On Sunday Lea and I, along with our good friends Dan & Lynnea took a trip to Philadelphia to see Brooke Fraser live in concert at “World Cafe Live.” We left in the early afternoon so that we could spend some time wondering around downtown Philly before getting a bite to eat and heading to the venue. Lea and I had never been to World Cafe Live before, but we would both recommend it. The concert was awesome. Brooke Fraser is a talented musician and song writer. Most of the songs she performed were off her newest album “Flags.” If you don’t have this album I would certainly encourage you to check it out. You can listen to some of the songs on her website by clicking here. Below are some pictures from our adventure!

Certainly when Lea and I got married there were many decisions that needed to be made, purchasing a home and beginning a life on our own forced us to create a realistic budget. One of the things that we decided to cut was our cable TV subscription. I think each of us can identify with the high cost of cable TV and the desire to cut out unnecessary expenses from our budget. Apparently we aren’t the only ones, recent reports show that cable providers are losing subscribers at an all time high rate. Lea and I have successfully cut the cable bill and we are still enjoying watching our favorite TV programming for little or no cost at all! So how did we do it, can you do it?

First step is to evaluate what it is you watch, what you are willing to pay for, and what you can “give up.” Let’s face it, we all have different tastes in TV and entertainment so, this is an important step when determining whether or not you can live without Comcast, DirectTV, or some other provider. We have been pleased to find that many of our favorite dramas like “The Office,” “White Collar,” and many others are available for free from web services like hulu or directly from the major network’s websites like NBC.com and FOX.com. It is worth noting that these services “stream” video, if you want to purchase these shows for viewing on portable devices such as iPods or when you are disconnected from the internet many of these shows can be purchased from Amazon video online or iTunes.

Since the switchover to Digital TV major networks have been broadcasting HD 1080i quality video and Lea and I have tuned-in with an aerial antenna attached to our roof. Obviously an antenna on the roof is the best option for reception but, indoor antennas can be a viable solution for you to pull in major network TV for free over-the-air. Lea and I get about 30 channels from our antenna for free including all the major networks like NBC, ABC, CBS and FOX. This allows us to watch local news, some of our favorite TV shows, and some sporting events.

The Sports Exemption; It should be noted that if you’re a fan of watching live sports at the moment they’re happening you will have some difficulty watching this programing without a subscription to Cable. There are a few exceptions with MLB.tv and options like ESPN3 which streams content in HD for free. If you have an antenna you can watch sports that appear on the major networks like NFL, and the MLB Playoffs but you will miss out on sports on ESPN and other specialty sporting networks. The biggest disadvantage to ditching cable TV for Lea and I has been missing out on Phillies Games that are not broadcasted on the major networks or WPHL. MLB.tv is a great subscription based option but the major TV networks still blackout local sports fans so even though I would be willing to pay for an MLB.tv subscription as a local Phillies fan I can never watch the games using MLB.tv.

So what do we pay for?

Lea and I decided that we prefer access to the internet over access to cable TV. Lea and I are currently paying for a monthly internet connection from Comcast Cable at $29.99 per month. This connection gets us access not only to the video streaming services discussed above but also gets us connected to the many other benefits of the internet. Other internet solutions are available but are required to access services like hulu and network video streaming. One benefit to subscribing to Comcast internet is that they will provide basic cable service to your house even if you don’t pay for any cable service, just plug in your coax. This is helpful if you don’t want to deal with an aerial antenna.

We also have a monthly subscription to Netflix. Netflix offers a monthly subscription of unlimited DVD mail-rentals and unlimited video streaming for about $10.00 per month. Netflix is a great place to find past seasons of shows like Law & Order, LOST, Deadliest Catch and many more TV shows including classics like “Charles in Charge.” Although we do pay for this subscription it provides us with regular movies and media content at an extremely reasonable rate.

Access to TV shows beyond the subscription to cable TV is getting easier and easier all the time. Set-top boxes like the boxee box, AppleTV or Roku Player allow you to connect directly to your TV and stream video to your TV so you don’t have to hassle with connecting your home computer to your TV or being forced to watch shows on your computer. Also, some TV manufactures and DVD players are building apps like Netflix and Vudu right into the device, in fact you may have even heard of the recent launch of “Google TV.”

This post is a little longer than normal, and we didn’t even cover all the details of our experience in cutting the cable. We hope that this provides a reference point when you consider cutting the cable. Maybe you didn’t even realize that you can get TV shows for free? Remember most of the time you don’t sign into a long term contract with your cable company so it won’t hurt to cut the cable and try it for a month…you might be surprised what you can live without. If you can’t make it work, your cable company will be more than willing to take you back!

If you have any questions use the comment feature below to keep the discussion going!

When Lea and I first started planning the wedding ceremony we knew that we wanted to include lots of different elements, one of those being video. Of course with my job being so closely related to creativity and video we knew this would be a highlight of the ceremony. Just about two weeks before the wedding Lea and I spent an evening video taping the entire thing (about 4 hours worth of video footage) in our back yard. We had a lot of fun switching back and forth, I would man the secondary camera for b-roll then Lea would take a turn while we used a stationary straight-on shot to get the rest of the footage. We took time to discuss many of the highlights and even the challenging times of our relationship, the resulting video was about 8 minutes long. We knew the video was a little long but hey we were covering almost 4 years of dating and engagement combined!

So how did we do it? We used two cameras a Canon XHA1 and a Canon GL2 video camera along with a softbox light kit and four hours of miniDV tape. The footage was imported into none other then the Mac where the footage was edited down using Final Cut Studio. We used two songs the first was “Go Do” by Jonsi (lead singer of the band Sigur Ros). The second song “When I say I Do” by Matthew West provided us with two great music tracks to help set the mood and feel for the video. So enough with the boring technical details here is the video!

After our wedding on June 12 we spent the night at the Lancaster Arts Hotel in downtown Lancaster. We highly recommend this spot, the hotel has character, a great atmosphere and it’s right in our own town! In the morning we woke up and headed to Harrisburg International Airport for our flight to Jamaica. Although we made the plans back in February the anticipation of getting away had built to an all time high. Lea and I had been doing so much hard work in the weeks leading up to the wedding that we were ready for some rest and relaxation. After a long long long layover in Atlanta thanks to a weather delay we finally arrived at our Sandals resort in Montego Bay. We had a wonderful experience, one that we will soon not forget. The weather was hot every day and the humidity was also pretty oppressive but it was so easy to cool off in the ocean or in the pool. We ate a lot of awesome food and tried many new things, after all it was all inclusive! Some of you have been asking for the photos so here they are. Special thanks to my Grandparents who allowed us to experience such a wonderful honeymoon and start to our marriage! Keep posted we have more updates coming to the blog soon!

We are home from our honeymoon and boy do we have a treat for you! We just got done sorting through the 197 photo booth photos from our wedding reception and they are here for you to view. The idea for Lea and I to include a photo booth came from the many years of setting up a photo booth at the BIC YouthQuest events. Lea and I knew that it would either be a tremendous hit or somewhat of a flop….well, I think you will see from the photos it was a hit! Thank you so much to everyone who participated in the photo booth, we were impressed with all of the smiles, silly faces and creative props!

So how did we do it? It was quite simple actually, we got some fabric that matched our theme from a local craft store. Mom Denlinger sewed the 2 pieces together and sewed a loop at the top. The loop slid over top of a plastic PVC pipe which was supported by two speaker stands. We used my Canon 7D camera with an external flash along with a soft box light from a light kit to capture the images with enough lighting. Canon includes an EOS utility free with the camera that allows for “tethered/remote shooting”. With a normal USB camera cable we connected the camera to the computer. Once the photo was taken the MacBook Pro laptop would automatically download and display the image for review by the participants. I ordered a cheap wireless shutter remote (from ebay) which allowed those in the booth to snap the photos on command. So enough with the technical jargon check out the cool pics!

P.S. check back soon for more posts about our wedding & honeymoon!

VIEW SLIDESHOW

Lea and I will be married so soon, and we are excited! Thank you to our friends and family who have already responded to our invitation and will be able to celebrate our special day but, we want to make sure everyone is invited. Unfortunately we could not invite everyone to be a part of the reception but, we want to make sure you know that you are invited to come to our wedding ceremony; this includes extended family, friends, our church community, and everyone else!

The best part is you don’t even have to RSVP or bring us a gift! Just plan to come and worship and celebrate with us during our ceremony on June 12, 2010 at 2:30 p.m. at Pequea Church. You can read more wedding details and get directions by clicking here. We love you all and we are especially thankful for the role you have played in our lives, please accept our invitation to come and be a part of our special day!

If you have any questions feel free to contact us by clicking here or leave a comment below!

We would be lying if we didn’t acknowledge the challenges that we have faced in the last few weeks. Our wedding is now just one month away and we apologize for not keeping up with the blogging of our website. Three weeks ago tomorrow, Lea’s parents were in a motorcycle accident that left her Mom Jill in the Nero Trauma unit at Lancaster General Hospital. Today Jill is recovering from her brain injury at the rehabilitation hospital in Lancaster. We are so thankful for our friends and family who have been supporting us and Lea’s family through this challenging time. We are praising God today that Jill is alive and continues her recovery. We are not sure how long it will be until Jill is completely recovered but we are praying that in God’s timing she will recover completely very soon.

So even though life has thrown us this curve ball we know that we can’t just sit still, God has a plan and a purpose for our lives as individuals and as a married couple in just one month. On Friday Lea will graduate from Lancaster Bible College with her Bachelors Degree in Professional Counseling, she has worked so stinking hard for this day and I am confident that God has something amazing in store for Lea’s life in the future. Her heart for loving people will be an asset as she aides broken people towards healing that can only happen through a knowledge of Jesus. Although it is really hard, Lea will graduate this Friday without her Mom in the crowd cheering her on, but we know that God has a plan. We don’t know for sure whether or not Lea’s Mom will be able to come to our wedding or if she will even be able to understand and remember our special day but we are leaning and trusting on God that he has a plan.

Right now we trust our God every single day that he will show us the way. No one born today, yesterday, or tomorrow was born without a purpose, so when life throws us a curve ball we must remember that purpose and work harder each and every day to lean on God to find our ways through the curves that this life likes to throw our way.

If you have found this blog you know that Lea and I are doing things a bit non-traditional when it comes to our wedding. We don’t know of many couples our age who are buying domain names, designing there own websites and blogging about there wedding but, for some reason we thought this would be a good idea! Some of the same thinking went into our wedding invitations. We knew we wanted to keep things cost effective and simple. The wedding invitations were designed from scratch, we ordered our envelopes online and printed them ourselves. By designing our own invitations we were able to incorporate the primary wedding colors of green and orange. Thanks to a great photo by our wedding photographer Daniel Mast we now had a photo we could share with our families and friends. While we know many people follow the traditional snail mail method to RSVP we decided to do it all online and save the cost of additional postage, this kept our invitation and preparation very simple! So far it has been a success and has been well received. Just a few of our family members don’t have access to the internet but they weren’t afraid to phone us up to make sure we knew they were coming. We hope you enjoyed our invitation!

On Saturday February 27 Lea and I headed to downtown Lancaster for our engagement photo session with our wedding photographer Daniel Mast. We spent 2 hours at a few locations like Central Market, Steinman Park, and Square One Coffee. We think the photos turned out great, but you can be the final judge by looking at them yourself.

Go here: http://danielmast.smugmug.com/Engagements/Jeremy-Lea/
Password: february27

Lea and I are excited to say that we have found our home! We have spent the last few months dreaming and searching online for our first home. We made a list of our likes and dislikes along with things that were non-negotiables. Zillow.com became one of Lea’s favorite websites. Every Sunday afternoon for the last few months she would recap her latest findings. Within the last few weeks we enlisted the help of our friend, and Realtor Randy Williams. Prior to our involvement with Randy we only looked at one other house in person, one we nicknamed after it’s address “1924″. Within the first few days of receiving the latest listings in our target area we found a house worthy of a visit. To be completely truthful Lea had definitely had her eyes set on 1924 and most of the other houses we had looked at online were being compared to the positives and negatives of that house. With some encouragement, I feel we both walked into 417 Woodhall Drive with excitement, but fresh and open eyes. It was apparent within the first few steps into the mud room and the large kitchen that this house had some serious potential. Lea and I walked into the dinning room and living room and I am pretty sure that was when it was quite clear that this was it. As you can see by some of the photos it’s wide open. Lea and I love the idea of having our friends and families over for get-togethers, so space for entertaining was a must! We visited the house on a Thursday evening and by Sunday our offer had been accepted.

When we look back at the list of things we would want in a house it is amazing how they have been fulfilled in this place we will soon call home. Not only does it have one porch, but two! The kitchen not only has one sink but two; this is important for a couple that loves to cook, but doesn’t always work well together when trying to make a big meal! The house was built in 1920 which Lea loves and the first floor has been updated, which I love. There are three bedrooms, and an office which is perfect for our plans today and in the future. The house definitely needs some work, but hey, what house doesn’t? Most of the work is cosmetic like painting, landscaping, and a little updating, but those are the things that will allow us to make it our home. We are excited to have a place to live, especially with the wedding date quickly approaching. Hopefully I will move in shortly after we settle on April 9. We will have plenty of work to do in order to get the house ready for living by June 12, 2010. We look forward to having our friends and family over to see the place! Take a look at the photos below, note that these photos were taken during our inspection.