A well-planned wedding is a visual experience. When done right, everyone there takes away a set of personal, powerful images, full of life and color and style, that will stay with them forever - vivid memories of the most important ceremony of your life.

But a success like that doesn't happen by chance.

As you begin your wedding planning, an online photography service can be a smart and valuable resource. It will help you plan and share your wedding memories from start to finish, and when the ceremony is over, you'll be able to share your wedding day with others, even those who couldn't be there in person, through pictures.

These days you don't need to be a tech-savvy computer geek to benefit from this kind of online resource. And best of all, it costs little or nothing.

Planning through Pictures

Gwyn Weisberg, a newlywed as of September 2000, took advantage of Club Photo, www.clubphoto.com, to help her plan the wedding by sharing pictures.

"My mom lives in Texas, far from my home in California, but despite the miles between us, she was able to share in all the planning and decision-making for the wedding," says Gwyn. "My wedding day was one of the most significant moments in her lifetime and she was able to be a part of bringing it all together."

Gwyn's mom even helped pick out her wedding dress, and got a sneak peek at the bridesmaid dresses as well - all from a thousand miles away.

By logging on to Gwyn's private Web album as her invited guests, the florist, the baker, and the caterer were all able to view pictures of the location of the wedding and the reception to get an idea of the layout for their preparations.

Gwyn was able to use her digital camera, a disposable camera, her standard 35mm camera and an APS camera - whatever she had on hand at the time - and show the pictures to whoever she invited to view them, wherever they might be physically, all of it over the Web. With a digital camera, Gwyn could upload her images instantly into her Web album using Club Photo's free Living Album software. She was also able to send in her disposable camera, 35mm or APS film to the same online photography service, Club Photo, and for $1 Club Photo developed and uploaded the pictures to her personal Web album. She could then view the images, remove any pictures she didn't like, and send viewing invitations to whoever wanted to see the pictures ahead of time.

Sharing Your Wedding Day

After the planning, comes the big day. The wedding ceremony and reception, when friends and family gather in celebration, are the stuff that great photo opportunities are made of. But when it's over, unfortunately, most of your guests won't get to enjoy after-the-wedding photo memories. An online photography service solves this problem too. Just invite your guests to view your special online Web album and they'll recapture your special day in the most personal way possible - through vivid photographs. Friends and family can also order prints of the special photos that hold personal meaning to them, right from the photo site.

One great idea that many wedding planners are now using is to provide disposable cameras at the reception tables so guests can snap their own candid pictures. With an online photography service, after the wedding the bride and groom or the wedding planner sends off the disposable cameras to the online photography service, which develops and uploads the pictures to a viewing Web album. Everyone you invite can easily share photos of your special day and order prints, either from the online photo service or from the wedding planner or professional photographer who supplied the disposables. It adds to the fun for everyone!

Just for Fun

There are other ways to use an online photo service to enhance the fun of your special day. Some services offer gifts that can have your images on them, such as mugs, t-shirts, cookies and mousepads. Looking for unique table gift ideas? A memento with an image of the happy couple and a caption - the wedding date, perhaps - might be just the thing.

Your Professional Photographs

Ask your professional photographer if he or she uses an online event photography service. An online album by an event photography service is a great resource for both your professional photographer and you. You benefit because your event photographer can help you share your professional-quality photographs with friends, family and guests, as proofs. They can help you pick out the best ones to order for your personal home album, which ones to leave available online for others to view and which ones you'd just as soon had never seen the light of day (there are always a few where you or Aunt Zelda blinked while talking). Your professional photographer benefits because more people can see the proofs and order prints. Wide access to proofs is a new, purely online phenomenon, by the way. Until online event photo services, guests rarely got to see professional picture proofs of a wedding, nor were they given the opportunity to order copies of favorite photos. Online albums are perfect for that kind of viewing. Your guests can order professional prints online directly from the photographer and the photographer wins new business, so everybody's happy.

If your professional photographer currently does not use an online event photography service, request that he or she take a look at various services and try one out. I started working with Club Photo because it is currently the only Web site to offer free amateur photography services as well as economical online proofing and e-commerce for professional photographers. But there are some fairly good alternatives, too.

Here are a few you can suggest to your photographer as candidates: Club Photo (www.event.clubphoto.com), PlanitPhotos.com (www.planitphotos.com), and Proshots (www.proshots.com). Your photographer will thank you once they realize you've given them an easy way to increase sales, gain broader exposure to potential customers and keep their shop always open for business.

Best of all - you get to share the best of your photos with your friends, distant family members, or the whole world if you want to. It's your wedding. Share the joy!

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This article was written and copyrighted by Elizabeth Ramsey Master of Photography and Photography Craftsman for Club Photo, Inc.

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