Some posts are even from 2009 and 2010, but still get the most traffic.  Crazy!   The number one blog posts received 82% of our total traffic this year, that is just insane!   Check it out,  www.facebook.com/markericweddings

We love wedding guests.  We love to photograph them.  We love to dance with them.  We love to cut up and have a great time with them.  Through the years, we have learned that there are a few questions that weddings guests are usually going to ask:  Such as:

• Did you get any good pictures?
• How many pictures have you taken?
• That looks like an expensive camera-  how many megapixels is it?
• Can you make me look thinner?
• What kind of camera is that?  (I’m a photographer too…)
• Why are you eating cake, shouldn’t you be working?   (wink wink)

We’ve also learned to expect a certain number of suggestions from weddings guests, although these suggestions differ from wedding to wedding.  Of course, if our clients want a particular pose-  we love to oblige.  However, the poses suggested by some wedding guests just aren’t anything that our clients are interested in.  Our normal response is “Sure, if the Bride wants us to shoot that, we’ll be happy to”.  However, this usually results in the guest approaching the bride to tell her how much she needs the shot.  ”We did it at our wedding, you’ll love it!” they say.

To help our clients avoid shameful outdated poses that just shouldn’t be in the modern wedding album,  we have decided to start retiring certain poses.  Like the 90 year old janitor from Junior High School,  these poses should have been retired years ago.  Now, it’s time.  We are retiring 5 poses below.  Say goodbye to them.  Now, when a guest suggests them, we can say with certainty that the pose has been officially retired.

5 poses that should have been retired years ago

1.  The OK hand signal, wink, holding marriage license shot.

It’s a marriage license, not a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich.  A sweet smile will be just fine.

2.  The jumping wedding party shot.

People don’t have to be suspended in air to create a timeless portrait.  Gravity is a great thing.  Usually, by the time everyone is able to synchronize their jump, they need a shower (or a leg brace).  Save the gravity defying moves for the dance floor.

3.  The criss cross arm in arm champagne toast

Yes, we know you did it at your wedding, and so did your parents, and their grandparents.  We love to keep tradition, but sometimes we just have to question why.  Certainly, if the couple wants to do this pose, we’ll be happy to shoot it, with a napkin handy for the spill about to ensue.

4.  The Groomsman holding the stretched out Bride.

She’s a lady, usually under 120 pounds.  There are five of you.  We’re impressed, really-  now put her down.  Now if you can do that with the wedding guest who suggested this pose, we’ll gladly shoot it.

5.  The Brides Dad showing his empty pockets

Ok, it’s was funny the first time.  But it’s like the joke that you hear at every party-   it’s just not funny anymore.  Instead of making Dad pose for one more shot, let him go before the band, venue, videographer, and photographer start charging overtime, in which case he can truly show his empty pockets.

Do you have any suggestions for poses that just need to be retired?   Please list them in the comments,  we’d love to hear from you!

We braved the icy roads and drove to Dallas on Thursday Night-  just in time to experience our first Blizzard.  We woke up Friday morning to more snow than we’ve seen in our lifetime (when you live in Louisiana, snow comes around as often as Haley’s Comet).  Of course, Heather was determined to shop- so we hired a crew of Clydesdale Horses to pull us to the Galleria.  (Actually, we drove on the snow and ice-  if only we had video to show  that experience!).   Saturday, we shopped some more as the ice finally began to melt.  As much as I hated to, I took a break from the shopping to go pick up our tickets at the stadium.

Sunday was game day-  and my first day away from the shopping centers!  We slept in, grabbed a late lunch at Houston’s Restaurant (I love their Prime Rib Sandwhich!), then headed to the game.  Fearing the traffic, I had purchased a set of shuttle tickets through the local transit authority.  The shuttle bus dropped us off in front of Ranger’s Ballpark, which is about a half mile from Cowboys Stadium.  We walked from there.  At this point, I still didn’t know who I was going to root for.  Heather had decided that she would root for the Packers since they have the CheeseHeads.  She loves Nacho’s, Nachos have Cheese, so it made perfect sense to her.  Part of me wanted to root for the Steelers simply because the Saints had beaten them earlier in the year-  then we could say that we beat the SuperBowl champs had they won.  But in the end, I stuck with the NFC and cheered on the Packers- mostly to annoy the Steelers fan beside me who kept waving his terrible towel in my face.

During the game, we received several tweets and  facebook messages asking us if the halftime show was as bad in person as it was on TV.  We thought the Black Eyed Peas, Slash, and Usher did an amazing job-  the show was very good in person!  We did watch the televised version yesterday when we came home, and I have to agree that TV didn’t do it justice. Of course,  we did catch Christina’s slip up of the National Anthem- wow!

All in All,  we had a great time!  Thanks to Fantapper and Drew Brees!

2. Save the candles for the birthday cakes.  (Candles around the cake are great!  Candles on the cake- not so great.)

3. Fire extinguishers are important, but put them next to the  drunk guests with sparklers (not behind the wedding cake).  Unless the cake has candles- in which case, refer to number 2 above.

4. Place the cake a few feet from the wall (before putting the cake on it) so that people can get behind it for the cake cutting.  Those people on the Food Network Challenges make it look easy,  but moving a 7-tier cake is no cake walk.

5. Heaters + Cakes = Fondue Fountain.

6. That private room to the side may look like  a great location-  perhaps the kids will hang around the cake instead of the D.J.’s equipment.

7. Silverware, Champagne, and Glasses should always be around the table before the cake cutting.  But if not,  it’s always fun to watch the planner, caterer, and venue try to pin the blame on each other.

8.  If your best man and maid of honor or giving toasts before the cake cutting-  make sure they know about it.  Also, make sure they give the toast, not Captain Morgan.

9.  Even if Aunt Jane or the venue tells you that you have to do the cross arm toast-  you really don’t.

10.  The cake cutting is the unofficial segue from reception to party.  Most elderly and families with kids wait until the cake before they leave.  If you don’t want to see Aunt Jane do the Stanky Leg-  serve the cake sooner, so she can catch the nightly news.

Little rebel!

1. Spray Tan Brush- for the brides and bridesmaids who love to go tan in a string bikini before donning their strapless dresses on wedding day.

2. Arm Pit prettyizer- for those unattractive pits that we sometimes capture. Nothing like smoothing out armpit wrinkles in photoshop while munching on a snack.

3. Muffin Top smoother – automated button for tucking in the loose skin that builds up around the top of a strapless dress, no matter how skinny the bride may be.

3. Over here – not over there button – ever notice how someone in the group shots is always looking away (we’re talking grown ups here- babies are excused). We need a button that automatically redirects everyone’s eyes to the camera.

4. The long awaited “can you make me look skinnier” button – every wedding, at least one person will ask us “can you make me look skinnier?” when we take their picture. Sure- we just need a button for that. Or we can start charging by the pound.

5. Bridal suite beautifier-  We’ve seen our sweet Brides put in every type of room imaginable. There is nothing like trying to capture gorgeous images in a 6 year old Sunday School classroom, filled with felt bulletin boards, puffy white clouds, and smiling suns. While one or two images can be fun- the images look so much better with less clutter in the background. Can we get a button for that?

6. Hungover groomsman fixer. enough said.

7. Uncle Bob equalizer. This button would allow us to use the interwebs to access the friends and relatives who follow us around during the wedding, taking pictures of the same things that we take pictures of. They are our shadow on wedding day. Using this function, we could add an “inspired by _________” watermark on all of their images. In pure love, of course.

Do you have suggestions? List them below. Maybe we can get Adobe’s attention- ya!

Black and Gold, click here to listen

For even more ear candy, check out a very extensive list of great Saint’s songs at www.Nola.com