bridal

Memorable Wedding

Set the Stage for a

at the Historic Detroit Opera House

Love Stories

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Online
wedding
site is a
treasure-trove
of videos.

-FUVTNBLFZPVSTQFDJBMEBZ

&'

t'VMMZ3FOPWBUFE'BDJMJUZ

t'VMM4FSWJDF'PPE"OE#FWFSBHF

t$POWFOJFOU"OE"NQMF1BSLJOH

t$PBU$IFDL

t5FDIOJDBM4FSWJDFT

t4VQQPSU4UBê

complete

8FPêFSBVOJRVFBOEESBNBUJD
atmosphere, delightful architectural
details and majestic settings… all at
TVSQSJTJOHMZBêPSEBCMFSBUFT
0VSGVMMTFSWJDF&WFOU1MBOOJOHTUBê
JTBWBJMBCMFUPTFSWFZPVUPBOTXFSBOZ
RVFTUJPOT BOEBTTJTUJOQSFQBSJOH
ZPVSTQFDJBMEBZ

For info and a personal tour, please call Shawn Taffinder at 313.965.4146
or e-mail staffinder@motopera.org

Detroit Opera House I 1526 Broadway – Detroit, Michigan 48226

2148230

72

January 26 • 2017

jn

TOP: Carly and
Jason at the Modern
Wing Art Institute in
Chicago.
BOTTOM: Sari and
Aaron at the Henry in
Dearborn.

R

achel Silver quickly decided against a profes-
sional video keepsake to capture her 2013
wedding in Charlevoix, but she recently found
a way to make up for that regretful choice.
Silver has started a website that showcases vid-
eos from thousands of other weddings and hopes
viewers will watch to either experience all kinds of
romantic celebrations or get ideas for upcoming
ceremonies and parties.
The videos, presented with indexes, lead the way
to more information about planning details, includ-
ing faith and interfaith approaches, venue and menu
decisions, and dress and tress styles.
By going to lovestoriestv.com, wedding fanciers
and brides-to-be can glimpse
these events from the comfort
of home. In the interest of priva-
cy, only the first names of brides
and grooms are used.
“The idea for showing wed-
ding videos came from seeing
videos of friends’ weddings and
my work experience as head
of social media at Birchbox,
a beauty retailer with a sub-
scription service,” says Silver,
33, who started the website
last October and soon will be
including advertising and spon-
sorship slots.
“I was blown away by what I
saw and realized other publish-
ers in the wedding space weren’t
doing anything with personal
videos,” she adds. “If people
wanted to watch wedding vid-
eos, they had to go to Facebook
pages, YouTube or Vimeo, which
didn’t have any details.
“Because social media mar-
keting is my expertise and data
science is the expertise of my
husband [ Justin Boelio, who
works for a book publisher], we
were able to get going very quickly. After setting
up a Facebook page and Instagram channels, we
received videos from couples, party planners and
videographers.”
Silver, who grew up in Huntington Woods, met
her husband in kindergarten at Burton Elementary
School. They became friends and dated on and off
throughout high school and college. After complet-
ing studies in international affairs at Michigan State
University and the American University in Paris, she
moved to New York to be near him.
“I am a romantic, and I love weddings,” says