I cried for years that we had no wedding video… or so I thought. That is, in fact, the reason we started Storymix. We really are passionate about people getting an edited video from the most important moments of their lives. So passionate that we shook off the golden handcuffs of high paying jobs to devote ourselves to lives in a startup.

We wanted every couple to have an easy way to get a memento from the video that their friends and family shoot at their event. It’s too hard to do anything with emailed cellphone video. You can’t easily download it from YouTube or Facebook. And here’s what happens to those lovely 2 hour tapes unedited tapes (or DVDs) from relatives:

• they don’t get watched (this was us)
• they get stored in the basement and flooded (this was us, just a couple of months after the wedding)

In my mind, we had no wedding video. We may have watched 15 minutes of each tape (VHS, taped over PBS) once before the flood. What I didn’t know, is that my gorgeous husband had painstakingly unrolled the tapes and dried them out, saving them, hoping to do something… someday. This was WAY before we ever started editing video. So, I knew nothing about it and he didn’t even remember.

The Value of Your Memories

Why was it so important to me to have video?

• Our wedding was a (high end) DIY extravaganza
• We had a LOT of friends and family fly into town whom we hadn’t seen in years
• Our photographer was awesome but didn’t get ANY photos of our historic venue
• Looking at Mike on that day, I thought it was definitely not possible to love him more, and now I can tell you I was totally WRONG

We had what, at the time was a sizable budget, due to generous parents and both working at good jobs. We decided to spend the majority of it on an awesome bar band, The Killer Flamingoes, and on one of Mike’s relatives… Uncle Jack Daniels. Our band budget was larger than anything else. Our booze budget was larger than food. I think it was actually double the food budget. So, you can see that our budget priority was having fun.

That meant DIY for almost everything else. So, I learned to sew and made the dress. We learned to emboss and made the invitations. I had been a cake decorator, so I made the cake. DIY is definitely NOT for everyone. And not all of our attempts were successful, so please don’t think I’m suggesting to cut pro’s out of your wedding budget.

I’m from the east coast with family all over the country. Mike also had family all over the country. And a LOT of them flew into town for our wedding. And had a LOT of fun… see the note about Uncle Jack Daniels. I wanted to see the video of them getting a little crazy on the dance floor. There’s the video of Mike’s cousin blocking my cousin during the bouquet toss so that his girlfriend could catch the bouqet. There’s me dancing with our friend Surf, who died in an accident just a few years after the wedding. They’re all memories I wanted to see again.

Our poor photographer had a VERY long day. Getting ready started at 6am. Our ride for the location shots bailed, so he wound up driving us around. By the time of the reception, he was pooped. I don’t blame him at all. He did a fabulous job of making two very non-photogenic people look great in the same photos at the same time. So, I’m absolutely not complaining about not having any shots of the Masonic Temple of Detroit. But, I was sad about it. I thought there had been some good video of the interior on the tape my sister shot… but it was gone.

And to examine the last point, the video shows how incredibly in love we were. I love seeing the way we looked at each other. And yet, 13 years later, I can tell you that it only gets better. The love deepens in ways you couldn’t conceive. And you get these funny rose-colored glasses that make me swear as good looking as he was back then… he’s 10 times more gorgeous now! Thank you for sharing in my anniversary gift to my husband.

See how we can help you capture and enjoy your big day for a lifetime. Learn more about DIY affordable wedding video at our website or feel free to give us a call at 800-831-1649.

Ariane

When my husband Endre and I got engaged, I think we knew that a traditional wedding, while lovely, wasn’t in the cards for us.  So, after we had looked tirelessly at several venues and none seemed to fit the fun and laid-back feel we wanted, Endre joked, “Why don’t we just get married at the zoo?” A phone call was made and BOOM! Operation: I Do at the Zoo was born.

Our wedding was, in a word, bananas. I should have prefaced this story with a note that I never thought about what my wedding would be like growing up. I certainly didn’t imagine that it would turn out insanely wonderful. I mean, we met a giraffe named Fezzik on our wedding day. My husband rode a camel in his tuxedo. When does this happen in real life?

 But the whole event was so heartfelt and goofy and awesome. From our vows, to our friends posing with a boa constrictor, to guests randomly dancing in a fountain, the night was amazing. We’re actually really glad we found out about Storymix when we did. We hadn’t seriously considered a videographer during the planning because it was just too pricey and we figured photography would suffice. My husband and I were cracking up at the funny moments we missed when our family and friends were walking around with the cameras.  It turned out to be another great way to remember our wedding day.

Don't want to miss a moment of your wedding? See how you can get your own affordable DIY wedding video with Storymix.

-Laura

Bethany and Brian married on October 9, 2011 in gorgeous Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Afterward, they honeymooned in South Africa (where they rode an ostrich!) AND also went to Paris!

Don't want to miss a moment of your wedding? See how you can get your own affordable DIY wedding video with Storymix.

-Laura

Today’s post is written by beautiful bride, Krista. She and Justin were married on February 19th at the Ritz Carlton Beach Club in Lido Key, Florida.

Everyone @ our wedding was visiting from out of town, so we got to enjoy 3 days of vacation with all our friends and family. The girl in the grooms party is actually Justin’s favorite cousin, Carey. She was the “best person,” the co best man with Justin’s brother. They are really close, so it was really special to him to have her be there.

We kicked off the weekend with a sunset cruise complete with a Jimmy Buffett impersonator and got to enjoy a beautiful sunset. The day of our wedding was stormy and super windy, but the sun came out just as we arrived at the beach and we were able to have the beach wedding we were looking forward to for the 2 years we were engaged. Cocktails followed and then everyone enjoyed dinner and a fabulous band on the terrace overlooking the beach.

We had our own after party, and we kept the party going till 2 am. On the last bus to the hotel, our guests had a rousing sing a long to “Country Roads” by John Denver. It was pretty awesome. My favorite aspect of the weekend was having so many friends and family all in one place. We had guests (and one of the maids of honor) come from as far as Paris, and it was so incredible to have everyone we love altogether.

It was an awesome wedding weekend, definitely everything we wanted it to be and more!

Don't want to miss a moment of your wedding? See how you can get your own affordable DIY wedding video with Storymix.

-Laura

Today we’re featuring Holly and Wes. Holly owns her own event styling and paper good company in Nashville called Jam + Toast. Here’s what Holly had to share about her wedding day:

My wedding was on September 10th, 2011 (9-10-11…yeah we were one of those people). We were originally planning on having an outdoor ceremony, but it rained for the whole week of the wedding, so we quickly decided we were going to need a new plan. We tossed around ideas of moving the ceremony into the tent where the reception was, but I hated the thought of not having an actual aisle. There was also a church down the street that we could use but there were issues with parking, and none of us really had a connection to that church. The only other option (other than just having guests hold umbrellas and me walk down the muddy aisle in rain boots) was to move the ceremony into one of the barns on the property.

For three days, our amazing family and friends helped us clean out the barn, and let me tell you it was a mess. There was dust on top of dust, cobwebs-a-plenty, and a LOT of hay. Not quite the description you think of when you talk about a romantic event, right? But, we moved large equipment out (with the exception of a cider press and 2 tractors), swept the floors (two or three times), and covered some stuff that we couldn’t move out with a white sheet and printed photos. It was all sort of a trial and error, but it ended up feeling so cozy and comfortable. Also, as luck would have it, it didn’t rain AT ALL the day of the wedding, but I still think it was better in the barn than it would have been outside. The sun started setting behind us as we were saying our vows and the light shone through the beams, and it just felt perfectly “us”.

I love handmade details and rustic decor, which is why I was thrilled when Ariane sent me an email and said that she might be interested in working with my business, Jam + Toast, to come up with that type of theme for future videos. We were actually able to use a real photo of the bunting from my wedding, and create a fun new theme for brides with that style. I really like the way it turned out!

Check out our new video theme in Holly and Wes’ wedding video.

Don't want to miss a moment of your wedding? See how you can get your own affordable DIY wedding video with Storymix.

-Laura