In Memory of our Fallen Firefighters...

Several weeks ago I was asked if we could film the 8th Annual Kansas Fallen Firefighters Memorial on South Braodway at the Kansas Fire Museum. It came as a two-part request; Fire Photographer Craig Hacker and the Sedgwick County Fire Chief, whom Barry and I both know through our many years of EMS work. I was available for the shoot and asked our friend Deanna to help out yet again, which she happily agreed to and did a great job! The Memorial consists of a gorgeous slate wall engraved with the names of those killed in the line of duty across the state throughout the years amidst a park like setting. The statue "Final Call" overlooks the reflection area and fountains dance in the background during warmer summer months. It's a very fitting memorial situated immediately next to the Kansas Firefighters Museum. The ceremony started with a processional of bagpipers and honor guard from across the state, guest speakers, the placing of a memorial wreath at the wall, and the reading of the names of the fallen firefighters with the ringing of bells. As each name was read, an empty antique fire bucket was filled one by one with a red rose honoring the firefighter. Family was later encouraged to take a rose in rememberance of their loved one. The video below is the Highlight of the memorial service.

Catching up to do!!!!!!!!

As you can see the blog has pretty much been MIA the last few weeks and I do apologize to everyone for that! To bring you up to speed, our life has been filled with ups and downs recently and we've had to juggle multiple things.

As most folks know Barry is now attending nursing school full-time, and still working full time at EMS (now has 25 years on! YAY BARRY!) and amazingly finds time to help me turn discs in the business. Our awesome friends Jason and Deanna have helped us on more shoots than we can count during times Barry has had clinical work and we thank them SO much! Also, in thanks for them shooting for us, we try to shoot for them if they need help as well.

As for me, I've been finishing the last pre-reqs for nursing school which starts for me in January, I've gone back to work full time at the hospital and between homework, life, shooting weddings, and other events (school programs, montages, EMS videos, Speaker Jared Estes, and the firefighters memorial), have found it difficult to keep up with some of the edit queue lately! We have also had to find time to take care of our immeditate family members and other usual "life" happenings.

So, drumroll please....

Slated to be posted to the blog this week are the write ups for the missing weddings from October through this month! Wow, has it really been that long! Time really flies.

Later this morning, the memorial video for the Fallen Firefighters and tomorrow two prequels for the Sharshel/Crandall and Patton/Blair weddings. Sometime in the next two weeks we hope to build in the remaining prequels amidst the ususal edit queue for those waiting on updates to their delivered videos or those that are still patiently waiting in line for the finished product! We are told it's worth the wait, so we humbly thank you in advance! Bear with us a bit more.

Love and Peace to all as we enter the new Holiday season as Thanksgiving and Christmas SO quickly approach us! More to come- (Wow, do I have to work in Christmas shopping and housework into my to-do list now, ugh)....Ba Humbug.

White Love Story

A couple months ago we had the pleasure of meeting Katie and Scott. They were interested in shooting a Love Story after seeing a friends at one of our recent weddings. We first filmed Scotts interview at his church and then set a date and off to Tulsa we went to film Katie's interview and also some b roll to fill in the story. What a great time! Scott and Katie were married over the Holiday weekend and we'd like to share their story with you. Scott and Katie, thanks for letting us share your story! Congratulations to you and many best wishes for years to come!

Pete & Erin Crandall

Last weekend we were able to spend the day with Pete and Erin for their wedding here in Wichita. I started the day with Erin at Elements Salon with her bridesmaids, mother and mother in law. Everyones hair was pulled up and in curls and looked wonderful including bright orange fresh flowers in some of the hair arrangements. Erin was going for a sophisticated garden look and the stylists at Elements really nailed it. Erin's dog even joined in the festivities! After hair and make up, the ladies took a break for lunch and I met back up with them at Botanica where the ceremony was to be held. The bridesmaids all wore beautiful navy blue dresses, each a different style chosen by her friends and family. It was a gorgeous contrast with the bright orange floral arrangements and bronze accent colors of the day. Perfect for a fall wedding. Meanwhile the guys prepared at the Hyatt downtown, donning navy blue tuxes prior to heading off to Botanica for photographs. The photographer was the brides uncle, Jack Hartin, a professional photographer from California (hartinphoto.com) We had a great time working together and as soon as Jack has time, we will try to share some of his photos here from the day!

After photographs, the bridal party headed down the aisle in the meadow near the main fountain outside. Nearly sunset gave us some beautiful shots of light rays streaming through the trees! Erin's father and step father walked her down the aisle to Pete and they had a perfect ceremony.

They included family and friends and everything went off without a hitch. Prior to being announced as husband and wife, the guests passed small baskets down each row full of orange and white rose petals. When Pete and Erin were officially announced as husband and wife and exited the meadow, they were showered with the petals by their guests!

Cocktail hour followed for the guests inside the reception hall while the wedding party took sunset photographs. Ron Brown from Another Dimension DJ announced the couple into their reception and they were able to have dinner, catered by Corporate Caterers, cut the beautiful multi-tiered cake made by the bride's aunt and shared in their first dance together. Pete shared a dance with his mother while Erin shared a dance with both her father and step father prior to the start of the party! After a night of dancing and mingling with guests, the newlyweds were wisked away by Jack in a Hummer to start their new life together and have spent the past week enjoying the gorgeous weather in Aruba!

Congratulations to you, Pete and Erin, it was a pleasure to work with you and capture your day! We hope you had just as fabulous of a time in Aruba! We wish you the best in your new life as husband and wife! There will be many happy years to come!

The prequel is posted below, please enjoy!

SUMMER SPECIAL ALMOST OVER!

If you are considering a wedding video and haven't jumped yet for different reasons, one being monetary, it always helps when you can find deals and specials! So a friendly reminder about our Summer Bridal Fair special that runs through the end of August for our wedding movie packages. Book now through August 31st and get the bridal show discount. If you wait to book until next month, during the month of September, the special decreases slightly. So grab a demo and contact us for our package pricing, we'd be happy to talk with you. Aside from the wedding movie specials, we do also offer wedding documentaries starting around $500-$1000. Give us a shout, it doesn't cost anything to ask! :) Steph

If you need more coaxing to get a video....

I recently sent a copy of a wedding we did in Kansas City last year to the DJ of the event, Ron Ruth of http://www.ronruthweddings.com/. After I posted the note from our bride and groom, Jace and Melissa, recently I thought I would post a note from a vendor once I received this kind note back from Ron. I am sharing it with his permission.

"I finally watched the Hackler video and I love your style. It's unlike anything I've ever seen. The party collage was awesome. The guests best wishes over dance video was very clever and keeps those from becoming boring. I was particulary impressed with the way you captured the parent dances. Made me cry."

So, if you are still on the fence about getting a wedding video, jump off the side with greener pastures, and not just the one with visual appeal, but audio appeal as well. Video is the best medium to capture all the moments of your day. A florist told me recently "you don't even get to see your own wedding day". It's SO true. How many of the brides are hidden away from the groom and guests before the moment the doors to the church are swung open? There is so much you miss. Then it's a big blur after that. More testimonials to come; in the meantime check out the videos in our online gallery and in this blog (Sort to the right). Hope to see you all down the aisle! SG

A story of "It's so expensive, I don't need a wedding video"

I received a note a couple days ago from a previous bride and groom from 2 years ago. It made me smile and blush at the same time. I asked the couple if I could share it on the blog and they graciously agreed. It is as follows:

"Hi Stephanie and Barry! Yesterday was mine and Melissa's 2nd wedding anniversary! Time flies, right? All is well with us. We're expecting a baby any day now. A boy, Dylan. In fact, Melissa was due last week so more like any minute now!Anyway, we watched our wedding video last night in celebration of our anniversary and we just wanted to let you two know how much we enjoyed watching and re-living that day. You both worked so hard on that video and it shows. It is so well done. We feel very fortunate to have had you guys shoot our wedding. That day is so beautifully preserved forever. Ourselves and our families will enjoy watching it for years to come!Just wanted to say thanks and that we hope all is well with you guys! Jace and Melissa Wilbert

After writing them to ask permission to post this note, they responded with the following:

"You can definitely use my words in your blog. And feel free to use us as references if need be. The video turned out to be by far one of the most important details of the wedding. Seriously, there were big things, seemingly major things that we would have done without rather than go without having the video. Tell people that no one remembers what they ate or what the bridesmaids' hair looked like, spring for the movie!"

I couldn't have said any words any better to convince brides and grooms how important wedding videography is. If I am able to get a file ready for the blog of the Wilberts wedding movie, I will post here for your enjoyment! Thank you Melissa and Jace for sharing your thoughts on the video with me and Barry- but also future and current brides. Good luck to you both- keep in touch and if we are able to do a baby announcement for you, we will post it proudly on the blog as well!

BRIDAL SHOW!

Hi all, the Bridal Show was lots of fun this past weekend! Thanks to all who came out to say hi and pick up the demo!! It was fun seeing past and future brides! Don't forget if you are checking out the website and the videos on this blog (sorted by category to your right), the Bridal Show special is in full swing! Call or email for more details!!! Thanks everyone! It was fun! SG

John Deere Green

Congratulations to the Estes family in Greensburg for achieving LEED Platinum status for the building of their new John Deere dealership! We have done both wedding and corporate work for the family and were excited to share in their excitement! You can check them out at http://www.btiequip.com/ ! More to come about our recent work with John Deere in the coming weeks! Be sure to check back! SG

BRIDAL FAIR 2009!

Don't forget the next Bridal and Prom Expo is coming up quick! July 25th and 26th we will see you at Century II! Come one day or both and browse a great assortment of wedding and prom/party vendors -and of course stop by to see yours truly! :)

We'll have our newest demo on hand, pick one up and SEE THE DIFFERENCE!

Talk to past brides about how they liked their Fat Cat Experience!

Check out the Bridal Fair special as well! Dates for 2010 are starting to fill in, so don't delay!

Check out new trends including destination weddings- don't forget to take along your videographer and photographer! Check if your date is available for 2010!

We would love to meet you, stop by for your chance at some wonderful prizes at the show including a free Lasik surgery!! Talk about getting some great video on the wedding day without the glasses or those pesky contacts! Come on down to the show for more info. See you there!

Nikki and Andrew!

Congratulations to Nikki and Andrew! We spent last weekend documenting their wedding day for them! It was a very relaxed time and we met some new photographers, Becca and Jewel of Wirken Photography at http://www.wirkenphoto.com/ . The couple booked our new Documentary package, unfortunately no prequel to post this time. Thank you Nikki and Andrew! It was a pleasure meeting you both! SG

White-Brocato Prequel Now Online!

After a long wait- the White-Brocato prequel is now online! Scroll down to find it! We do hope you enjoy Bridget and Ryan's Day, be sure to leave your comments! You also might be wondering where all the pictures on the blog went? We have requested photos of recent weddings from the photographers but they have become pretty overwhelmed with the season and not been able to follow up :( Boo. Hang in there, we'll get to them when we can! Stay tuned for more antics! SG

More gore and carnage!

Ok, ok, so the gore and carnage wasn't real- but it looked like it! Was it REALLY that time again? Yes, it was. We just completed a long, hot, muggy, sunburnt, bug bitten, muscle-aching, and dehydrated two day long shoot this week in Yoder, Kansas for Hutchinson Community College's Paramedic Training Program- Field Operations 2009! This is now the third year we have helped with capturing the event! It is always terribly hot and tiring, but super rewarding. Not your average wedding-fare! This year we gathered additional footage and b-roll to be edited into next year's documentary edition. We are very excited for next year when the number of students grow exponentially and the scenarios get increasingly wild and realisitc! I was grateful again to my friends at Life Team Aeromedical Transport for the wonderful ride along again!!! Thanks guys! Thank you to Deanna for being on stand-by on Tuesday. Maybe next year- it's gunna be a wild ride! Footage is now being captured for edit in several weeks-lots on our plate right this very moment! If we are able to post video, we will- hang in there. But that's what we've been up to lately after a brief vacation to Grand Lake in Oklahoma and now back to school as well for the summer session. It really never ends around here! More to come- stay tuned! SG

New Prequel Online!

The Mercader Prequel is now online! Scroll down to the Mercader Wedding Post to view it! Be sure to leave your comments! Stay tuned for the White-Brocato prequel soon! SG

Kind Words-

As we gear up for our two newest prequels to be posted shortly, I ran across an older email while cleaning out my Inbox today. I'd like to share it with you. Chelsey Shackelford, married this past March, writes:
OH MY GOSH I LOVE THE PREQUEL! I have cried every time I watch it, because of how beautiful it is! I absolutely can't wait to see the whole video. All of my friends at work are so impressed. Two of my girlfriends even cried a little bit - You guys are just amazing! I am so impressed with everything. I am so thankful to have found you as my videographers! It's just so cool to watch the clip because I didn't get to see any of it! I know I'm rambling, but words can not describe how excited I am about this! You and Barry are the absolute BEST IN THE WORLD! Thank you SO much for everything again! I can't express my gratitude for how special you made my day! Chelsey and Ryan

I must admit I was blushing! It was such a wonderful day, we couldn't get anything but great footage! I'm always very humbled to hear these comments from our brides, but also very excited to share that excitement with others. If you are on the fence about getting a wedding video, jump off! What Chelsey said really hit the nail on the head- you miss so much, it's a wonderful keepsake of the day. Don't forget the summer special this month!
Thank you Chelsey for letting me share your note! Thanks for your patience in getting to see the rest of the video! We'll make it great!

White-Brocato

We first heard from the bride, Bridget, after the January Bridal Fair and viewing our demo. She lives in Kansas City and first contacted us via phone and email asking about what we had to offer for her day. She was going to be getting married in her hometown of Salina. We talked quite a bit and finalized everything by phone, or online or in the mail. We had hoped to meet her a few weeks prior to the wedding, as we really enjoy meeting our brides and grooms prior to the day; it just helps everyone be more relaxed on the wedding day. Well, Bridget and I could never get our schedules to synch up and we officially got to meet the moment she strolled through the door at the salon on the wedding day! No worries though, Bridget is the type of person who you just feel like you've known for a long time. She was so realxed on her day even though the excitement was building. She and her bridesmaids met at Hair Affair in Salina for hair and make up. Bridget had chosen to put her hair all up in curls and in the back placed a unique hair clip adorned with gold and jewels that was simply gorgeous. She found it at a KC bridal shop. She waited until it was time for photos to put on her veil.

The groom had started getting ready at the Ramada with his groomsmen, both his brothers, prior to seeing his bride for the first time. Barry grabbed a few shots there prior to the big moment!

The bride snuck into her suite at the hotel as well to get dressed herself, adorning a gorgeous gown she also found in KC. Light weight material blew in the breeze and covered with a layer of champagne colored lace and a very elegant sweeping train. A strand of pearls from her new in-laws-to-be completed her look!

The photogaphers, Gary and Amanda McCool (also from Wichita), set up the first meeting near a fountain in the commons area of the hotel. One of the couples nephews, a candlelighter covered Ryan's eyes until it was time to see his bride for the first time. From my vantage point, Bridget sure had a huge grin across her face! They exchanged cards for one another and posed for a few photos before grabbing a quick bite to eat and off to the park for more photos.

Then the bridal party headed to the church, Sacred Heart Cathedral in downtown Salina. It was a very uniquely designed church. Concrete walls were engraved with the stations of the cross and huge stained glass windown towered to the ceilings. The ceremony started at about 2:30 pm and the newlyweds took part in the full Catholic Mass sharing communion together. After they were announced as husband and wife, they were congratulated by their guests who were outside lining the steps blowing bubbles as they headed to the limo to take them to the reception. Artisitc limousine came from Wichita to help the newlyweds celebrate in style!

The reception was back at the Ramada hotel so it was convenient for guests who had come from Kansas City and other parts of the country. Bridget had the entire hall decorated beautifully in brown, black, white and pink. DJ Rick Raynes introduced them to the room where they had a receiving line to personally say thank you to all the guests!

After dinner, the couple cut the cake, had their first toast and guests dove into dessert- wedding cake and the biggest assortment of cookies I had ever seen in my life. It spanned two 8-foot banquet tables and a large round banquet table. As I snuck a few to indulge in, I asked one of the guests if they knew anything about the cookies, were they homemeade or storebought? I was surprised to hear that a few people in the family made every last one. She stated it took about 35 pounds of flour to get the feat accomplished! All varieties except for two I believe were all Italian in tradition, from the groom's side of the family! They even had pink take home bags for you to fill up with goodies and enjoy for later!

Once everyone got plenty to eat for dinner and dessert, the couple shared their first dance and the party had begun! The DJ had plenty of fun planned for the evening and kept everyone on the dance floor and entertained, even a great dance contest!

The newlyweds are excited to head to SanFrancisco for their honeymoon this week and we wish them well in their future lives together.

Bridget and Ryan, thank you again for your hospitality throughout the day, we appreciate it very much- you had a wonderful day and we enjoyed ourselves! You are a wonderful couple with great families, please keep in touch! Good luck to you- have a blast in California!

Stay tuned for the wedding day prequel in the coming weeks! SG

Mercader Wedding

This past weekend, we were able to spend the day with Trinh and Jun Mercader. We were pretty excited as we got to learn more about other cultures. Trinh is Vietnamese and Jun is Phillipino. What a great couple! We knew we liked them and the day would be a lot of fun when we first met. It was a bit surprising when they were ready to sign the contract when Trinh mentioned, "I should probably tell you we are already married"! The day was an official celebration of their past 5 years together! They were making it official with a big celebration with both their families.

On Saturday I was able to film Trinh's Tea Ceremony at her parents home. This was a great learning experience for me. Trinh was great making me feel comfortable and making me aware of what was to happen next as everything was in Vietnamese.

On Sunday, we started the day at Wichita Country Club for preparations with the bride, groom, and bridal party. Trinh chose a beautiful strapless dress made of the lightest material that blew beautifully in the wind for photos, lightly adorned with beads on the bodice. Spring colors in the bouquets were gorgeous with the bridesmaids spring green strapless dresses. Hair and make up artists help make all the ladies look stunning! Not that they needed much help!!!

Trinh chose to see Jun prior to the ceremony to get as many photos out of the way as possible. We had a fabulous day working with some new friends, Ryan and Paul of Versluis Photography out of Kansas City. We set up the first meeting outside under a large shade tree near the golf course. It was great to see ear to ear smiles from the couple! Photos followed and then it was time to set up for the ceremony that started shortly after 3 o'clock. An area judge acted as the officiant. He gave some words of advice for many more additional years of marriage and congratulations for the previous five as they renewed their vows in front of approximately 100 family and friends who traveled from far away as California, Hawaii and the Phillipines.

We were able to steal away the couple with the photographers for a few minutes on the way to the reception to get photos at Bradley Fair.

The reception was held at the Olive Tree Banquet Hall. It was very nicely decorated with bright spring greens and white and festive balloons. A cocktail hour allowed the couple to visit with each of their guests as they arrived prior to starting the festivities. Dinner was a fabulous family style 5 course meal consisting of a variety of great food, steak, salmon, chicken and more. Dessert of course was the fabulous wedding cake and lime sherbet. The maid of honor and best man toasted the bride and groom early on and later during the meal the bridal party accompanied the couple to each table thanking them for attending and in tradition, guests toasted the couple and presented them with gifts and cards.

Later the spotlight was again on the couple during their first dance before they cut loose to dance party music provided by the DJ. It took a bit to get the dance floor warmed up, but the guests had a great time once they were out!

Thank you to Trinh and Jun for letting us share in your special day. Congratulations on five wonderful years together, we wish you many, many more! Enjoy your trip later this year, what an incredible experience! Take tons of pictures! Check back in the coming weeks for the Mercader Wedding Day prequel!

This weddings vendors:

Ceremony and Reception Venues: Wichita Country Club and Olive Tree Bistro

Photography: Paul Versluis Photography, Kansas City

Catering: Olive Tree Bistro

Cake: Eleanor Belen

Floral: The Flower Factory

DJ: DJ Miko

RIFFEL-BEECH PREQUEL NOW ONLINE!

After a long anticipated wait, the Beech prequel is finally online! Please scroll down to the "Lifes A Beech!" entry to find it! A perfect song chosen by the bride we think you'll enjoy it. We think it really shows this couple fun loving relaxed personalities! Be sure to leave your comments and let us know what you think! Enjoy! SG

SIZZLING SUMMER DEAL!

Let's face it, the economy isn't what it used to be today as it was last year. More and more brides and grooms are being forced to cut wanted and needed items out of their budgets when planning a wedding. Fat Cat strongly believes that preserving your memories on video, no matter how much you spend on the wedding, or not, shouldn't be one of the items to be ousted immediately from the budget. It's still an immensely important day that should be well preserved for the future. That said Fat Cat knows brides need a wedding video and we'd like to help.

So if you or someone you know is looking to book Fat Cat as their wedding videographer, please contact us for our new special running now through the end of June! Take a gander at our samples in the gallery and pick up the phone and give us a call. We'd be happy to help!
SG

Pauly Prequel Online Now!

The Prequel of Kristy and Nolan is now online, scroll down to "Kristy & Nolan" wedding entry to view it. Kristy gave us a sampling of songs she liked and to our surprise, I found a new artist that's soon to be one of my favorites! Take a listen, we think you'll like the flowing springtime romantic sound! Congrats to Kristy and Nolan, be sure to leave your comments! SG

John Deere "Green"

Many years ago one of our first weddings was for a great couple Paige and Jared Estes. They always held a special place with us as they were the "first" to book the new guy in town at the time for their wedding day. We delivered the video (in now record time by todays busy standards) and they loved it. We were completely shocked and saddened to say the least when we heard Paige was killed in a drunk driving accident about 6 months after the wedding. We then got to know the family a little bit more from some private things we had done for them during this horrific time. Then last year we ran into Mr. Estes, Jareds father at Greensburg when we filmed the graduation with President Bush as the featured guest. They were celebrating the one year turning point after the tornado. Mike expressed to us he would like to have us film some things for the family pertaining to the rebuilding 'green' of his dealership that was destroyed in the tornado, BTI Greensburg John Deere. We were proud and honored to -and promised! Greensburg also holds an important place for us as well as I searched with my dog as part of the rescue efforts immediately following the tornado then again filming the graduation ceremonies when the school had been destroyed.

Well time passed and we hadn't heard alot about the project, until I received a call from one of the planners of the Grand Reopening, just a few weeks prior to the Beech-Riffel wedding. They had a date and it was on the wedding day. I scrambled to find a second shooter for each of the events so I could fulfill promises made to both parties! Our friend Deanna helped me at the wedding and our friend Alan was able to help with the corporate shoot with Barry. The bride was very gracious and understanding about my dilemma! (Thanks Jessica) and soon Barry and Alan were headed to Greensburg.

It was a big event during a whole weekend of celebrations and reopenings for many places in Greensburg trying to put their town "back" on the map. A celebration with ribbon cutting, tours of the "green" building itself, musical entertainment, prize drawings, and brief statements of congratulations from area and state dignitaries. We were there with Discovery Channel and other media outlets, but our focus of the story in the edit will be the celebration for the family, as a documentary heirloom piece. We are very excited to have the opportunity! We will also be going back to Greensburg in the coming weeks to finish up shooting for this project.

We were also able to get footage recently in Greensburg of the new Eco-Silo home for a building company out of state. Very interesting and exciting what they are doing in Greensburg.

What a weekend it was! Thanks to everyone from the Estes family for inviting us as well as our bride and groom (see below) for being flexible with us in order to help everyone! Not only are we told "Fat Cat Rocks" but we only rock because our friends, our brides and grooms and our other clients ROCK. Thank you.

Life's a BEECH! (AKA: The Riffel-Beech Wedding)

Not exactly the kind with beautiful white sand, gorgeous sunshine or fruity drinks with miniature umbrellas- but the kind with two of some of the best folks in the world tying the knot last weekend! Last Saturday Fat Cat was pretty busy. We first met Jessica and Chris after Jessica saw our Baby Announcement on Facebook we did for a friend. They came to meet us and booked a wedding movie package that included a Love Story. It was great fun getting to know Chris and Jessica during the Love Story. We shot it at Jessica's fathers hangar in front of his awesome blue and gold biplane. Then we were able to get some great b roll shots the following week (after a snow/rain delay!) at Prairie Pines Tree Farm. We pieced the story together just in time for the wedding day!

Jessica chose to get ready at home where she was most comfortable, with her family and friends with her. Jessica was really calm and just ready to finally be down the aisle! No worries even when printing last minute programs. It was a very relaxed atmosphere. Jessica did hair and make up at the house then headed to the church (East Point Church of Christ), dress in tow to finish up there and meet Chris prior to the ceremony for all the pictures. The bridesmaids were dressed in black and carried an assortment of brightly colored bouquets that showed off a great contrast with the dresses for spring time. Jessica chose a Maggie Sattero strapless with souffle skirt (one of my favorites!) with accompanying tiara and veil.

In the meantime, the guys were being guys hanging out at the Alley and enjoying some friendly competition on the go-cart track! Our friend Deanna pitched in as second shooter at this wedding and got right in the middle of the action riding a go-cart herself to pull off some fun shots! (Thank you Deanna!) After letting off some steam the guys headed back to the church to get into their tuxes. Chris's son Kyler was ring bearer and just about upstaged the groom in his perfectly fitted tux!

Chris was admittedly nervous before seeing Jessica for the first time, but a big sigh of relief and relaxing smile covered his face when she finally came in to tap him on the shoulder!

Pictures followed, as many as possible dodging a quick rainshower and then the ceremony took flight at 6 pm. One of the neatest things about this ceremony I thought was the music. Chris is in a barber shop quartet and he rocks! He sang to his bride during the ceremony and had incredible back up! They didn't waste any time though, the ceremony lasted about 30 minutes and they were off with bubbles and cheers to the purple K-State bus and on to Exploration Place for the reception after being announced as husband and wife!

There we got to get some fun shots at the Keeper of the Plains prior to the grand entrance of the couple. The couple was able to sit down for a few minutes for dinner while guests watched the Love Story. There were plenty of laughs, but more hilariously gasps as the crowd reacted to the story when Chris dropped the bomb that they had already eloped in Vegas! You could see relieved looks on their faces shortly after when Chris then followed it up with a "just kidding!". They had completely punk'd their guests!

The couple then cut the cake and received toasts from the Maid of Honor, and Chris's Best Man, his brother, who stole the show with one line punches and stand up comedy!

The first dance quickly followed and special dances with parents prior to the party. The big hit of the party was the Flip Flop Bucket provided by Tinley with brightly colored flip flops so the ladies could ditch the high heels and cut loose! The newlyweds completely enjoyed their time with friends and family and at last Facebook check were thoroughly enjoying themselves in Hawaii!

To Chris and Jessica, thank you so much for having Fat Cat as a part of your day and being so flexible with crew changes for part of the day! We are very happy for you and your families, it was great to get to know them as well! We hope the long awaited trip to Hawaii was worth it and please do tell us all about it when you return! Hope you were able to partake in many fruity drinks with mini umbrellas! Keep in touch, we must do OC again when you are able to make it back to town. Chris, good luck with the remainder of school, you'll do awesome, must come see you for an adjustment when you are all done! :) Congratulations!
Come back to the blog in the coming weeks for the Beech Prequel!

This weddings vendors:

Venues- East Point Church of Christ and Exploration Place

Photographer- Milly Rose Photography

Floral- Stems

Catering- Corporate Caterers

Planning- Tinley Innes, Jubilations Events

Cake- Artistic Cakes

DJ- Scott Ward, Accent Mobile Music

Kristy and Nolan

We met Kristy and Nolan when they also booked T&J Studios for photography when we were in the old studio last year together. Kristy had her heart set on an outdoor spring wedding. She settled on Botanica and we were all very excited to get some great outdoor shots. But the closer that the day approached, the weather looked as if it were going to be Kansas through and through - and not cooperate. Kristy held out hope.

We started out at the Hyatt downtown where both Kristy and Nolan were getting ready with their bridal party. The ladies hung out in the Sunflower Suite with some killer new remodeling, very modern and hip. The ladies hair and make up were awesome with some help from the ladies from the BeeHive Salon! While Kristy was getting her hair done, a special gift from Nolan came in. She was given an Opal ring, a family tradition in the Pauly family to the ladies on the their wedding day. After Kristy dried her tears, she had to laugh at the gift she gave Nolan "Mine wasn't as nearly sentimental!" When asked what it was, she admitted she gave him a gift certificate to drive a race car at the Kansas Motor Speedway! Still, it was a gift we all thought was pretty darn cool.

The men all wore black suits with lime green accents and the ladies wore black dresses of two different styles short and sleeveless, appropriate for spring. The weather was only overcast all afternoon and when Kristy got dressed, it was looking up for the weather to hold for a 7pm ceremony! Her dress was from Davids Bridal and very unique. Classic white, strapless, a very soft lightweight flowing fabric was perfect for an outdoor wedding with the slightest breeze giving it some flow and character. A few lace and ruffle accents adorned a short train.

They chose to see each other before the wedding since it was late in the evening and they wanted time to enjoy their guests. The first meeting was outside the Hyatt just in time for the sun to come out!
Afterwards, the bridal party headed down to a sandbar on the river and ditched the dress shoes and heels for some fun in the sand! Everyone in the bridal party were great sports with the photo and video shoot! As the afternoon went on with shots at Botanica, the sunlight hid behind the clouds and it was slightly overcast, but the set up continued outside in the meadow. At approximately 6 o'clock, Ryan Funck the DJ approached us and the groom worried about the weather, a brewing storm looking as if it were starting to cup around us. As we all dialed up radars on our iphones and blackberry's, then almost immediately everyone scattered like rats to the sound of "oh no!" and the large rain drops started in. Everyone ran for cover in the approaching darkness and took all electronics inside as fast as possible, the DJ's sound board, speakers, our cameras on tripods and mp3 players, etc.

By the time we all reached the overhang on the back patio, the sun was coming back out, the rain had stopped and it looked as if all the bad weather had cleared! Good ole Kansas. So another discussion took place with the groom and his family, consulting iphones and radars again. It looked as if there was a window of opportunity for the time of the wedding and another storm approaching on the back side. We set up again and were off and running about a quarter to 7.

The bridal party entered and lined up in their places, Kristy and her father rounded the corner of some trees for their entrance when the raindrops started in again. Not quite as hard, but guests grabbed umbrellas and used their programs to shield their heads. We leaned over cameras to protect them from water and the DJ spread his coat over the sound board and off Kristy went! I ran to the end of the aisle to get their expressions as they marched in, Nolans mother was very gracious and stepped out lightly to share her umbrella with me! When Kristy's father gave her away, the rain stopped, the sun came out and the rest of the ceremony went off without a hitch! Her father was also the officiant which made it quite personal and they wasted no time with a short scripture reading and went straight to the vows. Before we knew it, in less than 20 minutes they were announced as husband and wife! We took a few fun shots immediately after the wedding, and you guessed it, the thunder rolled and I apologized to Kristy and took off tearing down the rest of our equipment and headed inside to set up for their grand entrance. Just in time, too, the storm had arrived! It was pouring down torrential rain as we ducked under the overhang! Kristy had gotten her perfect outdoor wedding! Everyone was safe and equipment was saved!

The party was great fun with some unique twists, after dinner and the cutting of cake, the couple shared their first dances together and with parents but the bridal party dance was a surpirse with a mix of slow dancing and party pieces to cut loose and have a little fun. The money dance was also a surprise to those guests standing in line, Ryan would play the Jeopardy theme and then the guests were surprised by either a fast party song or a romantic ballad! No one knew what was coming next! It really was a great day and Kristy and Nolan had a wonderful time.

The newlyweds are spending their honeymoon in the Bahamas where I'm sure the weather is much nicer!

Thank you Kristy and Nolan for a great day, you are great sports, even with the rain it never "dampened" your day nor your spirits. We wish you all the best in your new life together, we know you'll do just fine! Take tons of photos in the islands and do share online soon! Thank you for having us, we appreciate it very much- stay in touch!
Now enjoy their wedding day prequel!

RUMOR MILL. . .

Seems the last couple weeks I've been running into folks who have been telling me "So, you aren't doing Fat Cat anymore?" Needless to say I was somewhat shocked, but not surprised. Please let me clear the air for my past, current and future brides, vendors and friends.

Fat Cat is not going away.

Here is how I believe the nasty little rumor started and was contorted to the above statement: This past year and a half we were blessed to have the business doing well and we were very excited about a move into the studio in Valley Center with T&J Studios Photography. It was a great place. Wonderful friends and atmosphere, a killer media room we put together and lots of space to shoot when needed in the back studio. It was great to have the business out of our home where I didn't need to ask my brides and grooms if they were allergic to cats prior to coming for a consultation. During the end of summer of 2008 and well into the fall Fat Cat started feeling the effects the economic situation we hear so much about on the news. Bookings began to slow down for us and in order to keep serving our brides at the capacity we are and turn a great detailed product for them, we decided to move the business back home where it all began. This does not mean we are quitting. Quite the contrary. We are simply moving the location of where I do my work. There are pros and cons to this so bear with me as I readjust again!

Although many of you know Barry and I are both taking our pre-reqs for nursing school, but the business remains full time for me at this time. We are just going through those growing pains of life and business and moving back home was the best choice for us at this point in time. If you need to contact us, we are now moved back home and I can be reached via email or cell phone.
I continue to work to get the edit queue turned around eventually, but in the meantime for our current brides I am taking care on each wedding to assure it is the product you paid for when you booked us and not rush through them. My assitant editor, Allyson, continues to help me keep my head above water with the pile of weddings I have sitting before me :)

We are still booking into summer and fall of this year and are starting to book into 2010. So if you or someone you know are looking for a great wedding video, look no further than Fat Cat. If anything to do with our status changes, our customers, friends and brides will be the first to know. Thank you all for your support of Fat Cat and allowing us to do what we love, spending the day with the best brides and grooms on the planet! Until next time- Steph

Fun behind the scenes. . .

So we shoot this wedding with our photographer friend Kevin Brown a few weeks ago right? Well, being the nice guy that he is, he decides he'll take a few pictures of us at work. It's a luxury we don't get too often and appreciate it when we do get it. T&J Studios has done the same for us too as well as a few other photographers. So we just decided to post a few to show you how we get some of the shots we do. A post just for fun, talk to you all soon! SG

Photo captions: The first shot is Barry getting the wide shot of the groom and groomsmen practicing the "Can't Touch This" choreograpehd dance at the Ludwig-Empson wedding.

The Glidecam rig at the father-daughter dance. I make Barry carry it- it's too heavy!

Kevin catching Steph at precisely the wrong moment :) when I saw the groomsmen "poledancing" on the Party Express Bus- what a riot!

Steph grabs a creative shot of the pole in the foreground of the bride and flower girl sharing a quiet moment together.

Don't ask me what Joey was doing in the next shot, I'm really not sure! I think it was a pole dance gone wrong!

Don't ask me what Barry is doing in the next shot either. I have no idea. I didn't even know he did this at weddings!

Robbin was kind enough to let us grab some cake at the reception and Kevin caught Barry during a moment of hypoglycemia! :)