July 2018 Newsletter
Greetings everyone! Reid here with Best Made Videos®. We started off the month of June with a fantastic visit to JM Cellars in Woodinville, Wa for the wedding of Peter and Sima. We had previously met Sima on the Weddings in Woodinville tour back in January when she was looking for a wedding videographer. Partnering with Arlene Chambers (her photographer), Arianna Scott (make up artist), Jacky Grotle (with NW Event Success) as well as Magnolia Rhapsody (DJ) almost all of Sima and Peter's wedding vendors were found on the Weddings in Woodinville Wedding Tour. Not only does this speak highly of the quality of wedding vendors found on the tour, but it also shows how successful a wedding can be when all of the vendors get along and can work together. I'll include Peter and Sima's incredible wedding highlight video below as it is one you don't want to miss!
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Speaking of wedding tours, Dorothy and I found ourselves up in Snohomish County at Jardin del Sol for the Snohomish Wedding Guild Tour the first Sunday in June. Partnering up with some incredible vendors such as B. Jones Photographer, Pink Blossom Events and Bugsie Productions, we had a fun day not only networking with each other, but meeting potential new wedding clients for the 2019 wedding season. There was a little bit of early June rain during part of the afternoon, but hosting the event in late Spring is a great way to showcase the beauty of all of the wedding venues on the tour. I look forward to working with all of the new wedding clients (and vendors) that we met on the tour in the 2019 wedding season and beyond!
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The first full week of June found me playing double duty between filming corporate interviews (with Matt Fish) at the Seattle Convention Center and heading down south to Enumclaw, Wa for the wedding of Chloe and Tyler at Genesis Farm and Gardens. During the entire wedding day it seemed that there was an impending storm that never actually came. Dark ominous clouds were a stark contrast to the bright blue sky overhead and gave an amazing backdrop for their detail shots, wedding ceremony and couples portraits afterward. This is one of my favorite wedding days from the year so far. Passionate, thoughtful vows between the bride and groom as well as some moments of levity from their wedding officiant made this day one to remember always!
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I had a great opportunity to reconnect with some past wedding clients a few weekends ago when I got to film a promo video for Cory Foster. Cory and Kristi got married back in February at the Washington Athletic Club in a beautifully spectacular wedding ceremony. Cory is a personal trainer at a local gym and thought it would be a great idea for me to come down and film some workouts and client testimonials, and I couldn't agree more. We had a great day of filming and I look forward to putting his promotional video together for him soon.
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Dorothy and I spent a fun Friday night at the annual Pop Some Tops event put on by Plymouth Housing Group. Plymouth Housing Group transforms lives by providing permanent, supportive homes to homeless people with few other options for housing. Since 1980, they've been providing homes to the most challenged homeless adults in our community. Today, over 1,000 formerly-homeless adults live in 13 Plymouth residential apartment buildings in the downtown Seattle area. At the heart of Plymouth’s approach is the “Housing First” philosophy, a philosophy that has proven successful across the country. Without a stable home, homeless people cannot access the assistance they need to address their problems. Lack of a stable home exacerbates chronic medical and mental health conditions, making it very difficult to improve one’s life. This was a fantastic event and we are excited that we've gotten to participate each and every year. The theme of the event was "old Hollywood," so it was fun to play dress up for the night!
Matt and Kimle had a wedding for the ages, as they assembled an all-star team of wedding vendors for their celebration at Historic 1625 in Tacoma. Including Elegant Affairs (planning/coordination), Otto-Matic (DJ) and Josh Fernandez (photography), we all got to work together to give this incredible couple a wedding day that they can remember forever. I especially love how playful Matt was during their portrait session on the Tacoma Waterfront, as well as their first dance which the two choreographed and took dancing lessons for! Check out this video for sure!
Stephania and Jason got married at the Bell Harbor International Conference Center on the Seattle Waterfront on the Saturday of Memorial Day. These two had an wonderful celebration including a live magician, photo booth, and a surprise dance by bride Stephania and the rest of her bridesmaids. My favorite part of this wedding was the couple's grand exit, as they descended the staircase out front of the convention center with bubbles blowing in the air.
Jessica and AJ got married the day after Stepania and Jason, at Indian Summer Golf and Country Club in Olympia, Wa. AJ takes the prize so far this year for the best reaction during a "first look." Mouth open wide and hands on his cheeks, the look of excitement, joy and amazement is one that you cannot miss! Our "golden hour" photos to end the night were particularly memorable for me as well, with the couple driving a golf cart off into the distance laughing and cheering the whole way!
During my promo video session with Cory and Kristi, I also got a chance to record another video testimonial in our series, "Their Voice, Our Video." This a really good chance for me to go back and chat with my recently married couples about their thought process for hiring a wedding videographer to help capture their day. Cory and Kristi only reached out to me a month or two before their wedding (they had been balancing what they wanted versus what they needed), so their insights were particularly interesting as I think that many couples find themselves in a similar mindset. I hope you take a chance to check out their testimonial!
We released 4 new episodes of our podcast "Get to Know Your Wedding Pro" this month including interviews with Claire Fernandez with Party on the Rocks, Angela Strecker with Blue Wings Events, Melissa Reiner with Hey Sweets, and Yasmin Shirdel of Samila Boutique. These are four wickedly smart business owners and entrepreneurs and they all have their own thoughts and insights they've learned from running four very different wedding businesses. Coming up next month we have some great interviews with Dan Manning of Dan Manning Photography and Candi Block of Thrifty Events and Yeti Yard Games.
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!
You never know where you will take cool photos!
I'm always amazed at how many cool and unique backdrops we can find for wedding portraits. Not all venues are out in an idyllic setting with a sweeping field or a nice beach. Take Bethany and Nate's wedding, pictured above. These two had an awesome urban wedding reception at Metropolist in Sodo. But when we went outside to take their "golden hour" photos, our options seemed somewhat limited at first. However, we found this awesome garage door of a building across the alleyway to use. And it turned out to be great! You have to always be looking for new and creative ways to make the best of where you are, and I could not be happier with the set of portraits that we got to deliver to this amazing couple!
My job wouldn't be complete without including a nice image of ROSIE! Rosie was hanging out on the bed the other day and I thought I would snap a little iPhone pic! Love that little friend...
Thank you all for checking out our monthly newsletter! July is shaping up to be another exciting month. We are headed to Italy on July 1st (my birthday) for the wedding of our friends Roxy and Zach. Afterwards we will be spending some time vacationing (in Milan & Venice) and sight-seeing before returning home to more weddings! The rest of July will find me heading up north to Twisp, Wa, while Joe will be heading south to the Vancouver area for a fun golf course wedding. 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