Bridal Show Time

For those of you still searching for wedding vendors ... here's a quick run-down of some shows.

Sunday, Jan. 11th - Keller Convention Center in Effingham.
Sunday, Jan. 18th - Hilton Garden Inn in Champaign.
Sunday, Jan. 25th - Cross County Mall in Mattoon.

I'm sure there are others, but these are the ones that I'll be participating in this year.

If you're engaged ... wait no longer to book your photographer and videographer. The economy might be down, but everyone is still getting married. And with three weeks of bridal shows ... dates will be filling up quickly.

If you make it to one of the shows be sure to stop by my booth and check out my photography and video services. Or ... you can just stop by to say, "Hi."

This should be a fun year.

Laura & Kevin

Another great weekend with great families. This is what makes it all worth while.

Jess & Jamie

I'll be honest ... I could go on and on about these families and the amount of fun we had on their wedding day ... from shooting Jess as she was getting ready to the Coyote Ugly moment we had at the bar ... not to mention the reception really kicking into high gear after the dollar dance.

Our crew of 5 provided photo and video coverage of the day and we just had a blast!

I've been working on some photos for a sample album I'm putting together for the 2009 bridal shows and decided to assemble them together in a slide show. I hope you enjoy them.

Just catching up ...

For those that haven't heard yet, we've got our house for sale. Charleston is home, so we won't be leaving. Instead we'll be moving to Fox Lake Drive to a house right on the lake. It's a great looking area and I can even do a few engagement shots in the backyard if needed.

Right now I'm continuing to work on print orders as they come in, so if you've placed an order recently ... that's what I'm working on.

Also ... one more album to design and then I'm caught up.

If you're planning on ordering an album, but haven't done so then this would be a good time. Typically there is a rush for albums during the October/November time period ... everyone wants an album before Christmas. The problem is that it happens nation wide, so the album companies have cut off periods. Be sure to give me a call or send me an email if you're thinking about getting an album designed in the next few weeks.

A few weeks off ...

I spent today ... Labor Day ... finishing up Kassie and Clint's wedding video. I know they're as anxious to get the final video as I am to get it out to them. The editing has been completed and now I'm just working on getting it on DVD.
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I have one, and only ONE, wedding album to design. I can't believe it ... I'm actually catching up and once the album has been completed ... I will be completely caught up.

I've got a few weeks off before I shoot my next wedding, so I've got some time to work on marketing and networking. And speaking of networking ... I've entered the digital social networking age ... I joined Facebook. I have no idea if that's a good thing or not, but I suppose if it doesn't take up too much time it's ok. Who knows, maybe I can put up a few wedding photos there as well.
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Thanks to all the people that have taken the time to watch Kate & John's slide show. It has officially eclipsed all viewings of other slide shows and videos. Please feel free to leave a comment if you like.

And for those that don't get the Penguin reference ... well, they did meet in Antarctica.

The New Adventures of Lewis and Clarke

Good weather in August ... are you kidding me? Well that's what we had when Kate & John got married on August 16th.

Usually an outdoor wedding this time of year in Illinois would be brutal, but that just wasn't the case. It was just an enjoyable summer day.

Kate & John had a beautiful wedding ceremony at Allerton Park in the Sunken Garden followed by a reception/picnic at Crystal Lake in Urbana.

They had an all you can eat BBQ including ribs, chicken, beef brisket, corn on the cob and cornbread as well as a live band, and paddle boat rides.

Guests came from all over the U.S. and I know that I spoke to one young lady from Sweden. You know you've got some real friends when they come that far to celebrate with you.

The entire day was coordinated by Gwen Wilson from Nuptiae and florals by English Hedgerow in Urbana. This was my first time working with Gwen and she and her staff did a fabulous job keeping everything running smoothly.

You can click on this link to watch a slide show from their wedding and reception. When you hear the music you'll get an immediate feel for what this wedding was like. It was a blast!

Thank you John & Kate for letting us be a part of your wedding day.

Allison & Scott

Nicole and I had a great time shooting Allison and Scott's wedding a few weeks ago. I guess you could say that it was a rather large wedding party, with 9 bridesmaids and 11 groomsmen. They were all cooperative and lot's of fun, which made my job much easier.

We had hoped to roam around EIU for a while for some outdoor shots, but once we got on the trolley for a quick ride, we knew it wasn't going to go quite as planned. We did manage to get together for a couple of group photos, but we no more than got back on the trolley for the ride back to the church and the skies opened up.

The reception was just awesome (and I don't use that word very often). We typically don't have weddings with live bands in the central Illinois area, but the Paul Windsor Orchestra made the trip down from Chicago and kept the EIU Grand Ballroom dance floor filled. It was a great night for everyone!

Thanks to the Smiths and the Ohlanders for allowing us to be a part of their day.

Below are a few photos and a quick slide show. You'll need Quick Time to view the slide show.

ARTCo Performs Oklahoma

Every year the Actors Rural Theatre Company based in Tuscola, IL does a summer musical. This year is the classic OKLAHOMA!. It's being presented July 17-20 and the 24th through the 27th.

Tuesday night was a dress rehearsal so I snagged a few shots and put together a quick slide show.

I should mention that I have a starring role in the show ... I'm farmer #5 in the back row of the last scene. ;-)

Oh yeah ... you'll need Quick Time to view the video.

ENJOY!

Jody & Carl

Jody & Carl were married in Champaign on June 28th. We provided both photo as well as video coverage of their wedding.

We had a little time prior to the ceremony to slip over to the U of I Arboretum for a few shots. The way this year has been going it was nice to see that the weather cooperated.

Below is a slide show that they will receive along with their video.

The High School of Saint Thomas More

This was my first year of videotaping the spring musical for The High School of Saint Thomas More. This high school is blessed with all sorts of talent from freshmen to seniors.

Under the direction of Jodi Prosser they put together 4 great performances. This is just a sample of some of the songs from the show. Students ... please forgive me if you weren't on the clip below. And yes ... the DVD masters have been completed.

Note: this video is approximately 5 minutes long, so you might want to give it a chance to load.

One more time with Kelly & Matt

The last wedding video produced in 2007 was for Kelly & Matt. Earlier I posted part of the video from the Same Day Edit that was projected at the reception.

Kelly & Matt's video has now been completely edited and delivered and I'm ready to share another segment from their video.

Occasionally we have the opportunity to start earlier in the day as the bride, bridesmaids, groom and groomsmen are getting ready. This video is the pre-ceremony segment from our Same Day Edit package.

As for the wedding day ... ice, snow and howling winds couldn't put a damper on this party. The guests had a great time and so did we!

Thank you Kelly & Matt.

Feel free to add your comments.

(This is a Quick Time file.)

A Couple of Great Shows

Last weekend it was the Keller Convention Center in Effingham and this week was the Hilton Garden Inn in Champaign. These were two really great bridal shows.

The one in Champaign is sponsored by WICD and is always a classy affair. This year they had two fashion shows that helped draw quite a few brides, moms and yes ... even a few grooms. If you happened to be one of those that we got to spend some time with ... thank you for stopping by.

Needless to say, Nicole and I had the opportunity to meet with a lot of brides throughout the central Illinois area over the past couple of weeks. We even had a few brides whose weddings we're scheduled to shoot stop by to just say hi and talk about how excited they are about their weddings. We love it!

Now it's time for me to finish up some corporate video work. As soon as that's been completed then it'll be time for me to finish editing a couple of wedding videos and designing an album or two. Hopefully, I can get all of this done before our first wedding for 2008.

It should be a fun year ...

Bridal Shows Around the Corner

It's that time of year again when all the wedding vendors congregate in some of the nicest reception venues ... showing videos, travel packages, floral arrangements, cakes to sample ... and of course, wedding albums.

Last year we attended 6 different bridal shows and 2007 turned out to be quite a success. So much so that 2008 is now halfway booked and we're just now getting ready for our first show.

With that in mind we have decided to limit the number of shows that we'll be attending. The first one will be at the Keller Convention Center in Effingham on January 7th. The second will be at the Hilton Garden Inn in Champaign on the 14th. Both are fabulous venues with an accommodating staff and excellent facilities.

If you have the opportunity to get out of the house and you're still looking around for DJs, limo companies or even a photographer ... this is a great time to find them all in one place.

Stop by my booth and introduce yourself. We can discuss your wedding plans and you can take a look at some of the new albums I have.

If you have any questions regarding the shows or my services feel free to email or call me at 217-345-9517.

Kelly & Matt

On December 15th we videotaped the wedding of Kelly & Matt at the Cathedral Basilica in St Louis. If you've never had the opportunity to see it, it's worth taking a tour through the church during the day.

When Kelly first contacted me she mentioned that she had been in a previous wedding I had shot where we produced a Same Day Edit ... or SDE. For those that aren't familiar with an SDE, it's a video that has footage shot throughout the day of the wedding set to music and played back on a projection system at the reception. In this case we also pre-produced a photo montage that preceded the edit.

These are always a challenge and impossible to do with only one or two videographers, so I called on my good friend Chuck from Katch Video to help out.

With Chuck and my wife Barb making sure the projector was setup properly and in focus for the 400+ guests, I was able to finish the SDE with about 20 minutes to spare.

The entire video was over 10 minutes and a bit too long to post here, but for Kelly, Matt, family and friends ... I wanted to post this portion for you to take a look at one more time.

Special thanks to the staff at the Adams Mark Hotel for their hospitality and to Westrich Photography for the use of the engagement photo in the video.

By the way ... you'll need Quicktime Player for the video.

Almost a new year ...

We're coming to a quick close to 2007 and it's been a great year.

It's been about a month since I posted anything new. And while I don't have any photos or video to put up right now, I should have something in the near future. We've actually produced three wedding videos (just need edited) ... the last wedding included a Same Day Edit. I'll definitely have some footage from that one. For those of you not familiar with the Same Day Edit, I'll post more information when the video is on-line.

The next 8 weeks will be the busiest of the year. I have albums to design, wedding videos to edit, and corporate video as well. Oh yeah ... let's not forget the bridal shows.

Our 2008 calendar is quickly filling up. As of today we are officially half-way booked for the year. We've been booking at such a good pace that instead of doing 6 bridal shows like we did in 2007 ... we'll now only do two shows.

We're going to be at the Hilton Garden Inn in Champaign and the Keller Convention Center in Effingham. Champaign and Effingham are like a second home to us, so I would never miss those two shows.

Special thanks to all my couples who made 2007 such a great one.

Also ... Nicole, Barb, Chuck and Kathy ... thank you for your support this year. This has been a team effort and you helped make 2007 the best one yet for Scott Brooks Photography. 2008 is going to be even better.

Jill & Nathan

Six years ago a young 13 year old was a Jr. Bridesmaid in a wedding that I videotaped. This past Saturday I had the opportunity to photograph her wedding.

Jill & Nathan were married at The Refinery in Champaign, IL. Actually, with the help of Kathy and Chuck Moore, we provided both photo and video coverage of their wedding.

Hopefully we'll have a video clip available after the video has been edited, but for now ... a few of my favorite shots.

Father of the Groom (to be)

I've always been on the outside looking in when it comes to weddings. Next year that will change. My son Brad proposed to girlfriend Teri and the entire family was very excited to find out she said yes.

You can count two dates as being unavailable in 2008 ... May 23rd and June 14th. Brad & Teri will be getting married at Secrets Capri in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. We're all flying down to spend time in the sun, play on the beach and do some shopping. (Ok, I lied about me being excited to shop, but Nicole and Barb will have their track shoes on.) Brad and Teri will be staying on to honeymoon while Barb, Nicole and I fly back. I have a wedding the following week, so we can't stay too long.

You can bet I'll be taking the camera, but I'll set it down during the ceremony and let someone else do the work.

June 14th will be the reception back home, so we're looking forward to one heck of a party with friends and relatives.

Shonda and Andy

Talk about ambiance ... Shonda and Andy got married at The Stables in Terre Haute. A great restaurant in the old brewery part of town. That, along with great friends, relatives, and of course the food ... made for a fun day.

Here's a few of my favorites.

Bridget & Eric

In an effort to keep more current with my weddings I've decided to post a few more photos and less text. So ... here are a few shots from last weeks wedding in the big city of T-Town. ;-)

Moment of Silence for my Mac ...

Ok ... bad news around here. The other day my main photo editing machine ... my Mac G5 ... started making all sorts of strange noises. When I booted it up it started with a squeaking sound, that led to the fans sounding like they were powering up a 747, that turned into a clicking sound, followed with a folder and question mark on the monitor. Now I'm no computer geek or anything, but I'm sharp enough to know that somethin' ain't right!

As it turns out my hard drive is toast and I lost everything on it. At first I went into a full-blown panic because I thought my latest album designs were on there and I would have to recreate them all. However ... all album designs were backed up to another hard drive. I was able to hook up my Macbook Pro (laptop) to my external drives and keep working. If you had an album design that had been posted ... you're in good shape. I saved them all.

Now I did lose a boat-load of music. This is music that I use in production work as well as some personal stuff, so I can't say that I came out without any problems. Still ... much better to lose the music than to lose other files.

I now have a new iMac ordered that should arrive in the next couple of weeks. It will be my main photo editing and design machine. I'll continue to to use the Macbook Pro for when I'm traveling as well as some video projects. And as for my G5? I'm going to attempt to put a new hard drive in there and keep it going.

Can't say it enough ... always backup your files. ;-)