Category Archives: Binghamton Weddings
Eileen + Jeff | Binghamton Wedding
They dated for 9 years, so it was no surprise to anyone how much fun Eileen and Jeff have together. It rained all week, leading up to their Friday wedding so we were all nervous, but by Friday the weather was beautiful, rain free and just a bit windy. Eileen & Jeff decided to do a “First Look” which we LOVE. It allowed them to take all their formal pictures with the Bridal Party ahead of time before the wedding so that they didn’t have to allow hours between the ceremony and reception in order to get all of the pictures they wanted.
Their Reception was SO MUCH FUN! The Holiday Inn Arena in Binghamton was beautiful and the staff there did a wonderful job.
The Photo Booth by Exceptional Receptions by Jimmie Malone was a big hit.
Check out Eileen & Jeff’s Wedding Favors/Placecards. The guests can later take their photo booth picture and insert it into the plastic sleeve. So cute!
Baked Euphoria did an amazing job with the cake!
Fun Idea Friday : Customized Wedding Hangers
Who doesn’t love seeing pictures of your wedding gown? You have spent hours, maybe days or weeks picking out the perfect dress for you and you want to have beautiful pictures of your dress in all its glory.
Taking pictures of your wedding gown is one of my favorite things to do, but those generic plastic hangers that the bridal shop gives you aren’t exactly a thing of beauty. This is where Customized Wedding Hangers come in! There are several companies now that make adorable personalized hangers with your name on it that you can purchase.
We recently discovered WeddingHangerShop.com who make custom wedding hangers. They have so many options to choose from and have been kind enough to offer our blog readers 10% off any purchase until the end of the month! Here are some examples of their work:
Find the perfect personalized bridal hanger for you today, and use coupon code CAPTURED10 for 10% off your order until the end of April. Thank you WeddingHangerShop.com! 
Heather + Tom | Ithaca Engagement Photographer
Heather & Tom have a tradition of going up to La Tourelle Resort & Spa for their Anniversary and they decided this would be the perfect place to have their Engagement Session. I couldn’t agree more! La Tourelle is gorgeous and if you have the chance, I highly recommend you try out the August Moon Spa there.
The weather this past winter/spring around here has been crazy. One day it will be 85, the next day we will have a Frost Advisory. On Saturday, we had one of those crazy weather days. It was beautiful, then it was raining. The wind would be crazy blowing, and then it would go away. During our Engagement Session we had a little drizzling, a little wind, but a LOT of laughs! Watching Heather & Tom together you can tell how much they love each other. The minute Heather looks at Tom, she can’t help but smile. I am so excited for their wedding in September!
Heather had the same makeup artist who is going to apply her makeup for her wedding come to Ithaca and do her makeup for her Engagement Session. If you are thinking about hiring a makeup artist for your wedding, check out Aubrey at Lashes, Locks & Lips. Doesn’t Heather look amazing?
Wedding Decorations for Binghamton, NY Weddings
During your wedding planning, there are so many decisions to make about flowers, colors, dresses, tuxes etc. One of the things that is sometimes overlooked is decorations for your reception. There are so many options you can choose from as far as decorating your ballroom, but there are some simple things you can do to make your reception both beautiful for your wedding guests and look amazing in your photographs.
One of our favorite event decorators in the Binghamton Area is Stacey Webb with Webb Events & Decor. She always does an amazing job and is wonderful to work with. Ceiling Decorations and uplighting can add so much to the look of your ballroom, and look SOOOO fantastic in our pictures.
Take a look at some of our favorite decorations that Stacey has done at the Owego Treadway Inn.
This ceiling that Stacey decorated was for Rachel & Mike’s wedding at Traditions at the Glen.
Fun Idea Friday: Winter Engagement Pictures
I love, love, love snowy Winter Engagement Sessions. There is something about the snow on the ground as a backdrop that is so beautiful and makes for some amazing Engagement Pictures. One of our favorite things is when couples decide they want to have a theme for their Engagement Sessions. There are so many fun things to choose from…
Alicia & Richard brought an antique toboggan and we had a lot of fun with them racing down the hill at Wolfe Park.
Hannah & Jon decided to make a fire and roast marshmallows.
Sometimes, even in Upstate New York, we don’t get any snow. This winter has been one of the warmest winters we’ve had in a long time and for Ashley & Josh’s January Engagement Session you would think we would have tons of snow. But not this year. The grass was green and there was no snow in sight. But even without snow, you can still have beautiful Winter Engagement Pictures. The woods are always a beautiful spot to have your Engagement Pictures taken. We got some amazing pictures of Ashley & Josh just walking around in the woods, and Josh knew the perfect spot with the most amazing tree.
So whether you want to go sledding, roast some marshmallows or just take a walk through the woods, remember that you can personalize your Engagement Session any way that you would like!
Fun Idea Friday: Dessert Receptions Done Right
Cookies, cupcakes, and pie – oh my! As a person who does not particularly enjoy cake, dessert at a wedding is often a disappointing affair. But, what if the whole reception was based on dessert, rather than serving a meal? Brittany and Josh did just that at their recent Binghamton, NY wedding, and it was a hit.
They chose desserts that were family favorites: apple and cherry pie, cupcakes, cookies, and of course a small wedding cake to cut, and then they set up stations where guests could help themselves.
They served the apple and cherry pie in adorable mason jars - how clever
The signs were very simple but super cute.
This is brilliant for several reasons:
1. This type of dessert reception is easy to tailor to any budget - and more unique than a traditional dinner. Plus, who doesn’t love dessert?
2. If you are planning an evening wedding, a dessert reception makes perfect sense as guests will want to eat before they come to the ceremony.
3. It is brilliant because it is personal. These were their favorite desserts, which helps you feel more intimate with the bride and groom and their families.
4. It is easy to make the reception feel more casual in this type of setting.
5. If you have a lot of local relatives who want to help, they can bake their favorite desserts (make sure this is ok with your venue/caterer)
If you have never thought about having a dessert reception before, we think this is a very classy twist on a traditional reception. Some other ideas we had to make it your own:
1. Add a coffee bar and a barista where guests can add liqueur to their coffees or flavored syrups. Perfect for dessert pairing and a version of an open bar that is much more affordable. My husband would have loved this at our own reception.
3. Have some savory appetizers or snacks to pair with all this sweet stuff
4. Not into coffee? Offer a wine bar that matches wine choices with the desserts folks choose.
5. Consider ice cream. It’s my favorite.
A dessert reception is a great way to keep your wedding budget reasonable and still offer your guests something unique and classy. We gave this one two big thumbs up for originality and creativity. Have your own ideas for a great dessert reception? Leave a comment and let us know!
Fun Idea Friday: The Writing on The Wall at Binghamton, NY Weddings
Dynamic Lightscaping. Wall Monograms. Name projections. Uplighting. Whatever you call it, there is something exciting happening at weddings in Binghamton, NY and we are big fans.
More than just providing music, most DJ’s can now provide a whole lighting atmosphere, transforming your reception venue into something magical. Probably our favorite feature is the projected monograms or names on the wall. Check out some of the reception photographs from Jessica and Jon’s wedding at the Owego Treadway.
In this case their DJ was Jimmie Malone, who may have been the first DJ in the area to start offering this feature. (The House of Treasures did the decorating.) Did you notice all that gorgeous purple uplighting? Not part of the reception site or the decorations, but brought by the DJ. It comes in a variety of colors, and though we are only showing the purple lights here, Jessica and Jon had a rainbow of colors that changed throughout their reception.
Your wedding should project who you are to your family and friends – what better way than writing your name?
Fun Idea Friday: The Candy Bar
We all know there should be cake at a wedding, but a fun new trend that is popping up is to also have a “Candy Bar”, the cute little name for a Buffet of candy guests can grab from at the end of the night (or all night long if you like). These can be elaborate or simple, you can theme them with your wedding colors or do it yourself with homemade candies (we strongly recommend delegating out that responsibility!!!). Candies like M&M’s can be bought in single colors now, so the sky is the limit.
When I was a kid growing up in Endicott, NY there were a few little pleasures I always looked forward to. Pleasure one, was going out for Pat Mitchell’s ice cream. Pleasure two, was selling (and eating) Gertrude Hawk candy. And pleasure three, was getting to visit a little candy store in Endicott, NY not too far from OLGC which sold nickel candy in every variety imaginable (or so it felt at the time). Since my parents weren’t too fond of passing out candy, I distinctly remember that euphoric feeling of finally being allowed to go in the store with my dollar and buy bunches of nickel candy. It was like walking into 8-year-old heaven. It came in a crinkly brown paper bag and the feeling was a mixture of Halloween and Easter rolled into one.
Your wedding guests might just feel the same way too when they walk up to your candy bar and don’t even need a nickel to enjoy some of those awesome childhood treats.
If you were thinking this might make a good “Do It Yourself” project, here’s a link to a website with detailed instructions: http://www.getmarried.com/articles/view/diy-project-candy-buffet
Enjoying your Engagement: Tools to make wedding planning a tad easier
So you are planning a wedding! CONGRATULATIONS! We plan to be at lots of weddings, and have even planned a few of them ourselves over the years. (I believe I personally have been a bridesmaid 8 times in addition to planning my own wedding). So while there is a lot to learn, here are a few tools that might be useful to take with you on your journey to marital bliss.
1. Theknot.com budget tool. You have to create a login, but it’s completely free to use the budget calculator at theknot.com, which means you can type in your total budget, number of guests, and size of wedding party, and the calculator will create a sample budget for you to get started with. Then when you actually start to purchase items, enter the real cost into the calculator and the budget automatically readjusts the amounts you have in your other categories. So for instance, you budgeted $1500.00 for a dress, but you find the dress of your dreams in your size off the rack for $800.00, the calculator will put the extra $700 into the categories you have left. Want to put that extra money into your photography (wise choice – we say), no problem. Just type it in. This saves a lot of calculating and helps you determine if paying $2000.00 for a wedding cake will blow the rest of your budget. Theknot.com has lots of other features, but this was my favorite feature way back in the day when I got married, and it only has gotten better since then.
2. Myregistry.com - it’s an online wedding registry that allows you to register for anything that is sold on the internet, no matter which site it is sold at. This will be particularly handy if you have a lot of out-of-town guests, as they prefer to buy gifts ahead of time or give you cash so they don’t have to carry your gifts around while they travel. It may not be as useful if most of your guests are local, as they will probably prefer to buy you something they can bring with them – and some at the last-minute.
3. Get a wedding planning calendar, like the one on wedalert.com. This will help you gauge when you should be looking for photographers, reception venues etc. I am sure there are lots of these out there, this one was for a 9-12 month engagement.
4. Start thinking now about marriage counselling. My wedding ceremony venue required it, and most pastors will offer this service for little or no charge. It is great to learn to communicate well and get to know each other better before the stress of planning a wedding overwhelms you both. It’s no fun to find out after the wedding that he doesn’t want kids when you do, because you never bothered to ask.
5. New to wedding etiquette? Check out the etiquette advisor tool on marthastewartweddings.com. This tool will walk you through wording your invitation, creating seating charts, etc. Of course, you get to decide for yourself how formal you want to be, but this can be helpful for first time wedding planners as a guide.
6. Best tool of all – talk to us at Captured Emotions. We are happy to point you in the direction of a DJ we enjoy or florists who do beautiful work. Of course, you use them at your own risk so do your homework – but we’ve been around a while and can make some suggestions of who to look at first. We are a little biased when it comes to wedding photographers, however, so don’t look for many suggestions in that department.
Have your own favorite tool? Leave a comment here and let other brides know what really worked for you.
Winter Weekend Special for Southern Tier Brides
Congratulations on your engagement (or the engagement of your daughter/son which now has you googling wedding websites). I thought you might want to know about our winter weekend special, as you peruse tips and timelines. But hurry- the weekend is nearly half over and this special has an expiration date.
Book your wedding sometime this weekend before the end of Monday, January 31st and get the High Resolution DVD with all your pictures for $99 when you purchase any 2 Photographer package! Now, that is one package with two photographers, not two packages. Because who buys their wedding photography for all their children at once? This will save you several hundred dollars plus give you a copyright waiver which means you can print extra pictures for yourself eventually.
We would love to have the opportunity to meet with you and show you our wedding albums. Our wedding photography packages start at $899.
Call us at (607) 953-5055 to schedule a consultation.
Remember – we offer FREE Engagement Pictures!!!
All of our Packages come with:
* A FREE Engagement Session
* 100 Promotional Wallets
* Sneak Peek on Facebook
within 24 Hours
* Online Proof Gallery posted in approximately 2 weeks
Go to our Facebook Fan Page to check out some of the engagement pictures we have taken lately.
