Tamara & Luther's Wedding Day

Hello everyone. Sorry again for not writing last week. I wrote something, but after looking at it and discussing it with Lynette, we both agreed that my public just wasn’t ready for what I had written. Got ya curious now, hmmm?

Well, moving along. We had a great wedding this past weekend. And it all started with…..bride and groom Tamara and Luther and ….. The White Church.

The White Church in Green Hills with the very very very taaaalllll steeple.

The White Church in Green Hills with the very very very taaaaallll steeple, otherwise known as Woodmont Christian Church.

I have been salivating about “doing” that church for years.

You see, I do a lot of the details at weddings.  Details.  You know.  The shot of the flower arrangement on a table with a tea candle burning nearby. A single rose lying next to the wedding program. Flowers blowing in the breeze with the church in the background.  Details.  Lynette and Amanda do details too of course, but I’m the one who spends 20 minutes getting the perfect shot of a wedding favor on a table.  Next to a tea candle, of course.

Anyway,  the exterior  of a building where a wedding ceremony is held is a detail.   We always show the site where the ceremony is held, and we want to show it in its best light. So I may spend 20-30 minutes shooting the exterior of the church which may flash across the wedding video for all of five seconds. Still, it’s important.     Well, it is!!!!!

Moving along, I’ve been wanting to shoot the outside of the beautiful White Church for a very long time. We’ve come close to having weddings there before, but we were already booked or something.  But finally!  Thanks to Tamara and Luther, I was going to get my chance at The White Church.

Saturday was a beautiful day. After all the rain we’ve been having, and the storms, Saturday was an especially beautiful day. So when I arrived, I immediately started shooting the church. I would pose it one way, then another. I would lower my tripod, then practically stand out in traffic to make it all fit in my frame.  Anything for The White Church.

But something just wasn’t right. I saw in my head what I wanted my shot to look like, but I never saw it on my camera. I don’t know how old The White Church is, but I think its had a lot of time to shoot down the expectations of silly videographers like me.  I could almost hear it laughing behind my back.  But that’s okay.  I know I’ll return with another wedding someday soon and have another chance at the perfect shot of The White Church.  And I’ll get it.  Oh yes, I WILL get it….

But getting back to Tamara and Luther.     They had a beautiful wedding!

The church was overflowing and guests were even seated in the balcony in order to all fit in. Tamara and Luther were blessed with so many close friends and family who wanted to support them in the beginning of their new lives together. A close friend even officiated over the ceremony.

Tamara and Luther had decided to not see each other before the ceremony, so that meant that I didn’t see Tamara until the ceremony, since I shoot the groom and his guys pre-wedding.  However, word made it back to where the guys were hanging out pre-ceremony that Tamara looked GORGEOUS and favored Eva Longoria, and we all know how gorgeous she is!  Well, when I saw Tamara, I thought she was even more beautiful than Eva Longoria.  And I’m sure Luther did too.

After the ceremony, we all raced to Tamara’s parent’s house in Franklin where the reception was being held. It was still light when we got there. The sun was just starting to lower in the sky and the breeze was picking up and everything seemed so fresh and new.   Tables were decorated beautifully underneath a tent.

There was a pond behind the tent that was even decorated in wedding colors!   The wedding cake was sitting under a billowing drape that only made it look more elegant. The buffet dinner was delicious (of course I ate!), and the DJ (Ken Bodin) was playing some very fine music.  Some of my all time faves, actually. The dance floor was pretty much full all night, and I must say, there were some pretty good dancers out there. Event Coordinator, Beth Cypress,  of Richland Country Club kept the evening running smoothly.  At evening’s end, Tamara and Luther changed clothes and made a dash for the limo with friends and family wishing them well and blowing bubbles.   It was a perfect day!  All in all a total success.  I can’t wait to see the video! : -- )

One of the reasons that the day went so smoothly for me, Lynette and Amanda, was because we were working along side our friend and photographer Joey Pippin and Joey’s wife, (expecting Baby #5 in September!) Amy. 

McNeal Video and Joey Pippin go back a long way together.  We met several years ago when we just happened to be shooting the same wedding in Franklin. I remember the first time I met Joey. I was outside of one of the historic Franklin churches minding my own business and shooting details of purple ribbons tied onto a gate blowing in the wind. Since Saturdays in Franklin can be filled with visitors enjoying the town square, many people were stopping to ask me if there was going to be a wedding at the church that day. The church with the flower wreath on the door and ribbons blowing in the wind? Duh. Yeah! Anyway, I was shooting the ribbons when I heard a voice say, “What are you doing”? And without looking up I said that I was shooting the ribbons for a wedding video. I then heard the voice say, “I’ve never seen anyone do that before”.  I then looked up and saw that the voice belonged to a young man with a camera thrown across his shoulder, and it was then that I realized that I was meeting the photographer we were working with that day.  And it was Joey!  Of course I didn’t know it was Joey at that time, but as the day progressed, I, as well as Lynette and Amanda, could see that this photographer was one of the “special” ones. He was laid back. He was artistic. He was creative. He was fun and easy to work with. He was so darn nice! I could go on and on. Long story short, that first wedding together lead to many more weddings together and a mutual respect for each others work.  Not only that, but we all consider Joey and Amy dear friends.

I could write an entire book on Joey and how talented he is, and what a wonderful guy he is, but I’ll let Lynette say all of that in the Vendor Spotlight section. I will just say this…. We recommend a very small, very select group of photographers. And that’s because there is more to being a photographer than just taking great wedding photos. And Joey has that “extra” stuff that puts him in an elite, but very small group. In other words, you can’t go wrong if you choose him as your wedding photographer.

Oh, and I found out later why Joey said to me that he had “never seen that before”, when I was shooting the ribbons blowing in the breeze. Until he worked with McNeal Video, he had never seen a videographer take so much extra time and effort into getting all the little details that make up a wedding day. Thanks for the compliment, Joey!

Lifetime Weddings is our newest Vendor in the Spotlight!  Check it out! 

Now I’m going to bed….

Comments

[Joey]

I don't know what to say... Thank you for those kind words Cheryl. I do think that you are the best videographers I have ever met. And I say that for many reasons. The biggest reason is because you really care. You care about your clients. You care about your work. You care about the details. You care about memories. And you care about me. How can I help but love you! I want to be like you!

[Amanda]

Cheryl, this is the best post yet! What a perfect day to have a wedding! A beautiful couple, a beautiful location, and great people to work with! Who could ask for more? This is going to be an awesome video!