Hey everyone! Hope you are all happy and healthy during these crazy times. It’s been a while since we wrote a blog post, but I will try to do a better job keeping up. Ever since we announced our new Live Stream services, we have received tons of interest, but also lots of questions about what it is. As a result, I figured I’d write a post explaining some of our most commonly asked questions.

Before I do that, I’d like to explain the origin of how we came up with the idea. Like all wedding vendors, this Covid 19 disease hit us hard. Like really hard. We had so many couples that either rescheduled their wedding, or canceled altogether. Virtually every couple had to make major changes to their wedding. Couples have had to greatly reduce their guest count, and unfortunately it appears that will be the case for quite a while. We decided that we could help these couples by allowing their friends and family that couldn’t be at the wedding to still be able to view their wedding as it was happening. And of course, we wanted to be able to do it in a high quality way. We spent a few months getting the right system, and practicing using this new system. The results have been fantastic, and we are so excited to be offering this new service.

That being said, here are some of our most common questions:

What exactly is Live Streaming? Live Streaming is a way to share your wedding or event live with friends and family. Typically they will be given a link ahead of time, and they will tune in at the correct time and enjoy the event.

Why would I hire you for that? Why wouldn’t I just have a friend go on Facebook live? You can absolutely do that, and it will do the job. However, what we do is so much more than that. First of all, we use tripods. There is nothing worse than watching shaky video:) Second, we use multiple cameras. This allows us to be able to alternate angles, which keeps the video exciting, but also provides different viewpoints. Third, we use professional cameras. We are able to use the same pro cameras that we use when we shoot video. You will definitely notice the quality difference. Finally, and probably most importantly, we use professional microphones. You will actually be able to clearly hear the officiant speak. You will be able to hear the vows (probably even better than you would if you were at the ceremony). All these reasons together make for a pleasant viewing experience.

Will I be able to watch the video after the Live Streaming is done? Absolutely! The link will stay active. If you want, we can even send you the movie file so that you can put it on your social media.

Does this mean I don’t need to get video? If you have the budget, I would still recommend getting video. It will be a more polished product, as you can go back and fix the video later on and get everything exactly how you want it. However, if you don’t have the budget for video, this does make for an excellent alternative, as well as allowing you to be able to immediately go back and watch the video.

Will the link be public for the world to see? Only if you want it to be. We can make it a private link if you prefer. Just let us know what you want and we will make it happen.

What do you need to be able to Live Stream? Internet. The faster the better. We will try to get the Wi-Fi information days ahead of time.

What happens if we don’t have internet at our venue? In that case, we will use a mobile hotspot to try to get an internet connection. Unfortunately this will reduce the quality a little, as the internet will be slower so we will have to reduce the bandwith. If for some reason the mobile hotspot doesn’t work, we will still shoot the wedding and upload it immediately, so your guests won’t have to wait long. Fortunately in most cases we should know ahead of time if this is a possibility.

Can I stream more than just the ceremony? Of course! If you want to have your reception streamed as well, we will typically provide a second link for the reception coverage.

Are you offering any special packages for Live Streaming and Photography? We sure are. We have an amazing introductory package of $2495 for 8 hours of photography with 250 images, as well as live streaming of the ceremony and reception. To receive this package, you must book by December 31, 2020.

Before I write about this beautiful wedding, let me again apologize for not blogging in forever:( I try my best to edit people’s weddings and events as quickly as possible, so I often just leave out the step of writing about it. Instead, I try to quickly move on to the next project. Even though December tends to be one of our slowest months for weddings, we do lots of family shoots. Combine that with the craziness of the holidays and you aren’t likely to get a whole lot of blog posts out of me. That being said, it’s a new year and I’m close to being caught up with my editing (the hope is you never get completely caught up, because that means you don’t have enough business), so I’m going to try to do a better job. However, no promises!!!

From the moment I met with Kat, I knew this was going to be a fun wedding. She has a great sense of humor, and is always smiling. That always equals a great time and great pictures. I couldn’t wait for this wedding to happen, and it did not disappoint.  Rob, on the other hand, hates taking pictures.  I mean really hates taking pictures! This is actually more common than not when it comes to guys, so it’s really not a big deal at all. By the end of the day, he was seeking out the camera and smiling for us, so maybe I’ve helped him turn the corner. Ok, that may be a bit of a stretch, but I like to at least tell myself that.

First of all, I apologize for slacking on the blog posts. We’ve been pretty busy with weddings and I got a little backlogged with weddings to edit. I always prioritize not having brides wait versus doing a blog post. However, I’m starting to get caught up, so I will try to blog more frequently. I have several weddings that I’ve done that are definitely blog-worthy:)

Melissa and Gio are a super sweet couple. I really enjoyed getting to know them and their two beautiful children at their engagement shoot at the University of Tampa, so I was really looking forward to their wedding. Let me tell you, their wedding was just as beautiful as it was hot, lol. I usually wear an under shirt, but I decided to skip the under shirt for this wedding (don’t ask me why), and my shirt was dripping with sweat. I’m sure I looked disgusting, but on the bright side it looked like I was working really hard!!!

Despite the heat, Melissa and Gio were able to handle the heat and had a great time. Not to mention that we got a pretty awesome sunset too! Here are some of our favorites:

Jessica and Ryan had a beautiful wedding ceremony in their backyard, with their reception at Coppertail Brewery. This was an extra fun wedding, as Jessica is the third of 3 super close friends all married within the last few months, all of which trusted Head Over Heels to capture their special day.  I consider this a tremendous honor, but it also makes it great because I feel like I know everyone.  It’s also really nice to see some of our former couples. Hopefully they have another friend on deck to get married, lol.

Some projected rain forced the couple to get a tent to make sure they stayed dry (thanks to Brandon Rental for coming through with a last minute request).  The cloudy day made for some really nice, even light for the photos, which this photographer really enjoyed.

The reception was very casual compared to a normal reception, as there wasn’t really any formalities, aside from a couple really nice toasts. Instead, they spent the reception hanging out with their guests and eating great food.

Here are just a few of our favorite pictures:

Joyce and Tommy were married at the beautiful Davis Island Garden Club, which has quickly become one of our favorite spots. It’s a beautiful venue with tons of great spots for photos. It’s also very private, which means you don’t have to worry about outside guests photobombing your shots:)

Joyce got ready in their beautiful new home in South Tampa, while Tommy and his guys got ready at the Tampa Marriott Waterside.  I could tell about a minute into walking into the room with the guys that this was going to be a fun wedding. Probably the biggest highlight of the wedding was Tommy’s thank you speech. While it was a sincere thank you to his friends and family, he managed to keep everyone rolling on the ground with laughter. In my opinion, those are always the best speeches.

Here are some of our favorite images:

October was our busiest month since we moved to Florida, with 11 weddings, as well as two other events.  We are so fortunate to have been so busy, as we got to work for some wonderful couples.  Christina and Ned were no exception, as we had a blast at their wedding. They were married at the Laurel Oak Country Club in Sarasota. I always love shooting at golf courses because there are always multiple places to shoot.  You can always find new spots, no matter how many times you’ve been there.

Their ceremony was held right on the golf course, with a beautiful tree and lake as the backdrop. It doesn’t get much better than that!  After the ceremony and family photos, we walked around the corner and caught a beautiful sunset.  Christina and Ned “fit” so well together, which really made our job easy. There wasn’t a whole lot of posing on our end, we just kind of let them hang out, and the result were some great photos:

Alexandria and Jusin’s wedding was our first chance to get to work at Tampa Bay Watch.  Probably our most popular spot for engagement shoots is right down the road at Fort DeSoto, so we’ve driven by it a bunch of times, but this was the first time we got to do a wedding there. It definitely didn’t disappoint, as it was a beautiful venue, and for a little icing on the cake, it is completely private!

The weather was beautiful temperature wise, but extremely windy. So windy in fact that the backdrop for the ceremony kept getting blown over – even with weights holding it down!  Regardless, they had a beautiful ceremony together. Special thanks to Royal Events & Services for all their help throughout the day.

Here are a few of our favorite images:

I got to spend a Saturday with Yolari and Ryne at the Heritage Bay Golf Club in Naples.  I hadn’t met the couple in person until the wedding day, so I was very excited to finally put a face to the name. They were just as nice in person as they were over the phone, so I knew I was in for a great day.

Their wedding was only a couple days after Hurricane Matthew, so there was a little anxiety as far as how the weather would be, but luckily it was an absolutely perfect day. It was of course a little warm, but not a drop of rain.  The golf course was a perfect backdrop for some great photos of this beautiful couple. Here are a few of our favorites: