FAT CAT EMERGENCY!

Ok, so we didn't have a real emergency :) which is good! But it is that time of year again that I got to go film at Hutchinson Community College for the annual "Field Operations" class. It was so great to see old friends! Field Ops, as they call it, is a special two day hands-on operational course teaching paramedic students how to run ambulance calls from start to finish. In class you learn a lot of bookwork and didactic skills, in the hospital clinicals you use your skills under direct care and supervision, but just before field internship where you actually put everything together on the ambulance, you get run through the ringer at field ops!

Students start by being assigned to an ambulance and a mentor in the field of EMS. They check their jump kits and inventory equipment, then wait for the radio to signal an emergency. They are disptached by a real dispatch center and ride red light and siren to the scene of the "call". Once they arrive, volunteer patients act out a number of traumatic or medical emergencies including but not limited to chest pains, car crashes, falls, seizures, heat stroke and this year they even threw in some agricultural accidents with a haybaling machine and horses! Too cool. The patients are "moulaged" to look as if they are really injured, burned or bleeding or whatever the scenario calls for. A concoction of ketchup and chocolate sauce stands in for blood, pieces of plastic built up on the skin act as protruding bones, frozen noodles act as, well- brain matter. After the students give appropriate treatment, they transport the patient in the ambulance to an on site emergency room, give report to the nurses and then return to their posts to restock the ambulance, write run reports and grab a bite to eat and wait for the next call. Last year the crews ran almost 100 calls, this year they well topped it!

Last year we made a 40-minute documentary that has been criss-crossing the midwest promoting the field operations course to other EMS services and teaching schools. It's been a big hit. Next year we will make a new edition of the documentary! We can't wait! Two 12 to 13 hour days of filming about non-stop in the heat and humidity really are fun :)

We have said for some time we will post a portion of the video... give us time, we keep having other deadlines to meet and just haven't done it. Someday it will happen :) The first documentary is done, it's just taking us time to post!

What a hoot today was, thanks to my buddy Chy for having me back this year, although I am extremely bugbit, chigger attacked and sunburnt, I had a blast!

Steph

New Prequel Now Online!

The Vossen/damiris wedding prequel is now online! Scroll down to their post to check it out! Be sure to leave your comments, we love to hear from you! Lots of new news is coming down the pike soon, so stay tuned! SG

Gillespie/Linck Wedding

This weekend we spent the day with Ann and Chris. The couple lives out of state so Ann's mom helped plan the event immensely. What an event it was! From the decorations to actual wedding, all was gorgeous! Ann arrived at the Courtyard Marriot in oldtown with her bridesmaids to get dressed and apply make up after her hair done. She had her hair styled by Eric Fisher Salon and not one hair was out of place! It was absolutely perfect. Ann's bridesmaids helped her into a stunning champagne colored gown completely covered with lace with delicate buttons down the back. Very form fitting and elegant!

Chris and the guys also hung out in another room at the hotel grabbing lunch and trying not to run into Ann during the morning :) Barry and the photographer for the day, Tim Davis, documented some of that while I stayed with the ladies.

After everyone was ready, the River City Trolley picked up the bride and bridesmaids and headed off to St. Mary's Cathedral downtown to start their pictures. I rode back to the hotel to let Barry and the guys hop on the trolley and head in to the church for their photos, as the couple did not want to see each other prior to the ceremony. I then drove the car and all the equipment back to the church for us to set up.

The wedding started at 2pm and Fr. Sherlock officiated. With the ceremony not being a full mass, it seemed it went by in a flash- vows were shared, unity candle lit and the first kiss over before we knew it! It was a very nice ceremony. Flowers provided by JR Koontz were, of course, stunning and complimented the couple in every way.

After the ceremony we had a little bit of time to offload equipment and then head to the reception site a bit early to get shots of all the decorations at the Petroleum Club. I believe all the decorations were made and provided by the brides mother Ruthie. Some of the most elegant we've seen to date. Elegant glass bowls held gorgeous flower arrangements and the tables were covered with pastel colored votives and and woven table runners made by hand. In the paneled windows of the room hung colored balls lit by spotlights that added an extra special touch, especially when the sun went down. A special logo matching all the invitations and programs was placed on the wall behind the cake table by "If These Walls Could Speak". Tinley from Jubilations Events helped the day run smoothly with much to coordinate.

Soon after we arrived, so did the couple being announced into a packed house full of friends and family. Cutting of the cake, toasts and dinner followed immediately while jazz music from the St. Louis-based band "Galaxy" played in the background. The band played all night and were phenominal. They played the couples first dance, the parents dances and all the party songs, keeping the guests on the dance floor well into the night. It was kind of hard to leave once we had our footage, we wanted to stay and listen!

Congratulations to Ann and Chris, it was a pleasure meeting and working with you both. We wish you many many years of happiness together, no matter where life may lead you!

Click below to see the wedding day prequel! We'll also be posting some photos shortly from our new friend, Tim Davis!!

So will you love the video 2 years after the wedding?

Many people when planning for a wedding go through the normal hurdles of finding the location, the perfect dress, a phenominal photographer, killer florals and towering cake. Many shop for a wedding video and decide against it. Some people know they just have to have it. We aren't preaching today of why you need a wedding video, but we will touch briefly on a wonderful email we received late last night discussing this topic. The bride and groom graciously allowed us to share it with you.

Two years ago we had the pleasure of working with Heather and Eric VonMerveldt. They were an awesome couple and especially fun to work with. Last night we received the following email through our website from them:

"Hi Barry and Stephanie! This may sound completely sappy, but today is our second anniversary and we just had a glass of wine and watched our wedding video. It was amazing! We cannot believe how much we have grown and the people in and at our wedding have changed. It has only been two years and we are still happily married and now have one little girl, Ava. I cried through the first half of the video and then we smiled through the rest. We love the dance scene! Basically, we just wanted to let you know that we still think you did an outstanding job on our video and we are sure that we will watch it every year, for many years to come! Thank you so much! "

You can read a few reasons to get a wedding video at http://www.whyweddingvideo.com/ . This is one of Fat Cat's sister sites that will be updated as we receive more stories to share. If you have a story to share about getting a professional wedding video, email it to us at info at fat cat rocks dot com (avoiding spam here!) and we'll post it so all brides can educate each other about the importance of documenting your day! Serious stories, funny stories, send them all!

More exciting news coing in the weeks to come! (We can't spill the beans just yet!)
Stay tuned bloggerheads!

Peterie/Paquette Prequel Online!

Hey Bloggerheads, the Petereie/Paquette Prequel is online now! Scroll down to find it! It is our first project in Final Cut Pro as we attempt to make an official switch to our Macs :) We'll see how it goes. Steph is quite ready to head to the lake for a brief getaway tomorrow after the ordeal! More exciting news coming to the blog in the coming weeks including a much anticipated change to the website that is long overdue and more. Don't forget to come see us at the July Bridal fair next month and secure your Fall wedding date or even your '09 wedding, as we are now booking into '09! Till next time bloggerheads...

Funk/Rodriguez

This past weekend we had the pleasure of working with some great folks. From the Bride and Groom to all the vendors, it was a really nice time...

On Saturday, we started the day at the Grand Chapel with Vangie and Roman getting ready for their big day. Vangie had her hair and make up done prior to arriving about 3 pm and when she arrived at the Chapel, wasted no time in putting the finishing touches on her make up and having her bridesmaids get into their dresses. The guys got dressed down the hall and wasted no time starting their portraits with photographers, Steve Rasmussen and Randy Tobias, while Vangie finished getting into her dress. Vangie chose a gorgeous gown, strapless, sleek in design with a lace overlay and a lace up back, chapel length train that fit her exquisitely. After the bride finished getting ready, her parents and brothers entered the room to see her and wish her well. They are a close family and there were a few happy tears. They shared a family prayer together before Vangie headed out to do her pictures with the ladies.

The ceremony started shortly after photos at 6:30 pm when Roman got to see his bride for the first time. The ceremony was very personal to the couple, with vangies brother Nathan acting as the officiant and another brother, Jesse, playing guitar and singing during the ceremony.

Again, Roman and Vangie were about efficiency and wasted no time getting some great photos completed from Randy and Steve. They made their way to a waiting white limo as their parents rode in a "presidential black" limo behind them to the reception at Exploration Place.

The couple was introduced by Brian Burleson of Premier Sound and they kept the festivities moving along by going straight to their cake to officially start the reception. The best man and maid of honor said a few words.
They shared their first dance as husband and wife as well as dancing with their parents early on in the night. The DJ did a wonderful job of getting the party started with, I am not kidding you, everyone on the dance floor at once to congratulate the couple and get the party started! Then the bride and groom snuck away with Steve, Randy and myself for some photos at the Keeper of the Plains, not far away. When they returned, the party was still in full swing and the dance floored was crawling with their friends and family dancing the night away! It was a nice relaxing day!
To Vangie and Roman, thank you again for letting us share in your great day! I hope you had a great time at the super secret surprise honeymoon location! I bet it was windy, huh!? You make a lovely couple and it was great fun working with you! (We can't wait to hear where you went!)

Be sure to check out the newlyweds web page at http://www.vangieandroman.com/ for pictures and more about them!

Click below to see Roman and Vangie's Wedding Day Prequel!

Vossen/Damiris Wedding!

Before I describe what a great time Barry and I had at Amanda and John's wedding this past weekend, I must describe how we came about to work for the couple because it is just the coolest. In a nutshell, it's all Archie's fault.

Last year in May, two days after I searched the Greensburg tornado damage with my dog Clarice, I was feeling pretty down leaving her at home while I traveled to Corona, California for a videography workshop. She worked so hard and I had to turn around and leave her after that ordeal. So, there I sat in the gate area ready to board my flight. The layover location had changed from Denver to Phoenix. I wasn't happy. Soon in the same area, I noticed a young passenger with a mesh carry on case that looked strikingly similar to a doggie carry on case! I wanted so badly to go ask her about her dog, but decided not to. Chicken I guess :) Then when boarding the flight we were actually seated right next to each other! I was so happy! We briefly introduced ourselves and asked about each others travel plans and I voiced how jealous I was that she got to travel with her dog- you guessed it- Archie. Come to find out Amanda was a P.A. student who lived in Phoenix and was happy to be headed back home after visiting family here. We even had some mutual aquaintances! She asked where I was going and I explained what I did. She had mentioned that she was getting married in a year in Wichita and I offered her a demo DVD I had in my carry-on bag and she should take a look. The flight was great, we had a very nice conversation and when we landed I even got to briefly meet Archie the poodle, who started us in conversation! We each went our separate ways in Phoenix both of us fully expecting not to see the other again.

Fast forward three months. I receive an email from Amanda asking me if I remembered her from the plane trip and she had finally had a chance to look at the DVD and loved it and wanted to book Fat Cat for her wedding videographer! Too cool. I was very happy we were not yet booked for her date!

We were able to meet up again the week of the wedding to discuss her day and this weekend, the rehearsal, and the wedding day seemed to fly by! We met up at St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral for Amanda and her bridesmaids to get ready. She had chosen some great bridesmaid dresses in a spring green, tea length with a yellow sash that tied around the waist. This of course matched all the yellow and green flowers by JR Koontz. Amanda chose a strapless ivory gown with embellishments to the bodice, souffle skirt and lace up back! She knew exactly what she wanted after working in a bridal shop in high school. The guys were donned in classic black tuxes and the grooms tux was purchased and custom tailored for him- and of course, it looked perfect.

They shared a private moment together before the ceremony to get as many pictures done as possible to save time for the party later! I believe I heard John quietly say "Wow!" as he saw Amanda for the first time.

A close friend of the grooms family officiated, Fr. Nicholas Vieron from Cleveland. Fr. Vieron was awesome. He was so personable and humorous, we thoroughly enjoyed meeting him and wish he lived here in Wichita!

The groom's family is of Greek heritage and the ceremony was very different for us, it was our first time being at a Greek Orthodox Ceremony. It is so symbolic in so many ways. The Betrothal, Candles, Joining of Hands, The Crowning, Common Cup and Ceremonial Walk. Most everything happens in threes and it really was something special to be a part of. And what a gorgeous backdrop to film against!

As soon as the bride and groom left the church after being declared husband and wife, the guests were being ushered out to head to the reception while Fr. Vieron kept them entertained with jokes!

I rode in the limo with the bridal party to the reception at The Ville in Andover, another amazing backdrop. Amanda and John were introduced with their bridal party down the grand staircase and mingled with guests a few minutes prior to opening the festivities with an Italian dinner, toasts and the cutting (and smashing) of the cake. The groom also stole a chocolate covered strawberry off his cake decorated with the Ohio State emblem.

The newlyweds started the dance with "A Kiss to Build a Dream On" and shared time with their parents on the dance floor before really letting go and partying well into the evening with all their guests! We especially enjoyed John's grandfather who shared some traditions, dancing to several Greek songs and getting the crowd to join him!

To John and Amanda, thank you so much for letting us share your special day with you this weekend! It was not only a pleasure getting to know you and your amazing, wonderful families, but an honor as well. Have a fabulous time in Australia after school- it will all be worth it! Take tons of photos, we'll get there someday! And don't forget- Love on Archie for me :)
Click below to view Amanda and John's wedding day Prequel!