Bohemian + Summer Wedding Inspirations

We adore a good summer wedding. Throw in a little BoHo flair and it instantly becomes the best! If you're looking to have a Bohemian style wedding, here's a ton of inspiration to help you dream up the perfect wedding day for you and your fiancé!

We loved getting to be a part of this style shoot put on by our friends over at Grand Occasions. When we were first asked if we would like to join we totally jumped at the chance to capture this magic, and the thing that made it so much more perfect was the fact that Courtney+Mike, our bride and groom, are actually engaged! When it came time to look adorable and beautiful together they needed no coaching! Watch and fall in love with this dreamy BoHo, flower crown infused styled wedding film!

Sarah + Kyle: The Dykgraaf Wedding Trailer

We are instantly drawn to couples who are actively engaging the world around them, seeking to make the world a better place one day at a time. We love hearing their passions, seeing their hearts displayed, and getting to help be a part of their much larger story. Sarah and Kyle are just such a couple! The way they seek social change by cultivating thought, discussion, and action amongst their family, friends and colleagues is both inspiring and humbling for us.

What's more, they are simply put one of the sweetest, most humble, and caring couples that we have met. They asked us throughout the day so many times if we were doing alright and their others-focused personalities were on fully display. These two truly do care for their neighbor as they would themselves and their beautiful spirits are so refreshing.

We are thankful to know these two and to have shared in their story on their wedding day. We are extremely excited to see what is ahead for them and we are wishing them so much love and support! Help us in celebrating Mr.+Mrs. Dykgraaf!

Rashi + Anuj: The Trivedi Wedding Trailer

Have we mentioned how much we LOVE three day weddings?!? If not, let us tell you - they are seriously one of our favorite things! Spending a day with a couple is beyond wonderful, but being able to share an entire weekend with them, especially their family who has come in from literally all across the world, is such a joyous and exciting opportunity for us! It's even better though when the couple is as GORGEOUS and FUN as Rashi + Anuj!

Their awe-inspiring traditional Indian wedding was the thing of dreams, and it was so easy for us to get caught up in the wedding weekend magic. On top of being welcomed and greeted by so many familiar faces that we have come to love, we were instantly taken with Rashi's exquisite taste and style, Anuj's light and incredibly kind spirit, and the love that these two just radiated when together.

We've fallen in love with them, there is no denying that! I mean, how could you not? Make sure to show this breathtaking couple some love as we wish every happiness in the world to the stunning Mr+Mrs Trivedi!

The Frontlines of Filmmaking

There’s something you should know about making movies. It’s pretty easy. Kind of like making pasta, putting on socks, riding a bike. Oh, wait, that's right - it's SO MUCH MORE THAN THAT!

You see, even the smallest, shortest, and simplest of films take hours upon hours of work, planning, development, and creating. Everything from long sleepless nights of work, blood, sweat, and computers go into making a movie in today's day and age. On top of that, if you want to make your dream movie, you need to do some hardcore networking and take a few classes on bank robbing OR have deep pockets; because they cost a lotta dolla billz.

As some of you might be aware, Michigan's legislature recently just slaughtered the budget of the Michigan Film Office. What does that mean? Well that means the funds available to the Film Office to award to local crews and movies being made here in our great state has been axed and starting in just a few months all funds remaining with the office will revert back to the State. They plan on taking away resources that help make movies in Michigan. Why? To fix roads...not the worst reason, but it still is a sucker punch to the gut for us filmmakers!

Don't get us wrong, we are not protesting here; it is just a bit disappointing. But you know what - we are local filmmakers and we believe in the power of storytelling in our community - and West Michigan is that community. The news sent shock waves throughout the industry just two weeks back when the announcement was made, and many of the indie filmmakers here in the area have already noted they are packing up shop and moving elsewhere - but this is our home, our community, and we aren't ready to abandon it. 

While the next few years are unclear, and what happens to the narrative industry is still to tell, we aren't running; we are digging in, now more than ever, and we are determined to make the dream happen here. We believe in telling stories in Grand Rapids, in West Michigan, in Michigan period, and we are setting out to do just that this summer with our project, Garden Party!

We are stepping out onto the front lines and trying to tell a story in the most creative, funny, and professional way we know how. Despite it being hard, tough, and a lot of work, we are so excited to make a movie and we are doing it regardless of the obstacles. Heck, we are still making the movie even if we don't raise all of our funds through IndieGoGo - which is kind of scary, but hey, we believe in storytelling.

So, who is Garden Party for? You! Grand Rapids! Michigan! The world! We are so excited to be making a film that can bring so many competing ideas together in a funny and interesting way. It's truly the physical embodiment of what the Incentives were meant for all along. So please, consider joining our efforts to make something awesome by checking out our IndieGoGo campaign. We aren't just looking for cash donors--we are looking for people to get in on the experience. Our perks for supporting Garden Party actually make you a part of something bigger.

So yes, our state cut critical incentives to help local filmmakers like us tell stories to share with you, our friends. But we aren't going anywhere - we are sticking here, digging our feet in, and setting out to continue the dream of storytelling. Help us in doing so with this story, and the many others we are setting out to tell!

Summertime Magic

There was something magical about this day when you were a child. From the summer winds that called you to new adventures, to the bright light shows that woke up the night sky; these are the memories we cherish and think back to fondly as adults. May we remember these moments of freedom so rightly underscored by innocence and youthfulness.

Happy 4th of July all! Hope your celebration with family and friends was a blessed one today!

-Matthew

The Garden Launch Party!

We just want to take a minute to thank everyone who came out to the official launch for Garden Party last weekend! We loved having you all over to our office space so we could tell you all about this amazing story and give you a first hand look into what this project is shaping up to be.

It was an awesome night of laughter, great conversations, excellent company, and some exclusive sneak peeks into what we've got waiting for you all in just the coming months. 

Garden Party isn't just another film, and it isn't just another crowdfunding campaign you can contribute toward that'll leave you out in the cold; it's an engaging and captivating story that we are designing so you can experience it as if it were real. 

Stay tuned for more Garden fun coming soon!

(Shout out to our amazing friend and photographer genius, Noah Prefontaine, for these awesome launch party photos!)

Welcome to the Garden Party

Ask just about anyone and they'll tell you that there is something magical about theatrical storytelling. Sitting in a dark room for 2 hours with a group of strangers, experiencing the same story in front of you, and each walking away with a deep and meaningful take on the story that then makes you think differently is one of the most fascinating wonders of our age. As storytellers ourselves, we fell in love with this artform of such storytelling.

This summer we are excited to be setting out to tell just such a story that just such an audience can come together and experience as one. It's actually the first story that was ever told, but with a new twist; the Fall in the Garden of Eden, but set at a corporate business party in the boss' garden estate.

We've been workshopping, refining, and laughing all along the way over the last year as we have continued to develop and deepen the story of Garden Party. With every step of creating this script, these characters, this world, we have only fallen more and more in love with this story and we are so excited to begin to share it with the world. It's a dark comedy, with an interesting spin and perspective on the subject matter that we are positive will have a crowd of strangers sitting in a dark room somewhere laughing their heads off.

But in order to tell this story, we need you!

This is a massive undertaking, and we aren't kidding when we say this is the largest story, production, or project we have set out to tell. It's new, it's exciting, it's daring, but in the end it's our dream; to tell stories that make an audience think, laugh, love, and grow. This isn't just a hobby, this is what we want to do with our lives. And in order to do that, we need people like you! People who like experiencing something new, who believe in the art of storytelling through film, people who love watching stories unfold before them, and people who live for storytelling just like us.

We need you. We need your help in sharing this story and this campaign with everyone that you can think of. We need your excitement and your energy. We need your support and belief. We need you, our fellow storyteller.

Check out our IndieGoGo campaign for Garden Party to find out more on how to get involved, experience this story for all it's worth, and how to have a few laughs with us along the way. This is the story of Garden Party, where just one sip can change the world.