More than 2.4 million couples are getting married each year, spending more than $48 billion on their nuptials. But after the bouquet is tossed and the last crumb of cake is consumed, how can couples keep their wedding day memories alive?
New ideas in documenting the day can all tell the wedding story in vivid detail, from the proposal to choosing the gown to saying “I do.”
For example, the photography industry has seen many creative and technological changes over the years.
“The transition from wedding photos being a series of portraits to capturing actual moments in a photojournalistic style began a little over 10 years ago,” says Studio Paris owner Joseph Stein, a San Diego-based photographer who shoots weddings across the country. “It’s now the most requested type of wedding photography.”
Documentary-style photography strives to capture the newlyweds at their most candid.
“By capturing moments and expressions, you’re filling in many of the details of a wedding day that
previously were overlooked,” says Stein, whose Web site is www.studioparis.com.
Digital technology has also improved the final product.
“Now, within hours after the wedding, I can make sure that every one of the photographs that go into the album is a perfect representation of the wedding in terms of color, exposure and density.”
Mark Klein, co-founder of Photobooth Scrapbooks (www.photoboothscrapbooks.com), has taken photography in a different direction. His company furnishes old-fashioned photo booths — the retro black-and-white booths once found at malls and theme parks.
“We already felt that there was something magical about the photo booth,” says Klein. “Then we tried a couple weddings and we knew we had something very special.”
Klein provides a scrapbook coordinator who places the photos into an acid-free, archive-quality scrapbook and encourages the wedding guests to write their best wishes next to the images. Guests are also welcome to take photos home as party favors.
Klein offers the photo booths for weddings and other special occasions all over the country. The cost is $1,700, which includes the delivery, setup, scrapbook coordinator and scrapbook.
Scrapbooking itself has become a national hobby, if not an obsession. According to the Craft & Hobby Association, scrapbooking is a $2.5 billion industry in the United States, with 25 million people hooked.
But the time-consuming work that goes into such projects isn’t for everyone — especially a time-stressed bride.
That’s where Cynthia Heigold comes in. Heigold is the founder of StoryLife, an online scrapbooking site (www.storylife.com) that allows a busy bride, or anyone celebrating a special occasion, to create save-the-date cards, announcement cards and scrapbooks with a few quick clicks of the mouse.
“We have this innate desire to document the stories of our lives,” says Heigold. “The majority of scrapbookers are women; they’re the memory keepers in the family. We’re providing them with lots of opportunities to quickly and creatively capture and share life’s special occasions with really cool art combined with their own pictures and their own words.”
StoryLife offers many of the same features as traditional scrapbooking, such as borders, themed artwork and captions. But instead of scissors, glue and stencils, all one needs are digital images and a computer
In addition to the visual moments of the day, a bride often wants to preserve her gown and flowers.
A bouquet can be not only preserved, but also transformed into a table decoration or wall hanging.
Tanya Henry is an expert in the field. Henry works at Bloomingly Yours (www.bloominglyyours), a floral preservation company in Southern California.
Henry can preserve just about any flower. Roses and carnations are the easiest, but she specializes in bendrobium orchids, which she says are difficult to preserve.
Preserving a wedding gown is more costly and complicated. By the end of the celebration, the gown often has stains, missing beads and a ripped hem.
But not to worry, as all of that can be remedied.
“The entire purpose of gown preservation is so somebody can wear it in the future,” says Chuck Horst, co-owner and general manager of Margaret’s Cleaners, a company that specializes in preserving high-end garments.
As a member of the Association of Wedding Gown Specialists, Margaret’s Cleaners is part of a network of dry cleaners in more than 500 locations throughout the world that offer the service, which has a lifetime warranty regardless of where the work is done. To find a location near you, visit www.weddinggownspecialists.com.
The cost is $300 to $690 depending on the fabric, extent of beading, and the length and size of the dress. The cost for many is well worth it.
“The bride wants to be able to remember that day,” says Horst, “to go back and look at her gown, and show her daughter.”