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!

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.

Upcoming Bridal Show

The holiday season sure did come and go quickly, wouldn't you say? I cannot believe that we are only three days away from January 1st. I am exhibiting at my first bridal show on January 16th at The Landon House in Frederick, Maryland. The owner of Landon House has organized a "non-cattle call" bridal show and asked me to take part because he heard about my video and book services through a local photographer.

Right now I am finalizing wedding videos that will play at my table at the bridal show to display various options for pre-wedding and post-wedding videos. I am grateful that my office is closed this week so I have some extra time to iron out all the details.

If you are in the Frederick area, please come by Landon House for the bridal show! Although Landon House is a wedding and event venue, they are expecting to have other venues at the event showcasing their locations as well. If you know anyone who is engaged, especially if recently engaged, please tell them to visit www.frederickbridalfair.com and come out on January 16th to see some additional videos from Memorable Designs. I'd love to meet them!

Happily Married

Here is a video I created for a wedding that took place on November 14th. The bride is one of the sweetest people and she and her husband have known each other since 5th grade! He is in the Navy and they will be moving across the country to the west coast before the end of the year.