The way we begin our day usually determines how the rest of our day will go. If we start off the day by waking up, going straight to work, & barely speaking to each other, then let’s face it, we’re probably going to have a crappy day. So to avoid this, we always start off our day by making cappuccinos together in the kitchen while Eva begs at the door to go outside because she knows the routine: once we start making our cappuccinos, it means it’s almost time for her to go outside so she can play.

After teasing Eva with a game of shutting & opening the door real fast, we then drink our cappuccinos together on the back porch while she runs around the back yard. Then when it’s time to start working, we’re completely relaxed & we feel good knowing that we have spent some time together that morning.

You don’t specifically have to drink coffee with your spouse or maybe you’re not even married, but we would encourage you to spend your first hour of the day doing something that relaxes you or whatever best gets you ready for your work day.

A Reception can be the most fun part of a wedding day to film. We’ve found that the only downside of filming a reception is that (unlike photographers) we can’t use a flash. We never use to like using a video light because they always seemed so intrusive & we preferred not to make wedding guests feel like a deer in the headlights (I know you’ve seen those kind of wedding videos.) Well, sometimes there’s no way to avoid a dark reception venue, so we purchased a small video light that we have come to love because we’ve learned how to use it right… the Sima Video Light Model SL-20LX. It’s the perfect size for us to hold or to fit right on top of our DSLRs.

We’ve found ways to dramatize certain aspects of the reception (like special dances) with the aid of our Sima Video Light. Usually, we speak with our couples & contact our couple’s venue to speak with the person in charge about keeping the lights at a certain level; but every once in a while they forget or it just doesn’t work out… & this is when our trusted little video light has come into play many times.

Instead of aiming the video light right into the eyes of a couple who’s dancing, we simply use it as a background light, which also gives the feel (in the video) like the couple is the only people in the room… the center of attention, which is exactly what they have intended to be.

We filmed Joy & Dan’s beautiful wedding in Canada last weekend & while we were capturing footage, we pulled this clip below. It hasn’t even been colored or anything, but it still looks great. In case the lights are too low, Eugene & I now have a system that works every time. He stands on the opposite side of the couple with the video light while I film the couple’s dance. We filmed part of this clip for you to be able to see where Eugene is standing & how he holds the light just high enough for it to highlight the couple without them squinting. Towards the end of the clip you’ll see how I move the frame to crop Eugene out while keeping the same great highlight on the couple. See how a little bit of light used in the right way made Joy & Dan’s special dance with their little girl, Gracie even more beautiful!

We’re so pumped to be headed out of the country together for the first time!

How many times have you checked your inbox & seen an email that made you think, “Oh, that’s an easy email. I’ll respond to it later.”? Then before you know it, you’ve done that to about 20 or 30 emails & you feel completely overwhelmed! This use to be us until we found a new system & made a new set of rules for ourselves.

We use to have 20 or more file folders that we’d created to archive emails we needed to respond to & emails that we had already responded to. We had folders called “Clients” then folders within that folder for specific clients… it was a little ridiculous.It worked for about a week & then we got way behind because we were spending way too much time sorting the emails, & we were getting confused between the two of us.

We now have four file folders: “Inbox”, “Eugene”, “Heather”, & “BAM.” We also have allotted so much time in our day to check & reply to emails. When we first check our email, we check if we can reply with an easy “yes” or “no” answer. If we can, then we reply to it right away. If it will take a little longer to reply to, then we move it to either the “Eugene” (Eugene needs to reply) or “Heather” (Heather needs to reply) folder & reply to it when we have more time. Our automatic responder states that we will respond within three business days. That keeps us safe & allots us enough time to reply to emails, even if we’re out of the office or just didn’t have time to reply to our emails that day.

We at least read all of our new emails, so we don’t get behind & at least know what’s going on in our email world. We don’t read a new email every time it comes in though. We turn our sound notifications off & only check our email at certain times. If we read a new email every time it came in, then we’d fall behind in our work.

One very important rule we have learned from Michael Hyatt is that if we can do what is being requested in an email in less than two minutes, then we do it! We don’t leave easy emails in our inbox because that’s when we’d become overwhelmed. (Lesson well learned ) On top of that, once we’ve replied to our emails, we feel more accomplished & we don’t have them hanging over our heads all day.

Now you’re probably wondering what our “BAM” folder is, right? Once we’ve replied to an email, we file it to our “BAM, it’s done!” folder (we wanted a fun name.) Then, in the future if we need to pull up a specific email, we can do a search for it in the “BAM” folder. If we receive an email that we know we will never ever need, we delete it! Why keep it?

This is our email system & we wanted to share it with you. It may not be for everybody. You might need to develop your own system because every one works & thinks differently; but we hope this may have made things a little bit easier for you.