On my birthday a few years ago, my wife bought me a beautiful leather bound notebook. “What’s this for,” I asked? “It’s to write all these ideas you have down, so you don’t forget them” she told me. What a gift it was. I have a lot of ideas in my book. There’s a few that have been in there for a long time and may never come to life. Others ideas, like the letters I like to have the couples write to each other the night before the wedding, I use all the time.
I had an idea for an epic movie trailer, but didn’t feel like I had the right backdrop. I needed a location with ornate architecture and a feeling of grandeur. Then Sara Ranson called from Viva Bella Events to ask if we were open for a wedding at Plum Street Temple with the reception held at the breathtaking Hall of Mirrors at the Cincinnati Netherland Hilton. I had what I needed and the idea has become a reality.
Meet Amber and Michael, who’s wedding was amazing. Everything is coming together and we still have few more weeks before we finish. Here’s a little preview of things to come.
Sometimes I hear the words “Well, we really don’t have a wedding video in our budget”. “Why” is all I ask. Think about it, your wedding photos are going to be it, well that and what you remember. Nothing against all my photographer friends, they capture you day differently, one frame at a time. We really do work together as a team.
Which brings up another point, hired a great photographer, you’re only going to do this once. (There’s a few of my personal favorites off to the right).
A wedding video (or film as I prefer) is a time machine that takes you back to the movement, sight and sounds of your greatest day. The cool part of our job at Lifetime is to put the three together. I love to have the couples write a letter to each other the night before the wedding and have them read it to me right before the see each other the day of. In the clip you’ll see below, I just asked Teresa at question. What follows is an amazing journey of this couples day.
Think of your wedding budget as a pie and you have to cut out slices. Make sure you cut one out for the people that can take you back. You’ll have this forever and you might even show it to your kids someday.
Meet Teresa and Jeremy, one of my personal favorite couples of all time. They were nothing short of amazing to work with. We just clicked from the get go. We’re almost at the half way point and I know you’re dying to see what we’ve been working on. Here’s a quick preview. I’ll be in touch soon,
This year the Lifetime team decided to put together 2 different promos for the 2010 season. This is the 1st & shorter of the 2. I am blessed enough to captured some truly incredible moments in people’s lives. The following clip is from one of my favorite couple who’s production was shot late last year, Theresa and Jeremy. During the bridal prep I was a “fly on the wall” and noticed Theresa’s mom deep in thought as she helped her daughter put on a necklace. After I watched what I had captured, I had an idea. I asked Theresa for some pictures of herself and her mother from the past. I then found the perfect music and left almost all of the live audio in place. You can feel the emotions starting to build here.
There will be more to follow on this amazing couple soon.
enjoy,
One of the things we really pride ourselves on is getting the groom’s reaction to seeing the bride. Dan Shallenberger’s team just produced one of Lifetime’s best. In fact Dan called me after watching the raw footage and said “This is by far one of our best groom reaction ever”! When I saw it, I was blown away!
Jessica and Mike, we’re putting the finishing touches on your wedding film. You have been so patient. As you’ll see it was worth the wait. Dan or I will be in touch soon,
Again Dan or (D Shall as I call him) makes this one perfect. Some very nice work.
This is just an opinion I have formed after almost 20 years of observing weddings. I believe a successful and enjoyable wedding is based on how things move. Are you organized? Time is your enemy on the wedding day. Things do go by in a blur and you’re trying to get so much into one day. If you can, think of all your wedding vendors as one unit or a team. For one day we will quietly cheer on you and your future “teammate for life.” We want your wedding to rock. Here’s a couple suggestions that I think make a successful wedding day:
Suggestion #1 “Why can’t we be friends?”
I have mentioned a few times here on the Lifecasting blog about the photographer and videographer working well together on your wedding day. If we’re not clicking as a “team” then we’re working against you. All of your vendors should “click”. Ask vendors who they enjoy working with. Assemble your own “Dream Team”. Off to the right hand side and down a little of this post are categories of vendors we know and love to work with. They all have proven track records in their given fields.
Suggestion #2 Who’s the quarterback?
Hire a great planner/coordinator!! This is the quarterback of your vendor team, watching the clock and keeping things moving. He or she can alleviate so must stress on this one day. Even if you only do a “Day of” coordination, you’ll be amazed at how well a top notch wedding coordinator can keep things on track.
All these things came together in October with Ashley and Brian’s wedding. Chris Joecken continues to impress with his seamless editing; this time putting together a precise timed highlight from the whole day.
I love to chat with brides before we start editing their production. The reason is, I want to see what you remember from your entire wedding day. Beside your photographs and your memories, your wedding film is it. My goal is to give our brides a time machine to go back to this one day. I also love to ask “Do you remember what your husband’s reaction was”? “Kinda, but I couldn’t see him when I first started down the aisle” is the most common response.
Meet Dana and Stephen. Just as I happened to catch this stunning woman looking at herself in the mirror minutes before seeing her future husband. I told her “I guarantee he’s gonna cry when he sees you” “If she was in sweats he’d cry…” one of the bridesmaids replied. After I found this gem in time, I decided to build their wedding trailer around Stephen’s reaction.
Some fantastic camera work by Lifetime lead Chris Joecken. He’s just in the right place at the right time as you’ll see.
Some of my great wedding friends and some of the absolute BEST wedding vendors in all of Cincinnati teamed up for this one:
This has to be one of the sweetest stories: I met with a wonderful couple Jason & Sarah nearly a year ago. They loved our work, but we were out of their budget for wedding videography. Sarah continued her search, but kept coming back to our website and the Lifecasting blog. “Nobody pulled on my heart strings like Lifetime” she told me later. She finally gave up, thinking we were just out of her price range and that she would have to settle for another company. Enter Chelsea, Sarah’s sister. “All she talked about was Lifetime” Chelsea told me. “I’d love to do this for them as a wedding gift”. So Chelsea and I met at the Taft Museum in Cincinnati and finalized all the plans. I gave her a special custom package, plus a Lifetime DVD that she wrapped and gave to Sarah at her bridal shower. When Sarah opened it she said “What’s this?” “I booked Lifetime for you Sarah, they’re going to shoot your wedding”. Sarah screamed, she was elated.
This is their first preview of the wonderful things to come. Special thanks to Dan and Greg for making this look so fantastic.
And thank you Chelsea for contacting me and letting us give Sarah and Jason a masterpiece.
I don’t know these people, so I hope I tell the story with the right characters. My son Nick was behind the camera and captured this fantastic gem in time of a newborn baby being past back to his proud father in the pews of the church. The look on this man’s face is just amazing. What touch me was I remember that feeling when I held Nick at that age. I’m glad he was the one that caught that moment, it brought me back. There’s so many of these types of moments captured also by Dan Shallenberger and myself in this highlight/trailer.
Adam and Rebecca, I’ve been working hard and we still have a couple more weeks. I know you dying to see a preview, so here ya go.
I’ll be in touch,
~mp
P.S. What helped make this production such a success was working side by side with Shad & Sandra Reed of Sandra Reed Photography. Great getting creative with you guys:)
Our tagline here at Lifetime is “Making mothers cry since 1991″. I decided to add another tagline in this opening clip. I also wanted to give one of our brides an early Christmas gift with a little preview of her up-coming film. Merry Christmas Katie & Greg:)
Having the camera running during the bridal prep almost always guarantees somebody will say something funny. Trying to decide were the extra lace goes in the back of the dress is were this “blooper” happened.
This was one of my favorite couples of 2009. They had a beautiful Fall day in Mt. Echo and then the incredible reception followed at the Newport Syndicate. Sara and Brad, what a great time we had capturing your day. Here’s a preview of things to come. I’ll be in touch soon.
Check us out on facebook!