If a picture is worth a thousand words.....how many words is a video worth?

This is me and my Papa (my mom's dad) on Christmas day back in 1993. My mom's whole family was together for the holiday, which was a rare occasion, and called for some dressing up. :)

Two years ago, my grandparents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. To celebrate, they renewed their vows in a second church ceremony with their grandchildren playing the part of the bridal party. It was really special to see my grandparents so happy and so in love. Funny enough my grandparents wedding anniversary and the anniversary of my first date with Zac fall on the same date, June 27. Kind of crazy, huh? Zac and I celebrated our 4th dating anniversary and watched my grandparents recommit themselves to each other after 50 years of marriage. It really was something special.

Since Wolf Lakes is hosting a prom on the first Saturday in May, our wedding is going to take place on a Friday. Unfortunately, I learned later that this promotes a problem for my grandfather. My grandparents live in San Diego so their travel time to make it in town for the wedding would be 6+ hours. As they are a little older, driving into town will not likely be a good option for them, so the trip will likely be more stressful since they will need to ride a train or book a flight.

The issue of travel becomes a little more complicated when we factor in my grandfather's dialysis. My grandfather has weekly trips to the hospital for his dialysis treatment. These appointments last for hours and he's usually pretty wiped out when he gets out of them. Unfortunately, his appointments are on Fridays which presents some problems when it comes to the wedding. Coming into town for the wedding would mean that my grandparents would have to make arrangements and find a clinic that they trust to take my grandfather to for his appointment. Even if they were able to find a location and make sure that he got his treatment, my poor grandfather would not likely have the energy to make it through the wedding day and enjoy himself. My mom has told me that although he would like to make it, it doesn't seem like it will be possible.

It breaks my heart to think that my grandfather won't be able to be there the day that Zac and I get married. I completely understand the circumstances, and I would never want to create a situation that would stress him out or make him uncomfortable. It just makes me sad that he won't be there, because I love him so much.

When we first got engaged and needed to determine our budget, Zac and I were discussing what things we would like to have at our wedding and what other fun things (aside from the games) that we would like to include in the reception. We've made lists of ideas and started narrowing down the list. (Realistically it would be far too expensive to include everything on our list, and having too many elements will begin to make the wedding feel more like a circus that a celebration.) In the end we told ourselves that when all is said and done all we will have from the day is our memories. For us, the most important thing will be capturing these memories so that we have them forever. Photography will be our most important element. We'll consider everything else to be a happy bonus.

Thankfully, we've already booked our photographer and, having seen their previous work and experiencing their professionalism and work style in two other weddings, we are confident that we will have some incredible images from the wedding day. We also briefly considered hiring someone to do video for the wedding. It would be amazing to be able to watch the wedding in the future and remember the wonderful day. Plus it would be great to have something beyond photos to show our kiddos one day. :) After going through our budget and pricing a few videographers, we pushed the idea aside. As wonderful as it would be to have this footage, we thought that it would probably be better to put this money towards other things.

Now that it's been a few months, we've revisited the idea of having a videographer capture the important moments of the day. It means a lot to me that my grandfather be at the wedding, but if it isn't possible I would really like for him to at least be able to watch the wedding later. Whether we give a few guests cameras to capture moments from the audience or hire someone to capture the moments for us, having video is going to be just as important as getting still images.

The expense of hiring a professional videographer certainly hasn't gone down but we're beginning to look at the expense a little differently. After seeing some examples of professional wedding videos (I'm including a few of our faves below), Zac has said that he wouldn't mind forgoing a few things this year (like saving for a couch for our large, empty living room) to be able to have video done on the day of the wedding. I'm in agreeance. Yes, it would be nice to fill up the living room with furniture but we can always get this furniture after the wedding. So, we've started to research videographers, look at examples, compare prices, etc., to see if we can find the right videographer for us. Wish us luck in our search :)

I saw this video while browsing through posts on The Sweetest Occasion (one of my favorite blogs), and I fell in love. It is such a sweet video done by Ambient Sky, a video production company based in Portland, Oregon. This is an example of a "same day edit" video. The videographers capture moments before and during the ceremony, compile and edit the images the same day and often show the final product during the reception. Sounds insane to me that this type of amazing work can be put together so quickly. It definitely made me fall in love with the idea of having video taken on the big day.

Alla & Flavius' Same Day Edit, Oregon Golf Club, West Linn, Oregon from Ambient Sky on Vimeo.

This video was done by Cana Video Productions. I came across their advertisement in a wedding magazine that I picked up while wine tasting in Paso Robles with Amy back in December. The ad had such a unique look. Their videos really make you feel like you know the couple. The messages from bride to groom and from groom to bride allow you to have a little insider look at their relationship together. It's so sweet to see the couple's excitement for the day and their love for each other. Cana Video Productions certainly has a way of capturing the uniqueness of each couple they work with.

Wedding Preview: Joel & Morgan 3.20.10 from Ben Potter & Drew Barefoot on Vimeo.

This video, done by Rain Studios, was actually shot at Wolf Lakes. Although this couple got married on the Garden Side and we will be saying I do on the Lakeside, it was nice to be able to see what the videographers were able to do in this space. Zac and i liked the inclusion of the vows in the mini wedding "trailer" that Rain Studios puts together. It emphasizes the importance of the day and why we've asked everyone to gather together. :)

Leann + Dustin ~ Wolf Lakes ~ 5.1.10 from Rain Studios on Vimeo.

* If anyone has ideas, thoughts, suggestions, experiences, etc., to share about hiring a videographer, we would greatly appreciate the feedback. *