We've tried to resist for such a long time but after a few days at the Video08 Convention in Orlando we were persuaded otherwise. Hey, if it's good enough for the top25 in the world, it's good enough for me.
So check it out on everaftervideos.com/blog

Well, the video from our spectacular vacation last October is finally online. As you can hopefully tell, we had the most amazing time.

First we stayed at the Stagecoach Trails Guest Ranch for  3 nights. Within half an hour of arriving Niels found a scorpion in our room (photo can  be seen in the photo section). I actually thought this was rather cool but something we needed to get rid off so we were told just to kill it. I wisely left Niels to do that job.  The next morning we were up very early and enjoyed the scenery and a good hearty breakfast before riding out.  First time on a horse in a very long time, and it was nice and relaxing. For our second ride we decided to up the pace and go trotting. Maybe not my best decision ever as the horse decided to take it up a bit further and starting racing off, luckily I did manage to calm him down! So back to a quiet ride the next day, Niels on the other hand really enjoyed the faster rides. Niels even had a go at roping and turned out to be quite good at it. We had a wonderful time at the ranch and would love to go back some day. It was such a nice break away from everything and all the people were so welcoming.

So off to San Diego where we spent at night at our friends' Celia & John  before setting off the next morning on our 15 night cruise to Hawaii. It may sound like a great vacation, well it was even better. We had the nicest group of people from Cruise Critic to go with who really made this vacation unique. No cruise will ever be the same again. In Hawaii we had a go at surfing, annoyingly Niels managed to stand up on the board first time out in the water. It took me a bit longer but I did manage. We both agreed this was one of the best things we've ever done. We also went on a hiking trip in a rainforest. Gorgeous scenery but the weather got the better of me, I just couldn't cope with the heat and humidity. We also visited Pearl Harbor, again an experience we won't easily forget.


On the way back, there was a medical emergency so we had to turn back. Because of this, we'd arrive later in San Diego. We had booked tickets to go see Phantom of the Opera in Las Vegas that night, but were afraid we wouldn't be able to make it in time. Luckily, thanks to the help of some of our Cruise Critic friends we did! We had a fabulous time in Las Vegas. We enjoyed it more than we expected. Stayed at the Signature at the MGM Grand which was blissful.

Anyway, go have a look at the video if you haven't done so already!

It's been a while, but just thought I'd let you know there is now a trailer for our October 2007 vacation. I hope you'll enjoy it, the main feature will be here soon!

Last wedding of the season done! Only one more week and we’re off on vacation!!! I would just like to say: JIPPIEEEE!!! It will still be one hectic week, having to finish as much editing as I can possibly cramp in and also pack and organise our vacation.

Our last wedding went fine, friendly couple, nice photographers to work with, first time filming in HD. I was a bit worried about this wedding as the reception was at Hassop Hall. Hassop Hall is a gorgeous venue, beautiful setting and excellent service. We’ve only been there twice and on both occasions not so nice things happened to me (falling down some steps, see earlier blog entry, the first time we were there, and the second time, well, I’ll not go into detail, but it wasn’t nice). So I was wondering what was going to happen this time. But nothing nasty happened, only good things at this wedding!

So now we can focus on packing, which I actually love doing. I’ve got all my lists, bought the last few little things, the suitcases can come down from the attic, I even enjoy doing the ironing!!! This time next week we’ll be putting the last few things in the suitcases and drive down to Stansted.

Did another fine Wedding Day Edit at  a wedding last Saturday. This time I used a proper tower pc rather than a laptop. We somehow seem to accumulate more and more equipment every single time… At least the quality improves too ;-)

We had a first at this wedding. After the screening, it mentioned that the clip would be online the following day. Later in the evening a woman came up to me and asked what exactly would be online. So I said just the short clip what was shown. So she said "well, it's got our kids in it and you didn't ask permission". The kids shown in the clip are 5 bridesmaids aged 5 to 9 when they are walking up the aisle during the ceremony for no more than a few seconds. I was completely gobsmacked. I didn't really know what to reply but just said that we had the permission of the bride and groom and that it was their request. She said she'd have a think about it. I was actually really upset about her comment and so totally pissed off that I didn't film anymore the rest of the evening (I know, not a professional response). Niels went to tell the groom about it. By that time many people had already come up to us ask when exactly it would be online and double checking the web address. The groom just couldn't believe and said to just put it online as it was and if there would be any trouble to send the person to him, not to worry about it.
This morning he phoned at 9.30am we weren't in so he left a message to thank us again and to ask to please please please put the clip online as it was. He phoned again at lunch time to say they'd watch it again, they were in tears and asked again to put it online as is. He asked who the person was that asked us so I described her to him and he said thanks, no I can go behead her (jokingly obviously).
Less than 2 minutes later the phone rings again and it's that mother again saying she'd really prefer it if the kids faces were blurred out (bearing in mind not all 5 kids are hers). I told her that I would have to pass her on to the groom as that's what he asked me to do. But she didn't want to disturb him. She asked if any other people had stated their preference so I just said all other people would prefer the clip to stay as it is and told her again to deal with the groom.
The mum did call the groom and I received a message from the groom to say it was sorted and to put it online as is. A few minutes later I receive a call from another mum who had obviously talked to the first mum (probably after agreeing to the groom to put it online). She asked if it was possible to download the clip, at first it sounded as if she wanted to do that so she could have it her computer. She then went on that she was concerned about people being able to download it when it had her kids in it and she would really prefer it if it would be blurred out. So back on the phone to the groom who just couldn't believe it, kept saying they were idiots. So I suggested to the groom that I should blur those particular shots out and put a note on saying that it is censored due to "parental idiots", but word it a bit better. He said "parental idiots" is fine. Can't believe people are that petty. What do they expect would happen to their kids when all you see is a fleeting image, without any details about who they are??? It’s beyond me!

Anyway, here's an uncensored link to the clip: www.everaftervideos.com/clips/dianne.wmv

We recently had 3 weddings to film in the space of a few days(Saturday, Sunday and Tuesday).

I don't know if you have any idea about the floods in England, just so you know, it's bad, it's really bad! The Saturday one was on the edge of the worst affected area. It's a good thing we'd been listening to the news on the morning of the wedding, or we would have been stuck in traffic for hours (took a detour to get there). The night before the hotel where the groom and a whole bunch of guests were to spend the night got flooded. Raw sewage was seeping up through the stone tiles so they had to be evacuated. The castle were the wedding reception would take place was cut off from the village by water, you could only get there with a 4x4 with high clearance. At least 3 cars of wedding guests are complete write offs due to the flooding (one of the cars was a new very expensive car). The morning of the wedding the rain was still coming down. We got to the street of the church and thought we wouldn't be able to make it through. To say there was a big puddle would be understatement, a small lake would cover it more accurately. But it was possible to drive through it. When we got to the castle to cover the bride’s prep, we found the father of the bride frantically phoning around to find a hotel for the stranded guests (more than 60 were supposed to spend the night at the by sewage flooded hotel). About an hour before the wedding, the rain stopped, we all managed to get to the church (even the old timer wedding cars managed to drive through safely). It stayed dry for the rest of the day, even had the reception outside and had fireworks in the evening. Some of the guests took forever to get to the wedding, it took one couple 11 hours to do a normally 2 hour journey, they arrived at 4am the night before the wedding). The groom joked about the floods in his speech, saying that a castle isn’t really castle unless it has a moat, well it had one now! It unbelievable how lucky they were considering that only a few miles down the road houses were several feet under water! We started working that day at 9.15am and stopped at 11.30pm. We didn't get a break longer than 20 minutes as during the meal they had a performance by singing waiters. That was really great. 3 "waiters" who had been pretending to do a job as waiters suddenly started singing opera. It took some guests ages to figure out it was an act, it went down a storm and they received a standing ovation. After the wedding we drove to the next venue and arrived at about 1am to start again at 10.30am the next morning.


That wedding was a bit further up north from the floods so they were less affected although a few guests didn’t make it because of the floods. They had a surprisingly nice day, even had sunshine which seems to be a rare treat this summer (wouldn’t really call it summer though this year). We did a wedding day edit for them. We had a few technical difficulties. First problem, our firestore. Tested on the morning of the wedding, worked fine. But when we used it to record the ceremony, it suddenly used a non native format to our edit suite (which we never even selected... ever). This rendered the firestore footage useless and an extra 30 minutes of tape needed to be captured. Technical problem 2: we had specifically got a projector that could handle 720p and a DVD player that beautifully 'up resses' to this HD resolution. Everything was running perfectly went we tested the equipment at home, very sharp image and beautiful saturation. The connection between the DVD player and the projector is a DVI cable and that's where everything went wrong. During set up the DVD player promptly decided that the projector did not support the HDCP protocol. It changed the nice image into snow. No matter what we tried or which order we tried to switch things on the digital connection was a no go. Did I mention that the disc in question didn't even have any copyright protection on it?! To top it all off when using the analogue connection, the projector decided it was being fed an NTSC signal (we're in pal territory). 3 Menus and 5 overrides later, we finally got a decent analogue signal sorted. The clip went down a storm! Bride and several guests in tears, they were so happy with it they even gave us flowers the next morning (we stayed at the same hotel). In case anyone is curious, you can find the clip on www.everaftervideos.com/everafter/jennie_mark.wmv
Note: thanks to Glen Elliott for the opening hand with rings idea

Wedding number 3: We found out at the rehearsal last week that it was going to be with a photographer we can not stand at all. Worked with him on 2 previous occasions and he's a real prima donna. Last time he put his tripod right in front of our camera at the back of the church, having clearly noticed we were there filming the bride's entrance. He also ruined our exit shot by walking backwards from the bride. I recently heard from a friend that he wasn't doing too well these days (he used to be the most expensive photographer in the area), which made me go 'woohoo!'... Anyway, I disgress. At the rehearsal he and his wife were being extremely friendly towards us. Strange, made us a bit suspicous (sucking up to the vicar and then backstabbing us on the day maybe?). Day of the wedding we decided to be assertive and just tell him what we were going to do and kindly suggesting how he could work with us. He was like a little lamb, he did anything we asked, went out of his way to make sure he didn't block any shots at any stage, even asked us during the formal photo shoot if there was anything extra we wanted to do (complete opposite of what it used to be before where we seemed to be vermin to him). We even had a nice chat during dinner. He's gone from persona non grata to a guy we'd actually recommend! So far the good news of that day. Arrived at the reception venue just before the bride and groom. At the entrance there were 3 small steps. The coordinator of the venue greeted me as I was walking on these steps. I didn't pay proper attention to these steps as I noticed the couple's car arriving behind me. 3 things suddenly went through my head: "I'm loosing my balance and will hit the ground, oh bugger" followed by "I'm falling down and there's people watching, even more oh bugger" and then "oh no, not the camera, I can't drop the camera too, must keep the camera from falling, again oh bugger as it hit the ground". The camera still works fine (go Sony!), I on the other hand am a bit worse for wear. Got some serious bruises on my knees, behind and elbow and my upper arm feels like I've pulled a muscle. Hoping it clears up by Saturday when we're filming another wedding. Even though there were few people around to see me fall, it soon became common knowledge as everyone kept asking "are you alright dear?". I just felt like an idiot and kept hoping that hole in the ground would open up so I could sink in it.

I think that's enough story telling for one night... (who needs the new Harry Potter when you can read about adventures in wedding videography? )

Just booked our flights for our trip to Walt Disney World for next year and we decided to splash out! We'll be flying Virgin Atlantic Upper Class!!! Soooo excited! The whole experience looks great. I'm actually looking forward to flying now (for those who know me that is quite unusual).
Now I just need to work out how we're going to pay for it... LOL

I just signed up for facebook. So if you would like to be my friend, look me up (Sylvia Broeckx) and add me!
www.facebook.com

Only one way to battle PCD (post cruise depression) and that is to book another cruise! LOL! So that's exactly what we did. Booked another cruise, this time we'll be sailing onboard RCCL Legend of the Seas in Asia in April 2009.  We'll be sailing from Shanghai for 11 nights (2 cruises, back to back)  and arrive in Tokyo where we'll be spending a few more days. We're insane, we know ;-)

Navigator 3 night cruise Southampton to Cork review

We travelled down to Southampton on 1 June, the day before. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express, about 10 minutes drive from the docks. We arrived at the dock at about 10.30 and were guided to the car parking area. We dropped of our luggage (no tipping needed in Southampton) and walked to the terminal (less than 5 minutes walk). At that time it was, to say the least, still very quiet. There were no queues whatsoever, plenty of check in desks open. We had done the online check in so it all went very swiftly. We were told to go to the waiting area with a group 1 boarding ticket and that boarding would start at about 11.30. My sister and her husband and my parents had a bit more difficulty checking in. As this was a cruise within the EU, they didn’t have a passport, just an ID card. The ladies at check in didn’t quite know how to sort it out, but eventually managed. Cake, cookies and refreshments were provided in the waiting area.

Boarding didn’t start until 11.45, priority passengers got to on first, then it was our turn, group 1! We were onboard by midday! Cabins weren’t available until 1pm, but we managed to drop of our hand luggage in the cabin straight away. Straight away we noticed something different about this cruise: where were all the Americans??? The only accents we heard were British ones, and we could tell by the drinks that were being ordered it was a distinctly British crowd. It felt a bit weird, not what we’re used to.

We had booked an inside cabin. This was our first ‘real’ inside cabin. We had a promenade cabin on one of our previous cruises. The cabin was tiny compared to the promenade cabin and balcony cabins! To get into bed, you had to sit at the end of it and just crawl up as there was no space to walk round the sides due to the desk and sofa being to close to it. Our cabin steward was Marlon, he was great! Provided us with bath robes and was really friendly (even checked with my husband if the birthday decorations were to our satisfaction). One thing was missing though from our room: the big blue binder with all the phone numbers, room service details, … We heard from other cruisers they didn’t have one either. Still no idea why it wasn’t there. The other disappointing thing was that there was no camera on the bow of the ship that was shown on the cabin tv. Inside passengers had no way of finding out what the weather was like outside (there was a cam on the promenade though). The new bedding is great, soooo soft. We slept wonderfully all 3 nights.

The ship is very good condition. Throughout the cruise, small areas were cornered off for maintenance and a spot of painting. The covers on the loungers in the solarium had seen better days, but that’s the only thing that wasn’t in pristine condition. At the entrance of all the restaurants there were hand sanitizers and you were kindly requested to use them! Due to UK licensing laws, the general store was closed throughout the cruise, which was a shame.

We had dinner in the main dining room every night. The food was delicious, especially the fillet mignon and duck. They always asked if we wanted more of anything and were very fast in provided seconds. Service again was excellent and our head waiter was the best one we’ve ever had. One night, chilled strawberry bisque was one of the appetisers. I loved it so much I wanted it as a desert too, so our waiter quickly went to check if it hadn’t been chucked out yet. Luckily it hadn’t and he came back with 2 extra portions. 2 things however were seriously disappointing. The wine list! We don’t know what happened, but it was just 1 piece of paper with a very very limited list, not what we’re used to. We asked at reception why it was so limited and were told it was because when they’re in Europe they can’t always get hold of the same suppliers (or something along those lines) hence the limited list. Personally I find this hard to believe. The other thing that as different was that there was no salad course, it was just listed under appetisers. I’m sure we could have asked for it, but it was odd that it wasn’t standard as usual.

Entertainment seemed more limited than on longer cruises. We caught one of the production shows and really enjoyed it (it’s the ballroom dancing one). We also went to see the ice show and as usual it was amazing! There were 2 parades, didn’t completely watch them, but had fun. Didn’t go to the captain’s champagne reception, but heard it was very quiet compared to other cruises. We were still in port, so I guess a lot of people were still on shore.

Arriving in Cobh. I think disembarkation started about 15 minutes late, not that it mattered too much for us as we were just planning a leisurely day in Cobh. The Cobh Maritime Music Festival happened to be on that weekend. There was a pipe band competition going on, which could be seen from the ship (great sailing into the harbor and being welcomed by pipe bands!). The weather was sunny and warm, and the atmosphere in Cobh was delightful and very welcoming. There were even posters in town that said: “Come see the great ocean liner”. We just did a walking tour, vaguely based on the Titanic Heritage Trail. We walked all the way to the old cemetery (with the graves of the Lusitania victims) which is a lot further than they make you believe it is, but well worth the walk.
Formal night: no shortage of champagne on the promenade. Even though this was a short cruise, it was nice to see that people had still made an effort to dress up properly. There was no midnight buffet on this cruise. This was my family’s first cruise and it would have been nice if they could have seen the grandeur of it all.

We had 1 sea day. The weather in the morning was gorgeous and we just spent it being lazy on deck. There were a couple of chair hogs by the solarium pool, neatly folded towels with a book. I felt like removing them, but gave the benefit of the doubt. More than 2 hours later, the towels and books were still there. It wasn’t busy in the solarium, but I did feel that the crew should have discouraged people from chair hogging. Breakfast that day in the Windjammer was very busy as the dining room wasn’t serving breakfast that day. The dining room did have a brunch from 10.30 until 2pm. We had lunch at Johnny Rockets on the sea day. We did have to wait about 20 minutes for a table. I guess with it being a short cruise, a lot of people wanted to try it out.

Disembarkation in Southampton was very efficient. We were allowed to stay in our cabins until 8am. According to our time sheet we were supposed to go off the ship at 8.30. Our colour was actually called out at about 8am, but we stayed on a bit longer and left just after 9am. It’s nice that you don’t have to go through immigration, so it all went very smoothly.

We all had a fantastic time. We loved being onboard again, but were disappointed that some of the usual things were missing (the wine list, salad course, midnight buffet, blue information folder in the cabin, …) and felt that because it was a short cruise they limited some of the services. Can’t wait to book another cruise (well, we have 2 booked as it is)!

My wedding video company, Ever After Video Productions, is celebrating its 5th anniversary this year! And it's all going very well!
We're sending thank you cards and Belgian chocolates to all our past clients and in August we're having a party. I'm hoping hat the business will continue to grow so Niels can come work for it full time too. So if you know anyone who's getting married, please refer us, we'd really appreciate it!


We've also booked another cruise for next year, a 13 night Transatlantic on Independence of the Seas. Even managed to get the perfect cabin! So we currently have 3 cruises booked!  The first one is in a few days, short one to Ireland for my birthday and I'm obviously really looking forward to it! You can expect  some new photos and video when we get back.

As Niels had such a "magical" time at Walt Disney World for his 30th birthday, we decided that I can go too for my 30th birthday next year! This time we'll be staying at a Walt Disney World hotel, Port Orleans Riverside. I've already started the planning and the countdown. Can you tell I'm excited?

Added a few new things to our website. A page with some of our favourite websites and a guestbook. So if you'd care to leave us a message, feel free to do so! Please be nice!

That's enough to get us more than excited! We'll soon be booking  another cruise. Hopefully a transatlantic one on Independence of the Seas. Jippie!!!
Also, finally some quiet time, well, fairly quiet time,  giving me plenty of time to get my office cleared out, go to the gym to loose some pounds, and possibly do some ironing...

The rest of the office is still a mess though ;-) but it's getting there!

By the way, does anyone happen to have $150000 spare somewhere that they could give to us? That way we could get an E2 visa to the US which seems an easy way to get there (if we don't win the green card lottery, still hoping!)

I also have an extra incentive to loose some weight. When we booked our ranch stay they need to know our height and weight so that they can find the best horse for us (to make it more comfortable for us and the horse). So we gave the weight I'd like to achieve by then, well, a bit extra in case I don't quite make it, but I still need to loose quite a bit!

with a few extra pounds I intend to loose by October... Keep your fingers crossed and me away from Krispy Kreme ;-)

Got a new office, well, nearly... Booked our stay at the Stagecoach Trail Ranch, so excited about this (www.stagecoachtrailsranch.com )! Been looking at hotels in Las Vegas, so many nice ones, so hard to choose. Should do some more work...

We're getting keener by the minute to move to Michigan. As soon as we can spare the money we'll get on plane to explore the area. If anyone cares to sponsor our trip, please email me!

Back from Vienna. Mozart's Don Giovanni, tchaikovsky Nutcracker ballet, midnight performance of Mozart's Requiem and the weather was nice too... who could ask for anything more!?! Photos can be found in the "photos" section...

Niels has been working so hard on his PhD, I really hope he'll finish it in time! And it's almost Christmas, the Christmas decoration are about half way up, nearly got all our presents. But still too much work to finish first...

Off to Vienna on Saturday, hopefully everything will go nicely. Still need to start packing. We leave Friyday evening for a night near Manchester airport first. Bach Rescue Remedy at the ready ;-)

I saw a really great deal for a cruise online today. Would love to book it, but I'll need to convince Niels first. He'll probably talk sense into me, would be nice though...

Our AIBO dog Lucy has a blog too: http://lucysheffield.vnunetblogs.com/lucys_blog/

Never blogged before, but thought I'd give this a try as we have a new website. And about time too!