November 2018 Newsletter
Greetings everyone! Reid here with Best Made Videos®. We started off the month of October at one of my all time favorite wedding venues, The Fairmont Olympic in downtown Seattle for the wedding of Katie and Chase. Working alongside a true all-star team of wedding vendors including Amanda and Steven Lloyd and Tamara Nicole of Simply by Tamara Nicole, this wedding was spectacular from start to finish. These two amazing people even had Nintendo music (including Mario and the Legend of Zelda) playing during their ceremony and reception.
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The next weekend found us over in Bellevue, Wa for the wedding of Kendall and Donald at the Bellevue Club, in Bellevue Wa. A little known fact, we are actually a preferred vendor at the Bellevue Club which is pretty freaking cool because it is such a well known and highly regarded wedding venue. Kendall and Donald had one of my favorite wedding photographers Jenny Storment and one of everybody's favorite DJ's Tony Schwartz (you may remember him from our Get to Know Your Wedding Pro podcast) join us for the day. This one was a blast and I can't wait to finish up the edits on their fantastic wedding highlight video.
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Dorothy and I got to do a fun excursion out to Redmond to Serres Farm for our annual pumpkin picking trip! We always frequent this family owned farm because of its close proximity to Seattle, its selection of pumpkins to choose from, and the friendliness of the vendors who work there. From their website - "We feature a wide range of pumpkins from tiny Jack be Littles, White Luminas, Red French, to giant Atlantic Giants all in the field where they grow for your choosing. We have a large variety of Orange pumpkins in all shapes and sizes. We have added pumpkins that are already cut and washed on the edge of our fields, so if you don't have time to search through the fields they are available close by. Grab a wheelbarrow, put on some boots and let the hunt begin for your perfect pumpkin. Duck Races, new in 2009 they are an instant hit. Kids and adults love racing their ducks over and over again down our pipes using old fashion water pumps. Everyone keeps their ducks at the end of the race. There are a wide variety of ducks to choose from so pick your favorite. The Corn Maze is always a crowd favorite. We design our corn maze by hand every season. The corn in the maze grows from 4ft to over 8 ft tall. It takes most people 15-20 minutes to navigate the maze. If you get lost you might find one of our Skeletons telling you that you have arrived at a dead end. We'll keep search and rescue on stand by. Hay Rides and Animal Train rides are getting MOOOVING during the weekends. Kids 3-13 can ride the train around the farm, any age can ride the hay wagon. These attractions are depending on weather."
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October also found us spending the afternoon/evening with Chanel and Brian over at the Ballard Bay Club. Chanel was on the fence about hiring a videographer for her wedding day so we decided just to capture the raw footage of their ceremony and reception so at a minimum she would have the option to get it edited some time down the line. These two had one of the BEST portrait sessions I can remember from this wedding season. Not only were we able to capture them and their bridal parties at the church before heading to the reception, but by the time we had arrived at the Ballard Locks (and later the Ballard Bay Club) the fog had descended on the area creating the eeriest, yet most beautiful setting I could imagine. Wandering the beach and around the Ballard waterfront, you simply couldn't get a bad shot of these two. Not only did they get awesome photos (from their photographer Bri McDaniel) but I was able to capture all of the fun between the two on video so they will be able have the memories forever!
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One of out last weddings of October found us back out at Dairyland in Snohomish, Wa for the wedding of Ashley and Cole. Good friends of one of my favorite wedding couples Dakota and Taylor, I was honored to get the call to join Rachel Howerton (their photographer) to help capture their wedding day, Featuring no rain (an October miracle) and a sunset to end all sunsets, Ashley and Cole's wedding day could not have gone more perfect. It is such a blast getting to reconnect with old clients and to continue to grow our network of referrals and I am so happy with how their wedding video turned out!
Brian and Lindsey got married up at Semiahmoo resort in the middle of September. Working with their wedding photographer Amy Soper was an absolute delight and I am incredibly pleased with their wedding video. These two are madly in love and we were able to hold off the rain just long enough to hold their wedding ceremony outside before the rains pushed us under the cover of tents for their stylish reception.
At the same time as Brian and Lindsey's wedding, Elaine and Aaron got married down in Seattle at the Bell Harbor International Conference Center. This was a day-long wedding affair which featured a tea ceremony at the groom's house before the whole family arrived at the conference center for the wedding and reception. Stay tuned after the credits for an awesome bonus scene!
Check out Ashley and Cole's wedding video (already covered above). This day was a blast and these two were a delight to hang out with. I was even able to get their wedding highlight video completed in time for them to enjoy on their honeymoon in Mexico. This is not a video to miss!!!
Andrew and Katie (along with their rowdy bridal parties) spent the day getting married at the Cedarbrook Lodge located right near SeaTac airport in Seattle, Wa. Having never personally shot a wedding at this venue before, I couldn't believe how awesome this wedding video turned out. The wedding ceremony outside in the lawn was perfectly followed up by a stunning wedding reception in the nearby ballroom. Check out this video and try to not laugh when you see all the guys and girls getting their photos taken with the bride and groom!
We released a ton of new episodes of our podcast "Get to Know Your Wedding Pro" this month including interviews with Markie Jones and Tiffany Matthews of Wink Wedding Collective, Jennifer Vandeventer of Elements NW Events & Weddings, Juliet Horton of Everly and Reneille Velez of Cake & Lace Events.
Check out the entire podcast feed on: www.soundcloud.com/bestmadevideos. And please let me know if there is anybody that you would like to hear from in an upcoming wedding vendor interview!
Monthly Videography Tip!
Don't be afraid to go back outside to get more wedding portraits.
This is another cell phone shot of Chanel and Brian's wedding over at the Ballard Bay Club. I wrote earlier about how the fog had completely covered the area (during their portrait session) leaving an awesome atmosphere for some stunning wedding photos. An hour or so later the sun had started to break through and we headed back outside to get another set of equally impressive (but different) portraits with the sun setting behind the couple. Don't be afraid to snap off a couple more photos (or roll on some more video) when the light has changed, you might get a totally different (and even more remarkable) set of portraits to deliver to the couple!
My job wouldn't be complete without including a nice image of ROSIE! Rosie all dressed up for Halloween (as a "Frog Dog") so I thought I would snap a quick iPhone pic! Love that little friend...
Thank you all for checking out our monthly newsletter! November continues to be an exciting month full of little projects to catch up on. We've been scheduling video testimonials with a majority of our awesome couples as well as starting the long process of putting all of our videos on our tape archive system. As always, thanks again for your support, I'm off to edit some more wedding videos and to update our blog. Have a good one!
- Reid