Redmond-based MBC Video will be among vendors at “Your Hometown Wedding,” a free bridal fair from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, March 6 at the Redmond Senior Center, 8703 160th Ave. NE.

Over the course of 25 years, MBC Video owner/operator Michel B. Carter, an experienced TV newsman, has also documented more than 800 weddings. The very first was at St. Jude Catholic Church on Education Hill. He’s witnessed a lot of marriage vows, champagne toasts and first dances.

Wedding trends come and go — and in this day and age, some couples skip certain customs due to personal preferences or frugality, said Carter.

Still, Carter counsels brides and grooms to “treat the event like the Super Bowl. … The wedding is the first half. The reception is the second half.”

In other words, don’t underestimate the importance of one part or the other, or how much it might mean to you to relive those experiences years from now, he said.

Carter offers various wedding packages but said it’s wise to incorporate as many traditions as possible into the video that will sum up the big day and your precious moments with family and friends.

“Cover all of the event — pre-ceremony, the ceremony, the toast, cutting the cake, the first dance,” Carter urged.

If you’re going to cut corners, to save time and money, “the receiving line” is an old tradition that is rarely seen now, he noted. Plus, not everyone bothers with a bouquet toss or garter toss anymore. Some don’t do either; some do just one, said Carter.

But do focus on the most meaningful moments for yourself and future generations, he advised. Words such as vows and toasts, presumably, are said once and only once. Seeing certain loved ones on the dance floor might not happen again, he stated.

“Sometimes grandparents have the will to live to make it to a wedding. Some pass days or weeks after the wedding. I’ll deliver a video and people see it and say, ‘That’s the last time I’ll ever see them,’” Carter explained. “I try to get shots of all the family and relatives … even a 10-second shot is so valuable.”

He’s shot many weddings in Redmond, such as at the Clise Mansion in Marymoor Park and at Farrel-McWhirter Park, as well as at the Hollywood Schoolhouse in Woodinville, on boats on Lake Washington and at the Rose Garden at Woodland Park Zoo. There was even a wedding at Snoqualmie Pass, “where a Canadian and American couple trucked people up by snowmobile and skiied down with American and Candian flags,” Carter recalled.

And he’s worked with couples of all different faiths and nationalities.

“I ask ahead how it’s gonna go, about special ethnic traditions, to know to anticipate them,” Carter noted. And there is no right or wrong way to conduct a wedding or reception, he added.

“Your wedding day should be done your way,” Carter stated.

Sometimes family members or guests don’t get that, however. So how does a wedding videographer deal with shy guests who run from the camera, or those who are overly desperate for attention?

“I try to be as unobtrusive as possible, but know where to be at all given times,” said Carter. “I can capture people from 30-40 feet away, in a casual manner. … As for the uncle who is obnoxious and needs to be in everything, we can edit — keep the nicest things, smooth things over. It’s seldom that I have to do that because most people are on their best behavior at a wedding. But I try to keep everyone comfortable and work hard at getting to know who the family is, prior to the reception. … I try to get shots of all the little details that a lot of times, people miss. The day goes by so fast, but now you get to go back and relive it.”

For more information about MBC Video, visit www.mbcvideo.com.

More than 20 vendors of wedding products and services will be featured at “Your Hometown Wedding.” Participants from Redmond will include the Redmond Inn, Black Cat White Cat Photography, Lake Washington Video, BeautiControl, AAA Washington-Redmond branch, JZS Enterprises, Nosegay Knoll and Craig Larsen Photography.

Other vendors will include wedding planners, caterers, a DJ, dance teahcers and more.

For more information about “Your Hometown Wedding,” call Karen Phillips at (425) 556-2388 or e-mail kphillips@redmond.gov.