Sams Town – Stephanie + Juan – Las Vegas Wedding Videographers
“We are both client care coordinators for Vida Inc. I work at Your Service Home Care and Juan works at A Caring Hand Home Care. We both assist the elderly and disabled in finding personal caregivers to assist them in their home, so that they can remain independent in their homes.” said Stephanie.
Let’s picture the story on how they first met. According to the couple, theirs “was a modern story. We met online (social media) through a mutual friend and quickly developed a friendship due to our admiration of Morrissey and the Smiths. We spoke for hours through messaging and eventually I mustered up the courage to give him my number. This was something out of the ordinary for me because I didn’t even know him in person and he lived out of state. Yet, there was something telling me that it was the right thing to do. Eventually we began to talk on the phone on a daily basis and when we weren’t talking on the phone we’d be texting each other. What first attracted me to him was how eloquent he was. He seemed wise beyond his 27 years. He was family oriented, had goals, and had a wonderful sense of humor. I quickly started realizing that I was developing feelings for him and hadn’t even met him. So I put forth plans to finally meet him. After about two months of talking, I had to see for myself if he was the real deal. I didn’t want to be “catfished.” So, I asked a couple of my friends to go with me to California on a road trip to meet him. We decided on the end of October. I let Juan know that I would be in LA and wanted to meet him, which he eagerly replied yes to. I couldn’t wait!
Stephanie and Juan met on October 24th, 2009. Stephanie remembers “that Saturday afternoon so clearly. My friends and I went to Hollywood to pass the time until that night, because Juan wanted us to meet him at his band’s practice. Nightfall couldn’t come soon enough. Finally it was time to go to El Monte and meet with Juan. I called him to let him know we were on our way and my heart quickly started to race. As soon as we got there I remember getting out of the car and going straight for his arms. I gave him a big hug. I got the feeling I somehow belonged there. That night after meeting most of his friends, cousins, and family; he asked me to be his girlfriend. The meeting didn’t feel strange at all. It felt like I was meant to be there. Everyone was so welcoming. They were all there to watch that night’s UFC fight, not to meet me…hahaha. Yet it felt awesome to meet the most important people in his life. I felt special, like this meeting was very special to him too.”
The most memorable part of the wedding, for Stephanie, was seeing “Juan waiting for me at the end of the altar. Our eyes locked and he was so emotional. This whole time I thought I would be the first one to cry, but he surprised me. I can’t stop thinking about the feeling I got when I saw him for the first time that day.”
The couple’s three favorite details from the wedding were: 1) The morning of, getting ready with all of my closest friends and sorority sisters (my bridesmaids). Seeing them so happy and beautiful getting their hair and makeup done, brought the biggest smile to my face! 2) The photo session with our wedding party. We chose the background of downtown Las Vegas because Juan and I absolutely love hanging out downtown. Our date nights consist of a night out of eating, dancing, and drinking at one of the many local bars. Juan even proposed to me at one of our favorite bars named the Beauty Bar. With that said, there was no better place than to have our wedding pictures taken there. Our longtime friend and photographer, Ivan5252, did an amazing job in capturing the atmosphere of our beloved downtown and the countless fun we have there. Plus the glittered walls of the Beauty Bar and the vibrant murals downtown provided an amazing backdrop to our pictures! 3) Having the privilege and pleasure of Maladjusted (a Smiths/Morrissey tribute band) play at our reception. They are our favorite and played a set list of only our favorite songs! Morrissey and the Smiths are the reason Juan and I became so close in the first place, it only seemed fitting we have their wonderful music play at our wedding. The guys did a wonderful job and it meant a lot that they made the trip out here from California to play our wedding.”
If the couple could offer a piece of advice, it would be to “Take your time to plan. We had about 18 months to plan and that still didn’t feel like enough time. A lot goes into planning and it’s very stressful, but in the end it’s well worth all of your time.”
They key factor in deciding the venue for their reception came down to their wedding’s theme! “The theme for our wedding was music. Music was the reason we fell in love and we are avid concert goers, so we decided (before anything), that our wedding would have live music. Once we saw that Sam’s Town had a concert venue we could use as the venue, we fell in love. There was a stage, projection screens, and a state of the art sound system. We knew right away that it suited our theme perfectly!” said the couple.
“We thoroughly enjoyed having Smash Booth take care of our photo booth needs! Jason was great to work with, from picking our photo strip design (which they allow for you to customize) to setting up the venue. I had nothing to worry about because Jason took care of getting together with the reception venue and setting up details. He also spoke to our graphic artist to design the perfect photo booth strip; which was great since they were also o our favors.” admitted the couple.
“We found out about MLV at the Perfect Wedding Guide Bridal Show. We signed up for everything and anything that day. Ricky soon contacted us after and I’m so glad she did. We set up a meeting with Ricky, and the rest is history. I couldn’t stop smiling after seeing their work. I knew our wedding was in good hands. The video was the most important thing to us, besides the music, and we knew it had to be entrusted to the best of the best.” included Stephanie and Juan.
Now that the wedding has commenced, “you learn that the little things don’t matter. There were so many mishaps of little details here and there on the days leading up, but looking back you don’t think about them. So they really never mattered. Who cares if certain aspects of the centerpieces were missing, really no one noticed. The day of is just about you and the person you are going to spend the rest of your life with. It’s about the celebration of your love. So don’t sweat the small details that no one else knew about except you and the groom.”
“Once we met with Ricky and saw their footage examples, we walked out of there knowing
MLV was the company for us. We didn’t look in to any others. We met with MLV first and their footage was enough for us to know they were the ones to book.” said the couple.
On their wedding day, the couple remembers “the best part of booking Memory Lane was that many of our guests didn’t even know we had video. It’s possibly the reason why I’ve so anxiously been awaiting our video. They are so astonished when I tell them that we had 2 videographers filming. It means our family and friends were able to enjoy themselves without realizing the camera might have been on them and I can’t wait to see the candid footage. I think it’s very important for any couple, when planning their wedding, to set aside money for videography. We have a big extended family and many weren’t able to attend. They are looking forward to watching our video. It was important for us to get Videography for that reason. It’s the most important day of your lives, why not have it recorded for all those close to you to enjoy?”
“We are both big kids at heart and absolutely love Disney. Our original plans were to go to Disneyworld, but we were unable to do so right after the wedding. We hope to go by the end of this year. We did, however, have our mini honeymoon at Disneyland Resort and were able to enjoy the parks for 3 days straight.” concluded the couple.
Memory Lane wishes Stephanie and Juan a long lasting life of perpetual love & happiness.
