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Photo Highlights from Our Photographer Sarah Der

Just wanted to share Sarah’s blog post with everyone in case you hadn’t had a chance to see her wonderful photos.

At Pippin Hill Farm to celebrate Jeremy + Tiffany’s wedding day

Amazing photos that captured a perfect day! Thanks Sarah! :)

Thank you

After 14 months of planning, unpredictable weather, and the support of so many of our friends and family, Our Geek Wedding has come and gone. And what an amazing day it was! We would like to thank everyone who came to celebrate with us. The day was perfect and there is nothing (even the weather) that we would change.  We both wish that we could have spent so much more time with everyone.

Please enjoy the photos. We hope everyone had as amazing a time as we did!

P.S. If you have any more photos, we would love to see them.  Either send them to us (see our Contact page) or post them to Facebook and tag us in them.

It worked!

Thank you to everyone who helped make this happen.

More updates to come as we collect photos and stories from all around.

– Mr. and Mrs. Beker

P.S. Thanks to the amazing Sarah Der for this sneak peak photo.

Invitations and Instagram

Paper has been cut, ribbons have been trimmed, things have been printed, stickers have been stuck, and envelopes have been sealed. Names have been checked off lists.  Stamps have been stamped.  The invitations are heading out the door!  Get ready!

We have two technology topics to discuss, so get your pointy hats on.  First is RSVPs.  We will be doing it all online through this website.  Once you have your invitation, look inside for directions to let us know you are coming.

Second is Instagram! What is Instagram, you ask? It is a great, simple way to take pictures with your smart phone and share them with your friends.  Our wedding buddies, Terry and Ashleigh, pioneered the use of everyone’s smartphones to take pictures of everything related to their wedding, not just pictures of their guests, but pictures by their guests.  This is the modern equivalent of having disposable cameras on every table. You can read their post on the topic: YOU be the Photographer at our Wedding! (They had over 200 pictures taken by their guests during their wedding. Cool!)

But why wait until the wedding starts to get started?  You can do it now! Follow these simple steps when you get your invitation:

  1. If you use Instagram now, great!  If not, you can download it for your iPhone or Android phone.  It is simple.
  2. Create yourself an account!
  3. Take a picture of you and your invitation in a creative way!
  4. Post it to Instagram using the hashtag #bbwed (this just means include the text “#bbwed” in the title of your picture)
  5. Your picture will automatically be included on our Wedding Facebook Page: JEB & TLB – Our Geek Wedding
  6. Take more pictures!

As we get closer to the wedding, we want you to take more pictures.  They could be your preparations and journey to the wedding, behind the scenes pictures, and of course, many pictures from the wedding itself.  Our Facebook page will become a live-stream of the whole event.

T-86 days!

Engagement Photos

We gave our photographer, Sarah Der, a big challenge; neither Tiffany nor I like having our picture taken.  “Not like” may be an understatement. Part of our motivation as photographers is that we get to be behind the camera and not in front of it.  I have many shots on my “b rolls” that are of Tiffany either hiding behind objects (including her camera) or making unhappy faces at me.  I am quite confident she has the same of me.  So the idea of going outside in public for several hours and having nothing but our pictures taken has daunting.  But Sarah came through and did a great job!  Which supports my theory that it is the photographer, not the couple, that makes the difference in photography; not that we aren’t cute! wait. damn.

Tiffany was largely in charge of defining our outfits, but she got help from our friends Ashleigh and Jess.  While I was doing other things upstairs, I could hear much giggling downstairs.  Makeup was involved as well.  I made sure that I had pants, so I was all set.

We met up with Sarah at the Wren Building on the William and Mary campus.  We wanted to have pictures both on campus as William and Mary has a special significance to both of us, but also in Colonial Williamsburg as there are many pretty vistas.  For anyone who has not had the experience of having portraits taken of you, it is a very odd experience.  Being directed to stand this way, put your hand here, lean your head this way, no wait, that way can feel a bit strange.  But Sarah did a great job of keeping us at ease. I stink at smiling on command, so Sarah had to crack jokes and Tiffany tickled me.  I was much abused, but between that and being instructed not to smirk, I think we got some good pictures.

We wandered through campus and then after a quick wardrobe change went into Colonial Williamsburg for the final shots.  There is a very cute garden that is hidden behind one of the buildings on DoG street that few people know about.  We had it to ourselves and it worked well.  We didn’t want to have the pictures be obviously “colonial” but there are some of the iconic buildings in the background.  After finishing up, I was exhausted. Who knew walking around could take so much energy out of a person?

This past week Sarah sent us the cutest package!  She included a very sweet note, some prints of her favorite pictures, and most importantly a DVD with all of our images.  One of the reasons that we chose Sarah is that she would provide all of the digital copies for our personal use.

For those of you who would like prints, please buy them through Sarah’s website and support her, she is awesome!  (There is a password, but it should be easy to figure out if you know us).

Click the “Read More” link below to see the gallery!

Read more

BREAKING NEWS: Cupcakes, Extraordinary?

WILLIAMSBURG – In a stunning departure from the Bride’s well publicized position on dessert choices (Wedding…Pie?), Ms. Broadbent has reversed her standing on wedding cupcakes raising questions on how her dessert policy will be implemented when married with whispers that she may be a “flip-flopper.”

Ms. Broadbent has been quoted in the past saying “I’ve seen wedding cupcakes, but they’re really just cake,” leading many to believe that she had dismissed them as a choice.  But in breaking news, we have confirmed that the Broadbent/Beker wedding dessert will in fact be cupcakes!

This is quite a disturbing change and could cause trouble with her guests. NPR’s science correspondent, Jon Hamilton, has reported that “The brain, at a very basic level, really doesn’t particularly like inconsistency.” We must wonder what motivated this change in position? Could it be that she was advised badly in the past, was overcome by overly sugary icing, or is there more to the story?

We spoke with the groom to get his opinion on the matter. Mr. Beker appeared not to be bothered by this stunning change of position. “I know that Tiffany has been a big fan of pie, as am I, but I have always liked cupcakes too, so it’s cool with me if she explores other dessert options.” When pressed further on what this might mean for their marriage he declined to comment.

Our correspondents have recently learned that Ms. Broadbent has been spending time at a so-called “cupcakery” that has located itself in Williamsburg, Extraordinary Cupcakes. There has even been evidence that she has been tasting some of the many flavors available, including Surprising Raspberry Lemon, Uncommon Carrot Cake, and even something called “The Extraordinary”. Our investigators have found that one of the co-owners of Extraordinary Cupcakes, a Mr. Adam Steely, is a known associate of Ms. Broadbent. Mr. Steely is rumored to have provided connections to Ms. Broadbent at various drinking establishments in California.

Polls indicate that there is an increasing interest among the population for cupcakes among the important 25-35 demographic. Martha Stewart, convicted felon and cooking empire ringleader, has even published a book claiming that cupcakes are “perfect for every occasion.”

Sources close to Ms. Broadbent have been unable to provide the exact reasoning behind this change in philosophy, but we are assured that Ms. Broadbent is keeping the culinary best interest of her constituents in mind during this critical matter and fully intends to provide the best possible dessert for her reception.

We have chosen…wisely

Just wanted to put up a quick post with a few links to some other weddings that have been held at Pippin Hill. All of the photos are gorgeous and the winery really looks stunning, I definitely think we made the right choice of venue.  (although seeing these photos makes me realize I have a lot of stuff I still need to do! eek!)

P.S. Anyone know which movie this blog post title is referencing? anyone?

 

Hey Mr. DJ

So one more task has been checked off of our wedding “to-do” list! Courtesy of a recommendation from our “wedding buddies” Terry and Ashleigh, corroboration via top rankings in Washingtonian’s Bride & Groom magazine, Wedding Wire, and many other sites, and a good website and social media presence (the owner even guest blogged for Terry and Ashleigh’s wedding blog) we decided to ask MyDeejay provide the tunes and emcee the big day.

Our DJ will be Mike Bell, whom we got to chat with on the phone for a bit a few weeks ago, he’s really excited about this and so are we!

MyDeejay has a great website with an online “music picker” to help Jeremy and I collaborate with Mike on what music we want (and don’t want) at the wedding. (Jeremy’s already said the Chicken Dance is right out, sorry everyone.)

What songs should we definitely make sure are on “the list” at the wedding ? Which ones do you think we should avoid?

Leave a comment on this post and let us know!

Virtual bridesmaids dress shopping

So for once, a targeted Facebook ad was actually useful. A few months ago I saw an ad for Weddington Way‘s “Simple and Social Bridesmaids Dress Shopping” and, as they chose a nice photo for the ad and mentioned bridesmaid’s dresses which I had recently started pondering, I clicked on it.

Turns out Weddington Way is a really great, useful, and simple site. The idea is this: the bride browses through hundreds of dresses (which you can filter by style, fabric, color or designer) and picks her favorites. These favorites are then emailed to each bridesmaid and they choose their top five that they’d like to wear. In my case, I wanted each bridesmaid to have a different dress, just in a matching fabric and color; and luckily Meghan, Amy and Arielle each picked a different dress for their first choice that all work great together (all are also reasonably priced). Next, I ordered a swatch of the fabric so I could see in person exactly what color the fabric it was (you never know how different it will be compared to what you see online). The swatch arrived in the mail this week and is a beautiful deep turquoise that I think will go great with the fall color scheme (being planned out on my wedding Pinterest board, this is also where you can see the three bridesmaid dress styles that were chosen). What really set things apart though was that the envelope the fabric swatch arrived in was really nice iridescent paper, was hand addressed, and the note inside had a hand written greeting along with the printed card, a very nice personal touch that really made it feel that I was dealing not with some far-distant internet company, but a little local shop (that happens to be based in California).

I also received a personalized email from Carmella, a Weddington Way stylist, asking if I had any questions and outlining what she could help with (sizing, timely orders, making sure the order goes in to the designer in one batch so all the dresses are cut from the same fabric and dye lot). So now my next step is getting the orders in! This site made selecting bridesmaids dresses incredibly easy and saved a lot of travel and trips around to countless bridal and dress stores trying to find something that would suit all of my bridesmaids, plus, yay for social media and “new” ways of doing traditional things.

Wedding…pie?

So as many folks may know, when I have my choice of desserts, pie is by far at the top of my (and Jeremy’s) list. Fruit pies, chocolate pies, mousse pies, you name it. I’m ok with cake and will have it on occasion (especially when said cakes are made by a baker friend of mine) but the only kinds of cake I really like are pound cake, angel food cake (is that even considered a cake?) and my mom’s carrot cake. Maybe it’s the (typically super sugary) icing that gets me, or the texture of the cake itself, but when thinking about what dessert to have for the wedding reception, I’m looking for an alternative to the traditional wedding cake.

I’ve seen wedding cupcakes, but they’re really just cake too. There’s the Krispy Kreme doughnut “cakes,” and I am always a fan of Krispy Kremes (especially ones hot and fresh from the conveyor belt, yum!), but I’m hoping to find something a little bit more refined. So I am on the quest to find a suitable wedding pie (or pie-like) dessert. The best contender so far is a french dessert known as a “Charlotte” but that is more of a tart than a pie (although I’m certainly not opposed to that) involving berries, custard and ladyfingers. Or there’s always a dessert buffet