On August 17th I will be one of the many vendors at the Knoxville Premier Bridal Show. I hope that many of you will be attending the show. It is a great place to start planning your wedding and I want to help you get started. I have five general admission tickets to give away, so for the first five people who contact me by email I will provide you one of these tickets. This is a $12 value. I will base the first five on the time stamp on the emails I get to mmproductions@comcast.net with the phrase "Wedding Show Give Away".
I look forward to hearing from you all soon.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
Sara & David
This past weekend I was lucky enough to video Sara & David's wedding. It a very sweet wedding. Both the bride and groom were great to work with and they had a lot of fun at their reception. It seems every wedding I work I see a new element of the wedding. This weekend was no different. Sara & David signed their wedding license during the ceremony. It was a great moment to see. Most times the license is signed at the reception at a private moment.
I also saw a new event at the reception. I found out that this is something that is done in Canada and I really liked the idea behind it. In Canada, after the bride and groom cut the cake they serve the cake to their guest. ALL their guest. In the states we cut the cake and either let the guest come and get their own cake, or we have the caterer serve it. But, this new way allows the bride and groom to meet their guest and spent a moment or two with them.
I wish Sara & David the best and I thank them for allowing me to be a part of their special day.
I also saw a new event at the reception. I found out that this is something that is done in Canada and I really liked the idea behind it. In Canada, after the bride and groom cut the cake they serve the cake to their guest. ALL their guest. In the states we cut the cake and either let the guest come and get their own cake, or we have the caterer serve it. But, this new way allows the bride and groom to meet their guest and spent a moment or two with them.
I wish Sara & David the best and I thank them for allowing me to be a part of their special day.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Reasons to have a wedding video
Let's play a game. Close your eyes if you will for a moment (just pretend because if you really close them you won't be able to read this) and I want you to think back. Think way back to last year, 2007. Go back to this date in 2007 and I want you to think about what your were doing this time last year. Are you with me? Good, now tell me what you had for dinner that day.
Can't do it can you? Of course not, most of us have a hard time remembering what we did last week much less what we had to eat a year ago. Think of all the phone numbers, fax numbers, passwords, PIN numbers we have running through our heads these days. I heard someone on the radio, the other day, say if was not for his cell phone he would not know his mothers phone number. I have speed dial on my BlackBerry and I use it every day. But still, it is hard to remember things from a long time ago. A year is a long time to try and remember something. Try remembering something from 3 years, 5 years or even 10 years ago. Almost impossible isn't it? So, it blew my mind about a week ago when I was reading an article in a trade magazine that said almost 75% of brides do not remember many of the details of their wedding a week later. 75%!
Think about it, this is a day you are spending weeks, if not months, planning every single detail. The flowers, the dress, the food, the music, even the location. All this planning and a vast majority of you will forget it (or most of it) within a week.
"Oh, I have pictures" I heard someone yell out there. Yes, you will have pictures of the day. You will have a lot of pictures of that day and they will bring back a lot of those memories, but look at this:
That is the best wedding dance I have ever seen. It was fun to just watch even though I didn't know the couple. But, let's think about something for a minute. What if they didn't have a video taken of that dance? Mind you the video was from a hand held camcorder and the audio is not very good. But let's say there was no video of that dance. Do you think the pictures would have captured that moment? Go back and watch the video again but this time hit the pause button at some point. Did you do that? Look at it, that is the only image you would have of that moment and you are going to try and remember the other 7:30 minutes of that dance from just that one picture.
Ok, I know what you are going to say, "my photographer said that they were going to capture all the special moments". Ok, great, now lets do some math, this will be fun. First a fact, there are 30 frames of video per second. Keep that in mind as we do this together. In that 7:30 minute video there are 450 seconds, multiply that by 30 frames per second and you get 13,500 frames or pictures to get all that moment. That means your photographer would have to shoot 13,500 pictures and you have to store those pictures for the rest of you life to remember that one dance. Not to mention that will be no music or crowd noise in the background to give you that emotion you felt that day.
You see, a professional videographer is going to know how to not only capture that dance you saw, but how to tap into the music and put it on your video so that not only will you see the dance, you will hear the music just they way it was played that day. You will hear every word spoken, every sound right down to the birds singing if you are having an outdoor wedding. You will see your wedding they way all your guests saw your wedding. You will get to relive those moments over and over again for years to come. If you read my post from yesterday, you know that each one of those brides are going to be able to relive that day. They are going to be able to see and remember everything for years and years. So, when someone asks them what they did on their wedding day, all they have to do is pull out their DVD.
Can't do it can you? Of course not, most of us have a hard time remembering what we did last week much less what we had to eat a year ago. Think of all the phone numbers, fax numbers, passwords, PIN numbers we have running through our heads these days. I heard someone on the radio, the other day, say if was not for his cell phone he would not know his mothers phone number. I have speed dial on my BlackBerry and I use it every day. But still, it is hard to remember things from a long time ago. A year is a long time to try and remember something. Try remembering something from 3 years, 5 years or even 10 years ago. Almost impossible isn't it? So, it blew my mind about a week ago when I was reading an article in a trade magazine that said almost 75% of brides do not remember many of the details of their wedding a week later. 75%!
Think about it, this is a day you are spending weeks, if not months, planning every single detail. The flowers, the dress, the food, the music, even the location. All this planning and a vast majority of you will forget it (or most of it) within a week.
"Oh, I have pictures" I heard someone yell out there. Yes, you will have pictures of the day. You will have a lot of pictures of that day and they will bring back a lot of those memories, but look at this:
That is the best wedding dance I have ever seen. It was fun to just watch even though I didn't know the couple. But, let's think about something for a minute. What if they didn't have a video taken of that dance? Mind you the video was from a hand held camcorder and the audio is not very good. But let's say there was no video of that dance. Do you think the pictures would have captured that moment? Go back and watch the video again but this time hit the pause button at some point. Did you do that? Look at it, that is the only image you would have of that moment and you are going to try and remember the other 7:30 minutes of that dance from just that one picture.
Ok, I know what you are going to say, "my photographer said that they were going to capture all the special moments". Ok, great, now lets do some math, this will be fun. First a fact, there are 30 frames of video per second. Keep that in mind as we do this together. In that 7:30 minute video there are 450 seconds, multiply that by 30 frames per second and you get 13,500 frames or pictures to get all that moment. That means your photographer would have to shoot 13,500 pictures and you have to store those pictures for the rest of you life to remember that one dance. Not to mention that will be no music or crowd noise in the background to give you that emotion you felt that day.
You see, a professional videographer is going to know how to not only capture that dance you saw, but how to tap into the music and put it on your video so that not only will you see the dance, you will hear the music just they way it was played that day. You will hear every word spoken, every sound right down to the birds singing if you are having an outdoor wedding. You will see your wedding they way all your guests saw your wedding. You will get to relive those moments over and over again for years to come. If you read my post from yesterday, you know that each one of those brides are going to be able to relive that day. They are going to be able to see and remember everything for years and years. So, when someone asks them what they did on their wedding day, all they have to do is pull out their DVD.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
A time to reflect and a time to relax
The month of May has been a whirlwind of weddings. Except for our quick trip to Disney, I have been in the depths of weddings of all types. The traditional wedding is no more, from what I have seen. Brides are doing their weddings their way, with their own style, so nothing is out of the norm these days. Our climate and beautiful surroundings make outdoor weddings very popular and I have done my fair share of those this year and I have enjoyed each and every one.
First up was Julie and Brandon. What a great couple they were to work with. I have known Julie for a while before her wedding as she helped treat my daughter for a while. Julie and Brandon got married in a historic Catholic Church here in Knoxville that posed a great challenge for me. I could not be up on the altar during the ceremony, according to the rules of the church, so the only way I could get a shot of the bride coming down the aisle was to be down on my knees.. It ended up being a really great shot of her and her dad walking down the aisle. The reception was at the Foundry, which is a very nice place to have a reception. The whole day was great. Here is a photo of Brandon and Julie:
The next wedding was a very wonderful young lady, Keeli and her groom Mark. They are both from Georgia, so everything I did with them was through email and my wedding planner Brenda. They had their wedding at a simply beautiful location on her Aunt and Uncle's property. They spent months and months to get the grounds just right. They had a huge (and I do mean HUGE) pond put in, new grass, several flower gardens just for this wedding. In fact, I found out that the whole project was finished 3 weeks before the wedding. Talk about timing. Mark is a state trooper in GA (I hope he gives me a break one day... LOL).
Other than the fact it was an outdoor wedding, the biggest difference between Keeli's wedding and Julie's, is that Keeli saw Mark before the wedding. This is becoming a common thing with brides today. That goes with the whole tradition thing being gone. It was a very sweet and special moment when they saw each other. Most brides see the groom when walking down the aisle. There are lots of people around and loud music playing so you don't get a lot of the emotion you would get when two people who love each other see one another for the first time and it is just them (with two photographers and two videographer around).
This reception went well into the night since it was a private property out in the country. I got this really great shot of the full moon that night. Here is Keeli and Mark:
Kristi was next up in May with a small wedding in Morristown. Her new hubby, Craig, is the youth minster at the church they got married in. This was a church that reminded me of the church I grew up in. A small Baptist church out in the country where everyone knows everyone else. A friend did the catering at the house behind the church. The great thing about this wedding was the entire church community turned out to see this one. There was standing room only for the ceremony and I thought that was simply beautiful. Here is this small church out in the country that had the entire membership and then some come out to support this couple. The reception here was very small, only about 2 hours long. I was home before it got dark, that was really a strange feeling for me on a Saturday night.
My next and longest wedding for the month of May was Abbey and Stephen. They picked the Maple Grove Inn and I have to tell you, they could not have picked a better day for it. It was a little warm and a small storm came close to the ceremony, but the rain held off the entire time. I have not had much of a chance to look over everything, but most of the footage looks wonderful. Abbey is a kindergarden teacher and did her student teaching with my daughters 1st grade teacher the year before Katie went into the 1st grade.
They had a great band playing at the reception and it was so much fun to watch everyone have a great time. I had a little problem come up on this wedding. You see, most times at the end of a reception, the bride and groom leave by a car or limo. But Abbey and Stephen were staying at the Inn that night, so I was going crazy trying to figure out how to get the a departure shot to end the wedding. Then it hit me (man, I am good)! I had the bride and groom enter the front of the Inn, walk up to their room and kiss each other as the door closes on them. I watched it, and it is great. I am so thrilled with that shot and can't wait for them to see it.
The last wedding I had was this past weekend was with Laura and James down in Ethowa (50 miles from here) with the reception in Athens (another 13 miles from the church). This was just a fun wedding to do. The mother had set up a 30 minute music prelude that she wanted to be sure we got, and we did. It was also at a baptist church, but a bit bigger, but again a large number of guests came out to support this couple. The bride and groom were great to work with, they were very receptive to every thing I wanted them to do and had smiles on their faces the whole day.
The reception was held at a city park in a wonderful pavilion and was catered by the minsters wife. Now, since this was a baptist wedding not many people danced, but the wedding party really did kick up their heels for most of the night.
I can't pick one wedding as a favorite, they each have something special that makes them stand out from the other. Some were indoors, some outdoors. Some brides saw the groom before the wedding, some didn't. Some had a small budget, others had a huge budget. But the thing that brought them all together was a love that knew no bounds. Each wedding reflected the couple, each reflected their style and taste. Traditionalist may look at some of these weddings and scratch their heads and wonder what each couple was thinking, but I think it each one was great because it was what that couple wanted to show their love for each other.
Seventeen years ago this December my wife and I got married in a small church here in Knoxville. We had a very small budget, but it was a very special night for us. My grandmother was there that night (the last time I would see her alive) and I was told later by my cousin that she left the church convinced that we were not married. My cousin asked her why she thought that and my grandmother, being an old fashioned baptist woman that she was, said: "Well, they had a female minster and a male vocalist. That was just completely backwards." Memaw, it may have been backwards, but it meant the world to us.
First up was Julie and Brandon. What a great couple they were to work with. I have known Julie for a while before her wedding as she helped treat my daughter for a while. Julie and Brandon got married in a historic Catholic Church here in Knoxville that posed a great challenge for me. I could not be up on the altar during the ceremony, according to the rules of the church, so the only way I could get a shot of the bride coming down the aisle was to be down on my knees.. It ended up being a really great shot of her and her dad walking down the aisle. The reception was at the Foundry, which is a very nice place to have a reception. The whole day was great. Here is a photo of Brandon and Julie:
The next wedding was a very wonderful young lady, Keeli and her groom Mark. They are both from Georgia, so everything I did with them was through email and my wedding planner Brenda. They had their wedding at a simply beautiful location on her Aunt and Uncle's property. They spent months and months to get the grounds just right. They had a huge (and I do mean HUGE) pond put in, new grass, several flower gardens just for this wedding. In fact, I found out that the whole project was finished 3 weeks before the wedding. Talk about timing. Mark is a state trooper in GA (I hope he gives me a break one day... LOL).
Other than the fact it was an outdoor wedding, the biggest difference between Keeli's wedding and Julie's, is that Keeli saw Mark before the wedding. This is becoming a common thing with brides today. That goes with the whole tradition thing being gone. It was a very sweet and special moment when they saw each other. Most brides see the groom when walking down the aisle. There are lots of people around and loud music playing so you don't get a lot of the emotion you would get when two people who love each other see one another for the first time and it is just them (with two photographers and two videographer around).
This reception went well into the night since it was a private property out in the country. I got this really great shot of the full moon that night. Here is Keeli and Mark:
Kristi was next up in May with a small wedding in Morristown. Her new hubby, Craig, is the youth minster at the church they got married in. This was a church that reminded me of the church I grew up in. A small Baptist church out in the country where everyone knows everyone else. A friend did the catering at the house behind the church. The great thing about this wedding was the entire church community turned out to see this one. There was standing room only for the ceremony and I thought that was simply beautiful. Here is this small church out in the country that had the entire membership and then some come out to support this couple. The reception here was very small, only about 2 hours long. I was home before it got dark, that was really a strange feeling for me on a Saturday night.
My next and longest wedding for the month of May was Abbey and Stephen. They picked the Maple Grove Inn and I have to tell you, they could not have picked a better day for it. It was a little warm and a small storm came close to the ceremony, but the rain held off the entire time. I have not had much of a chance to look over everything, but most of the footage looks wonderful. Abbey is a kindergarden teacher and did her student teaching with my daughters 1st grade teacher the year before Katie went into the 1st grade.
They had a great band playing at the reception and it was so much fun to watch everyone have a great time. I had a little problem come up on this wedding. You see, most times at the end of a reception, the bride and groom leave by a car or limo. But Abbey and Stephen were staying at the Inn that night, so I was going crazy trying to figure out how to get the a departure shot to end the wedding. Then it hit me (man, I am good)! I had the bride and groom enter the front of the Inn, walk up to their room and kiss each other as the door closes on them. I watched it, and it is great. I am so thrilled with that shot and can't wait for them to see it.
The last wedding I had was this past weekend was with Laura and James down in Ethowa (50 miles from here) with the reception in Athens (another 13 miles from the church). This was just a fun wedding to do. The mother had set up a 30 minute music prelude that she wanted to be sure we got, and we did. It was also at a baptist church, but a bit bigger, but again a large number of guests came out to support this couple. The bride and groom were great to work with, they were very receptive to every thing I wanted them to do and had smiles on their faces the whole day.
The reception was held at a city park in a wonderful pavilion and was catered by the minsters wife. Now, since this was a baptist wedding not many people danced, but the wedding party really did kick up their heels for most of the night.
I can't pick one wedding as a favorite, they each have something special that makes them stand out from the other. Some were indoors, some outdoors. Some brides saw the groom before the wedding, some didn't. Some had a small budget, others had a huge budget. But the thing that brought them all together was a love that knew no bounds. Each wedding reflected the couple, each reflected their style and taste. Traditionalist may look at some of these weddings and scratch their heads and wonder what each couple was thinking, but I think it each one was great because it was what that couple wanted to show their love for each other.
Seventeen years ago this December my wife and I got married in a small church here in Knoxville. We had a very small budget, but it was a very special night for us. My grandmother was there that night (the last time I would see her alive) and I was told later by my cousin that she left the church convinced that we were not married. My cousin asked her why she thought that and my grandmother, being an old fashioned baptist woman that she was, said: "Well, they had a female minster and a male vocalist. That was just completely backwards." Memaw, it may have been backwards, but it meant the world to us.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
A Magical Place and a Magical Time
Last week I took a bit of a break and packed the family up and headed off to Disney for a couple of days. Yes, that is me on one of the rides and yes, we had a great time. A little too hot and a little too crowded, but we still had fun.. Our daughter had a great time and there is nothing like watching the joy on a 9 year olds face as she rides a roller coaster (in some cases for the 8 or 9th time).
Even on a short little vacation, I am never far from thinking about my work or about my brides. I take a great interest in each one. I want to make sure that they are always able to get in touch with me no matter where I am or what time it is. I was thinking about that one day while in Disney and I saw this couple that either had just gotten married or were about to be married. The had on mouse ears that had a veil for the girl and a black top hat for the guy. Now, I don't know if it was the heat of the day or if they had their first argument, but neither of them looked very happy. I know that it is impossible for two people to be happy all the time, but I work hard to provide them with a chance to remember how happy there were on their special day.
I get such a rush from knowing that I am creating something that you can watch over and over again for years to come. Right now, there could be a couple I did a wedding for 3 or 4 years ago sitting down and watching their wedding video that I created for them and they are laughing at the moment their best man was dancing with the brides mom, or watching the kids try to dance the Electric Slide. You see, you only have once chance to capture that special moment, one chance and one chance only. Do you want to trust that cousin Bill with his handy camcorder will get that special moment? This is one of the many reasons why I tell brides that you NEED a professional videographer for your wedding.
So many times I hear them say, "we have a family member who has a video camera and they are going to tape it for us", or "we don't have it in the budget for a videographer". I so wish that I could re-visit those brides a year after their wedding and see if they like cousin Bill's video of their wedding or if they wish now that they could go back and see grandma dance one last time? Or better yet, if they even remember anything about the wedding itself.
Did you know that almost 90% of brides say they don't remember anything from their wedding day. They are so busy with all that is going on or are so nervous about everything that they don't take time to enjoy what is going on around them. Why spend, in some cases, thousands of dollars for a day you won't remember? As a professional wedding videographer, I will work with you on your budget, I will work with you on your special day to make sure that 5 years from now, you can look back and remember how happy and magical your day was.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Goal and Must-Have-Shots
When I started booking wedding in January and saw that May was going to be a packed month I knew that I had April to get the March weddings finished and out the door. In my last blog I said I had one down and one to go. Yesterday I met my goal and mailed out the finished video for my second March wedding. This wedding was the biggest wedding I had done to date. The video is over an hour long and most wedding videographers will try to keep the video to just about 45 minutes. The bride loved the video and only wanted to make one change. Seems that someone she was not very fond of popped his head into a shot and said hi to the bride and groom. She just wanted that removed and very happy with it otherwise.
I have talked in past blogs how important the "must-have-shoots" in your wedding video and that is one of the main reasons you need to have a professional videographer to shoot your wedding. By my count there are 22 must have shots, things like the bride coming down the aisle, the parents during the reciting of the vows and so on. There is a list of these must have shots and anyone who is a professional will know those shots without thinking about it. Anyone can get a list from the internet, but do you want your videographer looking at a list before each shot? Think about it, something is happening and you look up to see your videographer looking at a sheet of paper to know weather or not he should be shooting.
This is my last couple of days without having a wedding in front of me. All of the month of May is booked solid so this may be my last blog for a couple of weeks, but I will do my best to keep you up to date with how it is going.
I have talked in past blogs how important the "must-have-shoots" in your wedding video and that is one of the main reasons you need to have a professional videographer to shoot your wedding. By my count there are 22 must have shots, things like the bride coming down the aisle, the parents during the reciting of the vows and so on. There is a list of these must have shots and anyone who is a professional will know those shots without thinking about it. Anyone can get a list from the internet, but do you want your videographer looking at a list before each shot? Think about it, something is happening and you look up to see your videographer looking at a sheet of paper to know weather or not he should be shooting.
This is my last couple of days without having a wedding in front of me. All of the month of May is booked solid so this may be my last blog for a couple of weeks, but I will do my best to keep you up to date with how it is going.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
One Down.....
One of the March videos is finished and out the door. The wedding at the cabin is, as they say, in the can. I finished burning the last DVD today and boxed them up and sent them out. It is a good feeling having the video done. I take such ownership of the project when I am working on a video, I think about it all the time, it is all I focus on at times. My wife has to come and get me off the computer sometimes at night just to go to bed. Thus the name, Midnight Magic Video. When I started this, I was working a full time job (not that this is not a full time job, but a full time job at a corporation) and most days the only time I could work was at night and most of my best work was around midnight. My wife said that is when all the magic would happen, so the name just seemed to fit.
I am waiting on the other March wedding to tell me what if any changes she wants to make on her video. That is the part I get the most nervous about. Here is someone who is looking at something I have put long hours into and they are going to nick pick it apart. No one ever has, most times it is just some minor adjustments or a change of music. But, I still get nervous just the same.
I am waiting on the other March wedding to tell me what if any changes she wants to make on her video. That is the part I get the most nervous about. Here is someone who is looking at something I have put long hours into and they are going to nick pick it apart. No one ever has, most times it is just some minor adjustments or a change of music. But, I still get nervous just the same.
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