Ever since I went to Iowa State University and worked on lesson plans with video equipment, I was hooked. The first time I did work with cameras on a personal project was a few years after I graduated.  My parents invited my husband Jay and I to go on a cross country trip to San Diego, CA. I bought a cheaper camera and filmed the Grand Canyon, Universal Studios/CityWalk, the San Diego Zoo, a talent show at Miramar, the Redwood National Forest, and Mt. Rushmore. When we arrived back home, I edited the tapes on IMovie and gave my parents two DVDs of our adventures.

A year later my brother Matz was getting married and I offered to film the wedding. I was using the same camera I had bought at Target and filmed the wedding. Later at the reception, I heard Dad saying how good I was at the filming and editing. This go me thinking maybe I should start First Kiss. I edited the tapes and was a little disappointed. I didn't have a good angle, the lighting was very dim, and the clarity was grainy. Things I never noticed filming outdoors. I would first have to buy new cameras.

I bought new cameras and a cordless microphone system. I was able to film most of my brother Mark's wedding and there was a tremendous difference with two camera angles and the microphone picked up the vows and pastor's message. Plus I bought new editing software that has lots of different finishing tools. My parents were very supportive of this new venture and really believed I could make it happen.

The name First Kiss comes from two ideas.  First, I had a friend from college that had read the book I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris. This is a Christian book that pushed getting to know the opposite sex in group dating situations. My friend pushed it one step further and said he didn't even want to kiss the girl until the pastor/priest says "you may kiss the bride". That sparked hope in me that maybe all marriages won't end up in divorce. Second, every wedding no matter what religion includes a symbolic "first kiss". This is the first kiss as husband and wife and hopefully years down the road that same husband and wife can return to that first kiss with watching their wedding video and remembering that day.



firstkissvideo.com