They finally got married this past weekend after eleven years of dating. ‘Markie’, as his father acknowledged him in his speech, was joined by over 100 of their closest friends at the Maclaren Art Centre in downtown Barrie. Here is the Same Day Edit that we showed at around 9:30pm at the reception.

This wedding was a lot of fun for us because we got the long-awaited opportunity to work with our friend Jennifer Klementti who took some stunning photography! It was also great to work with Debbie Savic of Fresh Occasion Coordination

The music in this piece is called “Black Woods, White Beach” by the band Afterlife Parade and was licensed through The Music Bed.

Thank you Mark and Tricia for having us as your wedding cinematographers and we hope you have an amazing honeymoon in Costa Rica!

We get tonnes of comments on our films regarding the music and people are always asking how we find our music.  Without giving too much away – (actually really giving the whole secret away here) – we use a website called TheMusicBed.com

Wedding videos have historically kind of had a reputation for having cheesy music.  We decided very early on that we were going to search for music that we liked rather than dropping either an ’80s song or perhaps something from the Black Eyed Peas.

We had always tried our best to reach out to artists and ask for permission to use their music. Sometimes, we wouldn’t hear back so we’d figure that we were ok to use their music. Initially, we thought if we bought the song from iTunes, we were good to go. Not the case. We were technically illegally using music and we weren’t happy about that.  We had inquired about using music from popular bands right from the record labels and they told us it would be around $20,000 and up to use each song once.  That wasn’t going to work. We continued to research and one day we got an unexpected, but highly welcomed hand written invitation in the mail to try out a brand new website called TheMusicBed.com. The site offers fully licensable Royalty Free Music, Stock Music, and Production Music that we can use for our films. And the music selection is actually amazing. All kinds of artists that we love and they are adding more every week! They have music licenses for weddings, corporate videos, non-profit projects and more.

In the past, Royalty Free music has been extremely painful and never a good solution for our type of wedding films. That all changed with The Music Bed.  We’ve now used them exclusively for our last 15 wedding films and we are excited about continuing our relationship with The Music Bed.

Here’s what we love most about The Music Bed

• Amazing selection of songs for all kinds of projects including Ben Rector, Holly Maher, Aaron & Andrew and our favourite Zerbin

• The quality of songs is amazing – great music from amazing, mostly independent artists

• We are actually paying the artist an affordable, sustainable amount to use their music and everyone is happy!

• They give us the option to license songs for wedding films or for corporate videos

• Perhaps our favourite part is how cool their website looks and works. It’s got a cool wish list feature and you can listen to the entire song!

We got a chance to meet The Music Bed team at In[Focus] in Charleston and getting to know them and their vision for supporting artists and doing things the right way perfectly lines up with our goals at Honey & Dear.

Even if you’re not in the business of making videos for weddings or really anything else, check out the site cause you might fall in love with some new music!

I can remember getting a phone call around 10:30pm or so one night in October. It was Chris on the other end and he wasn’t his usual confident self.  He said – I think we have a problem”. Without getting into too much detail – they were out a venue and a large sum of cash with less than 3 months to plan a brand new wedding.  I can remember frantically reaching out to some of our friends and then the idea of Steamwhistle Brewery came to mind. On January 29, 2011, Jeremy and Leacia had a beautiful winter wedding and we did a same day edit for them. So I mentioned to Chris why not check that venue out.

A few days later, a more relaxed and confident Chris phoned back and said things are good – the venue is now Steamwhistle (which is actually now our favourite place to recommend couples – more that later). After a few bumps in the road, Chris and his strong but silent bride-to-be Kim began re-dreaming their wedding. Here is a look at how the day unfolded.

We had an amazing time getting to know Kim & Chris. After having one of the best steaks of my life about two weeks ago with these two, I just felt the real-ness and sincerity of their relationship. I also love that Kim hates carrots with a passion.  The most exciting part of this wedding was just how everything came together and honestly – after being involved with a hundred or so weddings ourselves – there wasn’t anything noticeably whipped together or rushed at all. It felt perfect and we were truly honoured to be there with them.

I would like to mention how much of a pleasure it was to work with Mirza from Wandering Eye Photography. It was a pleasure to spend the day alongside you – you made our day incredibly easy and we appreciate it.

I’d also like to formally introduce Katie Bailey to everyone. This was Katie’s first wedding with us and she absolutely owned it. She brings a photography background but she’s also really cool and fun and we’re excited to have her join Honey & Dear!

The music in this piece is by one of our new favourites – Zerbin. The song is entitled ‘I Want You’ and it was licensed through the website www.themusicbed.com

Thank you again Kim and Chris – we’re so excited for your marriage together!

One of the exciting things about this show is the launch of the first ever Wedding Co. Magazine.  We were asked by the Wedding Co. to create a series of teaser videos as well as this video below to promote the magazine. Have a look and see what you think:

The music in this video was licensed through our friends at TheMusicBed.com

In other news, we have found our intern for 2012! We are very excited to introduce Katie Bailey to everyone. Katie will be working with us and helping to assist us at weddings. We’re excited to have her and she’ll be at the Wedding Co. Show with us on Saturday and Sunday.  Emily and Andrew won’t be at the show on Sunday as we are travelling to Charleston, S.C. for the amazing [in]Focus event. This will be our second time taking part in the cinematography education and inspiration conference and we can’t wait to see everyone and learn some new things.

Make sure you come visit us at the show!

Andrew

We loved spending the day with Christina and Krist. I had never been to the Mariposa Market before – but we went there for some photos with our good friend Luca Ragogna who did the photos that day.

Thanks so much for having us guys! We had an amazing time with you!

Music in this video is “New Earth” by the band Zerbin, licensed through TheMusicBed.com

Here’s the Highlight film we put together for Sam & Jesse:

We had an amazing time filming Sam & Jesse’s Wedding at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, Ontario.  The location was beautiful. The weather was just right. This was our second time spending the day with Zach and Rudo from Mango Studios. We really like how those guys work – and their photography is stunning.

This is a quick screen grab we liked! Sam is one stunning bride!

I’d also like to thank Andrew Rose and his colleagues from Westbury National Show Systems. These guys are top notch. They are the in-house sound company for the Royal Conservatory of Music and I have to say they were so friendly and accommodating to work with. Thanks so much you guys!

The music in this wedding highlight film is Inglend Part 3 by the band Last Lungs and is licensed through the website TheMusicBed.com

Michael Daoud, owner of Pink Elephant Marketing invited us to his office about a year ago to meet along with his new fiancee Marian. When Marian started to talk about her family and how important they were to her and all of the planning that had already taken place for her wedding – we knew we were in for a treat. We spent 4 or 5 days with Michael and Marian over the past year getting to know them and being with them for some pretty special moments including her final dress fitting at Pearl Bridal House as well as Michael’s final Tuxedo fitting at John Ferrigamo in Yorkville. We loved spending time with their family interviewing them and gathering stories for a special engagement film we put together which will be online shortly.

We loved how Michael and Marian both grew up in the same Coptic Church and had their traditional orthodox ceremony in the same church. After the ceremony (where no kissing is allowed) – we went to the Thompson Hotel (which is quickly becoming one of our favourite places for some more shots. I would like to personally say that the very last shot in this edit from the rooftop of the Thompson may in fact be my favourite ever Honey & Dear shot. I’ll let you be the judge of that! There was a lot more to this wedding – but why don’t you just watch the Same Day Edit.

The music in this Same Day Edit is the song ‘Crazy’ by the band Stars Go Dim and was licensed through the website TheMusicBed.com

This wedding had so many awesome people involved who helped bring it all together. We loved spending the day with Sarah Cherry who helped keep the elaborate party on schedule!  We also had a great time hanging out with Matt from Xero Digital. The live band they had blew our socks off – Tyler Yarema & His Rhythm.

Thank you so much Michael & Marian for having us – we can’t wait to see all of your photos from Thailand!

We arrived at the resort after a quick flight on WestJet from Toronto to Punta Cana on Tuesday, the day before the wedding.  We met up with everyone for an amazing Mexican meal.  We weren’t on the island more than 4 hours before we were formally introduced to Mama Juana.  Basically, Mama Juana is a mixture of bark and herbs left to soak in rum, red wine and honey. The solid ingredients (local leaves, sticks and roots) vary from region to region but are said to be medicinal.  It is consumed in ‘shot’ format and there is a fun little dance that you’re supposed to do. James initiated the first of several Mama Juanas.  Long story short – this group likes to have a good time and we felt welcomed as a part of their family instantly!

Well – the next day was the wedding day. We got off to an early start to catch the sunrise.  Well – enough talking – have a look at the highlight film we put together for Paige & Mike:

The music in this piece is ‘Let Love Be’ by Chelsea Lankes. licensed through www.themusicbed.com

We don’t offer photography – but we do use Canon 5D Mark II cameras which is certainly a professional stills camera.  Paige and Mike asked us if we would take a few photos for them and Emily was excited about the challenge.  While it was fun – and we did get a few nice shots – we are going to stick to what we know   For fun though – here’s a few of what Emily came up with:

And here’s a few more from a little later on in the day:

Thank you so much to the entire Davies/Leeder & Pridding families and all of the friends who came for not only having us along for the wedding but for taking us in and truly making us feel like part of the group!

We always love your comments on the blog below!

After Charlie officially ‘won’ the right to marry Emily, it was time for some photos. We were so excited to work with Lisa Mark and her new husband Justin. They were so fun and amazing to work with! Their photos were incredible too! I saw a few shots through the back of Lisa’s camera and let’s just say – Charlie and Emily will be thrilled once their photos are ready! Here’s a quick frame grab from the photoshoot in an elevator!

Anyways – i’m rambling now. We had an amazing day and here is the Same Day Edit wedding film we made for Charlie and Emily:

Thank you so much for having us guys!

We look forward to seeing you soon!

Music is ‘America’ by Imagine Dragons licensed by The Music Bed

CeCe and Minh got married at Trinity Chapel on the campus of U of T. I must admit I was nervous about their ceremony because of all of the stories i’ve heard about other photographers and videographers being kicked out of the church mid-ceremony! After a quick chat with Cliff (who runs the show), we had our instructions and followed them

Their reception at the new Thompson Hotel was amazing. I believe it is my new favourite reception venue. The place has style. It’s modern and clean and the staff are on the ball. The food here was incredible – quite possibly the best wedding food we’ve had this year! You should see the roof top infinity pool. It’s breath-taking. Thanks to Nick and his team for the incredible job they did.

It was amazing to work with Joee Wong and his team Chris and Therese! We’ve been looking forward to working with Joee for a long time – he’s an awesome guy and we hope to see you again real soon! Check out a few of the photos here: http://bit.ly/cece_minh

Music in this Same day edit is ‘Lost at Sea’ by the band Hope Atlantic. Buy the song here.

We thought we’d try something new by posting a few screen grabs for fun. Let us know what you think! We love your comments!

Thanks Cece & Minh for having us! We had an amazing day!!