In the early part of this year things were getting a little tight. There weren’t a lot of weddings going on, and my marketing was not what it should have been. What marketing I had been doing, contacting wedding planners, distributing sample DVD’s and cards, didn’t seem to be paying the kind of dividends I’d hoped for.
Ends have to meet though, so I took a second job (apart from my regular job as a maintenance engineer at a local hotel) delivering pizza for a local pizza house. Driving home from a delivery an evening in late May, I ended up behind a car with a magnetic advertisement on the back of it. “Happily Ever After by Allison” Oh, a wedding planner. How interesting… I quickly copied the number down and called her up the next day.
After talking with Allison I send her a sample DVD. She is very impressed. Says she has a wedding July 6th, wants to know if I’m interested. Says the groom plays in the NFL. Used to play for the Seahawks. Now plays for the Cardinals.
“Am I interested?” I don’t want to seem like I’m making sport of Allison here or anything, but “Am I interested?” What a silly question. A little over a month later on July 5th I traveled to a ranch in Redmond and filmed the wedding of Joseph and Brandelyn Tafoya. A trusted friend and accomplished videographer in his own right, Lyquoc came with me to run second camera and shoot some guest video messages for the bride and groom.
I kind of wanted to use these videos as an example of the features of the Silver and Gold Wedding Video Packages I offer. The Silver comes with a Pre-Ceremony Establishing Montage and a Post-Ceremony Montage. Here is the Pre Ceremony Establishing Montage from the video which leads directly to the ceremony -
Flowing from this directly in to the bridesmaids and groomsmen entering, and the bride walking down the aisle lends a dynamic to the video that is very entertaining while capturing the uniqueness of the occasion. I do offer a scaled down “Economy” package that doesn’t come with these extended montages, and those who chose the Silver package often opt for the Highlight Reel as opposed to the Establishing Montages. The more I do these, the more I like doing them, the more I’d like to try and work them in to even the economy package. Problem being, the rate for the Economy is so inexpensive that if I do these montages, (along with the custom DVD menu’s and art design included with every package) I log my hours and barely end up clearing minimum wage. That path leads straight to burnout.
Every wedding is different. So is every wedding video. This one starts at the very tail of the ceremony and heads to the reception. With a few stops on the way.
This wedding really was beautiful. Lyquoc and I captured so much great footage I felt pressured to include all of it in these montages but knew there was no way. I was able to save a lot of things just for the Highlight Reel, which is here -
So there it is. The Tafoya wedding complete. It was great filming Joseph and Brandelyn’s wedding, and it was clear there was a lot of love in the air. We spotted a couple of guys that were fairly obviously pro football players, though didn’t recognize most of them. I went ahead and asked for a picture with the one I did recognize.
Go Seahawks!!!
Okay, so they wouldn’t work for a finished product. Over the next months I would use them for personal projects, backing up DVD’s for myself, and the occasional family member or friend. Paying clients did not get these cases. I felt the logo inside was tacky, and did not want myself or my clients to associate that word, and the feelings it evokes, with anything related to my business or product.
