Why everybody needs a photobooth

In the very early days of our engagement, I was seeing renting a photobooth as an option in a lot of wedding magazines. Apparently, it was all the rage in weddings a couple of years ago, but I guess the trend hasn't made it to Maine very often. Always drawn to the booths in malls or on boardwalks, it quickly became something that we absolutely needed at the wedding.

When I was searching for a photobooth I came across a few different options, ranging from photographers setting up makeshift photobooth backdrops to customized booths that cost thousands of dollars. I wanted our photographer freed up for formal and informal shots during the reception, so the sort of DIY option was out. I also didn't want to spend a significant portion of the budget on silly pictures with props. Enter Justin, who owns Portland Photo Booth Company. I booked him over e-mail a year or so out, connected with him a couple of times before the wedding to double check set-up time and to tweak the time people would be liquored up enough for silly poses, and he showed up and was perfect the day of the wedding.

We were able to set the booth up in its own room in the Portland Club, which I would highly recommend, as there was a line for the booth all night. Justin brought boxes of hilarious props - things to wear, things to hold, things to beat each other with in the booth. After four poses the booth spit out two sets of photobooth strips - one for you to keep and one to paste into a scrapbook that Vader and I now have to remember the wedding.

We rented the photobooth for two hours - less than half of the reception, but perfectly timed for guests (and wedding party members!) who were worn out from dancing or looking to catch up with old friends after dinner. I think the open bar probably helped fuel a few of the costume selections, but our goofy guests likely would have gotten along fine in the booth regardless.

Speaking of goofy guests - the photos are all up, in individual shots or photobooth strips, for your downloading pleasure. There are several on Justin's Facebook page (Like them and tag away!), and all can be found at http://portlandphotoboothco.zenfolio.com/apollo. Enjoy!

Here's a gem of our "happy couple" session in the booth:

Married Life

Hey everybody - we're finally married! So far married life is quite a bit like engaged life, except I keep referring to Vader as my fi-husband because I remember halfway through the word "fiance". I'm quite pleased to be done with fiance, may I add, as it's a pretty annoying word to say.

As pictures trickle in from folks I'll recap some of my favorite parts of the wedding process, but I thought I'd start with a general overview of how things went.

Event #1: Rental house adventure with our far flung friends. It was great spending time with friends we don't see enough, relaxing on the beach, playing in the arcade of OOB, and engaging in plenty of shenanigans of all sorts. I would highly recommend something similar to anybody who can - I definitely would have filled the week before the wedding with last minute errands or projects, and having a hard deadline to only have fun was great for my own relaxation. It also made the lead-up to the wedding all the more fun, and helped us feel like we really got to spend quality time with friends who made significant treks to attend our wedding.

Event #2: Rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Vader's and my friends have never been so prompt in their lives - several showed up during the "chat with event staff and set things up for the wedding" phase, and quickly began to ask what they could do. There was a lot I needed to figure out and place myself, and in hindsight I perhaps could have drawn up assignments for tasks, but that was too much organization in the moment. I sent most of the party to relax in the Portland Club while myself, my family, Vader's family, and a few terrifically helpful friends scattered the MANY different components I had brought artfully about the room. Once set-up was complete we rehearsed, which was quite painless and helpful for an organized wedding day. Mostly we worked out the kinks of having a 21-person wedding party (including us and our officiant) and fitting us into the space. Afterwards, we trekked to the White Cap Grille in the Old Port for some delicious dinner hosted by my parents. We awkwardly figured out how to try and blend different sides of family and friends while gorging ourselves on sliders, chips, and chicken, and then headed back to the house to get all packed up.

Event #3: Wedding! The day started EARLY for us girls, with a 7 a.m. wake-up call that led into solid hairstyling at the hotel until 2 p.m. Patty Thomas of Hair and Company from Norway, Me did a fabulous job with short, long, thick, and thin hair alike. When most of the hair was done the girls and parents went off to get dressed, and Patty gussied me up before Mom (with some help from Jean, our fabulous photographer of Hanington Photography based in Lincoln, ME who was happy to help with anything else she could do that day) helped me into my dress and veil. Once I was dressed [hint for future brides: getting dressed and staying dressed all night is a multi-person event. Just accept it.] we took some photos in a park across the street from the hotel and I learned why I don't wear heels in grass. The hotel shuttle guy got us to the Portland Club, and Vader and I had a sweet first look that resulted in this beauty:

courtesy of Hanington Photography

We took some pictures outside with the wedding party, to the delight of passers-by who shared their congratulations through honks, and soon it was time to get the show on the road. The ceremony was short and sweet, with lots of personal touches and no uneventful trips (there was one when reentering after family photos). Afterwards, we took family photos outside, and then mingled more than we've collectively mingled in our lives. The Black Tie Company (our caterer, and event space manager) was fabulous, with delicious food and drinks during cocktail hour, attentive service to making sure things flowed nicely throughout the evening, and dedication to the client. When Bridesmaid Cupcake ate a peanut five minutes in, Black Tie sent somebody out in search of Benadryl and a crisis was averted. 

Cocktail hour was followed by our introduction to the reception and dinner and the party got underway. The food was great, the candy bar a huge hit, and our DJ (Joe Dionne, of Dionne Entertainment) did a terrific job of keeping the mood light while we were eating and keeping everybody on the dance floor later in the evening. During breaks on the dance floor, Vader and I exercised bride and groom rights to cut the line that was there all night for the photobooth, rented from the Portland Photobooth Company. We've got several pages of silly photo strips from our family and friends that we'll be sure to use to blackmail commemorate our wedding. 

By the end of the reception several people had petered out, but we still had a crowd ready to head out on an Old Port pub crawl with us to keep celebrating. I changed into a lighter dress, Vader stayed classy in his tux, and we were off to Novare Res with 20ish friends to close down the bar. We heard they closed the bar, anyway, since after about six sips of beer Vader and I were ready to call an end to a long and eventful day. We traipsed to our honeymoon suite, unwound a bit, and slept better than either of us had for over a week. 

I'll include details, thoughts, and reviews of the days after the wedding in a later post, but frankly this post is long enough. I will also get more into detail about the ceremony and reception when there are pictures to accompany them. Thank you to everybody who helped us celebrate at the wedding or from afar through the blog!

p.s. If anybody is planning a wedding, or knows somebody who is, I have an absurd amount of wedding magazines taking up space in my closet from 2010 to now. Let me know if you'd like to offer them a good home!

Too many crafts, no time for blogging

Hi everybody - we're nine days out! As a result, I don't have the time to blog about the projects I'm still finishing up. I promise I'll get caught up sometime in the next few weeks, if there are any blog hangers-on after the wedding.

In the meantime, they say a picture's worth a thousand words, and this is a picture made up of pictures, so this is basically a million word blog post. Here's the seating chart I've worked on tirelessly for the last two days. Each piece has a name on it, and when you pull yours off there's a table number on the back and a copy of the picture piece behind it. I may not recommend this project to anyone again, ever, because it's a giant pain. But enjoy!

My "I'm tired" face. Also, messy apartment = the result of much crafting.