One of the most frequent questions that is asked by my bridal clients in almost every design or consultation meeting- "Vickie, why are you in this business?"  Well, like any bride, I experienced the up and down, joy and tears throughout the wedding planning when it came to my wedding.  Joe and I happily tied our knot in Princeton, N.J.  on May 5, 2001 after 4 years of courtship.  It was indeed one of the happiest days in my life.  When I looked back, I would not want to change a thing at all.  Joe and I planned our own wedding.  We paid for every penny out of our pockets so our parents can't say a thing or influence us somehow in their own way.  As a bride, I was that determined. :-P  

Vickie (me, the author) grew up in Taipei, Taiwan in a traditional Chinese family where obedience is the main thing.  So my mother is pretty much the type -my way or the highway.  Looking back my life, I thank her for all the necessary  disciplines to make me become who I am today.  But I guess when it came to my own wedding then, I really want it my way, just for one day.  I am glad I did!

Coming back to why & how VIG Designers was formed.  It was really an accidental entrepreneurship. Joe used to work for a designer boutique & mid size design studio in the Silicon Alley in Manhattan, the district full of designers and studios catering to wall streets.  I worked for AT&T as a technical project manager.  Life seems to be full of positive & great potential for young couples like us.  Then, 911 happened.  I still remembered the day I walked into the office and everyone was glued to the TV & computers.  I walked to my desk and wondered what was going on.  Mary, my best friend in the office said to me-"Vickie, didn't you know what is going on?"  I said "what?"  It  was supposed to be one of the normal days in our life.  I gave Joe a ride to Edison train station in the early morning as usual and went straight to the office.   

I still remembered how my heart & voice were trembling when watching the tv news and thought "OMG, why this happened to me?  What happened to my hubby Joe"?  I called his cell, office line and no line can go through.  He did not pick up the call.  There was no signal at all.  He was so close to where the explosion happened.  I was full of tears and afraid that I was going to become a widow after 4 months of our wonderful newly wed life as husband and wife.  Long story short, after a day and night, Joe came home.  I was so grateful and words can't express all my emotions throughout the entire process.  911 forever changed the life course of Joe, me and many Americans.  I will never forget it because my heart goes out and feel the pains of people who were suffering in this unfortunate event.   

Silicon alley was dying and advertising industry was so suffering back then. There were lots of design companies going out of business.  Channell communication, the last design firm Joe was employed in NYC was one of them too.    The owner died in a heart attack, aged 37 at his office desk due to overwork & pressure of loss of business.  Joe and I realized that it is not the life we want.  Joe was informed of laid-off news the day when the previous owner of our house agreed to accept our offer in a bidding war (NJ real estate market was overheat  from year 1998-2007, cool down for a few months after 911 event).  Wasn't that ironic?  My real estate agent and good friend Janet Tu said to me "Vickie, I totally understand your situation.  If you want to withdraw your offer and back off the deal, you have 3 days to do it without any obligation."

I was screaming in my head, "No, no no.  I prayed to God that if it is my house, the deal will go through."  So Joe and I decided that since the deal went through, we will stick to it no matter what.  Even though it means that Joe and I will  live from paycheck to paycheck until he finds a new job and we will be eating instant noodles and toasts for months since we lost one income in our new family.  We exhausted all our savings on the down payment of the house. The majority of my paycheck goes to the mortgage account and I was fine with dollar meals for a while. 

Joe and I were immigrants in this country and we came to this land of freedom to pursue our advanced degrees and dreams.  We are Americans too, just we were not born here initially.   Since Joe can't find any job then, I said to him "why don't we build a business and employ yourself?"  Joe said "What am I doing to do?" I said "Do whatever you like, the kind of thing that will make you want to get up to work happily every morning and go home happier".  Yes, it is me who came up with the name VIG Designers, which means vigorous designers, that just spells our working attitude and personality.   I kind of regretted that I did not name it  AVIG Designers.  Therefore, when it comes to advertising,  our company can be on top of the list alphabetically instead of at the bottom.  But I never take action to really change it to AVIG Designers LLC or some other name closer to what we do these days.  No one can relate it to photography and video business from our original name.  That's a big disadvantage from marketing perspective.  

My undergraduate major is advertising and I also have studied photography in the college for two years.  Joe is passionate about photography since childhood and influenced by his mother who is a gifted self-taught photographer.   He studied physics in the college, which contributes tremendously to his precise lighting manipulation technique.  He was rebellious enough to come to US and switch to art and design and received his master of fine art degree concentrating on media studies from Syracuse University in 1999.  MFA is the highest academic degree in the area of Art & Design . His diversified background help create irresistible visual results that our clients come to love and cherish. 

Joe was freelancing design jobs from time to time and LLC status works for him.  However, I started to say to him, since we are big fans of digital cameras and camcorders and my wedding hype was not completely fade away yet, why not turn our hobby into a business? When we have a business,  there is a good reason to buy all the expensive latest digital toys that we love and they are tax deductable.   We started to film weddings at our church in 2002 and edit our wedding to make a demo DVD.  Our initial capital was $1500, for a canon xl1 digital camcorder and light and our office is home based.  That's the humble beginning of VIG Designers.  Everything grows from there.

From a team of two to a team of 8 now, we grow very carefully as we cherish our reputation. Good name is gold in any business and we strive to go above and beyond to exceed our clients expectation. Many clients become friends with us after assignment is completed.  Joe and I love to see couples grow and have kids and enjoy all the happiness, goodness and love they deserve in their life.    In the last eight years, Joe and I are privileged to meet with so many young couples whether they are our clients or not and been commissioned to the most amazing venues &  witness extraordinary weddings & events that Joe and I have never dreamed of we would,  we are grateful for everything when looking back.  Life is quite an adventure and good. 

One night, when I read the bible in my quite time and God just enlighten me -"All human desire is unfailing love"   (proverbs 19:22).  I realized that my purpose in this business- it is to tell people's love stories and to spread love that God bless us with.  If Joe and I want big money, we shall seriously consider other ventures rather than wedding & portraits photography.  However, there is something money can’t buy. That is our souls and free wills.  In the years to come, we will continue to be in this business as long as God allows.  That’s our life, our love story.

Joe and I are so excited to announce our new service- Baby's first year Watch Me Grow photography plan includes Newborn, 6-month and 12-month sessions. Two 45-minute sessions will be at your home or a local park of your choice and one studio session included. Newborn session starts at $400.

We are parents.  We understand how stressful and hectic your life can be.  Watch me grow is an exceptional visual service for busy parents who are tired of boring studio poses and love to see uniqueness of your kids deserve and allow their personality shine through each frame.  We will travel to you.  No more waiting in line or stuck in the traffic with crying kids in the vehicle.  You and your children will have all the comfort you deserve and look fresh in every photograph personally handcrafted by Joe and me. 

We have determined to provide you with highest level of service possible and would love to be part of your family tradition for annual family portraits and all your joyful celebration.  Keep seeing you & your family grow make us smile.  We look forward to be your personal photographer friends and your family visual historians to immortalize your sweetest memories in time. 

For the first 5 families respond to this offer, we'll provide two sessions with discounted session fee of $600. Call 866-844-4166 or email Vickie at info@vigdesigners.com for details.

manhattan, nyc
location: the high Line

manhattan, nyc
location: central Park, columbus circle

jersey city, n.j.
location: liberty park

Joe and I were excited to read an article on May's NJ monthly magazine that grounds for sculpture is celebrating its 10th anniversary as a non profit organization and offered a special promotion (free admission on the 10th of every month).  When we arrived there on June 10th, we were told that it is a misprint (we were so disappointed then). But the gentleman at the entrance felt our disappointment (we drove one hour to get there), we were offered a surprising complimentary pass and had a great time there spending an afternoon with kids.  Happy anniversary, grounds for sculpture!  Life is full of good surprises!








An evening walk at Liberty park with kids is very soothing.  Andie, Joie and Elie were busy chasing each other and playing London bridge is falling down.