PLEASE READ THIS POST BEFORE WATCHING THE FILM!!

About 3 weeks before Ben and Michele’s wedding day I got a call from Ben.  He explained to me that Michele’s mom, who resides in Vancouver Canada, had just been diagnosed with terminal cancer.  The doctors had only given her a few weeks to live.  Needless to say she would be unable to make the trek down to southern California for her daughters wedding.  Because of illness she would have to miss it all.  On the phone, Ben proposed an idea.  He asked if we could rush the edit of a highlight so that 2 days after the wedding they could sit down with her mother and relive the experience by her side.  The only hope was that she would make it long enough to see the film.

Needless to say this was a daunting task!  Rush edits are difficult enough, but knowing that this is how a dying mother would experience the wedding day of her beloved daughter, made us weak in the knees.

Holding our breath, we pushed the “send” button and waited for the response from Ben and Michele… this is the response that we received minutes later…

“I think I told you earlier that we were gonna head to the hospital.

We did and then we found a Starbucks nearby with Wifi.  Here is a
summary…

Starbucks coffee….$2.50 (Canadian).
Starbucks wifi….ninety minutes of downloading on their crappy connection.
Spending the evening by Mom’s hospital bedside watching the video ….priceless!

Well done team ShadeTree!  We can’t thank you enough for making
tonight very special.  We leave for our honeymoon tomorrow, but it was
a wonderful gift to be able to share the highlight video with
Michele’s mom and dad.  They loved the shot with the gold necklace
that she gave me.  It was awesome. We were all crying. It was
beautiful.
Thank you again,
Ben + Michele”

ENJOY!!
Love, STF

Had the pleasure of working with the Joy Marie team

We’re so excited you came to the dance party!!! Welcome to the brand spankin’ new website for SHADE TREE FILMS

• If you’re a BRIDE, we’re so glad you’re here! This is your new home … a place JUST FOR YOU!
• If you’re a FILMMAKER and want to know more about our CINESKOOL workshops, this is your new home: SkooledByFools.com
• If you own your OWN BIZ, we have a space just for you right here: BIZ Site

Again,THANKS FOR STOPPING BY! We can’t wait to spend more time with all of you!

Our quest to tell rad peoples unique stories continues and Sharon and Nick are some of the radest people we know!  In talking with Nick and Sharon about their likes, loves and what makes them unique, we found out that there are two things that bind them together:
1. Huge love for one another and…
2. Some action in the kitchen… cooking action of course.

Check ‘em out doing their thing, and telling their rad story.

Thanks for Watching!

Love, STF

As you may recall we have been searching high and low for that kindred soul that could have the grace and patience to put up with our shenanigans and join the STF team.  At last, after much begging and pleading, we have convinced someone to do the work not many could hack, and thus ending our search of all searches.

So, to introduce you to the new addition, we though it might be fun to play a little game… We interviewed this fine fella, asking a series of very serious questions.  The following are the questions that we asked him, with two answers… one is the real answer, and the other we made up, just for fun. Try your luck… if you can guess all the correct answers, we will give you an e-hug and a HUGE tumbs up!.  (I know, that really raises the stakes)

Ready, set, go…

1. What is your first Name?

A. Brandon, named after my dads dog when he was a kid… seriously.

B. Herald, named after my great, great grandfather Herald Nimitz

2. Where are you from?

A. Baker CA. born and raised.

B. Sacramento

3. What is your favorite Movie?

A. Oceans 11, George Cloonie is so hot!

B.  R.A.D.

4.  What is your favorite T.V.  show

A. The Lopez Show

B.  Modern Family

5. What is your favorite past time?

A. Riding my unicycle

B. Riding my bicycle

6. Where is your favorite place to visit?

A. Bloomfield MT.

B. The DMV

7. What is your favorite blog to read?

A. shadetreefilms.net

B. womenwithmustaches.com

8. Where do you find your creative mojo?

A. Yoga

B. Icelandic acupuncture

(He then refused to answer any more questions until we stopped at a restroom, because he had drank an entire bottle of Gatorade.)

9. What is your preferred brand of cigarette?

A. Slims

B. I don’t smoke, but if I did, Camel

10. What is the oddest job you have ever had?

A. I cleaned up peoples balls… on a driving range

B. I cleaned up peoples balls… in a bowling alley

11. What is your favorite type of casserole?

A. Chicken

B. Knuckle sandwich

12. What is your signature drink?

A. Lemon-lime Gatorade and Jack Daniels

B. Suicide (A little bit of every type of soda in the machine)

13. What is your favorite restaurant?

A. Jose’s

B. Chilis (it’s the new golf course, its where business happens)

14. What is your favorite 18 century artillery weapon?

A. A barrel loader thingy

B. The musket dagger

Everybody say “HI” to our newest team member!  He is really good at telling rad stories, we are so lucky to have him!  In all seriousness, this was an extremely hard decisions for us to make!  We teamed up with Brandon, not only because he kills it behind the camera and the computer, but because he is honest, authentic, fun and generous.  Qualities that are perfectly inline with the core values of our team.

Sorry ladies… he is already taken.

But you can follow him on twitter, his wife doesnt mind… @b_kauffman

When you have waited for something, that you want so badly, for fifteen years… and you finally get it, you know its going to be good!

Such is the case with Evita and Jon and their day was good, it was real good!

Check out the awesome sauce images from Evita+Jon’s day by Jagger Photo.