May 2018 Newsletter

Greetings everyone! Reid here with Best Made Videos®. April of 2018 started off with a 10 day long trip down to New Orleans to watch Wrestlemania 34 with my friend Paul. We found an amazing Air BNB which was actually a townhouse from 1803 that had be saved and turned into 3 different apartments, one of which we were able to rent. The trip was full of non-stop wrestling action presented by both the WWE (which is the major leagues of professional wrestling) and various smaller independent promotions. We checked out a lot of the local tourist affairs such as Bourbon street and the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, where Wrestlemania actually took place. It was such a fun time!
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After Wrestlemania, Dorothy came down to stay in New Orleans to spend part of her Spring Break. We explored even more of the city and got to try all sorts of delicious beer and local cuisine, Dorothy's favorite part of the trip was the alligator swamp tour. The picture included in the newsletter was from a nighttime cemetery bus tour that we took, which brought us to all sorts of creepy locations around the city. Was the tree (as seen in the picture) haunted? I really can't remember, lol! But it was fun to get to hear creepy tales from the local girl who led the tour group.
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A few months ago my professor from college Dan Garrity, announced that we would be leaving the broadcasting program at Gonzaga University, to help his daughter and son-in-law raise their two small children. Dan was hugely influential in my decision to enter the television industry upon graduation from college, which led me on my path to become a wedding videographer today. After the announcement of his retirement, all of the students from his broadcast program over the years decided to throw a surprise retirement party in his honor. Students from all over the country (including us from Seattle) headed to Spokane for the weekend to send him off in style! It was fun getting to catch up with some of the incredibly successful classmates I went to school with, many of whom have started their very own video production companies across the country.
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Just last night, (as I write this) Dorothy and I went back to Salty's in West Seattle for happy hour/dinner. You may or may not know that Dorothy and I actually got married at Salty's in August of 2016 (I will include our wedding video link below). It was a blast seeing all of downtown Seattle lit up at night, just as it was on our wedding night less than two years ago. I wonder if any of my other wedding couples find themselves heading back to their ceremony or reception locations years after the fact to relive their wedding day over again?

Dorothy and Reid's Wedding - August 6, 2016

As promised, here is our very own wedding video from Salty's in West Seattle. Filmed by Unified Cinematic and edited by yours truly, it's a great way for Dorothy and I to look back on our wedding day whenever we are feeling a little nostalgic. I know that like many of the brides and grooms that I've worked with over the years, Dorothy has been known to sneak a peek or two from time to time when she has a few moments to spare during her busy day. I hope you guys enjoy watching our wedding video!

FAQ video about our wedding videography services

Another project I had during the month of April was to put together a FAQ video for potential clients as they work through our booking process. Simple questions such as "When is the deposit due" or more pressing questions like "When will we get our final wedding video" guide clients through the entire process from start to finish. I hope that even more wedding clients will find this video helpful when trying to book their wedding videographer, let me know if you can think of anything else that I should add!

Our first podcast! Who we are, what we do, and what this podcast will be about. Thanks for listening, and stay tuned for weekly wedding vendor interviews!

Probably the most exciting thing that happened during the month of April, was the launch of our new wedding podcast, Get to Know Your Wedding Pro. This is a new podcast series focused on long-form interviews with wedding professionals around the Pacific Northwest and beyond. I just recorded our first "official" episode yesterday with Dorothy, where I tell my own story about becoming a wedding videographer (I've embedded our launch/announcement podcast in the newsletter). I think it will be fascinating to hear different vendors' stories and it will be a particularly insightful for couples deciding which wedding vendors to hire for their own wedding day.

Please head over to www.soundcloud.com/bestmadevideos to check out our new RSS feed or search/subscribe in any major podcast provider.

Monthly Videography Tip!

360 degree pictures are freaking amazing!

I've recently started using a 360 camera at my wedding ceremonies to help give my couples a different perspective on their wedding ceremony. Seen on the left is a traditional iPhone picture taken of our most recent wedding ceremony from Trinity Tree Farm in Issaquah, Wa. On the right I've included a 360 degree picture that I exported and posted on Instagram. Besides looking absolutely mind-bending, it really helps to give a bird's eye view of your entire wedding ceremony. Not only can you see the venue, (which is beautiful with stunning chandeliers hanging overhead) but you can see everyone in attendance as well. All of your friends and family, everybody that you love in your life is all there and this picture helps capture that moment in its entirety. Facebook also has a really cool feature where you can upload the 360 photo in its native format, and then Facebook formats the photo so you can actually swipe left and right. This enables you to look around the entire 360 degree field of vision during your wedding ceremony- it's really quite incredible!

My job wouldn't be complete without including a nice image of ROSIE! I caught Rosie trying to steal all of the covers and I snapped this quick picture of her in bed! Love that little friend...

Thank you all for checking out our monthly newsletter! May is shaping up to be another exciting month. This weekend alone we have a triple header with 2 weddings on Saturday and 1 on Sunday. We will be doing a same-day edit for Jazmyn and Josh who are getting married at the Ballard Locks and are having their wedding reception at China Harbor in South Lake Union. Joe and Matt will be with Rachel and Bobby for their wedding over in Issaquah and then I'll head up to Hidden Meadows on Sunday to be with Emily and Charlie. 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