Written by Vitaliy Prokopets on March 31, 2016 | Chime in

Top 10 Romantic Comedies for
Date Night
(Dude Approved)

I moved to Chicago from Ukraine when I was 17. As someone who didn’t grow up in the United States, I was fascinated with the variety of films that one had access to all the time. In fact, just recently I told Candace that there were 3 government channels that we could choose from on Television during the Soviet era. And since my family were not moviegoers, I didn’t get introduced to the variety of cinema until we purchased a VCR, which was in the late 1990’s. So to say that I was a FOB when I met Candace would be an understatement.

When Candace and I first started dating, romantic comedies were the obvious choice for a movie night. This is how I got introduced to Legally Blonde, Dirty Dancing and Grease. I mean, why not? She really enjoyed them and I could care less what we were going to watch, as long as we got to spend time together. It wasn’t until we got married that Candace uncovered a scary truth – Vitaliy was not a big fan of romantic comedies. Now to the dudes who are reading this, it does not come as a surprise. For most guys, romantic comedies probably would not be their first choice. That is unless they are in love! Which is what happened to me. Once I came clean, there was a crisis we needed to address. What films would make the cut for our movie nights?

For a while I would just say no to Candace whenever she proposed to watch another rom-com. We would meet each other half way on a particular movie choice but in the end one of us ended up being dissatisfied. After a while it just didn’t seem like this approach worked. So we decided that perhaps a balanced “movie genre diet” would be a healthier option. And it proved to be the right approach for us. What I have learned is that there are amazing romantic comedies out there and Candace started to appreciate and enjoy movies of different genres. In the end we both benefited from being flexible and open minded.

Over the last 10+ years I’ve watched my share of really bad and truly great romantic comedies. I believe the movies I compiled here are going to be enjoyed not only by ladies but also dudes. Here is the list of my Top 10 Romantic Comedies for Date Night (Dude Approved), starting with my all time favorites:

1. When Harry Met Sally (1989)
By far my all time favorite romantic comedy. The writing is superb, the characters are refreshing and the music (by Harry Connick, Jr.) is the perfect accompaniment. It is full of wit and iconic moments. My first viewing was in college and I have watched it at least once a year with Candace for the past 10 years. Extremely quotable and never gets old.

2. It Happened One Night (1934)
One of the first romantic comedies. Hilarious, warm and original, this film does what most modern films fail to do – keeps you engaged and entertained throughout its entirety. I love it’s wit, pace and writing. Don’t be fooled by the release date. This movie does not feel dated one bit.

3. Amélie (2001)
This is perhaps my favorite French comedy. It combines great storytelling with charming characters and an unlikely love story. I love its cinematic style, vulnerability of characters and a sense of wonder about little things in life. If you tend to skip movies because of subtitles, please give this one a try. I think you will be pleasantly surprised!

4. Love Actually (2003)
Candace and I watch this one every Christmas. Yes, it’s light and fluffy on the content, but the music and the magic of the Holiday Season make it work. The soundtrack and a wonderful cast make this one a guilty pleasure every year.

Top 10 Romantic Comedies for Date Night (Dude Approved)

5. High Fidelity (2000)
This film offers a glimpse into the mind of men. It combines good writing with great music and jacked up romance. Not a stereotypical rom-com, this one is at the top of my list for its cleverness, humor and insight into the lives of music nerds (of which I am one).

6. Pretty Woman (1990)
Yes, I love this movie! A modern take on Cinderella story, it offers great chemistry between Julia Roberts and Richard Gere which makes this one a favorite of mine.

7. Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
Not your run of the mill romantic comedy. I enjoy this one because it focuses on real people who find themselves in real situations that are not always pretty. Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence make this one a no-brainer choice for me.

8. The Princess Bride (1987)
A classic enchanting fantasy that is full of memorable one-liners, sword fighting scenes, laughs and romance. Director Rob Reiner (When Harry Met Sally) combines all of the above in a film that can be enjoyed by people of all ages.

9. You’ve Got Mail (1998)
This movie perfectly captures the 1990’s – America Online, Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. What really makes this move for me is the writing (Nora Ephron of When Harry Met Sally). Highly recommended, specially if you have a soft spot for books.

10. Serendipity (2001)
Another pick that happens to take place around Christmas time. Just like When Harry Met Sally and You’ve Got Mail, this movie is set against the backdrop of New York City. And how can you argue with the fact that New York is perhaps the most romantic city in the world? Yes, this one is a bit on the cheesy side, but I love the soundtrack and the cozy feeling that this film offers.

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Written by Candace on March 29, 2016 | Chime in

How To Create The Perfect Wedding Day Timeline – Pt 1

I recently wrote an article and gave you 10 ways to relieve stress on your wedding day. In it, I shard the importance of planning a realistic timeline, but I realized most brides and grooms don’t really have the experience necessary to do this, so today I thought I’d help anyone who might be in the process of planning their wedding day and needing a bit of guidance. It can be daunting!

When Vitaliy and I first started photographing weddings more than 7 years ago, we used the timeline our clients provided and simply trusted their plan.

There were even weddings when a client provided no timeline at all and we walked blindly into the wedding day. We often found ourselves falling behind in the schedule and feeling really stressed out. We did our absolute best and delivered great photos to our clients, but we quickly realized this was not how we wanted to operate. We were on the road to burnout and decided to take a proactive approach to the wedding day. The first thing I did was start timing how long different portions of the wedding day typically took. My calculations never matched the timelines our clients provided. If we wanted to give our clients the best wedding day experience while also keeping our stress levels low, we needed to be a part of the planning process.

The truth is, if our clients don’t have a wedding planner, they have no idea how to create a wedding day timeline. We now use our experiences from collectively photographing over 150 weddings to help guide our clients in the planning process. This helps ensure we’re all on the same page when the wedding day arrives. It helps manage expectations and stress levels. And it ensures the wedding day runs smoothly and efficiently. This was a game changer for us! We’re now able to give our clients the kind of wedding day experience we have always envisioned and that’s only possible by planning a realistic timeline.

That’s the key! In order to create the perfect wedding day timeline, you have to build a timeline that is realistic. When I started helping our clients plan their timelines, I found there were portions of the day unaccounted for and there were also portions that were drastically miscalculated. Let me share the most common ones in hope of helping you plan the perfect timeline for your wedding. Because believe me, the last thing you want on your wedding day is to get behind schedule. It always results in unnecessary stress. There can definitely be mishaps that happen on a wedding day, but there are a lot of things that can be avoided completely, with the proper planning. Here we go!

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR CREATING
THE PERFECT WEDDING DAY TIMELINE

Detail shots (30 min – 1 hr) Thanks to Pinterest and social media, every bride dreams of having magazine worthy photographs of her dress, shoes, flowers, etc. Your photographer is happy to oblige! But you need to factor those pictures into your timeline if they are a high priority. If we are extremely tight on time, we can make them happen in 30 minutes. But we usually like to allow 1 hour for these which we take simultaneously with the getting ready photos.
Bride putting on her wedding dress (30 min) I now give this it’s own time slot in the timeline because it was often an area that was putting us behind schedule. A bride often thinks this will take 10 minutes. How long could slipping on a wedding dress take? But it’s not just slipping on the dress. It’s the culmination of everything. This is the moment! You are putting on your wedding dress! The one you bought more than 6 months ago. The Cinderella moment you’ve been dreaming of. Don’t rush this! The reality is, you won’t rush it so make sure your timeline reflects the not rushing it. You’ll need to go to the bathroom, put on your jewelry, probably a veil, your shoes, and do one final take in the mirror which usually ends up with a few touch-ups from your make-up artist. Again, factor in a minimum of 30 minutes and even 45 minutes if you’re a diva or very sentimental.
Bridemaids behind schedule (be selective) This is a little hidden tip. I don’t factor this into my timeline, but I thought it was worth sharing. I cannot tell you how many times a bride has been late because one of her bridesmaids ran late. I’m being serious! A bride usually wants her bridesmaids surrounding her and helping her in this special moment. It always looks better if the bridesmaids are already dressed when helping the bride get dressed. My highest recommendation would be to surround yourself with thoughtful friends who have your best interest in mind on your wedding day and I’ll leave it at that!
Travel time (depends) Always, always factor in travel time to and from locations and put it as a time slot in your timeline. And if a location has a far walk to the car, then be sure to factor that in as well. Use google.maps ahead of time to get an estimated travel time and then factor in your location, day and time to account for possible traffic. Adding a 10 – 15 min wiggle room is always a good thing, regardless.
Bride getting tucked away (30 min) Regardless of your plans on doing a First Look, no bride wants to be seen by guests before the ceremony. I had one bride that was so adamant about not being seen, she wanted to be tucked away 1 hour before the ceremony. This obviously causes you to lose valuable photo time, but its your wedding day. As long as you discuss things with your photographer ahead of time, together you can map out other parts of the day to make up for the time and ensure you get the important photos. Depending on your location, you might be able to take photos in an area hidden from arriving guests. Typically, guests start arriving about 30 minutes before the ceremony, but there can be a few that come as early as 45 min – 1 hour before the ceremony.
Celebration after the recessional (15 min) My favorite moment of the day is watching the bride and groom walk back down the aisle as husband and wife. The joy on their faces is unforgettable! That is still the most vivid memory I have of my own wedding day. The last thing I want to do is pull the bride and groom away from this moment of celebration to go take photos. This is another reason why I always suggest a First Look and getting the majority of your photos done before the ceremony. Because in my experience, taking photos is the last thing couples want to do after their ceremony. In order to help our clients fully enjoy this moment while also staying on schedule, I simply factor this celebratory time into the timeline. I’d allow 15 – 20 minutes.
Bridal party/family photos (30 min each) There are so many factors that go into wedding party and family photos that a bride and groom could never imagine ahead of time. Family members getting stuck in traffic and arriving late. Groomsmen drinking early and becoming difficult to motivate for photos. Gathering 10 bridesmaids and 10 groomsmen, posing them, and making it enjoyable enough that they’re not grimacing in the photos. Divorced families that need to be positioned in such a way that two people aren’t standing side by side to prevent a possible argument from erupting. Yes, these are all true stories and they only begin to paint a picture. We do a ton of planning in this area before a wedding day. But suffice it to say, if you have 5 or more bridesmaids/groomsmen, then I’d recommend allowing 30 min for wedding party photos. And if you’re family is medium to large, allow 30 minutes for those photos as well.
Bride and Groom photos (30 min) I honestly once received a timeline with no time slot for bride and groom photos. When I mentioned needing to add it in there, the bride and groom were so thankful! They said they didn’t even think about it. Let me tell you, this can be a very special time on your wedding day. It’s the only time the entire day that it will be just the two of you together. Factor it in and soak each other up. I typically allow 10 min for a First Look and 20 min for photos. And I always, always try to convince my clients to let everything go. No planning or worrying about this or that, focus on each other and take note of this monumental moment in time.
Bustling your dress and freshening up before the reception (15 min) By the time the reception rolls around, you will likely need a breather. You’ll want to step away, freshen up, and bustle your dress. Be sure to factor this into your timeline or you’ll end up leaving your guests waiting uncomfortably long.
A safety cushion (10 min) Don’t be afraid to put a safety cushion on this or that. If you’re worried about something or if there’s a portion of the day that means a lot to you, feel free to tack on 10 extra minutes. If you end up not needing the time, you’ll be so thankful to be ahead of the game and so much more at ease.
Visiting tables during the reception (30 – 45 min) This is another bonus tip! Occasionally, we get requests to photograph the bride and groom visiting tables. This can end up taking up to 45 minutes of your reception. It’s understandable, you’re visiting with friends and family who love you dearly and many who likely haven’t seen you in years. One wedding we photographed a few years back, the couple really wanted to say hello to everyone and get a photo with each table, but they realized they didn’t want to invest such a large portion of their party to table visits. So, they decided to make it fun for everyone. They worked with the DJ to make the announcement that the couple was going to visit each table in the course of one song. He suggested each table get up and decide where and how they wanted to take the photo with the couple so they were all ready when the bride and groom arrived to their table. Then it was off to the races! The bride and groom ran from table to table and the room was filled with laughter. It was a lot of fun to photograph and a great way to start the party. Side note: be sure your dress is bustled so you can easily move around and not get it stepped on.

Most people spend 6 months to a year planning their wedding and it’s over in the blink of an eye. One of my main goals in helping our clients draft their timeline is to help slow down the day as much as I possibly can. You don’t want to rush through one of the most important days of your life. Keep that in mind as you draft your timeline. I hope these suggestions help you revise your draft timeline and make it more realistic. But if you are feeling like you have no idea where to even begin, I’ll soon be sharing the process I take our clients through in order to draft their wedding day timeline so be sure to come back.

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Written by Candace on March 25, 2016 | 4 Comments

The Weekender
Good Friday Edition

Sunrise - Christ is Risen!

Today is Good Friday which is a big day in our household so I decided to write a Good Friday version of The Weekender to commemorate this very special day.

Every year on Good Friday our church does a service where 7 different people share their testimony inspired by the last 7 words Jesus shared on the cross. It is by far my favorite church service of the year. I thought I would do a post loosely inspired by this. Mine will not be full stories, but little snippets of how these words would speak to me today based on what God has been showing me lately in my life.

1. “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” An innocent man on a cross, with criminals on either side of him. He has been denied and deserted by those closest to Him. And then there’s us, He’s on the cross because of me too. And in the midst of His most extreme physical suffering, He lives out love and forgiveness. Until the very end, until His last breath. But most days, I live out judgement. That’s what I’ve been learning lately. And while His words are filled with love, mine can often be filled with offense. That has been my prayer these last few days. That my words would be marked by love, not judgement.

2. “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” If I am being honest, I often fear death. My own or those very near and dear to me. And now that I’m a mother, it’s even stronger. But this verse disarms the power of my fear. Today, if I were to die, I would be with my Creator in Paradise. Jesus’ death and resurrection gives me that hope and assurance. Without Him, I could be crippled by this fear. But God has been reminding me, there is nothing in this life I need but Him.

3. “Jesus said to his mother: “Woman, this is your son.” Then he said to the disciple: “This is your mother.” Reading these words as a mother now is so different. I can now see a glimpse of the agony Mary must have felt watching her son be mocked, betrayed and suffer in such severe ways. But she knew. This was God’s plan. It didn’t make it easier or less painful for her. As much as I want to protect Rose and craft the perfect plan for her life, I can’t. God is sovereign. His ways or not my ways. He has the perfect plan for her life. I know there are days ahead that I am going to hurt seeing my baby hurt. There are days now that I do, in small ways. But I try to keep reminding myself that she is in good hands because she is in His hands. My hands will fail her, but His never will.

4. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” I uttered these words once. I can recall the moment I opened the door to doubt and it took a foothold in my heart. I sat on Vitaliy’s lap in the hallway of a hospital in Ukraine. We had already lost Vitaliy’s parents and little brother and his two sisters were in critical condition in the hospital. And one of them, his sister Tanya, looked as if she was going to lose the battle. I saw nothing good around us and I began to doubt His faithfulness. That little seed of doubt grew in my heart for 7 years. But God never let go of me. He never turned His back on me even when I thought the worst of Him. Until one day, He finally broke through my hard heart and reminded me of who He is and who I am. And He did it with so much love and grace. I was wrong about Him, all those years. His faithfulness never ended, nor did His love. And nothing demonstrates that better than this moment in Jesus’ life. When He died in my place. What love is that! While I wanted to reject this portion of God’s story for my life, Jesus walked faithfully through His story on the cross.

5. “I thirst.” Jesus was fully God, but He was fully human too. This word speaks to His humanity. I have never felt more human, more incapable and physically weak since becoming a mother. My body fails me every day. I haven’t slept 8 hours straight in more than a year. My baby is just not one who sleeps through the night. I have agonized over this. Cried over this. And prayed over this more than most things. It broke me. And I am so thankful it did. Because at my breaking point, came surrender. As I realized my weakness, I was reminded of His strength. In me, and around me, and in spite of me. All I need is Him. For my thirst, for my strength, for my salvation, for everything!

6. “It is finished.” These are the craziest words of all. Crazy! It is finished – He accomplished what He came to do. The cross didn’t just happen to Him. He chose it! He willed it! He was in control. He came to do this very thing and He did it. His job is now done, He says. This is the best news of today. I’m convinced this has to be the reason why it’s called Good Friday. Because what can be good about a man dying on a cross? It seems so dark and horrid. But it’s so good for you and me! Because He took our place. My sin should result in death and eternal separation from my heavenly Father, but…BUT JESUS. He took on my penalty and sentencing and His death let me go free.

7. “Father, into your hands I commend my Spirit.” I was a Christian during those 7 years of doubt I mentioned earlier. The journey of a Christian doesn’t mean perfection. And it’s definitely not all fairytale, like I originally thought. And if I’m being totally honest, most days I feel like I would prefer staying here on earth than going to heaven to be with Him. There are a lot of things I like down here! But that’s not my hope and prayer. In reality, I know I’m missing out. As I read God’s word and His promises, I can see that I’m missing out on so many blessings that He’s already given to me. Like I’m sitting on a treasure chest of blessings, been given the key, and yet, I choose most days not to open it. Paul said, to live is Christ and to die is gain. To die is gain! The more I get to know Him, the more I start to believe those words, the more I long to be with Him.

I am praying for you and for me, that we would accept and enjoy this amazing gift only found in Jesus. I hope you all have a wonderful and special Easter weekend.

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