McClain + Chris: Shoal Creek

On the most perfect weather day of the year, McClain and Chris chose to exchange their vows in front of their friends and family.  Condoleezza Rice was even there!  Well, she was playing golf outside, but still it was LIKE she came just for the wedding.  

Shoal Creek Country Club is such a beautiful venue and this time of year, it is just perfect!  McClain was such a relaxed bride - I think she really enjoyed her day.  Kristen and Mary Catherine with Arden Photography were there to provide the memories.  

Fun, fun day! So many little treats for the guests throughout the evening. Donuts and milk shooters to name one!  The band, Burning Las Vegas, kept everyone dancing and our cameras rolling to capture the fun.  

Mindy with M. Elizabeth Weddings and Events was in charge of the day.  She kept everything moving smoothly and under control.  Most brides don't even realize all that the wedding planner does on the day of.  There is always a fire to put out somewhere!  

Here are a few stills that we pulled from the raw footage.  Enjoy the fun!  

To see the blog post about their engagement session, click here.

Insider's Tips: Tip #47 - Wait!

This tip is actually another one of John's.  Don't we love it when he chimes in from time to time!  

 

John says to not make any major decisions - like buying a dress, booking a venue, etc., the first week after you get engaged.  Take a little time to enjoy your new sparkly ring.  There is so much excitement right after an engagement, but don't let that excitement cause you to make bad decisions.

 

Booking the first venue you see, or the first dress you put on because you just sooooo excited and can't wait to start getting ready for the wedding, it might turn out to be a bad thing.  Take the time to make an educated decision so that you won't have any regrets. I doubt many venues or dress shops will give you a refund if you change your mind.

 

And you know what else would help...hiring a professional wedding planner.  They will be able to lead you in the right direction!  AND save you money in the process!  

Insider's Tips: Tip #27 - Full tank of gas!

The latest tip was one that I stopped what I was doing on Saturday to make a note of it!  I overheard the mother of the bride talking with a guest about how crazy her morning had been.

 

The weather was terrible and they had a million things to do before coming to the church. Would you like to guess what happened?

 

She gets in her car to zoom off to the church with the daughter, the bride, and she doesn't have any gas.  So nervous and excited bride + crazy busy mom + gas station = NO FUN!  

 

So my advice is anticipate all of the trips back and forth to the church for the rehearsal or dropping off dresses and fill up your car on Thursday before the wedding.  You will thank me later!

Insider's Tips: Tip #23 - Vendor referrals

"He said, she said."

I don't read all of the traditional wedding blogs with tips and checklists and all of that.  I read it when I was planning our wedding, but really not since, so I hope you won't find any similarities.  The point of the Insider's Tips is to try to post things that you might not have heard of/thought of/seen before.  

With all of that said, my next tip might be one that you have heard about before.  But it is really important, so I wanted to post it.  

I think we have established that it is hard to pick out vendors for your wedding.  You don't know who to trust or who will do a good job.  If you have a friend that has recently gotten married, then she is a great resource.  But don't overlook the great resource that one of your already booked vendors can be.  

Now of course, I love receiving referrals.  A very large portion of our business comes from referrals, so I don't take this lightly.  But I really love giving referrals to brides.  After all, this is our world.  We work with a whole lot of people - we know the quality professionals to refer you to.  Anyone can spend a million dollars on advertising claiming to be the best whatever, but just because you have money, it doesn't mean that you care about your work or your clients.  Double check with a few of your wedding vendors to see who they can recommend.  

Final thoughts of 2010

As every year, we had some absolutely amazing clients!  Our brides and grooms keep us creative; they keep us striving to deliver better and better work.  We love to get calls from siblings who are getting married.  It is such a wonderful compliment.  Best friends are great too when they call!  We just love all of our clients!

 

Along with a healthy number of weddings and events, we had several major events that occured in 2010.  The first one came from a contact that we met at WEVA in 2009.  We were asked to come to Indiana to film a celebrity Platinum wedding in the Spring!  Way cool!!!  It was our only weekend off that we had, so I feel that it was meant to be!  The design team in charge of the wedding was fabulous!  I love details, and details were everywhere! It was a long day, but so much fun.  Here is a clip taken from that day.  Edited by IndyVisual.  (Update:  They are submitting the video for some local awards, so we will see if our handy work wins)

 

Soon after we arrived back from Indy we were once again honored to film for another videographer.  Brett Culp is a celebrity videographer who has made quite a name for himself.  He contacted us one day asking for a couple of shooters for an in-town celebrity wedding.  I tried to play it cool. Tried.  I think I might have squealed.  Yeah, pretty sure I was a moron.  Oh well, it was an awesome wedding!  Huge, crazy, fun.  The only problem is that I wasn't hip enough to know the celebrity guests.  Oh well.  I did get to interview Gayle King.  That's something, right???

 

Through the year, this little boy that we have keeps getting bigger and bigger.  There is nothing baby about him anymore.  My heart is filled with pride when we remembers to say thank you (without being prompted) or when he gives the biggest hugs to his grandparents.  Sure, we have things we still have to work on each day, but I do hope that we are raising one amazing kid. And that he is not still living with us when he is 30.  Just saying...

 

For wedding film making as a whole, we are seeing some different trending. I first noticed it in 2009, but in 2010 it happened a lot! Brides were calling us first, before the photographer, before the venue. Everyone always thinks that videography is one of the last things you book, well we are seeing that is not the case anymore. Way cool!!!

 

We also found that brides were changing their dates in order for us to be available for their wedding. What a HUGE compliment! We were so honored that they wanted to do this.

 

The year ended with a big surprise for us.  We were awarded the Bride's Choice Award for 2010 by the Perfect Wedding Guide!!!!  There is an entire blog post about that too!!!  Hee hee!!!!  I love it!!!

 

John and I were having a nice birthday/new year's eve dinner the other night and talking about the past year and what 2011 holds for us.  There are so many changes that we want to make and like everyone else, the beginning of a brand new year gives us hope that we can achieve all that we want for us personally and our clients. 

 

2011 is going to be a big year; one for the books!  We have several exciting things in store and I can't wait to start the ride!