This is one of the most common questions when it comes to wedding etiquette and gift giving tradition. If you are asking yourself if this is a strict rule of wedding etiquette and if it can be applied with different degrees of strictness, than this article will help you find the answer.

Keep in mind: You get an A+ for sending regrets ASAP. It’s amazing how many invited guests do not respond to save the date cards which they get from the happy couple.

The family member (or a close friend) has cited the standard guideline for gift giving – If invited to a wedding ceremony & reception party, a gift is sent regardless of whether or not the invited guest comes. This may sound a bit silly, but it’s actually a common practice. So, yes, that is the black & white answer. In a best case scenario, those invited to a ceremony are close enough to bride and groom or their families which they wish to give a present regardless of whether they will come or they will stay at home watching movies.

The situation you found yourself in presents the logical exception to the rule. If someone isn’t close to the happy couple (or their close families) they can skip the gift giving tradition if declining wedding invitations. This is usually the case when the bride and groom get overly excited and invite to the ceremony basically anyone who was ever important to one of them – a good pal from college who has not been seen since, however swore a pinky oath to be there on the wedding (as silly as it may sound now). From your college days’ perspective, you have played (probably) the most important as well as a very influential role in their student days, and they might want to honor that ‘allegiance.’ For the bride and groom, college roommates are turning what was a pro relationship into a social one, and you should consider the good old saying that says: “Don’t mix it – it gives you a hangover!”

I believe you have come up with the very best decision. Your personal note to both bride and groom is actually a present in itself and one which perfectly shows the caring and important role you have played in a college days. I am quite sure a roommate will love your note as much as an expensive present.

Tags: wedding gifts

While head and shoulders portrait photographs make up a majority of photos people get, most professionals look at this type of photography as the pictures which have to be done for the sake of business, the year book or dear family members, before they can get to way more fun and artistic poses. As clients continue to worry more about their body weight and how it affects their overall appearance it is important that pros master head and shoulder portrait photography. Let’s face it – shouldn’t they be the most skilled of what puts the most cash in their pockets?

The majority of portrait photography taken with a standard lighting setup, which has a large halo or soft box as the main light and a secondary light reflector on the floor or underneath the subject. This is the way pros from Sears Portrait Studio take photos. With a main light metering 1.5 stops more than a secondary light.

For fill experts always use a reflector. Most use reflector fill since it shows them the exact lighting effect they are going to get with each subject, which varies drastically depending on the skin tone.

In the studio pros use a shutter speed of a 1/15 sec, even though they are using an electronic flash. They use lights from just about each and every manufacturer. However, most of them are Alien Bees. They are pretty well made lights and they are reasonably priced. Pros make sure, because they have different shooting areas, that a main light and a secondary light are the same brand and the same power output of light in the upper and the lower light, and also the same age of flash to make sure the colors are the same as they go from one shooting area to another.

When pros pose a subject for a head and shoulder portrait photo, they always pose an entire body. This way they can quickly go from head and shoulder to ¾ to full length pose.

The elevation of the digital cam selected to achieve the wanted results. While most pictures are taken at a standard cam height in every session I end up standing on a ladder or lying on the floor at least a few times to change the normal perspective. Okay, not all photographers do this, but professionals from Sears Photography Studio are quite experienced at this.

Each client is unique and has different expectations of the portraits a photographer snaps. A single client can have many requests. While a teenage girl might need photos taken in more traditional clothing for a publication yearbook or business card, she might also want to wear more casual clothing to give to her grandma and grandpa and wear glamorous clothing to give her boyfriend or spouse. The one and only way to find this out is to train the employees to get the client’s ideas on the telephone or in a private conversation.

Tags: head and shoulders portraiture