Daily Inspiration: Meet Victoria Shamlall

Today we’d like to introduce you to Victoria Shamlall.

Hi Victoria, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
If you ever told us we would be quitting our “normal jobs” to pursue our passion in videography, we would think you are crazy! As far as our beginnings… our story starts over 20 years ago. We are a sister duo, so our childhood played a huge roll in the root of our passion. Mum and Dad NEVER put down the camera. Our whole life is practically documented through home videos. Our home videos were authentic and original, us being ourselves. We loved how these videos preserved memories in our childhood. As soon as we were old enough to be trusted with Dad’s camcorder we started making our own videos. The Summer of 2015 we bought our first DSLR camera and started documenting our travels. As a teenager when we would go to weddings we couldn’t afford to give a fancy gift so instead we would make a wedding video for the couple. Then friends would ask us to film for them. Fast forward to 2017 we got our first official paid gig! WOOT WOOT! We started getting more into photography at this time and then we came up with an idea… We decided to start offering our services so we could afford to buy more gear for our travel videos. We only booked a couple gigs a year. We loved every minute of it. Our style was not traditional and started catching attention on Instagram. By the end of 2019 we knew we had to go legit. HONEYBEE MEMORY LLC was born! Our style is fun and playful with a bit of an edgy sting. This year we are almost COMPLETELY BOOKED! Just last week we were at a gorgeous destination wedding in Montego Bay Jamaica at Sandals. Booking destination weddings was a goal we hoped to reach in like five years. We are beyond stoked to have reached that accomplishment so much earlier than we expected. We love our couples, and our support system on social media. We can’t believe our business is where it is at today.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Some of our friends see our success, but don’t understand the drive behind the scenes. Sure, it might look like in just a year we got where we are today. However, this has been something we started doing as kids, and shooting weddings for free as teenagers. A lot of work was put in even before “Honeybee Memory” came around. Like we said we got our LLC the END of 2019. We were so excited to start this new journey until…. COVID. DUN DUN DAAAA. Yuppp first official year in the wedding industry and a pandemic canceled half of our weddings. We decided to give back deposits and it was a tough year. In 2020 we didn’t even make enough money to cover business expenses, and had to work other jobs just to pay bills. Since then we have been able to leave our other jobs to pursue our passion. But, just last year was another story. On the bright side, we learned A LOT in 2020. We also met some of the most phenomenal vendors and couples. Starting a business is a sacrifice and an investment, but the reward is so worth it. We are so thankful we didn’t give up. We are proud to be owners of Honeybee Memory.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
We are a photographer/videographer duo. One question we always get asked is “who does what?”. Ironically we both do both. Kathleen and I love both photography and videography and they each have pros and cons. We specialize in the wedding industry, and one thing we have become notorious for is our “love story”. Essentially a love story could be booked for an engagement, an anniversary, or any couple really. But many of our brides and grooms choose to book them during their engagement session. Essentially while one of us is taking your engagement photos the other is turning it into a moving picture of your love for one another. Our videos are not traditional. Just like our home videos were authentic, we want your videos to be too! Every couple is so different, hence each of our videos has a different vibe. When we deliver our videos, we love that our couples respond with “this is SO us!” “How did you know which song to use? This perfectly describes us!” “You so get our style”. Others in the industry feel that, “the client booked me because they like my style, so they are going to get MY style.” We understand that view to a degree, but also weddings aren’t about us, or our style. It’s about THE COUPLE! Are they hopeless romantics, are they hype party people, are they religious??? The feelings and emotions you get watching their wedding video and looking at their wedding photos should mimic what it would be like to be a guest at the wedding. Being able to capture a day in a way that’s authentic is an art in itself.

Are there any books, apps, podcasts or blogs that help you do your best?
Practically all of our bookings now come from word of mouth or Instagram. So we are very thankful to be able to use Instagram as a marketing platform and connect with so many awesome people. On another note…. Not to sound cliche, but our faith is the center of our lives and we model our business around it. The Bible has practical principles that we strive to apply. Whether it’s about conducting our work honestly, treating others with love and dignity, or finding balance. Ecclesiastes 3:1 “There is an appointed time for everything…” Verses 1-8 remind us that there is a time for all our actions. We try to keep this in mind with our work schedule. I am a very driven person, and I work whole souled. However, we never want our work to over crowd our spiritual routine. We are also both married. I want to make sure I still fit in time to upkeep the house and make dinner when I am not off at a wedding or shoot. More importantly I want to make sure I have quality time with my husband Tyler. Kathleen feels the same about her schedule. So maintaining good relationships with our family, and friends is so important to us. But also, carving out “me time” to destress. I would be lying if I said the wedding industry wasn’t stressful.

Pricing:

• Wedding Videography STARTS at: $1700+
• Love Story starts at: $300
• Engagement session starts at: $300
• One hour sessions: $300+

Contact Info:

• Email: v.honeybeememory@gmail.com
• Website: www.honeybeememory.com
• Instagram: @honeybeememory
• Facebook: HoneyBee Memory

Image Credits
HONEYBEE MEMORY