There are 3 main aspects that travel insurance products should cover. A. Baggage B. Medical C. Cancel/Interruption/Delays.

Baggage is to make sure that if your bags don’t arrive when you do, you can do something about it besides pout. If your bags are “lost” and will be delayed more than 12 hours, the insurance kicks in – go on a shopping spree at the cute hotel boutique and pick-up that swim suit and a toothbrush to get you by! And in the un-likely scenario where your bags don’t ever make it home, you have coverage for re-imbursement of lost goods available. Now that makes the 1st day a little less stressful doesn’t it?

Medical – Even if you have medical coverage here, many policies will not cover you out of the continental US. Be sure to check with your provider for details. If something terrible were to happen to you or your new spouse, there is a 24/7 hotline to speak with and advocate to help you find help, understand what is happening, and pay for parts of your medical needs. There is even coverage for evacuation back home if necessary.

Delays and interruptions are common in travel for various reasons. If your plane is delayed over 6 or more hours, you can get a stipend for food/shelter you were not expecting to need until travel can begin. If you missed the boat so to speak because you were heading for a cruise due to a delay, there is coverage to help you catch up to the next port and begin your fun! Hurricanes happen, and we hope it never finds out what island you are on, but if it does, insurance is there to assist you too.

Cancelling, we are hoping never has to happen. It may be a mom or dad gets really sick and the wedding is post-poned. It might be that, well, it just did not work out after all for the two of you. Cancel for any reason allows you to do so and get reimbursed for any non-refundable costs as long as you cancel 48 hour ahead of departure. That is much funner than honeymooning solo.

There are several large companies that you can purchase insurance through, including your travel agent. Visit this site for more detailed info on specific coverage options. Make sure you insure yourself a less-stress honeymoon by making the small investment in travel insurance for your plans – you will be happy you did!

Allow your guests to indulge in a mouth-savoring experience of the finest chocolate.  We personalize your table display and try to maintain the tablescape as a clean, presentable centerpiece.

However, at a recent wedding, the photographer decided to take a picture of the fountain toward the end of the evening, I was embarrassed for her to photograph the fountain covered in chocolate.  She said “I think it looks cute, and you can tell it was the hit of the party”.  So, what I saw as a mess, I was told a different story through the eyes of the photographer.  Even though we clean the fountain continuously throughout the event, at the end of the day, one can tell the guests really enjoyed the chocolate.  So the next time you see a chocolate fountain that might be a little untidy, ask yourself if it was a mess or a success?  We hope you will allow Chocolate Fountain Gourmet to be the hit of your next event.

Please visit our website at www.chocolatefountaingourmet.com, or call us at (602) 308-4511.

Soft Window Lighting

August Weddings  because I also celebrate my anniversary in August – what is that you ask? 

Yes it was here  in Phoenix. 

Photographing a wedding at this time of year does involve some tricks of the trade. 

First never never speak of the weather (lol) no one needs to be a meteorologist to figure out

the temperature out there.   

So work on bringing the outside in with your bride and groom, I had some beautiful windows with a fabulous folage

tree backdrop,

this also provided a wonderful soft directional light on my wedding couple.  (Soft Window Lighting)

We also worked on a upper story porch with a shade over hang that provided easy access to the  

indoor ceremony site for a little cooling off for the Bride and her Bridesmaids.   The gentle back light  provided

illumination on the bride’s veil and the

 backdrop was enhanced again with the folage of the trees.

The Rainbow!

 Wedding Photography should capture the fun and excitement of the day!   Meet Christian and Nichole – we photographed all the traditional photos, some at the church and most at the beautiful location of Val Vista Lakes, at the end of the formals one of them suggested this very fun – Trash the dress image – No there is not a second image of the bride and the groom hitting the water!  This worked as a very fun capture the personality of the Bride and Groom image.  

 Some fun journalistic style wedding images are semi posed within a natural  setting.  While preparing to start a grouping of images with the bride and bridesmaids this natural backdrop of the maids was created while posing the bride and little flower girl.

 Yes we really did capture all the traditional wedding images – but at the conclusion of the wedding party session who could resist a quick strike a pose portrait of this lively group!  This fun, capture the moment image, takes only a few seconds to create but adds the essence of laughter and captures the  unique personality of the bride and groom and their wedding entourage.

So at the end of the day, make sure your photographer takes a few extra moments to create and capture the fun of your special wedding day.

 Patty Kaufman – www.itsUphoto.com

Wedding Harpist David M. Ice

As you are planning your wedding day, the most important day of your life (so far!), have you really stopped to analyze how important your ceremony music is going to be?

Not only is it the first music your guests will hear, but it will also set the tone, mood, and style for the rest of your wedding day.

It’s very important to take a few moments and think, really think about what you hope to achieve during those all-important moments of your ceremony, plus before and after.

I’m a harpist.  So I’ll admit I’m biased towards harp music.  But my thoughts and arguments equally apply to all live musicians, and their importance to ceremony music.

Some brides think, “Oh, I’ll use use an Ipod for the music.”  Others think that the DJ will just somehow “handle” the music for the ceremony.  Trust me, the former is fraught with great danger, and the second can be very tricky unless placed in the hands of a highly competent DJ who has a thorough knowledge of music—not just the technical knowledge of how to turn on a CD.

Take the Ipod Bride.  First off, how many guests have ever shown up to a wedding and exclaimed, “Oh, she has an Ipod for her wedding!”  Zero, I can assure you.  A live musician (be it a harpist, a keyboard player, a guitar player, or a string quartet) instantly says “Class!” to your invited guests.

And what can go wrong with an Ipod wedding?  Well, in the old days of cassette tape, it was so easy to hit REWIND or FAST FORWARD instead of PLAY.  Trust me, I’ve seen it happen repeatedly—more often than not!  In the Ipod world, it’s just as easy to scroll down and miss a song.  I’m not kidding.  A minister friend told me about the bride who came down the aisle to The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson theme…..somebody pressed the wrong button.  I’ve personally seen (or rather, heard) the most bawdy, lusty hip-hop song with utterly unprintable lyrics blast forth from the speakers before the nuptuals….another “oopsie, my bad” moment from the hapless Ipod owner.  Grandma nearly had a stroke from that one.

A competent DJ with the right tracks can do a good job—but consider this:  all it takes is one lost bobby pin and all the timings, rehearsals, and pre-planning go out the window.  What if you only have 96 seconds of music?  Your flower girl has the giggles (or is crying in terror) and you now need another extra 22 seconds of music to get her down the aisle?  Unless your DJ is incredibly competent, you have no other option than to start the music all over again—and just fade it out at the end.  It’s like turning off your car radio in mid-song.

A live musician (ideally, a harpist!—I can’t help myself!) can be utterly flexible with the music and “vamp” if necessary, stretch out choruses, and make the music perfectly fit no matter what happens.  I’ve had this happen, personally, many times.  The bride’s train gets caught up in a doorjam and she can’t move—or the time the bride forgot her boquet in her room and ran back to get it, leaving me with a very uncomfortable 90 seconds wondering if we had a real-life “runaway bride!”  I was able to vamp and fill and make the music seamless, as if it was all rehearsed and supposed to be that way.  And most importantly, none of the guests were any wiser.

Grandma is having trouble walking down the aisle?  No problem.  The ring bearer skips down the aisle instead of walking at a stately pace?  No problem.  A live musician can make the music work for your wedding ceremony, and work perfectly, no matter what happens.

A live musician also helps establish and maintain the tone and mood for your wedding ceremony.  For the Ipod bride, it can be a bit jarring to mix, say, Dolly Parton with Rod Stewart.  But a live musician (using whatever instrument) will maintain the same timbre, mood, and overall tone no matter what the music’s origin is.  Led Zeppelin and Donny Osmond?  No problem on the harp!  But play the original tracks back to back, and you’ll get giggles and stares from your guests!

One last thing:  as ceremony musicians, we all strive to make your day as perfect as possible.  Our job is to create a sound painting, if you will, that creates and maintains the perfect romantic mood.  It’s money well spent and you will never, ever have to endure the Twilight Zone Theme as your Wedding March—unless you specifically want it!

David M. Ice,  Harpist   www.azharpist.com