Monday 29 June 2009

Wedding pages now updated...

Finally managed to update the website wedding pages with our new packages...

Essentials, Classic, Premier and Premier Plus.

Just in time for Meols Hall Wedding Evening...

Sunday 28 June 2009

Wedding Evening...

Just a quick note on the Wedding Evening taking place on Wednesday this week (1st July) at Meols Hall in Southport. It will be in the Tithe Barn and doors open at 6.30pm. A list of exhibitors can be found on the Meols Hall website. It is unusual to have a Wedding Evening at this time of year but I have to say Meols Hall is always a great success with lots of different exhibitors. Pam has strict rules on only allowing one exhibitor for each type of service so that visitors have a lot of variety.

Looking back on last week which was a bit hectic to say the least...

The week was spent editing, filming and looking at new cameras - again! Thursday was a very busy day - the morning was in Manchester reviewing a Panasonic camera and then it was a mad dash through to Blackpool again to film at the tower. We are in the midst of putting together some short web videos for the Blackpool Tower and a couple of their other attractions in the town working in conjunction with their PR Company.

I'll update on the camera situation at a later date as I am still weighing up the pros and cons between the Panasonic and Sony cameras to enable me to expand into Bluray for next year. Although I will still be keeping my trusty Sony DSR450 and the Z1...just adding to the kit with an additional hi-def camera...more money I can hear Julie say!!!

Friday was up at Stoneyhurst College filming a workshop for Heritage Opera. That place is huge...especially when you have to get from one side to the other for the filming!

Saturday we were out filming Gemma & Declan's wedding...thankfully we managed to skip the worst of the weather although the sudden downpour at about 6pm did cause a few concerns...but well done to all the staff at The Pines for sorting that one out so quickly so that the show could go on...

On top of all of this I joined the gym...or should I say we joined the gym - FX Leisure in Leyland (highly recommended). Now the trick is to get the right balance with everything...As you can see from the date of my last post the Blog has slipped down the list of priorities this week and so has the paperwork! We just need a couple more hours in each day then everything will fit in...

Friday 12 June 2009

Waxworks, Blackpool and other work...

Today was spent filming at the Louis Tussuad's Waxworks in Blackpool. We are putting together a short video which will also contain some footage that we shot last year of Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen and Ricky Hatton modeling for their wax works.

Earlier in the week we spent some time editing a short DVD for Beaverbrooks and also catching up on lots of little jobs that had come in. These included transferring telecine to DVD, DVD duplication, that sort of thing. It's actually taken a couple of days to catch up on them - it's surprising the time they take.

As well as that we have been adding some more content to the website and hope to have some additional pages up on that next week. We've introduced a couple of additional covers for our wedding packages. The Essentials (as named by Steph Ashton) which is our budget cover coming in at £695 and also our Premier Plus at £1450 which has lots of extras in it such as a video diary room. The idea being that we want to be able to provide a variety of packages to cater for the differing requirements of our customers.

In addition to that we have had a few sleepless nights...as our new cat, Trinny, seems to have her body clock in reverse. She has been sleeping all day and comes alive at night - running round, bouncing on and off the bed etc... As much as I love her running about, I need my beauty sleep and have decided she'll have to 'rough it' in the kitchen tonight!

Tuesday 9 June 2009

Finding that unique edge over the competition...

When reading any good book or articles on business there is always an emphasis on finding a niche market...well, what about finding a unique way of marketing instead?

I found this article on the LEP (Lancashire Evening Post)website and then tracked it down on the BBC...it's such a simple idea and that is what makes it so briliant. Basically, a primary school has shunned the traditional job advert when trying to attract applicants for the Head Teachers post and come up with a lonely hearts advert instead...

'Lonely hearts ad for school head'

I have to take my hat off to people who can come up with great ideas such as this, the advert not only stands out in the paper where it is printed but it is then picked up by the BBC and other news services...which gives it a whole new dimension of free publicity. It's what every PR agency wants to achieve and the school did it themselves...and then I add to it further by blogging about it!

Monday 8 June 2009

A hectic couple of weeks...

I've finally managed to find a bit of time to blog. It's been a really busy couple of weeks...

We filmed the wedding of Leanne and Tom back on the 29th May - that wonderful weekend of sunshine!

The wedding took place a Inglewhite Congregational Church (how small is that!) followed by a reception at Stanley House. Inglewhite has to be the smallest church that I've filmed in for many years and it would have to have been, one of the hottest days of the year so far! That said though, I did manage to get some fantastic footage and Leanne and Tom made a really lovely couple.

The first photo is of Leanne walking into church with her Mum. I'd already gone in to get set up at the front. Julie was able to snap this, as she had to wait until everyone was inside before she could set up to film from the doorway with our second camera...space was so limited.


Leanne and Tom coming out of church into the sunshine after the ceremony looking absolutely radiant.



The dress code for the day was actually black tie (although I hadn't been specifically asked to conform, I did partake, as I would much rather blend in, than stand out!)...however, I must confess to not actually putting my bow tie on...I was just too hot!



It really was a lovely wedding and you could tell that Leanne and Tom were really happy...it will make for a fantastic DVD!



The last couple of photos Julie has taken are at Stanley House. I am quite taken with this venue, especially now that the grounds have started to mature...and on a beautiful day, it's another world...


Leanne doing a quick twirl for the cameras. The photographers on the day were Caroline Holden and her husband. It was lovely to see Caroline again and work with her on such a great wedding.


And finally, one more snap of just Leanne and Tom...I can't wait to edit this wedding with all the wonderful footage that I filmed...watch this space!


After having had such a wonderful day on the Friday we did come down to earth with a bit of a bump on the Saturday, as our dog Tess became very poorly. I have to say a big thank you to the wonderful vets and nurses at Hillcrest Animal Hospital for getting Tess back on her feet again, literally (we had to rush her in to the hospital at about 9pm on Saturday night as her temperature was sky high (41 degrees +). We spent a tense night at home waiting for news and thankfully the vet rang us first thing Sunday to say she was able to stand again and that they had her temperature under control. We're still not sure what caused it, but the most likely thing was some sort of flu virus. Still, she has bounced back and is her normal self again, thankfully.

After such a scare, we decided that we would get another cat. Ebony, our other cat had sadly passed away just after Easter and Tess has been missing him.

So, we decided to take the plunge and get another one...her name is Trinny and she is a British Short Haired Lilac Torte. She's very shy at the moment and finding it hard to get used to our busy family...but she's getting there, although I don't think she has ever seen a dog before so Tess has come as a bit of a shock.