendors.  But better yet send a picture or a drawing of everything, exactly the way that you would like it done. You might come across vendors who speak very little English and pictures speak louder than words anyway (like me with my hairdresser.)

2) Go visit the venue and take pictures of everything. I know some brides don't but I found it to be of tremendous help in planning out the details for the wedding. Also, it helps your peace of mind.

3) Expect that things will not go exactly as planned. Depending on the country, people do not do things exactly like at home and will be surprising when encountered. Take it in stride. Also, with everyone travelling (and you travelling) there are bound to be people and things that do not arrive (or you forgot to bring).

4) Save some luggage space and purchase the favors from your DW area. My guests loved the Mexican hot sauces that I bought in Mexico.

5) Enjoy the vacation with your wedding guests. That is the part of the experience that makes DWs so special.

(Photography by Justmarriedphotography)

Should I bake a cake?

Tomorrow is my dear husband's birthday. As it is the first birthday celebration after our wedding, I thought I would actually bake a birthday cake for him. How cute would it be to be waiting at home with a cute little cake that I have baked? 

But, alas...... I have been given the cooking genes, but have been passed over as far as the baking genes go. My past baking fiascos have taught me not to even try anything unless it involves a Betty Crocker box and pre-made icing, which is probably what I'll end up doing. Funny that I can cook, but can't bake for the life of me. 

But I do know someone here in Chicago that can bake cakes wonderfully. Actually, there are quite a few great bakeries, but this particular one stood out when I was doing research for our wedding. We ended up getting married in Mexico so couldn't get our cakes from them.....

They are The Cake Girls. Take a look at their beautiful cakes!

Beautiful, no? 

The Cake Girls

2207 W Belmont Avenue Chicago, IL

(773) 404-3147