Melissa & Shaun | Wedding Video at Four Rivers Environmental Education Center

Today we are joined by guest blogger + recent bride, Melissa. She and Shaun used Storymix to capture their big day last month. Melissa was the winner of our big Facebook contest this summer.

It was six years prior to the phone call that changed our lives that I saw or talked to a friend of mine, named Ryan. When the phone rang, I was surely excited to hear from him; he had an agenda behind the phone call too. He was at work and had recently had a conversation with a good friend of his about the kind of woman his friend was looking to have in his life. Something in that conversation made Ryan think about me, so he found my number and called. When I answered the phone, it took me a minute to realize who was calling, since Ryan and I had not spoken in so long prior to that day. Ryan asked me if I was single at the time, and I said I was. He then went on to describe his friend in a manner he thought most men would want to be described; “He’s tall, good looking, and pretty much gets any girl he wants,” Ryan went on to tell me. At that time, I also found out his friend was three years younger than me, and I typically did not date younger men and was not interested in the “player” persona that Ryan was unknowingly putting on for his friend. So, I gently told Ryan I was not interested in meeting his friend and we caught up otherwise.

Ryan was not taking “no” for an answer. For the two weeks after that initial phone call, he got in touch with me almost daily. Each conversation he brought up his friend, Shaun, in some clever ways. After some consideration and willingness to be open-minded, I agreed to meet Ryan and Shaun at a local store to help Ryan pick out a new suit. I figured, if anything, I would be making a new friend. In the interim, I found Shaun on Facebook (of course), and we began communicating with one another a little prior to meeting to ease our nerves.

On the afternoon of our first meeting, I was surely very nervous. Shaun was incredibly nervous as well. Neither of us had really been set up on a blind date before, and although we enjoyed our conversations prior to this moment, we were not sure what to expect. We were both very pleased the moment we saw one another. So pleased that our first “meeting” turned into a 48 hour first date. The three of us grabbed lunch after some shopping, and then agreed to meet up that night to enjoy a night on the town. There was a group of us hanging out that night and we all stayed at Ryan’s apartment. Shaun and I stayed up all night talking about goals, dreams, and everything we could think of.

One question Shaun asked me: “What is one thing you have always wanted to do, that you have yet to have accomplished?” I replied by telling him I would love to go to Italy and travel abroad. He asked me why I had yet to have gone, and I told him I did not have anyone to travel with. During that 48 hour first date, we booked a trip to Italy, Spain, and the French Riviera…9 months in advance! That was one of the most amazing trips either of us had taken and we are so glad to have taken that leap of faith to enjoy some amazing memories together.

In one another, we have found a true best friend and partner. Someone to be able to lean on in a time of need and to help one another accomplish any goal we desire. We believe that call was truly an act of fate that brought us together. In the end, the phone call I received in January 2009, from a friend simply trying to help Shaun out, opened the most amazing chapter of their lives, thus far!

Planning a wedding can be rather time consuming. In hopes to get the most information, in the fastest way, Shaun and I attended a Bridal Expo. While at the expo, we ran into a vendor that had an incredibly unique and personal approach to recording a wedding. The vendor was Storymix, and while talking to them, Shaun and I agreed that this was a way of going about adding a cost-effective, unique, and personal touch to our wedding day. Before we could approach the company about purchasing a package, I learned of a contest on Facebook to win a Storymix video package. I put in a lot of time and effort to this contest and headed off to a sand volleyball tournament on the day following the end of the contest. Sure enough, I received a phone call letting me know I WON the video package! I began screaming and jumping up and down. Not to be confused with the fate that brought Shaun and I together, I felt this was a most amazing event to occur in helping bring our wedding day to light through a montage of various videos filmed by friends and family! We are so very thankful for all the help from Storymix and look forward to having our amazing video to watch for the rest of our lives!