thank you
a happy mother of the bride
I usually don’t post these in my blog content (well in the kudos section), but I received this lovely email from a Mother of the Bride at 12:15am this morning. (And a similar email happened to my planner friend, Emilie Duncan).
Maddy + Gregg’s wedding was yesterday and it was fantastic. Small, intimate and lovely. What was personal for me was that Maddy’s father passed away few years ago, so we were extra sensitive to this issue, but we still felt that he was there in spirit.
This is the email:
Saundra,
Mere words cannot say how terrific I think you are. You made it all come together perfectly for one of the best weddings my family and I as well as our guests have ever attended. This day would not have been as happy and stress free without you. I know from a professional standpoint we were pretty small potatoes, but I could see how much you love what you do, and I am so grateful for you accepting us as your clients. You absolutely ROCK. I know I was a skeptic a year ago, but change makes believers, and I am absolutely your biggest fan.
Thank you again for putting all the special touches in to this happy happy day. You kept my baby and me smiling and worry free. You can add us to your list of references prospective clients can call and I will sing your praises from the rooftops. It was an A HA day all the way.
Warmest and heartfelt regards,
Stephanie Heine
Heart you both back!
thank you to all my friends for your support
Dear Friends and Clients,
Please excuse the very personal blog post that will follow. I’m sure you’ve noticed that I have not been posting much in August. It’s been a long month, on a very personal level.
About 5 weeks ago my father started to have fevers at night and experiencing extreme weakness. At first, we felt he was just having flu-like symptoms. At 72 years old, my Dad who takes no medication for any “old age” illnesses, started to become a little scared. When he was too weak to even walk up the stairs, it was obvious that there was a serious problem.
On August 10th, his doctor admitted him into the hospital because his blood test results showed very low sodium level. Dehydration is what I thought! It’s no big deal!!! 15 days later I would be taking my Dad home with hospice, diagnosed with Intravascular Large Cell -B Lymphoma (an aggressive, 4th stage cancer in the blood and bones).
Dad passed two days later, August 27th at 6:45am at my home, with my mom, myself and my husband at his side.
There are few words to be able to explain what we have gone through. It’s a whirlwind and an emotional tidal wave, that is so surreal you think for a second you may wake up from a not-so-pleasant dream. My father always told me that if he was going to have an illness that he wishes he would be taken quickly. Obviously God granted him his wish. For that, I am grateful.
Through out this ordeal and after; I have had such a tremendous support from my acquaintances and friends on Twitter and Facebook. To all of you, words cannot describe what your kind words have meant to me. Many of you, I have never met in-person and your friendliness was heart warming and incredible. Before Dad got too ill, I did tell him how many people were praying for him. He was amazed!
Some people make derogatory comments about social media. I say to them, they just don’t get it. My online “friends” that I have acquired have given me strength, courage, support, laughter and encouragement.
I remember the first night we brought him home, it was particularly difficult for me, because I knew he was really dying. It was late at night and I checked Twitter on my iPhone just before going to bed. My friend and fellow planner, Jennifer, had tweeted to please pray for me & my family because she knew I was hurting. There were about 10-15 tweets from (online) friends saying that they are thinking of me right at that very moment and praying. Of course, I cried ( you know, the ugly kind of crying). And I didn’t feel alone. To all of you: I am eternally grateful. And to our Special Clients: Thank you so much for your patience & understanding during this incredibly difficult time.
It is with heavy heart that I join “the club” of losing a parent. It’s a feeling that there are no words to describe. Since my parents live with us, I keep expecting to see my father walk in and say something. I turn around and expect him to be there. We don’t have bad days, we have bad moments. Probably because we are still in shock at the speed of his downward spiral. If anything this has taught me to not just “sweat the small stuff” but to actually not “sweat the unimportant stuff”.
Today is my parent’s anniversary, and they would have been celebrating 51 years together. I was hoping that he would be alive today, however we will still celebrate their commitment and love together.
I am my Daddy’s only little girl and baby. And that will always be the way it is, whether he is on this earth or not. I hope to continue to make him proud and live up to his expectations in my own way. I’m grateful that my father got to walk me down the aisle at my wedding, see me accomplish professional goals, watch me become a mother, respected my husband and become an intricate part of my son’s life. For that, I am very lucky.
much love and respect, saundra
no, thank YOU!
Got the sweetest thank you card today from the MOB.
Man I love it when we hit a home run. And it was so easy to do so with this family, great attitudes and fun loving. They were one of our risk takers we talked about earlier! I’m waiting for the professional pictures from Walker Studio!! Which by the way, gave us this referral, so thank you very much!
Housekeeping issue: we are tweaking the blog right now and for the next few weeks. Expect to find some weirdness. Just let us know if you can’t access something and thank you for your patience!
Plan on! -saundra
love your wedding videographer
Our bride, Tina (Wolfe) Swain captured by Black Tie Video Productions.
Click on the picture to see her wedding highlights.
Our special series of “loving your wedding vendors” continues:
Today we are going to talk about your wedding videographer.
More than half of our clients want to have video captured of their wedding. This is a digital age (duh!) so just think into the future after your children are born…..they will want to see video!! Video is an excellent compliment to photography to remember your wedding.
Reasons why you should love your wedding videographer?
- Their equipment is heavy and can be cumbersome, it’s back breaking work!
- They have to be as creative as they are stealthy to capture those moments.
- Unlike photographers with digital cameras, they have to shoot a lot of film and usually will not check it until they are back in their studio the next day.
- Serious skills in the editing department; that’s what makes you tear up when you watch your wedding video.
- Flexible and understanding; they work long and hard while often not getting a chance to sit down or eat a full meal.
- They are challenged in capturing your moments because people walk in front of their cameras all the time (sorry, I do it too).
- Somehow they get your vows on film, even though your pastor or priest will not allow them to stand in a good position in the sanctuary.
- Like any true artists, they pour their hearts and soul into creating a video by editing raw film footage and adding music that will leave you feeling like a movie star!
Our groom, Luke Lear at his wedding to Brittany (Burris) by Black Tie Video Productions.
Click on the link to see their wedding highlights.
Behind the scenes:
I’ve worked with a few wedding videographers both locally and outside our immediate area. It never ceases to amaze me how professional and how much energy they use on a wedding day (I thought I was the one that buzzed around a lot).
Humorous things that I see is how often videographer’s shots get messed up (of course after the editing process all is usually good). Because they stand so still they seem to blend into the background, which is a good thing. BUT, guests and wedding planners (okay, me) sometimes will walk right in front of them, which is not a good thing. I’ve had to train myself to be aware of where they are at when I’m running around on a wedding day.
They can have challenges also with DJ lights. You know the first dance is beautiful and then there is a blue light bouncing off the bride’s face. No problem when you are watching it in person; but when you transpose that image into video…they may end up looking smurfs!
They hear and see EVERYTHING! You know when they are recording you and your bridesmaids getting dressed on your wedding day; they are recording with audio too!!! It’s a good thing there is an editing process and music takes the place of some of those conversations. *wink* At one of our weddings, the videographer taped me threatening to stick one of the “overly-friendly” groomsman with a boutonniere stick pin. It was fun to see that raw footage later.
Overall, wedding videographers are absolutely committed to capturing all your memories to create something that you, your family and friends will enjoy for many years to come! For that and all their hard work, THAT is why you should love your wedding videographer!
Plan on! -saundra
Tomorrow: love your wedding planner
love your wedding florist
Our special series of “loving your wedding vendors” continues: Today we are going to talk about your wedding florist.
If you have every tried to do your own DIY flower arrangement, you will know why you should love your wedding florist. It’s more than just having a green thumb, they have to be creative and have serious skills to create dazzling floral works of art! Let’s face it; it’s more than collecting a bunch of flowers, putting floral tape around it and a ribbon!
Reasons why you should love your wedding florist?
- They’ll let you know what flowers are in season so you can save a buck.
- They can take a $450 bridal bouquet picture that you ripped out of In Style Weddings and recreate it without the impact on your pocketbook.
- They make it their business to know a zillion kinds of flowers; all filed and stored in their heads!
- Florists are like MacGyver with interesting and creative ways to create an awesome visual!
- Great florists are willing to: make a prototype before the wedding, make minor adjustments to your bouquet and will throw in an extra boutonnière or corsage (for breakage or oops-you-forgot someone important).
- While this is a creative job it is also incredibly physically demanding. They have to stand for hours in a chilly warehouse so you can have your dream wedding.
- They work under tense deadlines and tremendous pressure to cater to emotional clients.
- Snow, rain, humidity, oppressive heat or cold…they work hard to setup/tear down your décor whether it is inside or outside!
Behind the scenes: I have so many behind the scenes stories regarding florists…that this could be a long post. So instead I’ve decided to tell you a story about how this whole “love your wedding series” was born. During my trip to Atlanta earlier this year, I went early with Sally (a florist whom I hire frequently for our client’s floral needs) to work with a floral/event designer friend of hers. We worked actual production for two large weddings that where in the 5 to 6-figure dollar range for décor. Definitely Big City stuff! On Friday, we worked production in a cold, large warehouse to create the centerpieces. Can I just tell you that I would personally want to manage 10 crazy, emotional brides than work in a warehouse? But that’s just me.
Look at the money flowers in this warehouse!
On Saturday we showed up at the gorgeous downtown Hilton to assist with installation for a large Indian wedding reception. This was actually their second wedding reception, to honor the groom’s family in Atlanta. The bride loved red roses and there were at least 45 centerpieces with about 50-75 roses in each one (there were two sizes). When her New York wedding planner saw the rose centerpieces we had made the previous day, he simply shook his head and said, “No! The bride is not going to like them…she wants the roses tighter together with minimal spacing or greenery”. Oooookay…no problem.
These were the centerpieces before we did the redesign.
AFTER the redesign, nice and compact.
So in the outside veranda at this beautiful and expensive hotel we laid down plastic sheets and reworked the design in every single centerpiece. I pulled out and cut over 2,500 roses while Sally would create arrangements. It took us four continuous hours with one break. We were very methodical at first but towards the end we had to really push ourselves so we could clean up before guests showed up! Literally we were rolling the carts out to the service elevator while guests were starting to come up the stairs. Whew.
Those suckers were heavy!
Pretty room! and the centerpieces did look better the way the bride wanted them.
The bride and groom never knew how hard we worked. And for the record; I no longer like red roses. For the florists that deliver exceptional service and let their brides see their wedding bouquet and floral arrangement before the wedding, like we do, for that … you should love them! Question: what do florists get on Valentine’s Day? teehee. Plan on! -saundra
Tomorrow: love your wedding videographer
blog love from earth friendly weddings
Jennifer at Earth Friendly Weddings blogged about our tree at Super Bride…she is such a sweetie! Thank you so much!
Which brings me to talk about her latest endeavor… earthlyaffair.com :: earth friendly invitations. Original and unique (of course on recycled paper) it proves that making a green friendly decision does not mean you give up looking good. Take a look at one of her creations, Pinwheel (which comes in a variety of colors, as all her invitations).
So cute!!! Make sure you take a moment to look at the rest of her creative line!
Plan on! -saundra
want to stalk us?
official studio website
linked in
studio facebook
our YouTube videos
our Vimeo videos
heck yes, we twitter!
