It's been a long time since i was so tired and so pumped at the same time.
It started as early as Tuesday, when we produced a new promo for Alene Gamel. We love Alene. Her events always go off without a hitch and everyone has a great time. But Tuesday was a long night, I stayed up way late burning and printing DVDs.
Thursday, Angela appeared on ABC 33/40 morning program "Talk of Alabama" here in Birmingham. She was nervous and attempted on several occasions to convince me to go in her place. In the midst of this, Will comes down with an ear infection and strep throat - one thing for sure when the Deaver boys get sick, we go all out.
We knew looking forward that we had:
1. to print and burn 300 DVD's
2. a photo/video shoot with the ladies From "The Perfect Wedding Guide"
3. a wedding Saturday night
4. an overnight edit to for the PWG photo shoot.
5. a very large and important bridal show on sunday at the Wynfrey.
So Friday was our last day to batten down the hatches and prepare for the 48 hours of run and gun on the fly, production. First on the list for friday…..Replace the starter in the van. I haven't worked on a car in a while, and I do like to tinker but it's hard not to look at a busy weekend and think "a broken down van is like the last thing i need" so anticipating the starters eminent failure (been giving us problems for a month), I found a replacement and spent an hour getting dirty.
Starter replaced, I ripped out the back seat and started loading up. Meanwhile, Angela printed and burned and packaged tons of demo DVDs, all while taking care of Will who is not feeling well and wants to make sure everyone knows it.
We called in Will's grandparents for some child care duties and Chris Carr one of our top shooters for the wedding on Saturday.
The Photo Shoot was fun. The folks at Omni Studios ( www.omnistudio.net ) were in charge of the shoot itself and were super cool to work with. Melissa Rycroft of reality TV fame was in town for the PWG Bridal expo and this photo shoot. We wrapped the photo shoot and headed off to the Wynfrey. We had anticipated the crazy turnaround on this project and decided to just stay at the Wynfrey to save driving time. We had just enough time to throw our stuff on the ground and get my laptop processing the footage from the shoot. We left there and went straight to the church where we started setting up for the wedding. Look for more details of the wedding in the coming week as we post a sneak peek.
I left Angela and Chris at The Club and headed back over to the hotel to get some editing done. Angela and Chris wrapped their shoot around 11:30 and she walked into the hotel room around midnight. Around 2:00 AM i started making stupid mistakes in the editing and decided to finish up in the morning.
6:00 came very early, very very early. Coffee in hand I started back editing. On the one hand i hate deadlines, on the other I am very motivated by them. The edit came together as the clock counted down to noon. Meanwhile Angela and Kerri set up our booth in the Ballroom and got ready to meet with brides. With the PWG video finally in the can we packed up and moved out of the room and down to the show floor. With help from Carlos from Total Entertainment and the staff at the Wynfrey, we got the video playing in the lobby.
I will say this, the whole reason I do what I do is because I enjoy producing video that people watch and enjoy. Most of the time the work we do is for a very small audience, our brides and their families. Occasionally, we get to display our work in public for a larger audience. And although I have had this opportunity a few times in the past (with varying degrees of successes) it is very, very cool to see people watch something you did and enjoy it. Also I was very very tired.
Thanks to all the folks at PWG and Omni Studios. Thanks to Melissa Rycroft and her husband Tye. Thanks for Birmingham Glam, and thanks to the great guy doing hair (a name that I must find TODAY) also a Very Very big thanks to my wife Angela who not only helped with shooting but also shot a wedding, took care of all the promotional duties, and really took care of everything else so I could edit.
As I left the hotel at the end of a long day I saw Butch Oglesby with Blue Moon Studios taking a group shot of all the models involved in the fashion show that had just wrapped. I stepped up to say goodbye and he leans over and says "what a job, right?"
More blogging to follow but I wanted to share what a great experience we had this past Saturday. The local Perfect Wedding Guide had us to a behind the scenes video of their photo session with Melissa Rycroft. The crazy thing is that WE suggested doing a very fast turnaround and playing it at the Bridal Market on Sunday. More about that experience later from our guest blogger, John. But I wanted to at least get the video up for people to see.
From the looks of our blog, we have either been incredibly slow (because of the lack of posts) or incredibly busy (also because of the lack of posts). Well, busy it has been! And looking toward the Spring, it is not going to let up much. We are so thankful and appreciative!
The last month or so, along with several corporate jobs, we have been participating in a few bridal shows. The first was at The Club (their 1st ever) and it was quite successful. John finished our new promo (featured on the front page of our website) hours before the show started, so we were a little tired. But their were terrible vendors and wonderful brides all day!
The very next weekend, we were delighted to participate in the Open House for Mathews Manor and Mt. View, both in Springville. And since John and I have a free babysitter just minutes away, we love working at both of these locations. That and they are beautiful venues! We filmed Traci Mathews' wedding back in August, so it was nice to see the family again at Mathews Manor. AND find out that Traci and Jason are going to have a BABY! How exciting! And once again, we met wonderful brides (and grooms) at both of these events. Many thanks to Kerri for working the Mt. View show so that I could be at Mathews Manor. John had a corporate event to film so it was just the girls!
The last bridal show on the books is this coming weekend at the Wynfrey (The Bridal Market by PWG). This will be our first year to exhibit with PWG, but after observing their amazing show last August, I just HAD to be included this year. We are actually the category sponsor this year - which mean we get (have) to be on TV this week. Yuck! I like to be behind the camera, not in front!!!! I am sure I am going to be more sympathetic to my brides after this week! I just hope that I don't say anything stupid! There will not be time to edit! I guess promoting our business which I am very proud of is a good thing, but boy, am I nervous! If it goes well, I might put it up on the blog. We will see!
But please stop by and see us at our booth on Sunday! We might have goodies to share! But we will have a FABULOUS demo! See you then!
Sure, this might be a shameless way to get people to watch our link, but we really want your help! We are trying to see how many views we can get on our youtube clip. WE WANT IT TO GO VIRAL! Wouldn't it be neat to wind up on the Today Show talking about our hilarious clip from last summer's wedding.
"Bridesmaid Jill" is a 2-minute clip from Adrienne and Luke's wedding at the North River Yacht Club. Super T asked the bridal party to come on stage where he would then introduce them one at a time. None of us were expecting Jill to break loose like she did.
Please watch it and then share with your friends! I don't know how many views we have to have before it starts to circulate itself. Just copy the clip and paste it in your browser. Thanks in advance!
It is always so refreshing to see a young couple so in love. We hope that Evie & Lee had a terrific honeymoon! We are excited to share some of the great footage that we were able to capture of their wedding! We actually had a 5 camera setup at the church, but went down to 3 for the reception (didn't want to go overboard!) ha!
Not only did we enjoy working with this couple and their families, but we were able to also work with some of our favorite vendors in town. Carol, with Lillie's, achieved romance and elegance, without being over the top. From the cross at the church to the greenery at the reception, everything she created was a work of art. It is hard to pick a favorite of the evening, all of the flowers were stunning!
Danny brought his Cool Shots Photo Lounge for the entertainment for the evening (wait, in addition to the band). People were lining up to get their photo taken! All of the details of the day were so carefully orchestrated. From the furs shaws given to the bridesmaids to flip flops for all the women, there were so many wonderful little details that made up the day. Anita, with Anita Kanellis Wedding Planning had her work cut out for her, with the almost 600 guests. She handled everything beautifully! I will say it again, HIRE A WEDDING PLANNER, it just makes the day so much easier for everyone involved.
Here is the sneak peak of their AMAZING wedding! For those fellow geeks, we have mixed in some footage that we shot with our new DSLR - different look with that camera, almost a vintage feel.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010 at 09:10AM 
