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,
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:
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:)
Timing is everything. The rhythm of this toast was impeccable and the “punch line” was perfect. Courtney the MOH and the bride’s sister pulls off one the the funnest moments at a wedding reception I have seen. Katie and Logan we still have another couple weeks, but thought you’d enjoy a preview of things to come.
I think God gives us a handful of elated moments in our lives that just stand out. The birth of my two children and my wife of nearly 22 years walking down the aisle. These are a couple of mine. THE BEST part of my job is capturing one of your top 5: the moment the two of you make eye contact on your wedding day…..magic. I love it when people (men too) tell me our films make them cry. That’s a good thing. (Btw, we hand out custom boxes of tissues in our studio). Thanks to KPL of Your Dream Day for the idea.
The reason you may shed a tear is b/c we here at Lifetime are recreating that moment for you. Someone once told me “Art is the process of recovering the sensation of being alive”. Our shooting style is just let life happen, you’ll find emotion. I wanted to bring a fresh look to this wedding, so I collaborated with two great videographer friends of mine who did an amazing job: Scott Reith from First Image Films and Andy Reith from R Max Films. Thanks guys:)
We capture absolute magic during some toasts. Katie’s dad telling her all his wishes came true that day was just some of that magic. This production is turning in to quite a nice showpiece for us here at Lifetime. As we went through all the footage we kept finding gold, just some incredible moments in time as you’ll see.
We’re putting the finishing touches on this one Katie and Jon. I’ll be in touch.
I’ve witness a lot of homilies in nearly 20 years. This was one of the funniest moments we’ve captured in a long time. Tom and Ashley, your production is finished and it’s wonderful. I’ll be in touch soon.
enjoy,
~mp
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