“Celebrating 20 years of “Passionately Pursuing Excellence”
Long before we had Wedding Photographers in Tampa, Celebrations of Tampa Bay was established as a DJ company in August of 1991, in Temple Terrace, Florida. It consisted of a DJ & a harpist. In the summer of 1994 we started Video Services; “I didn’t even have a car at that point. I remember taking the bus to Davis Island to meet with a bride to book my first wedding video job and calling a taxi to transport my DJ equipment to south Tampa for a reception. I was able to get a car by making a deal with a groom, in exchange for doing his wedding.” It was on old 20 year old Oldsmobile with no a/c, but it got me from point A to point B. Since then, there was no looking back as I was able to do weddings full as I ended a shift as a temp worker in Port Tampa on November 22nd, 2004.
One year later, in 1995, we added Photography, and started doing All Inclusive Packages. From 1995-2000 the business boomed which made it necessary to hire a full time secretary in the summer of 2000. In 2002, we purchased Big Screen Projectors and thus, started the unique concept of showing the video of the ceremony during the reception. As the years have progressed we have learned more creative ways to utilize the projector, such as showing the Bride walking down the aisle with her father in slow motion on the Big Screen, while she is dancing with her father during the reception. Seeing the emotional tears of the parents, as they are watching the video, confirmed to us, that, this was a great idea.
As with business growth, you face the challenge of maintaining quality with your services. This produced the need for Stephanie our Photography/Office manager, who joined our team in 2005, which helped us to be able to provide continuous training and evaluation with our Photographers. Stephanie implemented the Customer Survey Forms, given to our brides after the wedding, which allowed them and us, to evaluate, in detail, each member of our team. The wedding is the biggest day of a brides life, and you have to be totally in-tuned with what the bride is thinking, how you are performing on their weddings.
In 2010 we added Uplighting, which helped transform plain reception venues, into a beautiful, romantic atmosphere with washes of colored lighting. Todd, one of our Photographers started our Open Air Photo Booth service in 2011, where we actually set up a studio background and print the pictures on the event, which allowed us to do high quality studio pictures as well as fun pictures with props.
We have also enjoyed the friends we have developed with other high end professionals in the Tampa Area. In a highly competitive industry where many companies come and go, it has been rewarding to see that, what started as more of a hobby than a business, in a Temple Terrace apartment, 20 years ago, has transformed, with God’s grace and guidance, into a leading multi-service production company in the Tampa Bay Area. We are grateful to all the brides who have put their trust in our services, and made us into the company we are today. This success has allowed us to gain equipment and resources that a smaller company just can’t afford which is an answer to prayer in those early days; “God please give me the equipment”. It warms my heart to know we have played a part in a special day in the lives of so many people.
We think you will find from the design of our website to our service, and how we have structured this business that we will respect your time and make the process of getting married as stress free as possible. Our Philosophy is to never rest on our past success as we continue to “Passionately Pursue Excellence”. We will approach the next wedding, to be our best wedding ever.
Randy Markham