After the wedding ceremony, we had our photo/video session.  It’s generally referred to as the photo session/cocktail hour, but since video plays such an integral roll, especially in my wedding, I’ll call it the photo/video session.

Kristi Odom, of Kristi Odom Photography was a fantastic photographer to work with.  Not only did I love the end result - the photos I have and am sharing on these blogs - but, and maybe more importantly, she was a pleasure to work with on the day of.  Of course I have to remember I wasn’t “working with” her that day, as I have done on many weddings.  I was simply the subject of her work, but she, and her assistant, Christopher Yost, were both fun to be around, professional, and didn’t  get in the way of anything we were doing that day - yet somehow came back with great photos.

Then, of course, there is my video.  I obviously couldn’t shoot this one myself so I used my associate videographer, Mike Alvarez, to capture the day.

I did edit the video myself, I must admit, but he gave me so many great shots to work with and I was so excited when I saw the footage.  I also have to confess that I cried when I watched the video of Bart and I saying our vows.  There is something about reliving that moment, something about the way video brings that day to life, that is moving in the way nothing else can be.

One more point I want to make about the photo/video team that surprised even me, and I have been to probably a thousand weddings, is how much time you end up spending with your photographer and videographer.  I have done this a million times at weddings I have shot, but never experienced it as a bride before.  You spend five minutes, maybe ten, with most of your guests during the course of the day, but you spend thirty to forty minutes with your photo/video team.  I was surprised by that, but also so happy that I had chosen to work with such a great team.  Kristi, Chris and Mike are all so pleasant and I had a lot of fun “hanging out” with them.  Just a word to the wise, make sure you like your photographer and videographer, because you will see a lot of them.

You can see from the photos and the video on this page what a great job the photo/video team did - and how great Bart and I looked - but a big part of what made those images so beautiful is the setting.  Stonewall Golf Club was a great venue, but the access they have to Lake Manassass provided an incredible backdrop!  I also have to say, the food was great.  We were so happy with the choice of venue and working with Jennifer Mott and Jeanna Hilton during the booking and planning process was so easy.  They were always prompt to reply with answers, and everything just ran seamlessly at the reception.

A big part of that, of course, is due to our deejay, Wayne Boyland, of A Sound Plan.  Wayne was so helpful in giving us music to choose from for all of our main dances, in advance of the wedding, of course.  On the day of, he kept the reception moving along, the guests dancing, and played all our favorite music.

Last, but not least, we have the cake.

I have been friends with Mary and David Supley-Foxworth, of MallowDrama, for a few years now, and it was really a no-brainer when it came time to choose my cake maker.  They are great friends to have for many reasons, but one of them is that I have gotten to taste so much yummy cake over the years.  When it was time for us to choose our cake flavor and design, they brought over a ton of samples of flavors and icing and then suggested and sketched out an original design for us.  We had a layered cake of bananas foster and chocolate espresso and I only wish I got to have my cake and eat it too because it was so pretty I didn’t want to cut it up, but it was so yummy I wanted to eat it all!

I had a wonderful wedding.  From the planning to the photo and video keepsakes, it was a great experience.  And, of course, I get to keep the very best part until death do us part.

Wedding Team:
Hair: Jen Erk, Studio 61
Makeup: Kim Giammaria, Beauty Mark
Flowers: Elegance & Simplicity
Minister: Rev. Mary Katherine Morn, UUCF
Ceremony Music: Eric Waters, MSE Productions
Photographer: Kristi Odom, Kristi Odom Photography
Videographer: Michael Alvarez, Jessica Pi Productions
Cake: MallowDrama
Deejay: A Sound Plan
Reception Venue: Stonewall Golf Club

As you can imagine, I have a lot of friends who work in the wedding industry, and only one wedding to go around.  If I could, and my now husband would put up with it, I would get married three times at least just to be able to work with all the wonderful vendors I know in this area.  Alas, I am sure he would not put up with it and so I had to choose.  It was very difficult, but I ended up with the best wedding team a girl could ever hope for.

I have listed everyone I worked with with at the end of this post.  They were all fabulous and I highly recommend every one of them, so please follow links to their websites and hire them for all of your weddings (especially if you are lucky enough to have three or more!).

But I need to say a few words about all of them, because it really was a fantastic wedding and I hardly had to do anything but show up.  Turns out I have a lot to say, so this blog is going to come in part 1 and part 2.

First of all, my hair and makeup team.  I am not a girlie girl and you don’t want to let me near a hair dryer or a makeup kit, so I knew I needed some extra help.  I have been going to Jennifer Erk Reed, at Studio 61, for about five years.  I first got her card at a wedding I was videotaping because she did such a fantastic job on the bride’s hair.  She does a great job cutting and coloring my hair on a regular basis, but she really blew it out of the park with the hair style for my wedding!  She also did the mother of the groom’s hair, who looked gorgeous from head to toe, but especially the head.

And, of course, I loved my makeup as well.  It was certainly not something I could’ve done myself, so I hired the lovely and talented Kim Giammaria, with Beauty Mark.  Even though I was running late due to - you guessed it - traffic, she was very calm helping get my makeup done half an hour before my ceremony was going to start, and it looked great the whole day through.

In the following video, I made sure to include live audio from both the procession and the recession because Eric Waters, a guitarist with MSE Productions, did such a fantastic job.  I married a Robinson so the recession song was particularly key and, even though it wasn’t on his playlist, he learned it especially for my wedding.

As you can see, I shortened the video of the ceremony considerably. Not so in the Blu-Ray disc we have at home. It was such a beautiful ceremony that I kept in almost every moment for our own video. Rev. Mary Katherine Morn, the minister at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Fairfax, did such a fantastic job writing a very personalized ceremony. We had met with her several times before the wedding day and she really brought so many unique-to-us tidbits into the ceremony that Bart and I were both on the verge of tears the entire time. And yes, I giggle when I am trying not to cry, so if any of that comes across in the video of my vows, it’s a nervous habit.

The last vendor I have room for in part one, is someone else who really added beauty to the day. I have been friends with and known Katie Martin, of Elegance & Simplicity, for six or seven years. I have videotaped so many weddings where her team did the floral arrangements that I just had to ask her to do my wedding. Now, I need to point out, or Katie will kill me, that the sea grass and shell on the podium behind us during the ceremony was not her work. (It just happened to be in our church on the day of our ceremony.) We were conservative with our floral order and just had Katie do the two bouquets, which were gorgeous beyond belief, and the boutonnieres. For our reception, we wanted something eco-friendly and alive, so Katie suggested live, potted herbs for the centerpieces, which was a fantastic suggestion especially since they doubled as party favors.

Wedding Team:
Hair: Jen Erk, Studio 61
Makeup:  Kim Giammaria, Beauty Mark
Flowers:  Elegance & Simplicity
Minister: Rev. Mary Katherine Morn, UUCF
Ceremony Music:  Eric Waters, MSE Productions
Photographer:  Kristi Odom, Kristi Odom Photography
Videographer:  Michael Alvarez, Jessica Pi Productions
Cake:  MallowDrama
Deejay:  A Sound Plan
Reception Venue:  Stonewall Golf Club

The reception was at the Decatur House. I love videotaping there, especially when they have the outdoor tent set up. It’s a great space and provides a beautiful backdrop for a beautiful day.

This couple had a great wedding, but with such a top notch team of vendors, I can’t imagine how it could’ve been anything but perfect.

Contact Tom Van Veen:
thomas@documentaryassociates.com
301-758-3085
www.documentaryassociates.com

Contact Elegance & Simplicity:

301.656.5560
800.768.8814
Twitter: GreenWed + EcoBeautiful
www.eleganceandsimplicity.com
www.eco-beautifulweddings.com

And then my phone rang. It was the bride. She had been out of town and had only just watched the video the night before. After watching it “My husband told me to call Jessica right away and tell her how much we love the video. We do, Jessica. It’s perfect. We love it!”

I love hearing that. It’s why I do weddings.
Here’s a short version of their recap so you can see a little of what made them so happy.

Aside from the bride and groom being gorgeous, this was a beautiful all around event, and a lot of the credit for that goes to the wedding planner, Mr. William Grace. He put together a fabulous event and seemed happy and relaxed the whole time. He was a pleasure to work with and I know the bride and groom loved him. You can see the bride giving him a little token of her appreciation in the bridal prep video.

It was a beautiful wedding day and there was a lot of love to go around. I am glad I was there to catch some of it!

To live stream the event, I set up one camera to be the live feed to the web, for all the friends and family tuning in at home. I also videotaped with a second camera, which gave me more flexibility for editing later. When you live stream, you need the camera to be connected to a computer which is online, so that camera really can’t move around much. Since the bride and groom also wanted their video edited, I recorded both the footage from the streaming camera as well as from a second, mobile, camera.

The result? Well, here’s what they had to say:
“I could not imagine a better videography vendor! Jessica provided top-notch quality, consultative, personal, creative, and timely service. Through the entire process of the initial planning sessions to logistics to the big day to the final product of a lovely video, everything was smooth. My husband and I watched the video and cried and laughed over and over when we received it, and we will enjoy it for years to come. I will recommend Jessica Pi Productions to anyone who needs a videographer.”
-Stacy & Damian

Jessica was recommended to me by my amazing photographer, Kristi Odom, and I was extremely lucky that she happened to be available on such short notice! Jessica was awesome to work with - even though we didn’t get a chance to meet until my actual wedding day! Upon waking up the morning after the wedding, my first thought literally was, “THANK GOD WE HAVE VIDEO TO RE-LIVE THAT AMAZING DAY AND SEE ALL THE THINGS WE DIDN’T HAVE TIME TO SEE/APPRECIATE YESTERDAY!”

My wedding day was so magical and wonderful and Jessica captured everything in the video. She did such a wonderful job that I start crying (happy tears) all over again when I watch the video and I’ve watched it more than I want to admit!

Thank you so much Jessica! You’re so talented and I will definitely be singing your praises to future brides!”
-Allison and Brian

“Hi Jessica,
Thank you so much!!! We LOVE the wedding video! It made everyone cry all over again and you caught all the wedding day details I was hoping to see. Is it possible to get 2 more copies of the DVD?
Thanks!
Allison
P.S. Is there anywhere in particular you’d like me to write a review for you?!”

Check out this recap of their beautiful day. Maybe it will make you cry.


We are not supposed to have favorites, but this wedding was one of my favorites of the year. Allison and Brian were a pleasure to work with. Their ceremony was made unique with personal thank you letters to their families and promises made to each other. The River Plantation, where the ceremony and reception were held, was gorgeous, as were the bride and groom. To top it off, I got to work with two of my favorite wedding vendors - Kristi Odom, of Kristi Odom Photography, and Kelley Cannon, of Kelley Cannon Events.

Check out Kristi’s photos. Her style is professional and fun and that’s what working with her is like.

Kelley Cannon, after planning a wonderful event, had this to say about the wedding:
“Allison & Brian definitely put a lot of thought into all the details of the wedding (which as a planner, you know I appreciate!), but one of things that I loved the most about the day was the heartfelt emotion and personal touch they incorporated into their ceremony. Allison’s uncle officiated the ceremony and they included personal addresses to their parents, vows they wrote themselves (which made just about everyone- including me) laugh and cry. They also had a close friend sing a beautiful song (“Feels like Home to Me”) in the middle of the ceremony. A lot of times in the flurry that is wedding planning, couples can lose focus of the reason they are planning the celebration, so I thought that was really special.”

Allison and Brian chose to see each other before their ceremony. You can see their pre-ceremony photos as well as some beautiful decorative touches set up for the ceremony in this video:

To discuss wedding planning with Kelley Cannon, check out her website or call her at (703) 477-5111.

To see more beautiful photos like the one below, check out Kristi Odom’s website.

One question I get asked a lot is what’s involved in editing a wedding video? The short answer? A lot!

The first thing I do is contact the happy newlyweds. I talk to them, post honeymoon, about the day’s events. Were there any moments that stood out that absolutely have to be highlighted? Were there any people whose actions might need to be downplayed? Did you love every word the priest, rabbi or officiant spoke, or could we cut out that section about exactly how many children you should be having? And, of course, what music do you want for all the montages in your video?

Once I get a few simple, but important, answers to how you want your wedding video edited, I capture and log all the footage. This basically just means I go through all 4, 6 or 8 hours of footage I shot, get it all into my editing system, and organize it by which camera, what part of the wedding day, and what type of footage it is.

Then comes the fun part. When I edit a wedding video, I really am trying to tell your story. I open the first montage with an establishing shot to set the stage - whether it’s a shot of the program, a shot of the church, or a shot of the bride’s house - this is where this story begins. Then we introduce all the main characters and establish what they are doing before the moment when the wedding march begins.

The ceremony pretty much writes itself. After finding out how much and which parts of the ceremony the couple would like included, I just have to choose the best shots for each second of footage, and, of course, level the audio from the microphones on the grooms lapel and around the room.

Check out these two clips from an outdoor ceremony at Whitehall Manor. The first shows just one camera angle and is unedited.

The second one shows the edited version utilizing both camera’s footage.

After the ceremony, there is usually a photo session and cocktail hour. Like all the montages in your video, I add slow motion, black and white, and other effects to enhance the visual impact.

I have included two short videos from a photo session and reception at The Tower Club. The first video is edited to music, with effects added.

The second video is the raw, or unedited, footage from the same session.

The reception footage is also left mostly “live.” I keep the toasts, first dances, and cake cutting pretty much intact.  I mix up the editing during the general dancing, so it doesn’t get too repetitive.

Most of my packages include a recap video. This is a montage of the best moments of the day. Many couples like to choose which of their songs is used in the recap as this is the part of the video they are going to watch and show the most, since it has a little bit of everything in it. This is my favorite part to edit. My hope is, by the time everyone is done watching the recap, they will be in tears. I select each shot from the day very carefully to tell a love story, and the story of one of the happiest days in your life.