Collages, Shmollages

I've always liked collages but have never done any. I guess, way up high on my fine art degree pedastool I always looked down and thumbed my nose at them as a real form of art. But lately I have had a change of heart. I'm sick of painting things that look exactly like the object. What's the use of painting something life like when you can just take a picture of it? Isn't art supposed to express, not just represent? Anyway, my cousin just got married this past weekend and I've been wanting to do some kind of art work for her. She was always really supportive of my art back at BYU and was always into whatever assignment I was doing - no matter how horribly bad it looked. She was very supportive of anything I did - art related or not. I took her for granted back then. She was one of my biggest cheerleaders and I was too prideful to fully appreciate how great she was to me. Since I'm pretty sure she doesn't read this blog, I'm blogging my wedding gift to her - my first attempt at collaging. My brother, who I never thought of as artistic at all made some collages a couple of years ago. Looking at them almost brought me to tears because a) they were really good and I was so proud of him and b) I was the one with a 4 year art degree and those collages were more imaginative and experimental then any still life or portrait I had ever painted and I was jealous. Who did he think he was, my goofball brother making such beautiful things on a whim? Things that I doubted I could make myself. But I'm ready to face my fears of incorrect proportions, askew lines and glue.
Here are a couple of collages that I'm kinda ripping off. This artist's work is too cutesy-wutesy for my taste so I will be putting my own flavor and using her idea - with people's xerox'd heads, etc. I'm going to use their engagement picture which isn't ideal but I want it to be a surprise so I have to work with what I have. I've been thinking and thinking but haven't come up with a theme that I like well enough. It makes it hard since I don't know the guy she married. Anyway, this should be interesting - I'm not good at stuff like this, but I'd like to be so I have to start somewhere.