So the big questions of the week… Where are you at with your Iceland wedding planning?  Have you sent out Save-the-Dates?

Sending out Save-the-Dates is one of the most sensational parts of destination wedding planning… Who doesn’t love a good surprise?  Shocking your guests with your breathtaking wedding location can be so much fun for all involved!  After all, your friends and family at that point already know you’re engaged and are now just anticipating the big news of where you’ll be saying “I do.”  How fun for them to open up their mailbox to see your Save-the-Date as Iceland!?!  Instant reaction, I guarantee, “Umm, Iceland?  Really?  Why?” Or my personal favorite that Chris and I (and all of our guests) would continually be asked by clients and acquaintances, “So who is Icelandic?”  That one made us laugh every time.  What has been your favorite comment you have gotten during your Iceland wedding planning?

So maybe you are still in the beginning stages of planning your destination wedding in Iceland and you wonder why save the dates are important or if you should even do them?

Our personal and professional vote is that you should, if time and budget allows.  Save-the-Dates serve as the official “kick off” to your wedding day in Iceland.  Your wedding becomes, real!  I know it sounds silly, but you’ll understand what I am saying once you send them out.  From your wedding guest’s perspective, having your save-the-date 8+ months before your Iceland destination wedding date gives them enough time to save, plan for vacation time, book flights and accommodations, daydream about the trip, and it undoubtedly adds to the anticipation of your big day!

So when do you send your save-the-dates out?

To figure out that answer we need to take one step back… Your first step (if you haven’t ready) is to secure your proposed wedding date with your favorite wedding venue in Iceland (or some other dreamy locale if you’re planning locally) this is key to launching the destination wedding planning process.  <Sidebar: If you do not have a specific place in mind to marry in Iceland, do not worry, Iceland Wedding Planner can help you with that!  One of the Iceland wedding planning services (in our Iceland wedding packages) we offer to you are venue appraisals (for your Iceland wedding ceremony, Iceland wedding reception, and host hotel) so you and your soon-to-be can make the right choice contingent on your budget and desired location.>   Once that has been completed then you can let your guests know your unforgettable wedding date!

Our professional suggestion to you would be to pick a wedding date in Iceland that is at least 8+ months away.

Why book your Iceland wedding earlier versus later?

• You will have enough time to reserve your first choice Iceland wedding venue (especially if you want to wed during Iceland’s high tourist season June-August).
• First choice on reserving a host hotel that can accommodate your group size (most hotels max out at 25-ish rooms).
• You have enough time to organize all of the awesome Iceland wedding details you will need to complete your day (Iceland wedding dress, Iceland wedding photographer, Iceland wedding official, Iceland DJ, Iceland florist, Iceland wedding cake, Iceland makeup artist, Iceland hair stylist, etc.).
• Time to handle all of the legal documents and marriage license you need to get married in Iceland.
• Enough planning time to organize an epic post wedding itinerary for you and your guests (Hello, Iceland honeymoon or wedding mini-moon!).  Remember also, your guests not only get to see you get married in an amazing locale but they get to go on a vacation too!  Thus planning early and making it memorable for all involved is important (and helps in creating a better turn out).  A perfect way to engage your guests is to have a specific post wedding itinerary that they can be part of.  <Note: As Iceland wedding planners, we can help you plan out the logistics this.  This feature is included in our Iceland wedding planning package.>
• Gives you time to savor the wedding planning process, send out awesome Iceland save the dates and create an Iceland wedding website!

Unfortunately, Chris and I did not have time (see our previous post here) to send out save the dates to our guests while planning our April Iceland wedding.  Instead, we just full out shocked our guests with our Iceland wedding invitation!  Luckily though, we now get to live vicariously through our incredible Iceland wedding clients.  To give you a real life wedding example: Meet one of our remarkable clients –Tiffany & Brian.  They are a really inspiring, thrill-seeking, incredibly cute and exciting couple from Saskatchewan, Canada.  These two are so much fun that Chris and I seriously wish they lived closer!

These two have kindly allowed us to share some of their dazzling Iceland wedding details we are creating for their October 2014 Snaefellsnes Peninsula wedding.  Originally, they contacted us when they were ~21 months away from their desired wedding date (totally an ideal amount of time to plan your Iceland destination wedding).  They decided to email their save-the-dates –how fun, right?  They compiled their guest list as you would typically but ensured they also had each guests email.  They wrote a short note, bcc’d each of their guests, added their wedding website, and then attached a digital file of their Iceland destination wedding save-the-date!  Voila!  This route can be a wonderful way to save within your budget as save-the-dates are on average $1.50 each printed plus postage.  That being said, I am pleased to share with you their gorgeous Iceland Save the Date along with another fun example from one of our 2013 other local bride and grooms.

Below you’ll find some useful information for you to ponder about as you plan your Iceland destination wedding and create your own save-the-dates.

Items to include in your destination wedding Save the Date:

• Your full names.
• Your awesome destination wedding date.
• Where: Include the country and/or city you have decided to hold your destination wedding in.
• Wedding website (this is a wonderful tool to share information with your guests on your engagement, photos, travel plans, accommodations, day of schedule, menu, activity itinerary, registry, etc).
• Colors – Incorporate your wedding colors if possible.
• A fun tagline or statement to open with.  A few examples follow: “To the Land of Fire and Ice!,” “Love + Adventure = A Wedding in Iceland!,” “Pack your bags!  You’re invited to the wedding of…”  “It doesn’t matter how, just get there!”  Or how about a super exciting quote maybe from a literally sensation like Walt Whitman? My personal favorite: “I give you my love, more precious than money. I give you myself, before preaching or law. Will you give me yourself? Will you come travel with me? Shall we stick by each other as long as we live?” –Walt Whitman
• Then consider either emailing to your guests or have them professionally printed.  Try to send out when you are 8 to 24 months away from your big day, if possible.

Planning a destination wedding in Iceland takes time and patience to plan fully (unless you are eloping in Iceland with no guests or very few).  Specifically, if you are planning to have guests join you for your epic Icelandic wedding adventure then please contact us!  Chris and I have been in your shoes and know it can be overwhelming because of the lack of resources.  Luckily, we have spent time building wonderful relationships with the very best people and vendors in Iceland that will all come together to make your destination wedding in Iceland easy and flawless.  We’d love to hear from you and make that happen!

With a smile, Ann Peters
Expert Iceland Wedding Photographer and Planner

© 2002-2013, Photos by Miss Ann, All Rights Reserved

The post Iceland Save-the-Dates appeared first on Iceland Wedding Planner.

Hopefully you are aware that we are not only Iceland wedding planners, but we are also local and destination wedding photographers. In general we love, love especially capturing it in action.  So although we have a sweet spot for photographing Iceland weddings we do delight in shooting local weddings in Michigan too!

On Saturday, June 1^st, Chris and I had the pleasure of photographing Danielle and Jon’s wedding day.  When they first came to our home studio in Plymouth, Michigan to meet with us, they expressed how detailed they were.  Instantly, we knew we’d be a perfect fit since Chris and I are the same way!  We were so excited to tell the story of their big day, photograph the love between these two and all of the people who adore them!

The entire week before their wedding there were crazy thunderstorms, heavy rain, and even on the actual day the skies still threatened 70% chance of rain hourly.  So, what are a bride, groom, and wedding photographers to do?  Embrace it!  I think by embracing the chance, knowing rain on your wedding day is good luck, and being armed with umbrellas we warded off most of the rain.  Chris and I had a blast photographing their bridal portraits along the river at Bishop Park in Wyandotte and also at Cass Benton in Northville.  You can clearly see their tenderness for each other captured in their wedding photos!  Congratulations Jon and Danielle!

A few days after their downriver wedding, they sent us this wonderful note, reviewing Photos by Miss Ann’s services so we’d like to share it with you today!

“Hi Ann and Chris,
Jon and I wanted to get in touch with you right away to let you know how impressed and thoroughly pleased we were with the wonderful job you did for us on our wedding day.  You were both absolutely wonderful in every way imaginable.  From the very beginning for the getting ready pictures you were prompt and took initiative getting photos and working with little help or direction as to what was going on while the girls and I were busy.  Then you were right in the heart of all the chaos and moving around furniture, clothes, makeup, etc. to make sure you were able to take all our pictures.  You were so fun to work with and very positive, which just helped to put everyone at ease.  Also, thank you for doing such an awesome job at getting all of the pictures that we listed on our must have photo list that we gave you at the last possible moment- we really appreciate that. 

At the ceremony you were both great about moving around and taking multiple shots, while also being discrete and staying out of the mix of things.  For the wedding portraits, family shots, and bridal party shots you did a great job of giving direction and working around our smiling and blinking issues.  We really appreciated how well you managed everyone and got in so many pictures in such a short period of time. 

Your attention to detail was also much appreciated and certainly contributed to making the pictures as perfect as they could be.  We were also really impressed with how good you both were with navigating each different setting that we were in (i.e. you were on a ladder, moving around couples dancing, helping to hold the umbrella, etc.).  We also appreciate your flexibility in working with finding the best areas at the locations we wanted to take pictures at.  You had some really great ideas for pictures that we never would have thought of that were also a lot of fun as well. 

Throughout the entire day you were consistently very professional, upbeat, positive, and cheerful- you were pretty much every adjective that conveys a positive connotation.  So many people have commented to us at how good of a job you both did and how accommodating and helpful you were in taking requests for pictures and just doing an overall amazing job.  Jon and I just wanted to convey how much we appreciate you both being such a wonderful part of our special day and adding to our confidence and happiness that day.  Everything turned out so much better than we could have even imagined and you were both an instrumental part of that success.  We are so glad that we chose to have you photograph our wedding day.  We are truly confident that no one else would have done a better job for us!

Thank you both for all that you do,
Danielle and Jon”

Awwww!  We love and so appreciate our clients!  See Danielle and Jon’s gorgeous wedding photos below!  Enjoy!

With a smile, Ann & Chris Peters

Photos by Miss Ann (Local, Destination and Iceland Wedding Photographers)

Iceland Wedding Planner (Iceland Wedding Photographers & Planners Combined)

© 2002-2013, Photos by Miss Ann, All Rights Reserved

The post Photos by Miss Ann Review [Iceland Wedding Photographer] appeared first on Iceland Wedding Planner.

I hope this finds you well and in the midst of a fantastic and productive week!  So sorry for the delayed post- The week got away from me!  Between the beautiful children and newborns that we have had the pleasure of photographing in our Plymouth, Michigan portrait studio, the marvelous weddings we have photographed lately, Chris turning the big 3-0, Photos by Miss Ann has been sweetly swamped but savoring ever second.

A few weeks ago in our Iceland Reception Music blog post, I had mentioned that my mother and I shared a mother-daughter dance and one of our readers asked why I chose to do that.  Well, good news lovely, my answer is going to be rolled into this week’s topic Iceland Wedding Protocol for Family Issues & Advice for Parents.  Welcome to part 2 of 2 of our mini-series on some sensitive issues you may encounter while planning a destination wedding in Iceland (see our 1 of 2 post here on how Iceland Love Conquers All Things)!  Today, I am going to walk through some family issues Chris and I specifically ran into while we planned our Seljalandsfoss wedding and explain how we handled in hopes of helping you!

So!  Buckle your seat belts; this is going to be a long Iceland Wedding Blog Post!

You might be surprised to know, that Chris and I are both only children and come from extremely small families.  His parents are still married celebrating 30+ years of marriage and mine are divorced.  Between the two of us we also only have 25 living relatives that are spread between the USA and as far as Australia.  So you’d think having a small family equals no drama right?  Sigh, one would hope!  A little personal background on myself… My parents divorced when I was 6 years old.  I was raised by a very strong-willed single mother and have had very little contact with my father for various reasons since.  That being said, this has caused a few issues and lots of tension in our family throughout the years.

Issue #1:  Deciding on whether or not to invite a disconnected parent, certain family members, or a problematic friend to your wedding in Iceland.

As Chris and I were planning our Iceland destination wedding at Seljalandsfoss, Vik Beach, and Skogafoss Waterfall, he asked me if I wanted to send an invitation to my father or to anyone on that side of the family.  Out of respect for my father, his family, and for myself, I decided to not rush into an absolute decision.  Do you ever wonder what the protocol should be on how to handle these concerns?  I know I did!  In the beginning of our Iceland wedding planning, the first step was asking myself a few questions before drawing any pivotal conclusions.  If you’re in a similar situation with a family member or friend and find yourself torn, the below may be helpful questions to ask yourself as you plan your Iceland wedding guest list:

• Have I spent time with him/her in the last 5 years?
• Has he/she spent time trying to get to know my fiancé?
• Has he/she held a significant overall impact on my life?
• Was he/she there to support me when I had humbling or exciting life moments?
• Is the relationship worth improving?  Or is it on the contrary, toxic or drama filled?
• Would my Iceland wedding day be incomplete without him/her there?
• Would his/her presence cause drama between any other Iceland wedding guests?
• Would I regret my decision years later when I look back on my Iceland Wedding Photos?

Answering those questions may shed a bit more light your complicated relationship with that person.  Some of you may also find the above questions to be a guideline when figuring out your guest list too (we took a very similar method for our overall guest list too in order to cut it down to ensure an intimate affair).  Fortunately, in my case it was an easy answer in regards to my father.  But I know there are other Iceland destination wedding brides and grooms out there right now that might be struggling with a similar decision.  To be honest, Chris and I tend to let the rule of thumb be: no drama in all facets of our life.  It is not worth being stressed out on what should be the deemed the “happiest day of your life” because of a family member or friend.  Life is too short for that nonsense.  Instead, turn your focus to the positive people who will be there in Iceland supporting you on your big day!

Issue #2:  Who walks you down the aisle when you do not have a father to do so?

Because I chose to not have my father attend my Iceland wedding, it left 2 wedding customs open.  The first being, who would “walk me down the aisle” and the second, who would I honor with a dance at our Iceland wedding reception?  I had contemplated having my mother walk me down the aisle but I did not think she (or I) would be able to make it down the aisle without tearing up.  My future father-in-law also offered to walk me down the aisle but the more I thought about it I declined the sweet offer.  In the end, I thought it was ridicules that I even felt like I had to have someone walk me down the aisle.

The tradition itself roots from an old world tradition of arranged marriages where the family would “give away” the daughter to the husband and his family.  I instead chose to walk myself down our wedding aisle at Seljalandsfoss waterfall.  It was super surreal too; I remember every second… Jumping out of the Iceland super jeep, walking towards everyone I love, 60,000 pink rose petals, all eyes on me, how I paused and took a deep breath at the start of our aisle way, how my eyes locked onto Chris instantly, the exchange of smiles, and how my future happiness all flashed before my eyes.  For sure, one of my “somewhere in time” wedding moments!

If you find yourself in a position like I was but do want someone to walk you down the aisle, I suggest you choose someone important to you.  After all, it is an honor for them to walk you down the aisle and a special memory you will forever cherish.  We have seen many of our local and destination brides (and grooms) choose their step father, mother, father-in-law, a grandfather, a brother, godfather, an uncle, cousin, best friend, or even a son (if applicable) and actually one couple even walked down the aisle together!  Shape your Iceland wedding ceremony walk exactly to what you are comfortable with; it is your big entrance!

Issue #3:  How do I honor my parents during the Iceland wedding weekend? 

Now I know you have heard me say this before, but Chris and I typically do not embrace tradition…  We did however; feel as though our parents needed to be honored in some way during our Iceland wedding planning process too.  So we let each of our mothers choose a wedding reception song.  It was super special and a moment I know our mothers will always remember.  The typical wedding dance practice is for the bride share a dance with someone special (i.e. father or grandfather) and then the groom dances with his mother or (or grandmother).  Others we have seen choose to have each set of each parents join in the bridal party dance.

If you wish to not go that route there are other ways you thank them.  This could be as simple as a card or gift.  After our wedding was completed we created a special flush mount Iceland wedding album (we use the professional print lab: Millers) as a keepsake for our parents.  We had photos spanning from our Kauai engagement session, a few images we could salvage from our hired photogs (there were many mistakes they made that we personally had to edit out, and lots of details/candids were unfortunately missing), Iceland wedding detail photos we recreated ourselves when we returned from the trip, candid photos gathered from friends of our Iceland wedding, and some post wedding trip photos.  Giving your parents an album of your wedding day allows them to relive the big day too =)

Issue #4:  A death in the family close to your Iceland wedding day:

Sadly, I have experience on this topic too.  Literally the morning we were all driving from Plymouth, Michigan to the Toronto airport (YYZ) to catch our Iceland wedding flight (KEF) I received word that my grandmother had passed away.  I had 7 family members down in Ohio instantly affected and they called me debating on whether or not they would be coming.  I had a selfish bridezilla moment… Here I was 2 days away from saying “I do” in the land of fire and ice, why did this have to happen?!

Unfortunately, it’s at this point where you have to pick up and be a family “rock.”  I felt terrible in that moment saying this at the time, but the death had happened and there is nothing to do to change it right now.  I literally remember telling my mother, “Plans need to continue, grandma would not want for us all to stay here to bury her and grieve.  You need to see me get married in Iceland mom.”  If someone passes away that close to your wedding day it is hard for people to refocus and find the joy in your day, but I promise you that they will once they arrive at your stunning Iceland ceremony site.  We even found a way to turn the sadness into a positive.  For instance, each time we saw a picture perfect spot or a rainbow during our wedding weekend in Iceland we all said it was my grandma who had brought it to us.  Doing that really made her a part of our day and made the tragedy easier to cope with.

Overall it was really sad that it had happened so close to our wedding day, but in the grand scheme of things, life is filled with losses and I think wedding bliss and births are the things that balance them.  I’ll be honest though, if this happens to you, you will have no time to grieve.  For months after we returned I still hadn’t given myself a proper chance to grieve because Photos by Miss Ann went right into high wedding season upon our return from our wedding in Iceland.  It wasn’t until this past Jan-April that my grandmother’s death really hit me.  It was then, I finally had given myself time to grieve and honor her.  At the end of the day, you need to do what is best for you so stay strong!

Issue #5:  Someone is late to your Iceland destination wedding events: 

This one is frustrating and rightfully so.  Not 10 minutes late either… I am talking about 30+ minutes which can really have an impact to the meticulously planned wedding day itinerary.  Regrettably, this specific issue happened to us both during our Iceland wedding rehearsal (Iceland wedding welcome dinner) and at our actual destination wedding reception too.  My best advice to you is to stay positive when this actually happens, you can only change what is in your control.  Be gracious even though your first instinct will be to be upset at their inconsideration.  People do get distracted, get lost, lose track of time (especially in such an amazing locale as Iceland!), under estimate how much time it takes to get somewhere and then again there are also those folks who are always notorious late for everything.

So you’re wondering how do you combat this potential wedding problem and ensure you set him/her up for success?  Your best bet is to personally provide them with an Iceland wedding timeline card, a destination wedding schedule, or a very detailed outline/itinerary of where they need to be and when.  This detail is especially needed if this person is one of the wedding VIP’s (ie, parents, bridal party, people that affect the overall events).  We had wedding timeline cards given to the guests at time of check in at Hotel Ranga and also in their wedding welcome bags.  But looking back on our Iceland wedding weekend, I still wish I would have provided a nitty-gritty outline for our wedding VIP’s of where and when to be the day before our Seljalandsfoss wedding day.  It may have made that portion of our planning a tad bit smoother and less maddening.  Worst case scenario also would be telling that person who is particularly late, that the time to meet is actually earlier (IE, they must be present by 4pm instead of 5pm).  Then hope for the best because you have done all you can do!  If they are late, move on without them because the rest of your event and guests should not have to suffer.

Issue #6:  Either set of parents are too involved in your wedding planning or you are worried they could potentially cause an issue during:

Woohoo, we actually didn’t have this problem!  My wonderful mother, Chris’s mother and father were all very hands off when it came to our wedding plans.  After we were engaged, they merely assumed that we would be planning a destination wedding somewhere and just prepared for an extreme location.  Ha, my mom new it was going to be somewhere out of the ordinary and I think Chris’s parents hoped for a destination wedding in Australia.  Little did they know that Chris and I had already preliminary decided on just about everything even before we told them Iceland.  The things we finalized with them was the date, guest list (family addresses), any must haves they felt needed to be included, and what time-frame they would like to stay.  Later on we did finalize our 5 course wedding menu with them but luckily there were no objections to all of our hours of planning and research.

Conversely, I know of many destination wedding couples where the parents are tremendously involved and almost to a suffocating amount.  Here are a couple of mini issues that may come up within this larger issue and how you can possibly respond:

a)      Situation:  The parents are not contributing to the wedding budget and are insisting on making decisions (and/or having their names on the invitation).  What to do:Make it politely clear that this event is being funded by you and therefore all direction also is led by you.

b)      Situation: Parents insist on inviting all of their friends, co-workers, and acquaintances that you do not know.  What to do: Circle back to the root of why this event is happening, the two of you and your love.  Let them know you are uncomfortable with inviting people that you do not know and that you want this lifetime event to be one you can look back on fondly celebrating with all the people you love and adore.

c)      Situation: Your mother or mother-in-law wants you to wear her wedding dress or use mementos from her wedding day.  What to do: If you like them, use them!  Many times those items can be your “something old or borrowed.”  If not, kindly decline saying that you had a specific vision for that items role in the wedding (or you would rather not travel all that way with something so special to her) but do express your immense appreciation.  Or if you feel totally obligated to use the item (IE, like a garter, ring, or handkerchief) at least put them out for your Iceland wedding photographer to take detail photos of as you are getting ready.  Many times brides in this situation will also use the item in a different way.  Example, one of my brides pinned the handkerchief to the inside of her wedding dress and another wore the grandmother’s ring at the wedding welcome dinner the evening before (versus on the wedding day so it did not compromise her style).

d)       Situation:  <In a separated family context> One parent threatens to not attend the wedding if the other parent attends (or a certain family member).  What to do: Call his/her bluff.  It is foolish he/she would give you such an ultimatum on the most important day of your life.  It is important to make it clear that kind of behavior during your wedding weekend will not be tolerated.  This wedding is about your love and the celebration of it and he/she must put their differences to the side during.  One thing you can do to rest their worries is to let your Iceland wedding planner know to not seat them together for any of the weekend events and that there may be confrontation.  Also, let your Icelandic wedding photographer know ahead of time that there is an issue and to not put that group of family together for any wedding portraits.  Sometimes we are used as a buffer to ensure everyone behaves!  This information helps to make your big day flawless.

e)      Situation: The parents purchase items (without your input) for your wedding and they do not go along with your overall wedding vision.  What to do:  Lead by gratitude by thanking them for their continuous consideration but that you had a specific vision on that detail that you had already planned on incorporating.  If you feel obligated, try to incorporate that item (or wedding favor) into your bridal shower, bachelorette party, or wedding welcome dinner instead.

f)       Situation: Someone cannot responsibly handle alcohol.  What do to:  Make your destination wedding planner aware so they may make the reception locale aware to limit service.  You must do something about it or else you are enabling your family member to possibly cause a disruption to your lifetime event.

Iceland Wedding Planner Tip: 

Advice to parents who have children planning a destination wedding in Iceland:

• Don’t convince the couple to change their mind on their wedding location.  Iceland may sound cold, unattractive, and not on your bucket list at first to you but it will not disappoint, I promise!  You will love every second of your trip and return renewed, revived, and refocused in life.  The beauty you will experience in the Icelandic people, food, countryside, and incredible natural wonders will leave your life changed for the better.
• Remember the wedding weekend is about your child getting married!  No matter the external/internal family issues that are happening they should not be of concern during this magical time for your son or daughter.  Please put those worrisome things aside and embrace the excitement he/she is feeling.
• Offer to help.  Even if you cannot offer something financially, offer to help with the small tasks like folding invitations, putting together welcome bags, carrying the brides wedding dress while traveling, folding napkins, labels on water bottles, etc.  Any genuine thought is appreciated, I assure you.
• If you have decided to help your son or daughter financially with their Iceland destination wedding in some way, please tell them early!  Budget management is something we specifically work on early with our couples so we can stay on target to narrow or expand on “must have” and “would be nice to have” lists.
• Please do not wear the colors white, ivory, champagne, red, or polka dots.  Solid and/or neutral color tones are best in family portraits and do not detract from the bride and groom or the dynamic Iceland landscape.  Examples would be black, browns, grays, lavender, muted silver, light/royal blues.
• Give the bride and groom a heartfelt card.  Not only give them a card but write a message in there to them.  Ideas: How excited you are for them, welcoming the bride or groom to the family, marriage advice, how amazing they are together, or how proud you are.  This goes a long way now and later, I guarantee you.  Chris and I still have our cards from our parents in our Iceland love letter ceremony box.

Phew, that was a long one =) Now onto the photos of the week!  In honor of this blog topic, our parents, belated Mother’s Day and upcoming Father’s Day, please enjoy some of our family portraits!  We hope you have found this Iceland Wedding Tips Blog Post helpful as you wedding plan.  No matter if you are planning a wedding at the Seljalandsfoss waterfall, Snaefellsness Peninsula, Vik Beach, Jokulsarlon Glacial Lagoon or another stunning part of Iceland we can help you secure locations, plan every detail, keep the peace between family members, and capture every detail with our experienced Iceland wedding photography skills.  Please feel free to contact us directly to chat more about your big day in making!

Lots of Iceland Wedding Smiles,  Ann and Chris Peters

Expert Iceland Wedding Planners and Iceland Wedding Photographers

© 2002-2013, Photos by Miss Ann, All Rights Reserved

The post Protocol for Family Issues & Iceland Destination Wedding Advice for Parents appeared first on Iceland Wedding Planner.

With wedding season in full swing, we are in photography heaven with our bride and grooms so far this year.  They have chosen stunning dresses, DIY details, and been really amazing to work with.  Especially Photos by Miss Ann‘s most recent couple who was willing to take an adventurous walk to get to a pretty weeping willow tree!  Check out the striking Plymouth, Michigan wedding portraits of Traci and Jimmy Meyers below and may her DIY wedding details inspire you to have sparkly niceties of your own!

Our destination wedding in Iceland topic of the week is all about your reception music options.  Iceland has disc jockeys (dj’s) to be the MC of your event, many Iceland hotels also offer a speaker system throughout their banquet rooms that you can plug an IPOD into, there are a few Icelandic bands also available for booking.  But, my challenge to you is… Think about the wedding receptions you have been to throughout the years, did you love or hate the music?  Annoyed by the DJ?  Were you greeted with bellowing Frank Sintra songs? Songs about love and marriage? Disney themed songs?  An earthy harpist? Orchestra music?  A poppy band?  Celebrity impersonators?

A couple questions you need to ask yourselves as you consider what kind of music you would like to have played during your Iceland wedding reception:

1. What kind of music do you and your fiancé love?  Genres, vibe, tone, lyrics, etc.
2. What kind of music is enjoyable to your VIP’s (parents, bridal party, family, etc) and guests?
3. Do you want to have formal dances?  If so, you may want break the music into sections to build the energy of the event.  Example: Cocktail Hour, During Dinner, Formal Dances, and Fun/Dance Songs.
4. Are there songs on your “do not play” list?  This piece is important if hiring an Icelandic DJ for your wedding day.
5. Is there a speaker system at your Iceland wedding host hotel?  Can you plug an IPOD into the sound system?  <This is a wonderful Iceland wedding cost savings if you can. Which means you can allocate more to your Iceland wedding photography fund, woohoo!>
6. Who will you designate to run (or check in on) the wedding IPOD playlist during the event?  They will also need to be the person who ends up with the IPOD at the end of the night (if you and your hubby leave the reception early).

When planning for our destination wedding in Iceland reception music at Hotel Ranga we took a bit of an old school approach.  We wanted a formal event that still had fun laid back elements to it.  We’re not big “dancing fools” so we wanted to have some older genre easy-listening songs that would make people smile, reminisce, and laugh to.  The music would be more background music to us than anything else because our reception was focused on the 5 courses, conversation, the location, and our newly wedded bliss =)  Without further delay, here is our inclusive list of our Hotel Ranga wedding reception playlist we played from our IPOD:

Iceland Wedding Cocktail Hour Music:

“Can’t Smile Without You” by Barry Manilow

“Strangers in the Night” by Frank Sinatra

“When I Fall in Love” by Nat King Cole

“You are so Beautiful to Me” by Joe Crocker

“When a Man Loves a Woman” by Percy Sledge

“Georgia on my Mind” by Ray Charles

“What the World Needs Now is Love” by Jackie Deshannon

Hotel Ranga Wedding 5 Course Dinner Music Playlist:

“Chasing Cars” by Snow Patrol

“Lost in Love” by Air Supply

“You Light up my Life” by Debby Boone

“Blue Eyes” by Elton John

“Can’t Help Falling in Love” by Elivs Presley

“After All” by Cher & Peter Cetra

“Whenever I Call You Friend” by Kenny Loggins & Stevie Nicks

“That’s What Love is For” by Amy Grant

“True Colors” by Cyndi Lauper

“My Love” by Lionel Richie

“September Morn” by Neil Diamond

“Nothing Compares 2 U” by Sinead O’Connor

“She Believes in Me” by Kenny Rogers

“Oh Girl” by Paul Young

“Lady” by Little River Band

“Love of a Lifetime” by Firehouse

“Something” by The Beatles

“The Lady in Red” by Chris Deburgh

“You Got it All” by The Jets

“Hey Jude” by The Beatles

“Right Here Waiting” by Richard Marx

“Eternal Flame” by The Bangles

“Hungry Eyes” by Eric Carmen

“Crazy for You” by Madonna

“Unchained Melody” by The Righteous Brothers

Even though we were not participating in anything traditional during our 5 course wedding reception in Iceland, we felt it was important to share 3 special dances of honor in front of all we love and adore.  Our first dance was together as husband and wife, the second was shared between Christopher and his mother Donna, and the third was shared between myself and my mother, Irene.  All were super special and I am thankful we honored our parents.  Here are the song choices we picked for our Iceland wedding dances at Hotel Ranga:

Iceland Wedding Formal Dances:

Chris and Ann’s 1^st Dance Choice:  “Don’t Know Much” by Linda Ronstadt & Aaron Neville

Chris & His Mother’s Dance Choice: “A Song For My Son” by Mikki Viereck

Ann & Her Mother’s Dance Choice: “Anyám Lánya” by Agi Szaloki (Yes, we have very strong Hungarian roots!)

After Dinner Music for Our Iceland Wedding Reception at Hotel Ranga:

“Slow Dancin’” by Johnny Rivers

“Addicted to Love” by Robert Palmer

“Billie Jean” by Michael Jackson

“All She Wants to do is Dance” by Don Henley

“Take Me Home Tonight” by Eddie Money

“Power of Love” by Huey Lewis & The News

“Old Time Rock & Roll” by Bob Seger

“White Wedding” by Billy Idol

“Pink Cadillac” by Bruce Springsteen

“Wonderful Tonight” by Eric Clapton

“The One” by Elton John

“Thank the Lord for the Night” by Neil Diamond

“Good Vibrations” by The Beach Boys

“Young Americans” by David Bowie

“We’ve Got Tonight” by Bob Seger

“The Finer Things” by Steve Winwood

“Stuck on You” by Lionel Richie

“Take Me Out” by Franz Ferdinand

“Midnight Show” by The Killers

“Stars and Boulevards” by Augustana

“New Year’s Day” by U2

“You Need Me” by Anne Murray

“Save the Best for Last” by Vanessa Williams

“Tonight Tonight” by the Smashing Pumpkins

“Rock Me Amadeus” by Falco 3

“Sharp Dressed Man” by ZZ Top

“The Longest Time” by Billy Joel

“Counting Cars” by Dishwalla

“Wonderwall” by Oasis

“Beautiful Day” by U2

“Shout by Tears” for Fears

“Heros” by the Wallflowers

A couple of you lovelies have also inquired and asked what our playlist was also for our Iceland wedding welcome dinner (or some call it our Iceland Wedding Rehearsal Dinner).  I would love to share that Iceland wedding weekend playlist with you too!  Our wedding welcome dinner was held at Hotel Ranga from 7-11pm.  We had a cocktail hour, 3 course meal for our guests, had a “welcome” and “thank you” toast, celebrated our best man’s 29th birthday and also handed out our Iceland destination wedding welcome bags to each couple/person.

Our IPOD Playlist for our Iceland Wedding Welcome Dinner at Hotel Ranga (Hella, Iceland):

“Get Closer” by Seals & Crofts

“Close to You” by the Carpenters

“Nobody Does it Better” by Carly Simon

“Lonely People” by America

“Everything I Own” by Bread

“Don’t Make My Brown Eyes Blue” by Crystal Gayle

“Fire and Rain” by James Taylor

“I’ll Have to Say I Love You in a Song” by Jim Croce

“Midnight Blue” by Melissa Manches

“Silly Love Songs” by Paul McCartney

“Your Love has Lifted Me Higher” by Rita Coolidge

“I Got You Babe” by Sonny & Cher

“In My Life” by The Beatles

“Sailing” by Christopher Cross

“More than Words” by Extreme

“Angel” by Jon Secada

“You Make it Real” by James Morrison

“All I Want is You” by Barry Louis Polisar

“Oh My Love” by John Lennon

“Morning has Broken” by Cat Stevens

“Mad About You” by Belinda Carlisle

“Bette Davis Eyes” by Kim Carnes

“The Next Time I Fall” by Peter Cetera & Amy Grant

“Endless Summer Nights” by Richard Marx

“Stay” by Lisa Loeb

“Just You and Me” by Zee Avi

“Sweet Pea” by Amos Lee

“The Luckiest” by Ben Folds

“Dearest” by Buddy Holly

“Truly” by Lionel Richie

“Straight from the Heart” by Bryan Adams

“Making Love out of Nothing” by Air Supply

“Time After Time” by Cyndi Lauper

“Maybe I’m Amazed” by Paul McCartney

“To Be With You” by Mr. Big

“Do You Remember” by Jack Johnson

“Everything” by Michael Buble

“You and I Both” by Jason Mraz

“This Will Be Our Year” by The Zombies

“Little Shadow” by Yeah Yeah Yeahs

“12 Sea of Love” by Phil Phillips

“Love Never Fails” by Brandon Heath

“Making Memories” of Us by Keith Urban

“I Go Crazy” by Paul Davis

“Can’t Take My Eyes of You” by Frankie Valli

“Bless the Broken Road” by Rascal Flatts

“Fallin’ In Love” by Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds

“You Decorated My Life” by Kenny Rogers

“Linger” by The Cranberries

“You Gotta Love Someone” by Elton John

“She’s Like the Wind” by Patrick Swayze

“Perfect Girl” by Sarah McLachian

“Only Time” by Enya

“Masterpiece” by Atlantic Starr

Phew, that’s a lot of songs!  Hopefully you’ll find yourself grabbing a few of these songs (or from our previous post Iceland Ceremony Music Ideas) to create your own amazing Iceland destination wedding reception music or Iceland wedding IPOD playlist!  I know all of these little details may be overwhelming especially making it all happen in Iceland, but that is exactly why we are here to help you smooth out those overwhelming bumps!  Please contact us at any point to help you plan and also be your awesome photographers for your unforgettable destination wedding in Iceland!

Keep Smiling and Iceland Wedding Planning,  Ann Peters (Expert Iceland Wedding Planner & Iceland Wedding Photographer).

© 2002-2013, Photos by Miss Ann, All Rights Reserved

The post Iceland Destination Wedding Reception Music Ideas appeared first on Iceland Wedding Planner.

This week, we received the nicest letter in the mail (Yes, in the mail, who doesn’t love getting things in the mail still?).  One of our Iceland bride and grooms-to-be writes us saying:

“Ann & Chris,

Deciding to have a wedding in Iceland we thought was one of our best decisions we have made as a couple, until we found and then met you both!  Our engagement session was so fun, thank you for flying to DC and for having endless creative ideas.  The portraits you took in our favorite spots around the city capture us.  You guys are such a great husband and wife photography team.  You impressed us already with your blog, responsiveness, thoroughness, portfolio, but frankly your attention to detail is extraordinary and still is blowing us away.  By holding the highest standards and consistently exceeding them, you have helped us achieve an unforgettable plan for our Iceland destination wedding.  Because of you, our wedding is going to be flawless.  Thank you for your outstanding work!  Forever Grateful, E & M ”

Aww, shucks, we really have the best clients!  We are beyond excited for the upcoming Iceland weddings we have on our Photos by Miss Ann books.  Each bride and groom is from a diverse part of the world, brings different Iceland wedding locations, unique style, and a distinctive vision for their wedding adventure in Iceland and that is REALLY exhilarating for us as Iceland wedding photographers.  Okay, okay, okay, enough gushing and more Iceland wedding planning!

Our topic this week: Iceland Wedding Ceremony Music

Figuring out your music selections for your Iceland wedding ceremony can be overwhelming in your destination wedding planning.  It can be a lot of pressure.  After all, you want your guests to be excited, in awe, and inspired while taking in the dynamic scenery, finding their seat and anticipating the bride and grooms wedding vows.  Phew, tall order, or at least we felt it was when we were planning our Seljalandsfoss Iceland wedding!  Have no fear, today’s blog post will give you some ideas for doing just that because having an Iceland wedding ceremony music plan helps set the scene even more so.

If you’re planning to have your Iceland wedding at Seljalandsfoss, Skogafoss, Snaefellsness Peninsula, Vik Beach, Lake Myvatn, or Jokulsarlon Glacial Lagoon and have more than 6 people in attendance, my advice to you is that you need to rent a sound system for the courtesy of your guests.  Holding your wedding ceremony in one of the stunning natural wonders Iceland offers is incredible but do not forget your guests!  One of the frustrating things at times for outdoor wedding guests is that they cannot hear readings, vows, the exchange of rings, etc and they really want to be a part of it!

As Iceland wedding planners, we can help you secure an Iceland DJ for your event that will setup battery powered sound system with speakers, wireless microphones, and an IPOD connection.  That way, your guests will be able to hear your Iceland wedding music, understand your officiant, listen to your wedding vows, and have fun background music while you take your stunning Iceland wedding portraits!  Now that you have figured all that out, your big question is now, “What kind of music do I play for my Iceland wedding ceremony?”  We have found that our bride and grooms have had the most success thinking in terms of words and the feelings songs exude.  So think about what inspires you and your soon-to-be and in the meantime, here are a few more ideas to get that creativity flowing!

Before Ceremony Music:

• Inspirational, Light, Dynamic and Exciting.
• General rule is to begin playing 30 minutes before the wedding ceremony.

Bridal Entrance Song Ideas:

• Dreamy and Transcendent (like you’re walking on clouds).
• You can easily choose two songs for this, one for the parents to be seated, groom, and bridal party to walk down the aisle and the other for the bridal entrance.
• No music played during the Iceland wedding ceremony (unless doing a sand/knot ceremony, partaking in communion, or you see a need for filler music for another part of the ceremony, etc).

After Your Iceland Wedding Ceremony Music:

• Bouncy, Fun, and Starry-eyed!
• Typically played for 45 minutes after the wedding ceremony in Iceland.  Songs that are fun to exit the ceremony hand in hand and greet guests too. This is also enjoyable for guests to listen to while you take your dazzling Iceland wedding photographs!

So right about now, I’m sure you’re dying to know what music Chris and I planned for our Iceland wedding at Seljalandsfoss waterfall, right?  Our Iceland ceremony music picks follow below:

Before our Seljalandsfoss Wedding (Ceremony Playlist):

“Hellelujah” by The Canadian Tenors

“Color My World” by Chicago

“You Raise Me Up” by Josh Groban

“Annie’s Song” by John Denver

“Feels Like Home” by Chantal Kreviazuk

“Marry Me” by Train

“The Wedding Song” by Kenny G

Aisle Walk and Bridal Entrance:

“Somewhere In Time” by Maksim Mrvica (Such a romantically dreamy song!).

After our Wedding at Seljalandsfoss Ceremony we played:

Bride and Groom Exit Song: “Better Together” by Jack Johnson

Greeting Line & Iceland Wedding Photographs Background Music:

“We’ve Only Just Begun” by the Carpenters

“Can’t Hurry Love” by The Supremes

“My Girl” by The Temptations

“One Fine Day” by The Chiffons

“How Sweet It Is” by Marvin Gaye

“Build Me Up Buttercup” by The Foundations

“Dancing in the Moonlight” by King Harvest

“Earth Angel” by The Penguins

“Wishin’ And Hopin’” by Dusty Springfield

“Tell Him” by Exciters

“Everybody Needs Somebody To Love” by Solomon Burke

“Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me” by Mel Carter

“Be My Baby” by The Ronettes

** Stay Tuned for Part II of this topic in our next Iceland wedding planning post- Wedding Reception in Iceland: Music Ideas **

Keep Smiling and Iceland Wedding Planning,

Ann Peters

Expert Iceland Wedding Planner & Iceland Wedding Photographer

© 2002-2013, Photos by Miss Ann, All Rights Reserved

The post Music Ideas for Iceland Wedding Ceremony (Iceland DJ) appeared first on Iceland Wedding Planner.

This past week was a perfect example of April showers bringing May flowers.  Three days of rain suddenly brought green grass, blossoming trees, tulips, engagements, weddings, and babies!  Crazy amounts of sweet newborns have come through our home studio in Plymouth, Michigan for newborn portrait photography (hello 2013 spring baby-boom!).

This week, we’re backing up to update you on one of our previous posts… Several of you ladies have emailed us to get more background on why we chose to have a Love Letter Ceremony when we held at our Iceland wedding at Seljalandsfoss waterfall in April of 2012.  Good news, we wrote a fabulous Iceland blog post on this last year entitled, “Alternative Unity Ceremony Idea: Love Letter Ceremony,” so please check it out first!

In the meantime, I will give you a little more background and an update to that post!  You see, when we were planning our Iceland destination wedding, we tried finding Icelandic traditions to possibly incorporate.  Although neither one of us is from Iceland or any of our guests, we definitely wanted to bring in the uniqueness of the country being nothing like any other.  It is seriously unlike any other country you will visit, so embrace it!  Most of the Icelandic traditions involve having very simplistic wedding plans like holding the ceremony at a local country church and reception at the bride’s family’s home.  Nevertheless, we did come across three Icelandic traditions we did want to integrate into our action packed wedding day at Seljalandsfoss, Skogafoss, Vik Beach, with a stop at Thorvaldseyri Farm (at the foot of the Eyjafjallajokull Volcano that famously erupted 2 years before- exactly to the date of our wedding day), and Hotel Ranga, follow below:

1. Holding a wedding welcome dinner the evening before our Iceland destination wedding.  Icelandic natives turn their weddings into a span of a few day celebrations.
2. Providing our guests with a 5 course wedding meal.
3. Love letters: In early Iceland, we found that love letters were the foundation of courtships.

From everything my husband and I read, researched, and have experienced we have found that the Icelandic culture loves the outdoors no matter the temperature, celebrates with fresh foods, smoked meats, strong drinks, and camaraderie.  Very much in tune with what we were after for our Iceland destination wedding.  So along with planning and providing a 3 course “welcome dinner” the evening before our wedding day for all our Iceland wedding guests, we also felt it was important to have a 5 course Iceland wedding reception meal so that our guests could partake in the unique, fresh, and memorable food Iceland had to offer.  The third thing that was Iceland inspired for our wedding day was integrating the love letters, by adding our own unique twist.  We made the letters tradition a part of our Iceland wedding ceremony at Seljalandsfoss waterfall and had that be the foundation of our unity ceremony.  It was a unique alternative to the other unity ceremony options we see every weekend.  Feel free to read our Iceland blog post on this topic for specific details and wording for the unity letter ceremony.

If you’re a weekly visitor of ours (thank you!), you know that Chris and I just celebrated our first year wedding anniversary on April 14th with an Iceland inspired couples session last month, check it out here if you missed it!  After we took photos inspired by our Seljalandsfoss wedding and the gorgeous Vik beach cave and rock formations, we said our wedding vows to each other again, and then we also did an update to our original Love Letter Ceremony.  Okay, so we actually didn’t “lock” our love letter ceremony box when our Iceland wedding officiant closed it during our Iceland wedding ceremony because we had to stuff more things inside of in order to pack efficiently.  When we returned home we did just as the ceremony said, we displayed it in a prominent spot in our home (our china cabinet we pass by many times throughout the day).  But the more I thought about the meaning behind the ceremony itself and how much our lives have changed in the last year, I thought it would be important to do an update and write another letter to our future selves.

Now selling my husband, Chris on the idea was tougher (lol).  Lucky me though, he sees the value in it.  So on the actual day our wedding anniversary, April 14^th we opened up our last bottle of our Iceland wedding champagne from Domaine Chandon, pulled out our last Papyrus stationery card, and wrote a new letter to each other.  I personally wrote about how much I have struggled with finding the right balance. Most of the married couples that have come back to us through the years for Plymouth, Michigan portrait photography all say the first year is the hardest, and I must agree.  Mainly because you are finding that balance for communicating, domestic chores, planning and cooking meals, working crazy schedules, idiosyncrasies and still finding the time to go out on dates!   So! Chris and I toasted to another great year, sealed the letters together and wrote on the outside of the envelope “Written on our 1^st Anniversary.”  How fun, right?  I think this is an awesome addition to a love letter ceremony tradition, so much that maybe we’ll do this every year on our Iceland wedding anniversary!  Gives me chills just thinking about the impact all these letters will have on our future selves!

Have you thought about what sort of unity ceremony you will have for your Iceland destination wedding?

Our destination wedding style in Southern Iceland (Hella, Iceland) was very adventurous, action-packed, romantic, energetic, and very particular about food and drinks (in quality, quantity, and menu uniqueness) for ourselves and our guests.  It was important to Chris and I to plan an Iceland wedding reception that was focused on those elements versus “partying” or dancing.  So if you’re thinking of a comparable focus for your Iceland wedding, please contact us to be your inclusive wedding planners and photographers!

Keep smiling and Iceland wedding planning,

Ann Peters

Expert Iceland Wedding Planner & Iceland Wedding Photographer

© 2002-2013, Photos by Miss Ann, All Rights Reserved

The post Icelandic Wedding Traditions: Love Letter Ceremony Update appeared first on Iceland Wedding Planner.

Outside of holding our Iceland wedding ceremony at Seljalandsfoss waterfall, one of my favorite “gives me goose bumps” moments from our Iceland wedding planning was arranging my husband, Chris’s day of wedding gift.

So many of you might be scratching your head right now wondering what I mean… So you ask, “Ann, what is a day of gift?”  A day of gift goes both ways: Bride surprises her soon to be and groom surprises the bride with a gift, showing the enthusiasm and anticipation of their wedding day.  This can be simplistic or elaborate; it’s all in how you are as a couple.  I’ll paint a picture for you on how we planned and exchanged our wedding day of gifts in Iceland so you may understand better.

Chris and I in a nutshell are “Type A” personalities in case you haven’t figured that out yet.  We are crazy detailed, thrive on adventure and we really seek it out in our travels and everyday life.  Fun fact: This is exactly why our Photos by Miss Ann tagline was coined years ago as, “Thriving on Adventure and Love…”  As cliché as it sounds, we truly do live life with no regrets and strive each day to do so as we build our personal lives together and individually, our businesses, and our bucket lists.  That being said, buying gifts for each other is really hard!  Neither of us wears jewelry nor have a burning desire for a specific tangible good, but we do both enjoy a challenge that is near to impossible.  So when we talked about whether or not we would exchange “day of gifts” on our wedding day in Iceland, we both agreed it would be fun and then swapped sneaky smiles!  Our marvelous challenge for Iceland wedding day of gifts commenced!

I racked my brain for a few days on what sort of everlasting sweet gift I could give Chris that could forever hold an impression on our marriage, make him tear up, and then it came to me!  One of our all-time favorite movies on the planet is “Somewhere in Time,” (circa 1980).  It’s a mushy time traveling film with Jayne Seymour and Christopher Reeve that is about two soul mates finding each other despite there being generations of time between them.  The catalyst of the time travel is a pocket watch from the early 1900’s and that simple element ignited my memory!  Chris had inherited one from his great grandfather decades ago, that he had always talked about getting restored to its original glory, just never had.  It was in really bad shape i.e., missing glass, hands, internal components, and needed heavy refinishing, so it took several months for the clock shop to find parts.

A week before we were leaving for our Iceland destination wedding, I picked up the pocket watch gift and was in total awe.  My gift to Chris was going to be time…Why?  Time is something we all run short on when we fall in love.  It seems like once we say, “Yes!” to “Will you marry me?” life gets jammed on the fast forward button and goes faster than we wish.  I think as couples in love, we forget to keep “dating” each other and do not always savor those small moments in the midst of all those big upcoming life moments.  Does that make sense?  Truthfully, I am not a woman of many emotions, but seeing and holding that watch, knowing what it represents, and then putting it inside the engraved box, immediately brought tears to my eyes.  The outside of the box was engraved simply with, “Today, I promise to love you until the end of time.”  There was no way I could have chosen a better wedding gift for him, it was truly priceless.  To top it off, I did add a super sweet card to his wedding day of gift that I had planned to hide in his tux pocket that playfully said, “I cannot wait to see your smile down the aisle!”  I packed everything in my polka dot carry on that night and did not even think about that he was going to give me a gift too!

Fast-forward to barely a week later, we had made it to Iceland, got our marriage license, checked out our wedding ceremony location at Seljalandsfoss, saw some rainbows at Skogafoss, and ran around Vik Beach just to make sure all three were our final choices for the following wedding day adventure.  After we finished, all of our to-do’s and were awaiting the start time of our Iceland wedding welcome dinner.  Chris suggested then, that this would probably be the last quite moment we would share together before the hustle and bustle of the wedding weekend had begun.  We decided to give each other our wedding day of gifts the evening before our wedding day.  I grabbed my special gift to him and gleamed with excitement as I handed it to him.  Chris gave me a curious look but still had no idea as he unwrapped the gift and read the outside of the special box.  Once he opened the box and saw his grandfather’s watch in its pristine glory, he instantly got choked up and shed a few tears even!  <Success! Bridal happy dance!>

After a few minutes he collected himself and told me to close my eyes <Eeeeek, I hate surprises, grrrr!> it was the longest 5 minutes ever!  I heard him fumbling around but didn’t really realize what he was doing until he said, “Open!”  Chris had spent months tirelessly building Photos by Miss Ann a new website from scratch, no templates, no predesigns, only him and the world of coding!  How incredibly thoughtful and such a unique surprise for him to give me!  All those months before our Iceland destination wedding, I had just thought he had been gaming on his computer until the wee hours of the night (Ahem, while I Iceland wedding planned, LOL) and really he had been doing a labor of love for my photography business!  <3

Chris and I dislike traditional things for the most part, but one thing in our wedding planning we did keep was ensuring he did not see me in my wedding dress until I walked down the aisle to him.  So after breakfast the morning of our Iceland wedding at Seljalandsfoss, we parted ways.  The really sweet thing was that we had saved exchanging cards until the morning of when we were both getting ready at Hotel Ranga.  I was getting my Iceland wedding dress on in the Royal Honeymoon Suite with my maid of honor and Chris was getting ready in another room with his best man.  Reading his card once I had my Iceland wedding dress on made it even more real and made me blaze with even more excitement!  Chris went to put his antique pocket watch in his inside tux pocket and was surprised to find my card while he and the rest of our guests loaded the bus for our surprise Iceland wedding ceremony location: Seljalandsfoss Waterfall.  Sharing our Iceland wedding gift moment with Chris, will be forever be that “somewhere in time” moment for us!

In our opinion, day of gifts set the tone of the wedding weekend or wedding day.  Every bride wants her groom completely enamored with her on their destination wedding weekend especially in Iceland!  This little detail of gift giving before your wedding day expresses the appreciation you have for each other and exciting captivation you both have for saying “I do!” that day.  We’d love to share with you some ideas for your day of gift to your soon-to-be:

Day of Gift Ideas for the Bride:

• A Heartfelt Card.
• Red Roses or her favorite flower!
• Diamond earrings or her birth stone (whichever she may prefer).
• A Bracelet or Necklace (ladies do not feel obligated to wear it on your wedding day).
• An item to complete your home (Example, A small bistro set for the porch or backyard to have dinner or coffee on together).
• Book an exclusive dinner for your Honeymoon (Example: Like what we did on our honeymoon at the Ayana Resort in Bali Indonesia: Pesta Lobster dinner on their private jetty).
• Something from Tiffany & Co.
• A sweet Souvenir from the destination wedding location you have chosen (maybe something that goes along with an inside joke you guys have?).
• Have the wedding night suite furnished before your arrival with a rose petal pathway, champagne, and fresh fruit (all the fabulous hotels we work with in Iceland offer this as an add on)!

Day of Gift Ideas for the Groom:

• A Heartfelt Card.
• A Basket of His Favorite Things.
• A Watch (Feel free to totally steal our pocket watch idea- just make sure you have your Iceland wedding photographer take a photo!)
• Book a surprise adventurous activity for your awesome honeymoon!
• That “must have” electronic he has been eying.
• An item to complete your home or to support his favorite hobby (Example, A workbench for him to build projects on).
• A World Map of your Travels Together (past, present, and future)!  This was actually Chris’s first gift he ever gave me.  Three years later, we still love plotting our travels on it, so much fun!
• Have a sweet saying engraved on the inside of his wedding ring. (Ideas: “Forever,” “Better Together,” “Fire & Ice,” “A Perfect Fit,” “Remember When…” “I Choose You, Every Day,” “Love Never Fails”).

If you’re having a destination wedding in Iceland and the wedding gift is too big, bulky, isn’t tangible to bring, it’s totally okay to print out a picture of your gifted item, put it in a small box, and wrap it for him/her to open.  In the end, it’s all about the thought and adding to the excitement of your wedding day!  We hope this blog post featuring our destination wedding in Iceland tip: “Day of Gift” has encouraged you and your soon-to-be to exchange special wedding day gifts!

Epically Yours as Iceland Wedding Photographers and Planners,

Ann & Christopher Peters

© 2002-2013, Photos by Miss Ann, All Rights Reserved

The post Destination Wedding in Iceland Tip: Day of Gift appeared first on Iceland Wedding Planner.

Many of you have been curious as to how Chris and I went from dating in Michigan to being married in Iceland… so here you go ladies!  Our relationship adventures went something like this:

• We met in September of 2009.
• Rang in 2010 in Los Cabos, Mexico (woohoo first vacation together!).
• Had the merging of friends at an amazing ski trip to Banff, Alberta Canada in February 2010.
• Photographed a fabulous destination wedding (our first together) in Vieques, Puerto Rico in March of 2010.
• Found our way to several coasts and back photographing destination weddings and doing lots of high altitude hiking in Colorado (Yes I always keep a dress in my hiking bag for just such a photo occasion. After all, we’re wedding photographers, there is always an amazing locale nearby!).
• We learned new things together like how to race at Bridgestone Racing Academy in Pontypool, Ontario, to scuba dive, to fence, I celebrated my 500 skydive and Chris tried his first (Yes that is totally camera gear mounted to my helmet. Check out why I skydive here).
• May 2011, we moved in together!  Settled in a super cute 1920’s home in downtown Plymouth, Michigan.  See one of our photos from our 1920’s styled session here.
• Ann went on a trip to Jeju Island, South Korea while Chris went engagement ring shopping.
• Engaged:  We took a trip to Koloa, Hawaii (island of Kauai) in October of 2011 to photograph a gorgeous Kauai destination wedding.  We added a few days before to do some hiking, scuba diving, and an incredible biplane tour of the island… Through all of those awesome events I was totally anticipating a marriage proposal and nothing!  I’ll be honest, I ransacked all we brought trying to find any indication on whether or not he was going to propose (who’s with me ladies, lol?!).    A night or two later we were watching the sunset with a bottle of champagne on our private beach and he asked me to marry him.  It turns out sneaky Chris had hidden my Tiffany Ribbon Ring in a box of thin mint girl scout cookies in the fridge, something I would never ever go near!  Alas, he knows me all to well =)  See one of our destination engagement photos from that weekend here.
• We brainstormed on wedding locations (see our blog post here).
• From October 2011 to March 2012 we planned our Iceland Destination Wedding (we’re super planners so 5 months was doable, we would not suggest such a short timeline for anyone else).  We settled on a Iceland waterfall for our wedding ceremony and Hotel Ranga for our wedding reception location.
• On Wednesday, April 11th 2012, everyone we love and adore was getting ready to fly to Iceland that day for our adventurous destination wedding.  Unfortunately that morning, I received the unexpected phone call that my grandmother, Iren Soltesz had passed away.  Heartbreaking news to receive and deal with days before our wedding day.
• Saturday, April 14^th 2012, we were married at the exquisite Seljalandsfoss waterfall and held an incredible wedding day adventure for our guests.  Our Iceland wedding day timeline can be found on our previous blog post, here.  My grandma even brought us rainbows throughout our week trip through Iceland =)
• October 2012, we made the move to focus our Photos by Miss Ann business on Iceland wedding planning and Iceland wedding photography.  We felt that after all of our Iceland wedding planning trials and tribulations, Iceland needed a more visible wedding industry and we wanted to be at the front of this exciting adventure to help future brides and grooms!
• November 2012, we honeymooned in Bali, Indonesia.  See our Bali honeymoon photos on our previous blog post, here.
• Our Favorite Things:  Our bengal cat Oliver, the 1920’s, extreme sports, being silly (yes, it totally happened!), British cars (Chris), polka dots (Ann), champagne, bad horror movies, mountains, unique antiques, destination wedding photography, and Iceland!

In celebration of our first anniversary, Chris and I decided to forever pause the occasion with an Iceland inspired wedding anniversary portrait session!  It was a whole 18 degrees when we ventured out into some gorgeous caves and waterfalls to capture these Iceland inspired couples portraits.  We also spent 30 minutes of our time during that weekend to renew our wedding vows in front of another pretty waterfall!  After all, when you spend the time to write your own wedding vows, I am a firm believer they should be said again each year on your anniversary.  It truly brings back the euphoric feeling of newly wedded bliss!  Anyhow, we hope you enjoy our photos as much as we did taking them!

Now that you are up to speed on us, what is your love story?  Are you dying to plan a wedding day in Iceland?  If so, please contact us to understand why Photos by Miss Ann / Iceland Wedding Planner, would be a fabulous asset to your Iceland destination wedding day!

Lots of smiles from the not-so-newlyweds, Ann & Chris Peters

Professional Iceland Wedding Photography & Planning

© 2002-2013, Photos by Miss Ann, All Rights Reserved

The post Seljalandsfoss Wedding Anniversary appeared first on Iceland Wedding Planner.

This weeks planning wedding topic has to do with your Iceland wedding ceremony… Wedding vows!  Have you thought about them yet?  If not, I hope this blog post motivates you!

Wedding Vows are intimate expressions that are a continuous reminder of the foundation of your marriage.  On your wedding day, you outwardly profess: love, respect, and commitment to your soon to be in front of your support system of family and friends.  No matter if you repeat the solemn words from your officiant or you create your own they carry a meaning that lasts forever and should be celebrated each year in your marriage thereafter.  You need to decide as a couple whether or not you want to repeat or create your own wedding vows… so here are a few ideas to get those creative juices flowing:

• Accepting each other fully and for a lifetime.
• Through the good, bad, and unmanageable times.
• Endless and irrefutable love and adoration.
• Your lifetime promise to him/her.
• How he/she inspires you to be a better person.

There are positives and negatives to both but I will say from personal experience, creating your own is worth it in the long run.  Being wedding photographers locally in Plymouth, Michigan and specializing in destination weddings for over 10 years, Chris and I have been lucky enough to bear witness to over hundreds of wedding vows.  That being said, we know truly, how much of an impact they carry in the moment and over time.  This in turn, made us realize when we were Iceland wedding planning, how important it was for us to create our own wedding vows.

We held our Iceland destination wedding at Seljalandsfoss Waterfall on Saturday, April 14^th 2012 and had spent weeks before perfecting our Iceland ceremony wording and our wedding vows.  Today, I share with you our Iceland ceremony we compiled… Feel free to use it to generate your own ideas for your Iceland destination wedding vows but please do not publish, thank you!

Our Introduction and Welcome to our Iceland Wedding Guests:

“True marriage is more than joining the bonds of marriage of two persons.  In its right relation, it’s the uniting of two souls already attuned to each other.  When such a true bond already exists between man and woman, it is fitting that an outer acknowledgment be made. This acknowledgment is the prime object of this gathering and this ceremony here in Iceland today.  We are here to bear witness to the entry into the closer relationship of husband and wife of these beloved friends, Christopher and Ann who are already one in spirit.

You are now taking into your care and keeping the happiness of the one person in all the world whom you love best.  You are adding to your life not only the affection of each other, but also the companionship and blessing of a deep trust as well. Christopher and Ann, you are agreeing to share strength, responsibilities, and to share love.   At the end of this ceremony, you will be husband and wife, but you still must decide each and every day, that you want to be married.  Make such a decision and keep on making it, for the most important thing in life is to love and be loved.

Reading by 4 friends:  The Art of Marriage –By Wilferd Arlan Peterson

The Vows <Join Hands>:

 Chris’s Vows:  “Ann falling in love with you the last few years has been an incredible experience.  Your will, your energy and thirst for life inspires me on a daily basis.  I promise to love you, hold you and to work with you to build a solid foundation for our future to be built on.  Today, I ask that you take these hands because they are the ones that hold you.  That you take these feet because they are the ones that walk besides you.  That you take this smile for it glows because of you. And that you take this heart because it beats for you.”

Ann’s Vows:  “On this special day in one of the most amazing places in the world and I commit my life to you.  Chris, I fell in love with you for the unique qualities, abilities, and outlook on life that you have, I love you for who you are and the amazing team we make together.  I promise to love you without reservation, encourage you to achieve all of your goals and inspire you daily.   To laugh with you, and to comfort you in times of sorrow and struggles.  To grow with you in mind and spirit and be willing to face change as we both change in order to keep our relationship new and exciting… I promise to always be open and honest with you, and share hopes, thoughts and dreams as we build our lives together.  I am super excited to build a home with you that is compassionate, respectful and honorable for each other. I pledge to love you in good times and in bad, for richer or poorer, and for when you buy more British cars than our garage can hold…  I will cherish you and the family that we share together for as long as we both shall live. From this day forward, you shall not walk alone.  Today, I give you my hand to hold, my life to share and my heart to keep.”

 The  RINGS:
This ring by its shape is a symbol of the undying love that exists between you. The substance of which it is composed is a symbol of purity, which shall ever characterize your mind and hearts in all your whole life together.

Christopher please repeat after me as you place the ring on Ann’s finger:  “As this ring encircles your finger, from this day forward, so will my love forever encircle you. Wear this ring as a symbol of my love.”

 Ann, please repeat after me as you place the ring on Christopher’s finger:  “As this ring encircles your finger, from this day forward, so will my love forever encircle you. Wear this ring as a symbol of my love.”

 Love Letter Ceremony:

Christopher and Ann have chosen as a couple to perform a Letter Ceremony. 

<The box is to be presented>

This box contains a love letter from each to the other.   The letters Chris and Ann have wrote to each other describe the good qualities they find in one another, the reasons they fell in love, and their reasons for choosing to marry today.   Ann’s mother, Irene and Christopher’s parents, Donna and Bill have also written their children a letter individually and another letter to the couple together expressing their hopes and advice for their future together.  The letters are sealed in individual envelopes and the couple has not seen what has been written.  I would ask, now that the parents bring forth their letters to be placed in the box.

<Parents walk up and place the letters in the box>

 Christopher and Ann, I recommend that you keep the box in a place of honor prominently displayed in your home as a constant reminder of your commitment to each other today.  Should you ever find your marriage enduring insurmountable hardships, you are to as a couple, open this box and read the letters.   By reading these letters you will reflect upon the reasons you fell in love and chose to marry each other here in Iceland today. The hope is, however, that you will never have a reason to open this box.   And if this is the case, you are to open this box as a celebration to enjoy on your 20th wedding anniversary!

That being said, Christopher and Ann, I will now lock the box as an expression of sealing your life-long commitment. 

Hand Ceremony:

These are the hands of your best friend, young and strong and full of love for you, that are holding yours on your wedding day, as you promise to love each other today, tomorrow, and forever.

These are the hands that will work alongside yours, as together you build your future.

These are the hands that will passionately love you and cherish you through the years, and with the slightest touch, will comfort you like no other.

These are the hands that will hold you when fear or grief fills your mind.
These are the hands that will countless times wipe the tears from your eyes; tears of sorrow, and tears of joy.

These are the hands that will someday tenderly hold your children.

These are the hands that will help you to hold your family as one.

These are the hands that will give you strength when you need it.

And lastly, these are the hands that even when wrinkled and aged, will still be reaching for yours, still giving you the same unspoken tenderness with just a touch.

Christopher and Ann, may you always need one another, not so much to fill the emptiness as to help each other know your fullness.  May you want one another, but not out of lack.  May you embrace one another, but not encircle one another.  May you succeed in all important ways with each other, and not fail in the little graces.  Look for things to praise, often say ‘I love you’ and take no notice of small faults.  May you have happiness, and may you find it in making one another happy.  May you have love, and may you find it in loving one another every day.  Ann and Chris, you have expressed your love to one another through the commitment and promises you have just made throughout this ceremony. It is with these in mind that I pronounce you husband and wife.

The Kiss:

Although, you have kissed a thousand times, maybe more.  But today the feeling is new.  You are no longer simply partners and best friends, you have become husband and wife and can now seal the agreement with a kiss.  Today, your kiss is a lifetime promise.  Congratulations, Christopher, you may now celebrate by kissing your bride!”

*************************************************************************************************

Even just reading through these words again, really brings me back to our Iceland wedding day.  It was filled with so much love, adventure, romance, and excitement for both ourselves and our guests.  From saying our Iceland wedding vows at Seljalandsfoss Waterfall, to our wedding champagne toast at Vik Beach, to our impromptu stops at the Vik Icelandic Wool Shop and Skogafoss Waterfall, and our wedding reception on the Ranga River those words bring us right back there in the midst of that exciting time in our lives.   We hope that our Iceland wedding ceremony wording will help you as you plan your amazing destination wedding in Iceland!

We have some super exciting posts coming up in the next few weeks!  You can look forward to our Iceland wedding anniversary photos and an Iceland styled shoot featuring our favorite vendors like Flyboy Naturals!

With a smile, Ann Peters

IcelandWeddingPlanner

PhotosByMissAnn

© 2002-2013, Photos by Miss Ann, All Rights Reserved

The post Iceland Wedding Vows appeared first on Iceland Wedding Planner.

Thanks for stopping by!  A fun fact about us… We went from having an Iceland destination wedding to a honeymoon in Bali, Indonesia.  We loved having the two extremes for our wedding adventures.  Our honeymoon was featured on the fabulous Aisle Perfect / Perfete blog, so a take moment to check it out!

Definition of HONEYMOON  (Source: Merriam-Webster )

1: a period of harmony immediately following marriage

2: a period of unusual harmony especially following the establishment of a new relationship

3: a trip or vacation taken by a newly married couple

Ah, yes every engaged couples “light at the end of the tunnel”- the honeymoon.  Long awaited and well deserved.  After planning our Iceland destination wedding from October 2011 to April 2012 and coordinating travels and activities for our 40 guests we knew we would need a break right after the wedding, not another vacation.  To us, it seemed like terrible etiquette to have all the people we love fly in for just a few days of wedding events and then not spend time with them.

Whether you are planning a local wedding in Plymouth, Michigan or destination wedding at in Iceland I assure you, breaking tradition and waiting to take your honeymoon 6 months later is the way to go.  Every bride gets wrapped up into the excitement and planning of the day and once she goes back to normal life with no wedding planning to keep her busy a type of “post wedding depression” sets in.  Even being a super planner and being a destination wedding photographer as myself (please visit: www.PhotosByMissAnn.com), I was actually surprised at what a void I felt.  Planning my Iceland wedding became a hobby.  The excitement level crashed upon our return to Plymouth Michigan; my wedding was now ancient history.

Luckily, I had my honeymoon to plan! Bam, easy transition out of my post-wedding-blues!  Much like the same way we attacked finding a destination wedding location we compiled a list of possible honeymoon locations:

1. The Maldives
2. Antarctica (via Santiago, Chile)
3. Bali, Indonesia
4. Faroe Islands

Being a wedding photographer and specializing in destination wedding photography, we needed to work around my high season of photographing and plan for a trip in November or December.  That sadly eliminated the Faroe Islands since there would only be 4-6 hours of daylight during that time.  In the end, we chose Bali, Indonesia.  We rented “The Honeymoon Villa” in Candidasa.  Candidasa is 1.5 hours northeast of the DPS airport and the waypoint to all of the adventure and amazing food the country has to offer.

Each couple has to decide what sort of honeymoon they want to have and we are 100% action-packed adventure (and “sleep when you’re dead,” sort of travelers).  Our itinerary truly reflected the same.  If you’re reading this and are like us I suggest the following awesomeness for your destination honeymoon:

Day 1: Fly to LAX and stay overnight.

Day 2 and 3: Arrive in Bali (DPS airport).

Day 4: Check out our favorite beach Padang Padang then head to Ayana Resort for their “Pesta Lobster” dining experience.  Uber romantic!

Day 5: Check out the Tirtagangga Water Palace and the White Sand Beach. 11pm leave for the Sunrise Hike to the top of the highest peak in Bali, Mount Agung.

Day 6: Hike 9,900 feet to watch the sunrise on Bali’s highest volcano and then visit Pura Besakih (Temple in the Clouds).

Day 7:Day trip to the oldest most traditional Baliense village Tenganan and and then go to Ubud to shop the 4 story market.

Day 8:  Go Canyoning in Bali

Day 9: Head to the Taro jungle and ride an elephant at the Elephant Safari Park.

Day 10: Scuba Dive Tulamben – USAT Liberty Wreck.

Day 11: Spend the afternoon at Pandang Bai Beach, dinner at Rouge in Canidasa, and fly out of DPS at midnight.

As we planned our honeymoon in Bali, we debated on hiring a professional photographer to do some post wedding / honeymoon photography locally.  But, me being the perfectionist I am, I could not bear the thought though of anyone else photographing my honeymoon, but me!  So alas, against my husband’s pleas not to bring… the professional Nikon gear was packed!

Honeymoon Photography is a new upcoming phenomenon. As couples begin to choose more out of the norm locations (or luxury honeymoon locales) this becomes increasing important to document.  This is the couples chance to forever seal their wedding year glamor and turn it to printable legend.  It is certainly not every day or even every year you can take such an elaborately striking vacation so take advantage of it.  Forever pause this time in your lives and hire a professional to capture it!

Picture this… It’s just the two of you- no family, no friends, no obligations to worry about and certainly no time constraints as you did during your wedding day.  Plus ladies,you can choose to have another fun dress to be photographed in (or don your gorgeous wedding dress again!), bonus!  Destination honeymooning in Iceland, Fiji, Bora Bora, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, or even Bali Indonesia is a lifetime adventure and you need to capture that matchless beauty in couples portraits!  Especially if you have chosen to stay in one of those glorious over the ocean bures!

After having a destination wedding in Iceland in April my husband and I needed a break, not honeymoon!  So we waited 7 months on our official honeymoon and decided on Bali Indonesia.  Choosing such an exotically dreamy place, we knew we needed to document it.  We professionally photographed our own couples portraits and also hoped to fast-track this new trend in our destination wedding photography packages going forward.  We began our photography adventure at Padang Padang Beach (the Bali beach featured in the movie Eat, Pray, Love) and it was stunning!  Next up was a very romantic sunset dinner on Ayana Resorts Private Jetty.  A few days later we finished with a couple of random spots in around the city we stayed, Candidasa.

What a fun week of portrait sessions!  My husband and I were relaxed, playful, and uber romantic as we had every spot to ourselves.  I was so excited that I was already envisioning 19×23’’ acrylic prints to hang and designing our Christmas cards in my head!  This was truly a special session for us.  Here we were in the middle of an unusual countryside celebrating our 7 month anniversary (delaying the honeymoon was the best decision) and we were savoring every second.

Our honeymoon portrait session was unlike any other session we have to date experienced.  It was not as awkward as our engagement session nor as stressful as our wedding day- it was us in the essence of the moment and at our best.  These are by far my favorite images we have taken because taking them was an adventure in itself!  I know many of you may not have ever thought of it, but why not take your wedding photographer on your honeymoon?  Especially those of you bride and grooms that are planning destination weddings- I bet all of your destination wedding photographers would offer you a special package to continue on with you on your honeymoon too, just ask!  The wedding is critical but the honeymoon is epically you!

Yours in Iceland destination wedding photography and planning, Ann

13 Must Dos for your Wedding Day

Best Destination Wedding Tips for Obscure Locations

Aisle Perfect / Perfete Bali Honeymoon Feature

© 2002-2012, Photos by Miss Ann, All Rights Reserved

The post Destination Honeymoon Photography: Bali Indonesia appeared first on Iceland Wedding Planner.