Midnight Magic Videography | Knoxville TN wedding videography at its very best

Seems like every company or business has a mission statement.  I have even known a few families that have mission statements.  I never really understood the whole need for a company to tell you what it is they do and how they want to do it.  I mean, if you are using that business, don’t you already know what it is they do?

I think companies should move away from mission statements and move back to customer service.  It amazes me how customer service has seem to have been tossed to the side in the name of profit.  Companies have put the priority on the dollar and not on the person spending that dollar.  And the saddest part is that this loss of customer service is not limited to private businesses; it has spread to our government as well.  Federal, State or local, it just seem like the people who are taking your tax dollars just don’t care or seem annoyed that you are asking them to do their job.

I will give you a case in point; today my wife and I had to run some errands downtown.  We had to go down to the city/county building to renew my business license and a few other things.  We had to walk the entire length of the building, twice, to find out that we were in the wrong building.  We had to go next door to the OLD courthouse.  Once we got inside there, it was another search and find journey to find the right office.  When we finally found where we wanted to go, the people working in the office acted as if we were disturbing them.  I mean, how dare we come into THEIR office and have the gall to ask them to help us do something they are PAID to do.  PAID with my tax dollars I might add.  One girl in the office was talking on her cell phone making plans for the night with her boyfriend, one guy was at the desk opposite of her slowly pecking away at a keyboard. I think he was trying to kill time or maybe he just didn’t care.  But, the thing that really set me off about all this is the sign at the back of the room “We are happy to serve you.”   WHAT!!  There wasn’t a happy person in the room.  Customer service gone out the window.

All this got me thinking about what I do; I provide a service and am proud of the work I do.  I take pride in my work and want nothing more than for the bride and her family to be happy with the product I give them.  I know that money is tight today, so when someone books me to shoot their wedding, I know that they are spending some hard earned money.  With that being said, I want to share with you my “Mission Statement”:

“You, the customer, are the most important thing to me.  You are not dependent on me, I am dependent on you.  You are not an outsider to my business — you are part of it.  I am not doing you a favor by providing you a service, you are doing me a favor by allowing me the opportunity to serve you.  My work is not finished until you are 100% happy with the work I have done.”

Customer come first with me.  That is my mission statement, are you listening GM?

I know that this is going to sound strange, but I am so glad it is Monday.  Most people hate Monday’s, Garfield comes to mind.  The reason I am happy it is Monday is the fact that I survived this past weekend.  I called it my “Triple Wedding Weekend”.  I had two weddings and a dance recital this past weekend and to say I am beat is an understatement.

First up was Shelley & Josh’s wedding at Ridge Valley Farms.  Ridge Valley Farms is the site of the first wedding I did professionally OH SO MANY YEARS AGO.  I hold a special place for Ridge Valley Farms.  It is a beautiful location, you are in a valley between some very mystic mountains.  The only draw back is the fact that every wedding I have shot there was cloudy and gray.  Friday was no different, it looked like it was going to rain all day, but not a drop fell.

Shelley was such a beautiful bride and you could tell that she was marrying the man of her dreams.  As they left for the night, they couldn’t stop looking at each other and just smiling.  I would say the only thing that went wrong was the sand ceremony.  If you have not see this, let me explain; instead of the unity candle, the couple uses sand.  The bride has one color and the groom another.  At the bottom of  a glass vase is a layer of sand that represents God as the base of their relationship.  They pour the sand into the vase which represents the blending of their lives together.  It is a very sweet ceremony to watch, but for Shelley and Josh, it was a bit different.  Someone forgot the sand and didn’t remember it till just before the ceremony.  So, they did a water ceremony instead.  Same as the sand, but with different color water.  I will give the pastor a big shout out as he changed the wording of the sand ceremony to fit the pouring of the water.  He is a pro.

Saturday was a dance recital with Imagine Dance Studios at Campbell County High School.  This was their first recital and you could tell these girls put their heart and soul into the program.  Our biggest challenge was the lack of air conditioning but, like the pros we are, we just pushed through.  My assistant, Alexis, had the worse end of the day having to be up in the old projection room where I am sure it was very uncomfortable, but she never complained once.  Now you know one of the reasons I hired her.  She does great work and has never complained about anything I ask her to do.

Sunday was Taylor and Jon’s wedding at Dara’s Gardens.  I can say without a doubt that Dara’s Gardens is my favorite place to shoot a wedding.  The grounds are so well kept and everything there is just so beautiful.  Taylor could not have picked a better day to get married.  A clear blue sky without a cloud in sight.  It was a bit on the warm side, but that didn’t stop her from having the wedding of her dreams.  Taylor had such a infectious smile the entire day.  As I watched her go through her day, I could not help but smile and laugh along with her.  She was just having so much fun the entire day.  Jon had one of the best ideas for his groomsmen,  they all wore black Chuck Taylor All-Star tennis shoes.  I got a great shot of the guys walking down the stairs in their shoes, I can’t wait to work on that shot.

I have to give a huge THANK YOU to Brenda, Lisa and everyone at One Enchanted Evening.  They did the both weddings this past weekend and they did a great job with both of them.  Brenda had every detail in hand and both days went off without a hitch.

But also, a really big THANK YOU  to my wife Leeann.  She took care of everything this past weekend, our daughter, the house and even helping me with my tapes and equipment.  She is a saint and I know I am just so lucky and blessed to have her in my life.

Keep an eye on this blog in the up coming days as I will be putting up some trailers from this weekend.