DIY "Through the Years" Photo Slideshow

To me, DIY projects are not just about having something extremely personalized and to your exact liking; it's about making something yourself that others charge out the butt for creating!

Enter my DIY "Through the Years" photo slideshow project! I did a quick google search for pricing on photo slideshows and found that professionals charge an average of a couple hundred bucks a pop for them. Insanity!

What's crazier is that most people have all the equipment necessary to make a slideshow already on their personal computers! From Windows Movie Maker to Final Cut Pro, there are several options for creating your own photo slideshow.

Source

I'm making mine using Final Cut Pro 6. As a broadcast news major and aspiring reporter, I invested in a Mac Book Pro and all the high end editing software because I knew I'd need it for my class projects and future career. I took advantage of the education discount and got my FCP Studio software for only $500 (compared to the regular price of $1299!). Who knew I'd be using it to create my wedding slideshow one day!

Our slideshow will be presented at both the rehearsal dinner (as a feature) and the cocktail hour (on a continuous loop for casual viewers). It will include four chapters:

1.) Mr. Lab growing up
2.) Me growing up
3.) Our "courtship"
4.) Our engagement from the proposal all the way up to the wedding!

This will be an on-going DIY project that I will probably wrap up right after our bachelor and bachelorette parties about 2 weeks before the wedding. I've already finished Chapter 3! Now I'm waiting on our moms to send our baby photos for Chapters 1 & 2. And of course we still have plenty of photos to be taken throughout the year to finish Chapter 4.

One thing I'm really trying to aim for with the slideshow is including at least one photo of every guest in it. I'm a photo fanatic (most likely to be toting a camera among my friends!) and am sure I will be able to complete my goal. It is my way of honoring our friends and family who have been their through our past, present, and hopefully, future, all while loving and supporting us along the way.

Then comes the songs the photos are set to in the slideshow. I've already chosen "Falling in Love at a Coffee Shop" by Landon Pigg for Chapter 3. For Chapter 4, I've set it to "Better Together" by Jack Johnson, which is also our first dance song (more on that later!).

Now I need some inspiration from the hive! Any suggestions for cute, preferably boy & girl themed, growing up songs for the first two chapters?

Btw, I'll post the finished product here when it's all done!

[Edit] We may use this amazing take on "Stand By Me" somewhere in the slideshow. Loves. Mr. Lab actually found it!

Some songs we've come up with so far:

Groom:

Kenny Chesney-I Go Back
Kenny Chesney-Young

Bride:

Isreal Kamakawiwo'ole- Somewhere Over the Rainbow (Flower girl song)
Van Morrison-Brown Eyed Girl (Mom & Daughter dance)