Hmmm. Burnt thumbnail.....check.
Bloodblister on finger.......check.
Swollen right hand from where I caught it in my tripod (long story)......check.
This could only mean one thing. It's WEDDING SEASON!!!!! :-)
I've been looking forward to our first wedding of 2008 ever since I put away my tripod after our last wedding of 2007.
Actually, we've been working on this wedding since 2007, which I will tell you about in a second. But this past weekend, March 1 to be exact, Jaime and Justin were married at The Mill at Lebanon. The reception was held there too.
We've never had a wedding at The Mill before so I was looking extra forward to seeing what the place looked like. I love doing weddings at "new" venues. 
Even though this "new" venue was a very old mill that I was told once had something to do with sheep? Hence all the pictures of sheep in such places as on the doors, etc. It reminded me very much of The Factory at Franklin. Only different. But if you've been to the Factory, you'll sorta know what I'm talking about. Anyway, it's a great place for a wedding if you want a different atmosphere than outdoors or a church or such. I liked it.
Per usual, Lynette and I went to the rehearsal the night before the wedding to get a feel for the place and where the best spots would be to put our cameras. As usual, we walked around and stood in several locations and pictured how it would look if we filmed from there, or there, or over there.....and at one point, Lynette looked at the beams that were running high over our heads, and we made a small joke to ourselves that maybe we could have Amanda stand at the end of the beams -- and she would get a GREAT shot. ha ha. Then Lynette added, "well, I bet Joey will find a way to get up there." ha ha again.
You see, Joey is Joey Pippin, our friend and photographer from Lifetime Weddings. We've done several weddings with him and we know that he will do whatever is needed to get a great shot.
On Jaime and Justin's wedding day, it was sunny and warm-ish and we donned our black clothing and happily went to work. Lynette and Amanda did the pre-ceremony shots with Jaime, and I did the pre-ceremony shots with Justin.
Justin is a great guy. I found that out when we were shooting their music video back in the fall of 2007. Both he and Jaime are very easy going and have a wicked sense of humor. We shot their music video to the song "Somewhere Out There" and it wasn't supposed to be serious at all, but rather sappy and tongue-in-cheek funny. And the way it was shot and edited, it turned out perfectly. Jaime and Justin were so excited about showing it at their wedding reception, and had gone to great lengths to keep it a secret from everyone. Everyone thought it was going to be just another montage of baby pictures and such of the couple. But NOOOO we had more in plan for them.
And Jamie is great too. I was impressed with her flare for style. I never would've thought to put the colors together that Jaime used, but then again, I don't have the flair for knowing what will work together. The reception room was decorated using Jaime's colors of chocolate brown, ivory, and a soft violet, or plum, or purple . . . I'm not sure exactly what the color was, but it was in the light purple-ish family. Anyway, it worked perfectly together. But what really impressed me was that Jaime was able to bring in the traditional and the sentimental (for instance, using pieces of both mother's wedding dresses in various items such as the ringbearer's pillow), yet also keeping the feeling of warmth and Soho Hipness going. Is that a word? Well, if not, I just made it one.
And I'm being borderline sappy, but they just compliment each other perfectly. If you spend an entire afternoon shooting a video with a couple you hardly know, and the afternoon flows smoothly and everyone is laughing and having a good time, then you know you have a great couple. And we had one with Jaime and Justin.
As usual, I didn't see Jaime until right before the wedding because I had spent all day with the guys, and Jaime and Justin didn't see each other before the wedding. But when I did get to see her, she looked absolutely beautiful. And her dress was gorgeous and looked like it had been made with Jaime's personality in mind. It was a fit in more ways than one.
The ceremony was beautiful, we caught everything on video just like we had planned.
Then it came time for Joey to do a short photoshoot of the entire wedding party with all the wedding guests. As mentioned before, Lynette and I shot the ceremony from the balcony level where the reception was going to be held, looking down over the wedding. So Lynette is on one side of the balcony, and I'm across from her on the other side. The only thing between us is a railing then a bunch of wooden beans. The beams we joked about having Amanda stand on. ha ha.
Well, sure enough, Joey (the photographer) hopped over the rail and casually walked across the beams and stood on a center beam looking down at the wedding party and guests.
Sure, it was a great place to stand for the shot, but COME ON JOEY!!!!
For some reason, though, I wasn't worried. I guess because he looked totally at ease.
At one point, it did cross my mind that if he fell, it would not be a good thing. But I didn't dwell on that thought, and just filmed it.
Joey took several shots of the wedding party and guests, directing people around so he could see everyone, then casually walked back over to the side where I was standing, handed me his camera, and hopped back over the railing. Here's one of the photos he took. Amazing! (As usual.) Lynette put a short clip together -- you can view him in action here.
Happily, everyone made it safely to the reception. Which as I mentioned before was decorated beautifully. I love sparkly things and it seemed that wherever I looked, I saw something sparkly. It had a nice, warm ambiance. But don't get me wrong, this was a happy reception with happy friends and family who were enjoying the event.
Jamie's Dad gave a toast that was especially touching. (This was the toast that had Lynette wiping tears from her eyes).
This is also one of many reasons its important to have a videographer cover your wedding. A photograph of your Dad giving a toast doesn't really bring back memories of what he said, and how he said it, and what he sounded like....you get the picture...... (Sorry for the pun).
It finally came time to show the music video, (that was a secret, remember?) and I was a little nervous. What if the guests didn't get the joke? What if they thought that this over the top tongue-in-cheek video was serious? Well, all I can say is that everyone "got it" and the room was filled with so much laughter that you could barely hear the song. Success! You can check out Jaime and Justin's video here.
After the video came the party! Guests danced to music played by a very impressive DJ. And it wasn't the typical "wedding" music. No dancing like a duck or anything like that. Not that there is anything wrong with dancing like a duck....You can read all about the DJ -- Ray Posada of Grand Beginning Productions on our Vendor Spotlight page.
I can truly say that I had a really good time at Jaime and Justin's reception. There was tons of love in the room, you could just feel it.
Okay, time to wrap up this puppy. Suffice to say that Jaime and Justin had a great wedding day, and we were fortunate enough to be part of it. I don't know where they were headed as they ran out of the Mill between rows of family and friends holding sparklers. But I do know this. Wherever they are headed they will always have each other which will make the destination not as important as the actual "getting to" the destination.
So our first wedding of 2008 was a great time. Thanks goes out to Jaime and Justin for allowing us to capture the day for you. :-)
Tuesday, March 4, 2008 
Reader Comments (3)
Love it! Cant wait to feature on my site. Stay tuned...
Cheryl,
I love reading your blog. It's so warm and personal and sounds just like you're talking instead of being so formal amd reporting an event.
I'll be keeping up with your blog as well as Lynette's, too.
Thanks so much for all the kind words can't wait to see the final product. You know the editor... can't you bump us up on the editing list?!? Everyone loved our music video and I'm still getting wonderful comments about it!! Thanks again