Just Say Yay!

Someone is taking your picture and what do they tell you to say right before they squeeze the shutter? "Say cheese!" The thought is that by saying cheese your mouth will form something close to a smile. However, how many pictures do you have where someone is stuck in the "ch" part of that word? So, cheese is maybe not the right word to use. Aunt Jodi told me last year that instead you should say, "Yay!" Anton is going to wish this was buried for all eternity, but to get Anton to smile when he was a little boy, I just had to say, "boobs." I know that sounds crass, but he'd giggle every time. It would get to the point where all I'd have to say is, "What do we think about when we take pictures?" and he'd smile huge. You all may look at his grade school portraits a little differently now.

Since both of you couples will be having lots of pictures taken of you at these weddings and prior to, I thought it might be good to get some posing/smiling tips from the pros.

• I've heard this tip before, but not sure it is necessary for our folks. To avoid a double chin, put your tongue on the roof of your mouth as you smile.You can also tilt your chin up just a tiny bit and that helps, too.
• Avoid a head on shot which may not be flattering. Tilt down, up or to the side. Be careful of this, however, cause you don't want to look awkward.
• Hand on the hip - makes you look thinner, and we all want to look thinner. This is for girls only. Don't want to see Rob and Tone with their hands on their hips. By the way, make sure your elbow is pulled back and not sticking straight out. It's even more thinning and straightens your posture. Just don't gymnast pose it.
• Tilt your body slightly away from the camera. The angle will thin you. Stand straight. You can also put one foot forward pointed at the camera or cross your legs at the calf. Again this is thinning. What's really funny is googling celebrity photo poses and seeing one celebrity doing this same pose combined with the hand on hip over and over again. So it apparently works.
• If you want just a sweet smile, let your bottom lip rest at the bottom of your upper teeth. Don't smile too big or you can scrunch up your face and lose your eyes.
• Smize. If you are a Tyra Banks fan then you are familiar with the term. It means smiling with your eyes. Apparently your smile is more genuine when your eyes are smiling, too.
• In several places I read that you should practice your smile, make up, poses and hairstyle to make sure you are photographed for posterity the way you want to be remembered.

So there you go. Tips for the perfect wedding photos. So find something you can think about to make you smile huge (keep it classy) and don't say cheese.

Discussion: Have you ever practiced poses or smiles? What is something that gets you to smile every time?

Prayer: Father, you have made us beautiful in your sight. We pray for big smiles on these wedding days ahead and lovely photos to have in remembrance. In Jesus we pray, Amen.