New Year, Modified Priorities

My apologies, I have fallen off the bandwagon. Actually, I have been blogging rather frequently about home projects, DIY activities at home, recipes, and our latest "going ons" at my personal blog: Enjoy Life & Love.

I have taken a step back from memorable Designs meaning I haven't been promoting my work because as my pregnancy progresses (36+ weeks now!) I wanted to be realistic about my time commitment. I have been working on a wedding video which I can hopefully share with you soon and also using this "down time" before baby arrives to design my own books and videos since I know time will be even more valuable in a few short weeks.

So if you REALLY want to keep up with our soon-to-be family, please follow my other blog and keep in touch. I will continue sharing projects here, but I wanted to reassure you that I haven't dropped out of the race -- I still love doing all of the photography-related projects and pendants!

Fall Family Portraits

On Sunday, October 24th I did a portrait session with some friends out in Mt. Airy, Maryland. The fall foliage was just where we wanted it and the little one even had a fun time. Here is a sneak peek:

Family Reunion

I wanted to share a few pictures from a family reunion.

End of Summer

How do you know summer is coming to an end?

You find yourself enjoying the bounty of summer's harvest every chance you get.

No matter how old you are, you are eating corn on the cob several times a week.

And enjoying every last kernel.

Celebrating 50 Years

Just about two weeks ago I finished a video in celebration of a 50th anniversary. I met Kim through another wedding vendor (thanks Pat!) and began working with her in the beginning of March, discussing this project for her parents. This past Saturday, Kim and her family, including two sisters, hosted a 70th birthday party for their mother/50th anniversary party in the New York City area.

Kim shared hundreds and hundreds of photos with me and we worked together to do everything possible to ensure that all party guests were included in the video at least once. You can see that her parents have a large network of fun-loving friends who like to travel and share their days laughing together.

I also created a guestbook for the event that had only photos of her parents through the years. More on that in another post.

I hope Brad and I celebrate our Golden Anniversary with a party in 2058!

A Tribute

Last night I turned a video around in 18 hours. Why the speed? Sadly, a really good man passed away unexpectedly and his family wanted a video to play at the memorial service. It isn't appropriate for me to post on the blog, especially without their permission and because it is such a private time. But I did do something different that I can tell you about.

The grown son gave me about 100 photos from childhood to the present and I couldn't stop laughing at some of them. He was one funny guy, let me tell you. I put all the photos from his younger years at the beginning in what seemed like chronological order and then I noticed some trends and I sectioned off the pictures that way. He played rugby (in the states and abroad I think), liked to have drinks with friends, loved dogs, and especially loved his wife and son.

I researched various quotes related to the sections and put them on a black background with white font at the start of each section. One was funny, the rest more thoughtful, but it really helped the video flow since they opted to not use any music. Although this is an incredibly sad time for the family, I hope they can look at their video and laugh a little knowing that he would probably want them to.

A Personal History

A few weeks ago I completed a video as a surprise to honor "A's" grandmother. I think the large DC area snowstorm (16+ inches) may have postponed the party, but grandmother Peggy did get to view the video soon after.

"A" provided me with wonderful photos from Peggy's childhood and years as a young wife and mother which really enhanced her video. I am glad she asked me to be a part of preserving their family memories.

Wedding Videos

Angela, the mother-of-the-bride (MOB) of the aforementioned wedding was kind enough to allow me to share two videos I created for her with you. Angela contacted me a few weeks ago before the Sept. 19th wedding and she requested two videos: one of the bride and her father for their dance at the reception and one of the bride and groom to be shown during their first dance. Each video has one song (the song they danced to) and uses photos Angela provided me with.

Grateful for Positive Feedback

At this time I just put the finishing touches on two DVDs for an upcoming wedding. The mother of the bride contacted me a couple weeks ago about creating a DVD for the father-daughter dance as well as the couple's first dance at the reception. I was thrilled to see her reaction last week when we met in person to preview the videos and after I made a few minor adjustments she requested, she sent me a wonderful e-mail.

"We love both videos! I was going to surprise my husband at the wedding with the video of him and (daughter), but I decided to let him see it first and I am so glad I did. He fell completely apart...He said that it crystallized the impact of his baby getting married and he recalled each event in each picture- every one of them had a very special meaning to him. He just cried and cried. He said that you did an outstanding job...He also said and I agree, that the photos, music and lyrics were impeccably choreographed. Excellent Excellent job Shannon! The thought and skill that you put into the videos has brought us a lot of joy and we can hardly wait to share our memories with our guests."

As a young entrepreneur, messages like these are very reassuring. My goal when I work with clients is to make sure they are completely satisfied with the product I create for them and I hope that the bride enjoys seeing the videos on her wedding day this weekend. With her permission, I would like to post the videos on the blog...hopefully you will get to see them soon!

70th Birthday Celebration

Below is a video I created for my father-in-law's birthday this past Spring. I am in the process of uploading work I have done to this blog and this is my starting point. Unfortunately, due to file size restrictions put in place by Blogger, the photos aren't as clear as they appear on the DVD because I had to reduce the file size in order to post.