Simplified Videography for the budget minded bride

Hey guys, it’s Stephanie!  I was recently on Etsy helping my friend find some cute, fun, unique things for her wedding and thought I’d share some of my favorite finds!! 

Rosebudlips shabby chic frame would make great bridesmaids gifts.

I love Davie & Chiyo’s tiered rose clutch!  You can even customize the label with your names and wedding date.

Lo Boheme’s Fay hair clip is the perfect size and so elegant.

Hello! Stephanie here.  Here is the second tip on how to keep your wedding costs down.

TIP #2 – TRIM YOUR GUEST LIST

Typically, a couple will spend over fifty percent of their wedding budget on their reception.  With that being said, the quickest and easiest way to control costs is to limit the number of guests that will be attending the reception.  The less people attend, the less food, drinks, centerpieces, favors and cake you will have to pay for.  I know this is easier said than done, but there are some simple things you can do to control the list. 

• Single guests who aren’t in a serious relationship can be invited solo. 
• Don’t invite people that you have never met.  Your mother may insist on inviting her college roommate but if you have never met her, she doesn’t need to be invited.
• Consider not inviting co-workers.  You may see these people on a daily basis but if they are not considered your close friends outside of the workplace, it is perfectly acceptable to leave them off the list.
• Don’t invite anyone you haven’t talked to in over 5 years, even if they invited you to their wedding.
• Create two separate lists – an A list and a B list.  The A list should consist of everyone that you must invite and the B list should consist of everyone else you would like to invite.  Consider sending out invites to those people on the B list only if someone on your A list declines their invitation.

Like I said, I know this can be a difficult task but remember that it can be done and your wedding will still be an amazing day that you will be sharing with your closest family and friends.

Carter asked, Adrienne said yes and 2 months later they were walking down the aisle saying “I Do” at the Hermosa Inn. Yes Adrienne and Carter planned their wedding in 2 months. The first thing Adrienne said to me when she told me her wedding was in 2 months was “No I’m not pregnant.” Videography is often times a last minute decision for couples so booking us in 2 months didn’t seem out of the ordinary. Adrienne and Carter’s thoughts were “We are in love and we just want to be married so let’s do it!” They are indeed in love. They had some of the most emotional and most personal vows that I have ever heard. They went with a super fun bright spring colored theme and it was just such a happy day. You could tell these 2 just couldn’t wait to start their life together. It was such a fun wedding to document and to top it off Simply Cinema will be shooting Adrienne’s sisters wedding this October so we get to party with these fine folks again this fall!! Enjoy their wedding film.

We had the pleasure of working with these fantastic vendors for Adrienne and Carter’s wedding:

Amanda Rockafellow Photography

Johnny B’s

Garden Of Enchantment

Carter and Adrienne at Hermosa Inn from Simply Cinema on Vimeo.

Hello everyone!  Stephanie here.  You’ll be seeing me here quite a bit.  I will be dropping by the blog occasionally to post about random wedding stuff that I hope you will find useful and interesting.

I got married about 2 ½ years ago so I know firsthand what you brides are going through!  If you have started the planning process, you have probably figured out by now that weddings are expensive!  The balancing act between getting what you want and not paying a fortune is tough for all brides but it is TOTALLY possible!  Since you are reading Simply Cinema’s blog, I trust that you know how a bride can get a fabulous video without paying a fortune (hire us!), but there are so many other ways to keep your wedding costs down.  I plan to post wedding budget tips regularly for all you budget minded brides out there so you don’t have to settle for anything less than fabulous on your big day!

 TIP #1:  Determine an overall budget and then pick your priorities

This is my first tip because all of the following tips will build off of this very important one.  It is absolutely necessary to determine what your overall budget is before you begin to make any decisions or make any purchases.  Yes, I know this is not the most comfortable of conversations to have with your future in-laws but it must be done!!  So talk to your fiancé, your parents, and your fiancé’s parents to determine how much money you have in total to work with. 

Once you have an overall budget, make a priority list.  Talk to your fiancé and determine what matters most to the both of you.  Is it the food?  Photos?  Video?  Flowers?  Set a budget for each item on the list.  You should spend a large part of your budget on those things that are highest on your priority list, and you should look for ways to trim expenses on the things that are lower on the list.

The most important part of this tip is to stay true to your priorities and stick to your budget!!  You will find that the more vendors you meet with, the more confusing it gets, and the more easily you will be swayed to spend more than you can afford if you do not determine up front how much you can spend on each item and stick to that figure!  Keep a record of your budgeted and actual costs along the way to make sure you are on track. 

Lastly, I have to add just one thing because I was once a bride and I know what’s it like.  There will probably be at least one thing that you did not budget for but you JUST HAVE TO HAVE.  If you find yourself in this situation, keep in mind that the overall budget that you have set should not change.  However, if you need to make an adjustment to the budget of an individual item that you just cannot imagine your day without, you must make sure to adjust the budget for another item to compensate for the change.  For example, if you spend $125 more than you budgeted for on a cake because you found the most perfect topper that you JUST HAD TO HAVE, then you should subtract $125 from another item that is lower on your priority list.     

Budgeting and prioritizing are the most important steps to getting the wedding of your dreams without breaking the bank.  Be sure to check back soon for more tips!

Stormy here. One of the cute trends that I see happening at a lot of weddings these days are colored heels. I love it! When I go to a wedding I am always so excited to see what the brides shoes look like! I don’t think the colorful shoes take away from the dress at all, they only add to it! They add the perfect touch of color and make for some great photos! It’s just another great way to bring in the colors you’ve chosen for your wedding. My wedding colors were red and black so I decided right away that I was going to get red, tall, sexy heels and it didn’t matter how bad my feet hurt at the end of the night! Lucky for me, my husband is nice and tall so I could wear my tall heels and still be shorter than him! There is just something about wearing heels that makes a girl feel awesome…add them to your dream wedding dress and you are sure to feel like a rock star all day! I love this trend, I can’t wait to see what super sexy heels I will see next!

Here are the heels I wore for my wedding!…

A friend of mine added some flowers to these yellow heels to make them the perfect match for her wedding! So cute!

What shoes will you wear???

Hey, it’s Stormy again, a Simply Cinema Videographer and Editor. I am a recently married gal… I married Spenser on November 21st of last year! Almost 5 months! So, I understand what a lot of you girls out there are going through with planning a wedding! It’a A LOT of work but it’s super fun! I do have to say…I love being married! I also love to make videos! Shooting them…editing them…you name it!  I am fortunate enough to have a husband that will play along with me when I get silly idea for something new to create! I thought i’d share our latest one with you…just a typical Friday night activity for Spenser and I….enjoy!

This article was written by Susan Felt and was featured in the Arizona Republic.

They will be wed among the mesquite and paloverde trees of the Desert Botanical Garden on a date neither is likely to forget: 10/10/10. The wedding will come one year, one month and one day after Brett Dusek proposed to Cara Carboni in the pouring rain under a century-old oak at Dusek’s alma mater in Texas. It’s sweet symmetry for a couple who, but for a fluke matchup on MySpace, might otherwise never have met. And it’s even sweeter that their love story won them a free wedding and reception at the Desert Botanical Garden. Theirs was among the 252 entries for the contest, in which the garden offered a grand prize of a free wedding Oct. 10. ”They had both come from such tragedies at such young ages,” said Debbie Weisz, the garden’s social-events coordinator. “They were able to come out on the other side. They found love and healed together. They moved on. “What won the judges’ hearts was a love story made from the memorable stuff of adversity, resilience, kismet and chemistry. It began more than two years ago in December 2007. Carboni was at her parents’ home in Tempe recovering from a second hand surgery for bone cancer in less than six months. The previous April, an orthopedic surgeon had told Carboni that what she thought was a case of tendinitis in her right wrist was bone cancer. At 22, she had one surgery weeks before she graduated from Arizona State University with a major in marketing. But a few months later, doctors discovered in a routine follow-up that not all the cancer had been eliminated, and she had surgery again. Housebound, bored and lonely, she needed someone to talk to. Carboni, a driven and ambitious student, hadn’t idled away much time on popular social-networking sites, such as MySpace and Facebook, until that afternoon. She signed on to MySpace.com looking for someone her age in Phoenix with whom she could connect. There was a photo of a guy in Phoenix. He was 27 and wearing a Yankees baseball cap, something anathema to the die-hard Boston Red Sox fan. But he was cute. And he was someone her age on MySpace on a weekday afternoon. She typed him a message: “What’s a handsome guy like you doing in an ugly hat like that?” The next day she had her response and the beginning of what would be their life together. As it turned out, Dusek, too, was at his parents’ home recuperating from a nearly fatal car accident in August 2006. He and his parents and 4-year-old niece had been headed out to dinner when a U-Haul truck T-boned their car. Dusek was the only one injured. His skull was crushed. He was nearing completion of his rehab when he, too, signed on to MySpace, eager to kill time and occupy his mind. When he got Carboni’s note, he fired back a reply. The two assumed an intense e-mail and then instant-messaging relationship, having quickly established their eerily similar circumstances and the fact that Dusek, too, was a rabid Bosox fan. (He’d lost a bet and had had to wear a Yankees cap.) By the end of December, they decided it was time to meet. ”He’s very attractive, and his story struck me,” Carboni said. Wary of Internet-dating horror stories, they agreed on a first date at a public place, Scottsdale Fashion Square. ”I knew him right away,” Carboni said. He was carrying a box of her favorite Godiva chocolates and sporting a huge grin. It was then that Carboni said she knew she had met the man she would marry. Within months, they were talking about building a life together, but one of their first stumbling blocks as a couple was Dusek’s unemployment. The economy was in free fall and, despite his psychology degree from Texas A&M, Dusek was having a hard time finding a job. Carboni, who’s a marketing coordinator for Ryan Inc., a tax-services firm, helped him write three versions of his resume to fit the different jobs for which he applied. She also kept his spirits up. ”She really supported me and helped me figure out what I wanted to do,” Dusek said. “She never gave up on me. “Subsequently, Dusek was hired at Ryan. By this time, he was ready to put an engagement ring on her finger but wanted the proposal to be as special as she is. He wanted to propose on 9/9/09, something that they had joked about previously. But where and how was the question. He ruled out Fenway Park in Boston because she’d know immediately what he wanted to be a surprise. At 4 a.m. on Nov. 9, 2009, he woke her and handed her a gift box. It contained a digital camera that she initially thought was just an early Christmas present. Then he handed her a packed suitcase and plane tickets for Dallas. Carboni said she knew then something was up. Just not exactly what. Weeks before, Dusek had asked her father for her hand in marriage and arranged with her bosses for her to take some time off. He had also had an engagement ring designed to her specifications: filigreed, yellow gold and a single round diamond. In addition, Dusek had arranged for ROTC cadets from Texas A&M to meet him in the afternoon under the campus’ signature 100-year-old live oak, known as the Century Tree. It is here, under the broad, ancient limbs of this tree, that Aggies propose marriage, Dusek said. He wanted to bring Carboni to this spot, have her walk under the cadet-held saber arch, then pop the question. When they boarded a plane in Dallas for College Station, where the campus is located, Carboni said she knew this was proposal day. It was pouring rain and the cadets stood at attention, arms extended and sabers held high as she walked toward him at the base of the Century Tree. He got down on his knees and asked for her hand in marriage. ”I don’t remember what he said,” Carboni said, she was so giddy. But she said yes. And on Oct. 10, 2010, at the Desert Botanical Garden under what they hope are sunny bright-blue skies, she will once again say yes for a lifetime.

Follow Brett and Cara’s journey as they work with some of the valley’s best wedding vendors to plan their Garden Wedding.

So here is the latest update on the Desert Botanical Garden’s Wedding Giveaway on 10.10.10. They received over 250 applicants and got to read so many powerful stories of ‘love conquering all.’  While they were touched by many of the different stories, there was one standout above the rest.

The winning couple has been selected for The Garden Wedding!  The winning couple is extremely deserving and has a truly inspirational love story.  The bride and groom will be revealed in a story in the Living Section in The Arizona Republic on Monday, April 5^th.  Please check out the article to learn more about the couple and hear their wonderful story.  I promise, you will be moved!!

So here’s what’s next…. check out dbgwedding.azcentral.com from now until October to cast your vote to select many of the elements of the lucky couples wedding day.

Some of the fabulous vendors that are apart of the Garden Wedding at Desert Botanical Garden are:

Victoria Canada Weddings and Events

Keith Pitts Photography

Celebrations In Paper

Mancini Entertainment

Petal Pusher

Tri-Rentals

Twirl Boutique

Hello world this is Stormy one of the Simply Cinema Videographers and the Editor of Sally and Nate’s wedding film. Let me start by saying that this was our first Simply Cinema wedding since we “officially” launched. We had shot quite a few before Sally and Nate ’s as we were gearing up for launch but this is our first one since our website launched and we are super excited about it!!

Sally and Nate had a beautiful spring wedding! They said “I Do” in the prettiest backyard I have ever seen! What a perfect place for a wedding! Sally was so creative with the decorations, they were absolutely fabulous! I could go on and on about the details of the wedding! I loved all of the paper decorations! My favorite part was definitely the handmade bouquets, what a creative idea!

Sally and Nate’s vows were the most clever vows that I have heard…Sally promising to learn how to change the oil in a car…and Nate promising to remember to put the toilet seat down! It definitely had everyone laughing and waiting to hear what they would say next! They had a ton of friends and family come out and show their support. They are such a fun couple! Sally and Nate, Thank You for allowing us to be a part of documenting your wedding day!

Thank you to Michelle Meyer for allowing us to shoot along side her.

Sally & Nate from Simply Cinema on Vimeo.

At Simply Cinema we are all about making your wedding planning simple!!!

So Simply Cinema and Live Love Photography have teamed up to offer you a SPECTACULAR Photography and Videography Package for $4000!!!! So here’s what this STEAL OF A DEAL includes:

Live Love Photography Package Includes:

• 6 hours of Coverage
• 2 Photographers
• Unlimited shots, post editing, artistic talent and of the photographers
• Online gallery and slideshow
• Catalog style proofbook
• High resolution disc of images

Simply Cinema Videography Package Includes:

• 4 Hours of Coverage
• 2 Cameras with Operators
• 2 Wireless Microphones
• 5 Minute Edited Highlight Film of days events
• 3 Custom Chapter Menus
• 3 DVD Copies of Your Wedding Day with cases, and custom label

With a deal like this you be left saying Photographer… check…. Videographer…. check…. and move on to the next stage of your wedding planning. As with all SMOKIN’ DEALS they don’t last long!! So shoot us an email at info@simply-cinema.com to inquire.