This clip is currently making the rounds on the internet, & I love it for so many reasons:

High Tech Wedding Proposal from Brett Culp on Vimeo.

The most memorable engagements & weddings create unique experiences that stick with you for a lifetime.  It isn't necessarily about creating luxury experiences or buying expensive gifts.  Often, it is the elements that go the extra mile & show your love & commitment.

Another reason I love this clip is that it allowed other friends & family to be involved.  As you make all your wedding plans, consider how your loved ones can share in the special moments.  This creates wonderful memories for them as well.

If you are blessed with a positive relationship with one or more parents, your wedding is a wonderful time to celebrate it.

From a certain perspective, a wedding is more of an accomplishment for the parents of the bride & groom because it is a culmination of decades of love, commitment, & patience.  Guests will often congratulate you on your wedding day, but your parents likely deserve an equal measure of congratulations.  They have seen you through many tough moments & difficult decisions.

A wedding is a wonderful opportunity to look back & honor your parents.  Upon reflection, you may find that their effect on your life has been more profound that you thought.

It's VERY possible that your parents are driving you CRAZY as you plan your wedding.  That can be tough!  But if your parents have been a support to you throughout your life, don't forget to tell them.

To inspire your continued thoughts about your parents, take a look at this short video that expresses the beauty of the relationship between a parent & child.  Jump to 58 seconds to skip the opening credits:

So, the entire online world has been laughing with the YouTube video of a bride & groom dancing down the aisle during their ceremony.  They rocked out to a fully-choreographed version of "Forever" by Chris Brown.  As of this moment, it has received nearly 17 million views!

This video probably won't inspire you to groove your way down the aisle, but it is a clear reminder that wedding day traditions are being re-written all over the country. 

Weddings have become a fun expression of "self".  You no longer have to follow the official wedding guidebook to impress your guests - you can make your wedding a reflection of your personality & have a little fun.  You may not want to create a public performance like Jill & Kevin did, but there is plenty of room with the décor, invitations, schedule of events, after parties, brunches, etc for you to make your wedding day unique.

BTW - Jill & Kevin have used their new-found fame to raise money in the area of domestic violence.  Bravo to them for their charitable mindset.

Photo Credit: JKWeddingDance.com

The Guest List

One of the earliest tasks in your wedding planning adventure is making the guest list.  As you & your family add the names of family members, co-workers, and old friends, you are journeying through the important people & experiences of the past. 

Each person on your list represents an important aspect of your life.  To be included on your list, these special individuals have certainly contributed to the person you have become & to the important step you are taking.

While it may seem like the guest list is one of the more mundane parts of the planning process, it can actually become a memorable experience.  Since your wedding is a celebration of two life journeys joining together, it is also the perfect time for reminiscing about the individual journeys you have taken. 

Although your schedule is certainly busy as you plan your amazing event, set aside some time with your fiancé and/or family to talk about each person on the list.  Consider the special reasons that this person is being invited.  Think about how the individual has blessed your life.  This process will make your experience with each guest more meaningful when the big day arrives!

Finding Your Story

Before you plan a single piece of your wedding, think about your story: 

• How did you meet? 
• What were the special places, events, music, art, & poems while you were falling in love? 
• What people or ideas have influenced your relationship most? 
• How have you changed since your romance began?
• What Hollywood movie is your relationship most like?
• What are your immediate plans after the wedding?
• Where will you honeymoon?

Each of these answers can have a profound effect on the planning process.  You can use this information to create a customized event that tells your story in a unique way.

For example, take the 2^nd point about the special places, events, music, art, & poems.  Consider how each of these might effect:

• the location for your ceremony or reception
• the music & readings during the ceremony
• the décor or color scheme of the reception or cocktail hour
• the program style
• a reception speech
• a photo montage

Speaking as a wedding day videographer, these unique additions to a traditional wedding provide so much opportunity for storytelling in your finished Wedding Movie.  When you link your wedding decisions to your personal history & your relationship story, you give a videographer incredible opportunity to tell a deeper wedding story.

As a wedding videographer, my job is to find the story in every celebration.  My goal with each Wedding Movie is to successfully translate the story into a living motion picture. 

Spectacular weddings are always more than the fine details of event planning... they are the result of knowing & expressing the love story of the couple. 

This requires becoming conscious of your story, understanding the beauty & distinctiveness of your story, and then making your story the most important decision-making tool in the wedding planning process.

Sometimes brides make somewhat random decisions about style & wedding day agenda.  The decisions are based on what they have seen at other weddings or read on websites.  Gathering ideas from other people can be great... as long as these ideas can also contribute to the telling of YOUR story. 

Over the next few weeks, I will be blogging about the process of discovering & planning your Wedding Story.  I will share tips that will inspire you to create a one-of-a-kind event that will become a one-of-a-kind Wedding Movie. 

FOR FUN:  I love the commercial below: "What if Film Crews Ran a Wedding?".  But I promise that I don't film weddings like this!  :-)

As a videographer, I get to observe & document the wedding day.  Perhaps my favorite element of the "wedding day flow" is the ever-changing moods of the day.

There's excitement as the bridal party gets ready for the day & the dresses are zipped up.  Then there's the nervousness as the reality of the ceremony sets in ("It's really time to get married!  I can't believe it's here!").  Then the drama & romance of the ceremony, with the tears of joy & hope.  Then the energy & release of the recessional as the party begins to swing into life.

Video has the power to capture each of those moods & to re-create it in a beautiful way.  A great wedding video should showcase all of these emotions & lead you back to them so you can re-experience all the moods of your wedding day.

A wedding is a one-of-a-kind roller coaster ride that you should be able to enjoy again & again.

Here's an example of a recent wedding that tracks the emotional moods of the day:

A great tip for choosing wedding vendors is "Follow Your Smile". 

I love surfing the funny clips on YouTube because I can feel the grin start to appear on my face.  It's a good feeling.  And, in many ways, that natural instinct holds true for shopping for wedding videographers.

When you are browsing through videographer's websites, looking at their sample videos, stay with the companies that make you smile.  A few tears are great, but they should be happy tears.

A well-produced wedding video should make you feel good... even if you don't know the people you are watching.  You should feel the hope & celebration that a wedding is all about.

All of us are familiar with the Reality Show format, where life is shown without posing or staging... well, supposedly.  (It's no secret that "reality" TV is manipulated more than the show implies).

Wedding videographers can now bring the fun of the Reality Show to your finished DVD with the creative use of natural audio, clever interviews, & a hefty helping of fun. 

And you don't have to turn your special day into a TV set.  A skilled videographer with a small camera can capture this footage & edit it into a masterpiece.

Enjoy this example:

The traditional wedding day "slideshow" is dead.  Well, it probably should be. 

The idea of showcasing a PowerPoint presentation of baby photos has become nails on a chalkboard to most couples.  They envision the guests falling asleep or excusing themselves from the reception to make calls in the lobby.

But Wedding Photo Montages have recently reached a new level sophistication.  Snapshots can come to life in a three-dimensional, animated environment.  This creates a presentation that tells the story of your past & entertains your guests.

 Here's an example of this unique Photo Montage approach: