I need advice on how to do Powerpoint slides/presentation for a friend's wedding?

I need advice on how to do Powerpoint slides/presentation for a friend's wedding?


What software should I use? I only need to input photos for the slides but my be nice one because this is for the wedding dinner itself. It will be show to hundreds of people on the story life of the newly wed couple. Any tips or website you can offer. Appreciate any suggestions.I need advice on how to do Powerpoint slides/presentation for a friend's wedding?
I answered a similar question here a couple weeks ago. My answer was probably geared less toward the technical than what you are asking, but it could still help you out a little. I'm just copying and pasting from before because it was nearly a full length novel ;-)





I did a PowerPoint show for my cousin's bat mitzvah. My original intention was to start at the beginning of her life and go in sequence. But as I scanned and gathered the images together, I started to change my mind.





I wanted to use multiple music clips and even though I was mostly concerned what music would go with the images, I also wanted to include some of her personal favorites. That just added to the thinking process.





So - I would suggest getting all of your pictures scanned, sized and gathered in one place (it will be easier and safer if you make duplicates of all the digital files). Then start looking at them - in thumbnail or filmstrip view. Get a feel for what you have. Then make some folders for how you think you want to split them out - you as a baby, your husband as a baby, etc. Then start splitting.





This was the point where I realized sequential images weren't going to be as impactful for my situation and instead grouped into pictures of my cousin with here family, with her brothers, doing water things (lots of vacation pics), dressed up (plays, halloween). Images just kind of naturally started going into categories.





Then the fun part - picking music. I looked at all the music I had, I went to lyric search sites to help trigger ideas, and I kept looking at the pictures. Baby pictures - Be My Baby (Ronettes). Family - We Are Family (Sister Sledge). Brothers (she's the oldest with 2 brothers) I Will Follow (Carole King). Water things - Surfin' USA (Beach Boys). Costumes - Dress You Up (Madonna), etc.





By that point, you'll know if your idea is right and you can start building the show. I'll have to agree with the previous answer that PowerPoint might not be the absolute best way to do this, but that's what I had at hand. I edited separate snippets of songs. The good thing about that is that you can cut out the stuff that makes no sense - I used Van Morrison's Brown Eyed Girl for a big chunk of cute pics of my cousin, but I certainly didn't want the lyrics ';making love in the green grass'; in a bat mitzvah show!





It's a lot easier to work with the snippets because you can adjust their length or the length of the matching slides, but the transition isn't too smooth. I faded in and out of the music, but could never get a cross fade. PowerPoint isn't exactly consistent. You could try editing all the music into one piece - it will be more challenging to make the pictures run right with it, but the sound will be more professional.





I made a title slate that was really cute. I also would find images (either generic or something of my cousin) that I could cut out and have fly by or peek in - a pic of my cousin and her brothers on a rubber raft flew through the water section, baby rattles rotated on top of the baby section, Flick from Bug's Life stuck his head in during the costume section (she was dressed as him). Just cute stuff to make it more interesting.





I ended on something sappy - definitely end sappy - leave 'em with a tear in their eye ;-)





You could slate each section. And definitely do different types of animations per section. If it's happy peppy music - do the goofy fly-ins and bounces and zooms. If it's sweet and slow, stick with fades or ascends and descends. I usually put up 2 or 3 pictures at one time. I had over 100 pictures to work with and jammed them all in.





I'd say keep it in the 5 minute range. No matter how great it is for you, people will get bored.





If you are using PowerPoint, my biggest suggestion would be to create the presentation on the computer that will be running the show. All computers are not created equal and you don't want to make a beautiful show on your computer and then find out it won't run on the one you have at the wedding. Also, that takes care of fonts - I'm guessing you'll be using fun fonts, and if you run on a different computer, you'll have to gather them all up and install them on that computer.