Weddingbee Blog

Well, hopefully Mr. Rainbow and I would be played be Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt:

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I often joke that we’re the broke man’s Brad & Angie; a misunderstood brunette with a heart of gold, and a blonde haired, blue eyed fox with an adventurous streak, minus the mansions, millions of dollars, and 84 kids. And uhm, they have chemistry for days, but that’s beside the point.

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To say that nothing went “wrong” at our wedding would be an understatement.

We ran out of appetizers 15 minutes into our cocktail hour. Storm clouds swelled throughout the day forcing our ceremony from an expansive meadow into a cozy barn. The photo booth backdrop didn’t end up being quite enough fabric to encompass a large group of guests. Our band played for longer than planned (score!) but that meant we had to skip our end-of-the-night dance party playlist which I’d been looking forward to. The bluegrass songs I picked for our band breaks brought the dancing to a halt every time the band took a break; I could never figure out which songs would keep the energy high between live sets. You can’t go from fiddle and washboard to Jay-Z, right?

But calling everything above a “wedding failure” depends on your perspective and mindset. According to me? Nothing went wrong at our wedding. And that’s because I didn’t have a strong definition of the word “right”. Here’s a teaser of our wedding video, made by my brother, to give you an idea of how it all played out (note: you can make it full-screen):

I knew that our wedding was going to be what it was going to be no matter what.
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Holy New Year Wedding Madness, Batman! It’s the day before my wedding. The only things I need to do today are get my nails done and attend the rehearsal/dinner. Last week, I was dreading the whole ordeal. I was convinced that I had created the Frankenstein of weddings and that it had turned against me. I was sick and tired of anything wedding related. On Monday morning, the stressful haze began to clear. I woke up and smiled because I knew that I would be seeing my woolly counterpart (after a 21 day hiatus filled with finals and holiday travel). On Tuesday, we completed our 4th move of the year together (2 for him and 2 for me). On Wednesday, we transferred all the wedding items to my planner, Ms. P. Yesterday, we rang in the new year with members of our wedding party at the Bier Garden. Good beer + good German food = good times had by all.

Today, I woke up and smiled again. The joy that everyone had predicted would ensue after last week’s shenanigans has filled my soul. My wedding week mantra has been, “At the end of the aisle, our marriage begins.” I’m ready to enter into the mysterious relationship of joining two into one. Today, I’m excited. And happy. And at peace.

I’m going to try to refrain from yearbook-esque exclamations (Can you believe it? What a ride! You’re the best!) and instead leave you with a little wedding day treat.
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I would be remiss if I didn’t share my own experience with one of our own Weddingbee PROs—the team at StillMotion!

One of my very best friends (the one we threw the citrus shower for) married this year. We were roommates in our sorority, then in Westwood, then in Santa Monica, and finally were the two of our small group of friends to move to the Bay Area. When she and her husband finally got engaged, our conversation went like this:

Robin: We’re engaged!

Pengy: Congratulations! Have you heard of StillMotion?

Much like anyone that stumbles upon StillMotion, after combing their blog, she had a hard time believing that any other wedding cinematography would ever be good enough for her wedding. I knew if I could get any of my friends to call in the superteam from Canada, it would be Robin. Heh. Heh. Heh. My evil plan worked, and she did indeed hire them, and I had the pleasure of meeting Patrick and his traveling team this weekend in Northern California and witnessing their genius in action. I tried to prepare my table-mates by letting them know that there is a distinct possibility that they might poop their pants after witnessing what they were about to witness. After they showcased the Same Day Edit of the wedding at the end of the night, the groom jumped out of his seat and yelled,

“THAT WAS F***ING AWESOME!”
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It seems like a pretty common thing. When wedding planning starts, it seems like the first thing that many modern brides do is book an excellent photographer that is out of their budget. After all, the photos are the only part of the wedding day that will survive for years to come. The bride-to-be calmly rationalizes the added expense to her fiance, mother, and anyone who will listen: “We will just scrimp on the videography… or better yet, have a friend tape the wedding.”

Of course, I was no different. And, like most naive brides, I forgot about my plan to save money on videography and started daydreaming about our day being captured by the likes of Still Motion (they are fellow Canadians, after all). I just couldn’t bring myself to trust an uncle or a college roommate with something that I’ll likely use to relive the day when the Post Wedding Trauma hits. However, considering that Still Motion’s commissions range from about 1/4th - 3/4ths of our budget, I knew that there was no amount of rationalizing that could get Mr. Pudding to agree to hire them.

Thus I began my search for a great videographer that would fit into our measly budget.
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I am so excited to write this post, and for the last several months I didn’t know if this post was possible. You see, I fell in love with videography, and more specifically, Super 8 videography. But with our surmounting wedding costs, I was worried that it was something that we just couldn’t incorporate into the budget.

However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I just had to make it happen. The moments that I will share with my family, friends, and Mr. Fro Yo that day need to be captured, and with more than just photography. Also, I’ve heard so often that people really regret not having video of their wedding. I can already imagine us watching it with our kids years down the road and reliving all those wonderful memories.

Enter Vanessa McKellar. Now, this girl is talented. I watched her videos and cried. I don’t even know these people, and I cried. I’m serious. Plus, she is so sweet and wonderful to work with. And best of all? She posted about Weddingbee and how awesome it is!

So, are you ready to see one of my favorite videos?

Erika & Phil in Super 8 from Vanessa McKellar Productions.com on Vimeo.
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While I was at Bridal Market this year, Mrs. Bee introduced me to a really neat concept that we wanted to share with the hive: video that can be displayed in print material, like in your wedding album. The technology, called My Video My Voice, is essentially a video screen so thin that can be incorporated into pretty much any print material you can think of.

You can load up to 45 minutes of video material and break it up into 5 chapters, and it can be all recharged via your computer. So, you can combine the best of both worlds—photography and videography—in one place!
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Heeello, happy.

We got our wedding highlight video from our friends at Digital Princess Productions… wanna see?

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Here is short clip from our full edited wedding film by Wes Jones. I’m so happy to be able to share this with you all! I’ll admit, I make all of our family and friends watch it when they come over to our house. When I first saw one of his films, I thought, ‘That’s it! That’s how I want to go down in history! Timeless!’

Anita & Keith from FilmJones on Vimeo.
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I am taking a break from our recaps to share our wedding trailer with you. I am so excited to have hired a videographer to capture the day. It seriously made an impact on the day. We decided to go with Focal Point Weddings to shoot the day. We loved their style and knew that it would be just what we wanted.

Today they shared our wedding “trailer” with us. This is a preview to the full highlights package. I am so excited… seeing this gave me chills. They really captured some great moments.

Alan & Carolyn :: Wedding Trailer from FocalPoint Cinematic Weddings on Vimeo.

I had a bridesman in the wedding. He is my best friend Patrick. He came from New York City to be part of the wedding and it was better because he was there. He is a huge part of my life. Each week Patrick and I do a vlog on YouTube about reality television. And we decided to do a wedding vlog because our viewers were interested. I wanted to share it with the hive!

All of our vlogs start the same way: “Hi the is Pat and Carolyn,” so this one starts that way, too!

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I received our highlight video from the super talented Digital Princess Productions, (a vendor rec from Mrs. Meatball!) and it made me so happy. I got butterflies in my stomach, and I was transformed back to that sweet day. Since then, I can’t stop watching it. It’s actually pretty fun to see the whole event on camera! If you can swing it, I’d highly recommend hiring a videographer or asking a friend to follow you with their camcorder for the day.

By watching the video closely, you might discover a few details I have yet to talk about in my posts or recaps. For example, a performance from a Los Angeles-based Korean drumming team, a beautiful pictoral tribute to generations of family, and a surprise performance by my husband!! Unbeknownst to me, Mr. G worked for months with a local musician to write a song. He sang it to me in front of 250+ guests: a moment I will never, ever forget.

Enjoy this little slice of our day!
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I love slideshows! I love seeing baby pictures, the pictures of your awkward junior high days, the pictures of when you were the skinniest (typically in high school), and old family pictures. I knew exactly who was going to do our slideshow, because luckily, one of my friends is a very talented visual artist! I’ve seen him do slideshows in the past at friends’ weddings, and Mr. Caramel and I both agreed that he has this certain style and quality to his work that is very unique and amazing.

Our slideshow:

C & D: Photo Montage from Atomic89 on Vimeo.
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It’s been almost exactly 2 years since we’ve been married… eek! Back when I was planning my wedding, I knew I wanted to invest in a wedding video, but it was just not in our budget. If I wanted it done, I wanted it done WELL, and professionally! I’ve heard of so many brides regretting not having a videographer because they were so busy that day. Luckily, I had a very generous friend/videographer who offered to film our wedding as long as it didn’t have to be edited. (Editing is the most difficult and the lengthiest part!) I figured I’d get somebody to edit it in a few years since I didn’t need it ASAP. So after our wedding, he gave us a few tapes of our wedding and we let it collect dust for the past 1.5 years…

Until now! I was sincerely hoping there was somebody who would be willing to take up a side project. This is how I found Confetti Films— a company in Canada that I have been emailing and calling back & forth for the past couple months. They were actually referred to me by Still Motion, who I ABSOLUTELY LOVE! They were so sweet in willing to do my project! So here I present to you… the belated Caramel recap wedding video!!

A beautiful day:) from Confetti Films on Vimeo.
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Recently, as of about six months ago, I met my new technological love. This beauty is attractive, fashion-forward, fits in my party clutch, and is always there when I need her. Friends, meet your new best bud: The Flipcam.

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I can’t tell you how handy this lil’ number has been… I’ve broken her out for parties, nights out, everyday life - and perhaps MOST handily, at weddings and while on vacation. I absolutely love my Flipcam! My favorite part about her is that she fits in my purse. We would all love to have a camcorder at the ready for those most special moments in our lives, but… I have no inclination to drag a camcorder around a wedding! Too bulky.

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