Choosing a Wedding Videographer

By Gary Mathews

Finding a pro marriage videographer is crucial as you want the final production to be something you can value and watch for years yet to come. There are a couple of things to remember as you look for someone to take your wedding video footage.

Once you have decided to get married and have set the date it's critical to book your wedding videographer as fast as possible as all good wedding video, Sydney based videographers are scheduled well in advance. The most important thing you must understand when booking a marriage videographer is that you have to ask a lot of questions.

Your marriage will only take place once and you wish to ensure that the standard of the video is good. Any professional wedding videographer will be very pleased to provide answers to all your questions and have as many samples as you wish to view. Even if you know the reputation of a videographer and have been referred to them by someone you know, you should still go to visit them first before booking them for your wedding.

When you visit the marriage videographer then you can ask some significant questions and ask to see some sample videos that they have formerly done. If they advertise a 15 minute highlight marriage video in their package ask to see a few of them, not just little clips but the entire thing. There are major lighting differences required for indoor and outside weddings so if your wedding is going to be an outside affair ensure that you see some sample videos of out of doors marriages. The examples that you are shown should be ones that were filmed by the wedding videographer who is going to shoot your wedding video, so take care you find out who the person is who will shoot your marriage.

It's critical to ask these types of questions to be sure that you get the absolute best video quality that is available. Ensure that you find out how old the camera equipment is that the videographer is using and if it is going to be shot in true HD. What lighting techniques do they use and how will the video sound be recorded are other good questions you should ask.

Perhaps you do not want to grasp the solution to some of these questions, or maybe you wouldn't understand the answers to them anyhow, but it's important to ask them. This way you can get a fair idea of how pro the wedding videographer is by their answers or how long it takes them to offer you a solution. All wedding videographers, Sydney based pros will be in a position to answer any query that you have if they're true video professionals and may not be hesitant in their answers.

The final production should be edited in a studio instead of on the camera as this will make a far better finished product, although it will cost more so make sure the wedding videographers will do this for you and include it in the expenses. Learn how long it'll take for the video to be completed once the marriage is over and always ensure that you order some copies. Keep one copy as a back up and the others you can give to your mum and dad and other family members.

About the Author:

Having professionals take care of your wedding videography needs will leave you with one less thing to worry about when organizing your big wedding day. Hiring an amateur to do it for you is not a good idea; the video may be of poor quality and worse yet may not work. Have a look as some of the wedding video testimonials left by our thrilled customers and then get in touch with us to arrange for us to capture your big day.

Do You Know Anything About Christian Marriage Counseling

By Tess M. Bradac

Do you know anything about Christian marriage counseling? This kind of counseling is meant to assist relationships that are dealing with problems by teaching them how they can know God and one another better. Many people make the mistake of believing that their marital issues can be solved without the aid of professional counseling. Unfortunately, they may not know how important an outsider's perspective can be in such situations. Understanding that it is based on Christian principles, this variety of marriage counseling is dedicated to revealing God's will for your marriage.

Most of the time, when you use Christian marriage counseling, three areas will be given attention by the attending counselor. Most will begin by investigating the likely trouble spots like low intimacy or problems communicating. They will also tackle the personal problems that develop within the marriage relationship. The third point of emphasis will be discovering why the couple has lost touch with God's principles for their marriage.

For Christians, marriage is pivotal feature of life and culture. It is looked upon as God's will for relationships. Many believe that it is being attacked by the secular society. Marital counseling can provide a place of retreat and restoration for couples who feel battered and worn by the onslaught.

As mentioned previously, Christian marriage counseling focuses on problems and issues. If there are certain issues that are not dealt within a short time, they can become sources of more damaging problems that can injure a marriage. Even though most marriages will have their share of troubles, for Christians have distinct way to handle them. One of the keys to dealing with any issue is to make a proper response. You need to be able to identify and acknowledge problems when they first come up. What marriage counseling does is locates the problems and provide couples with the tools to solve them.

Perhaps the most common issues that are identified by couples and counselors include weak communication, anger, nagging, and a lack of intimacy. This helps to illustrate the fact that many problems come down to pride. There are many who are just too prideful to look for help solving marriage problems. This leads to frustration in the relationship since one spouse may be ready to accept help while the other is not. In the Bible, the concept of examining yourself and what influences your actions is one that will apply to both individuals and relationships.

Christian marriage counseling provides an opportunity to refocus the priorities of the marriage. Unfortunately, human beings are prone to distraction so it becomes easy to forget what and who is important in their lives. What Christian counselors do is provide the tools and the knowledge needed to form solutions for marriage problems and restore health and well-being to the relationship. Counselors are professionals that have been trained to bring in biblical principles to replace attitudes and actions that hurt the people in marriages.

By using competent counseling Christian couples are given a sense of assurance about God's love and His desire to be at the heart of the relationship. If you take the time to learn more about God's principles for Christian marriage, then you may recover a proper viewpoint. Being familiar with the verses in Scripture that speak of these things can be like shield to preserve you from the fiery darts of wrong attitudes that slip into relationships. At its heart, Christian marriage counseling is about sharing and encouraging these ideas.

About the Author:

While it is not always an option for every couple, Christian marriage counseling does offer a good approach to conflict resolution between couples. I enjoyed writing about this specialized field of counseling.

Chronic Illness In A Marriage: How Much Do You Talk About It?

By Lisa Copen

"It feels like I'm lying on thumb tacks," I tell my husband as he crawls into bed beside me. "But there is nothing there! I feel so bruised."

"I'm sorry," he offers with a sympathetic smile, but what else is there he can offer me?

"I feel a little nauseous tonight too," I respond. "I wonder if I should eat some crackers or something. . . or if that would just upset my stomach more. It has to be the medications. It will probably pass soon." Before I can finish my sentence he is already asleep.

For many of us, we have a deep friendship with our spouse. If we share a good relationship we want to share our deepest thoughts that are running through our brain. And even if our relationship isn't as good as it once was, we may feel that by explaining a bit about the pain that we are experiencing, our spouse may actually understand our moodiness better and be a bit more loving.

We don't want to be a burden and share about every ache and pain we experience. What a boring one-sided conversation that would be! But when we are hurting, we have a desire for those who are closest to us to validate our pain. By talking about what invisible pain feels like, it somehow has the ability to make it real . It's not just "in our head."

"Carry each others burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ," says Galatians 6:2. But at some point we need to carry these burdens to the Lord, and even a close friend, rather than just our spouse.

Although your spouse may not be suffering from a physical ailment, there are still many losses that he is grieving. For example, it is an emotional thing to watch someone you love be in pain and not be able to fix it. He may be suffering as he watches you lose the ability to do things you love. He likely misses the couple outings you once took together when you could do physically active events, whether it was skiing, or just taking long walks together on the beach. He may be frustrated that even his hugs can cause you to wince. Counselors have found that there are three major areas where marriages suffer: money, time and physical intimacy.

Your marriage may be having difficulties in all three, specifically because of the role chronic illness has taken on within your marriage. Is it possible to "share our burdens" with our spouse without overburdening him and making him want to run the other way every time we open our mouth to share another symptom of our ailments?

Consider your spouse your partner and the illness the third party

It's you and your spouse "up against" the illness. Although you may feel like your spouse is merely a spectator, intentionally make him a part of your team fighting the battle of pain, in whatever way he is most comfortable.

It is okay (and wise) to gently educate your spouse on your illness. Allow him to come to your doctor's appointments if he wishes, and ask his own questions about your illness, especially when you are first diagnosed. Don't overwhelm him, expecting him to read all the books you are reading, especially if he never reads. Instead, give him a brochure with the basics or see if there is a podcast he can listen to. Talk opening about some of the responsibilities or roles may change within your marriage due to the illness. Be open about what you think you can and cannot do, for example, maybe you can no longer scrub that tub. Be forthright about them so you can decide as a team how they can still be completed.

Connie Kennemer lives with multiple sclerosis and she shares, "I am not as mobile as I used to be and often ask more of my husband. I may ask him 'Can you work at home this afternoon?' Or I have asked, 'Why do you have to go to another meeting?' How much should he accommodate me because my body is changing? He doesn't always know when to stop and encourage me to try things myself. This is a constant challenge."

Reasonable expectations are a must

It's not uncommon for us to marry someone who has the opposite personality style as we do. You may feel the need to read everything you can get your hands on about your illness and attend all the support group meetings, but your spouse doesn't respond to your diagnosis in the same way. It's not because he doesn't care, he is just responding in a way that is different from your own.

On the other hand, maybe you take things as they come and don't want to get on the internet and read every detail about the symptoms you may have. Your spouse may wonder why you aren't more interested in finding out how to best treat (and even cure) this disease. He may go as far as to accuse you of being in denial about your illness. He may want to see you be more passionate about being healed than you are. A wonderful book that will help you smooth out some of your communication is "Men are Like Waffles, Women are Like Spaghetti" by Bill and Pam Farrell.

Have information about your illness available for when he is open to reading about it

Sometimes it can be helpful to have something to read and then discuss rather than just going on and on about what is going through your mind. Whether you want to explain more about your illness or your emotions to your spouse, rather than just whining, have a book ready that describes a related topic, with places bookmarked. Grab it and say, "Here is an example of what we're kind of going through right now. Can I read it?" Then discuss is afterward. Shares Connie, "After ten years of living with MS, I am past the whining stage, but Rex sometimes holds back; that's when I need to ask him more questions about his feelings."

Find ways to share about embarrassing parts of the illness

There are some parts of illness that are just downright embarrassing. For example, if you attend an event with your spouse, you may end up in the bathroom for eighty percent of the show. You need to let your spouse know this is part of the disease. But if you don't want to talk about all those details it's okay. He probably doesn't really want to hear about them either. Most health organizations have brochures that list the symptoms of the disease. You can hand him one of these and say something like, "I'm trying to cope with some of the more personal matters of this disease right now, and I don't really want to sit around and discuss them, but I also want you to be aware of them. This brochure explains them in case you are interested."

Look for other ways to vent besides your spouse's shoulder

"I realized that I banked my frustrations of pain throughout the day and then 'threw' them at my husband when he walked through the door," shares Cheryl, who lives with chronic fatigue syndrome. "I was setting the tone for our entire evening. I felt better getting it off my chest, but he felt worse, and it lasted all night. I could tell he was beginning to dread walking through the door."

Cheryl began to put aside the last two hours of her day to spend time writing in her journal, praying and doing something she enjoyed that calmed her. "Writing in my journal gave me the chance to express my frustrations, and then prayer really began to minimize the negativity too. My husband quickly noticed a difference and it's made our relationship so much stronger."

Find some ways to get involved in your community or a special hobby

How do you spend your time? A lot of time we may be talking about our illness because we don't have much more going on in our lives other than trips to the doctors or to the lab. Get involved in something else, even if it's just a couple hours a week. For example, volunteer to be on a prayer chain, start reading through the classic books you've always wanted to read, put together photo albums for your grandchildren. You will soon discover that even you aren't that interested in talking about your illness when you have much more exciting things to share about.

Conclusion

So, the question remains: how much talk is too much? Unfortunately, there is not a perfect answer that applies to everyone. It's different for each person and each marriage. Learn to be objective. Honestly ask yourself, "How often am I bringing up my illness? How do I benefit from talking about it more often than necessary? Do I need validation? Understanding? Actual physical help with tasks around the house?" If you want attention from your spouse and this seems to be the only way to get it, admit that to yourself! How can you get some of these needs filled by God instead of your spouse? How is it negatively impacting your life, or those around you, by discussing it all the time?

Next, ask yourself "What is a more creative way that I can create intimacy with my spouse, other than just sharing my aches and pains? How can we share some activities and time that can help us grow closer together?"

And then when you want to share about your pain, send up a prayer to the Lord beforehand: "Lord, I don't want to burden anyone else with something they can't fix, and I really need a hug from you right now. I know how much my spouse cares about me; please give me the wisdom to know when to ask for help and comfort from him/her and when to come only to You and ask you to fulfill all of my emotional needs."

About the Author:

Don't miss other articles and important support while living with chronic illness visit Rest Ministries and subscribe to fresh content and be entered for our monthly giveaway. Lisa Copen is the director of Rest Ministries, author of "Beyond Casseroles: 505 Ways to Encourage a Chronically Ill Friend" and founder behind National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week.