The "What I love when filming a wedding!" thread
 

Hi,

I saw the thread about what people hate when filming weddings (http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=77914), so I figured I'd start up a new thread where people here can actually talk about what they LOVE when filming weddings as opposed to talking about what they HATE.

I'll start...

1. The reactions of the bride and groom when they first see their wedding video that you made for them (that is, of course, if they loved what they saw).

Okay, everybody...your turn.

Adam

What I Love
 

The look on the bride's face when her father see her in her dress for the first time.

The reaction of the bride's PARENTS when they see the video for the first time. Especially with the photo montage of the "little girl grows up" I include; gets 'em every time.

Grabbing my camera and getting into the dance mix..........which is ironic because I really can't dance. But it makes things fun.

Yes, this is my favourite part. When the B&G appreciate and love the way you filmed and edited their wedding day. It's not everyday you see friends and family come together to enjoy and celebrate a special day and you get to capture that moment for them. Then you get the couple that loved your work so much, that they order 10 DVDs from you to give to their family.

Regards.

The new friends made after the job is done.

Getting a tip before I leave....

I love that I can make such an impact on one of the most important days in a couple's lives.

I also love it when I change people's paradigm of wedding videos after they see their wedding film.

The sugar high off a good wedding cake. 8>)

cute bridesmaids... yes i AM a pervert... (jk... or is it.. hmm..)

um ok all seious now..


Opportunities to make normal people look like stars.
Having fun and knowing that people have confidence in you and ur work.
Total strangers coming up and shaking ur hand for a job well done
cute bridesmaids
when a good dj can get the floor moving
when MCs and DJ's know how important it is to communicate with you
When photographers figure out that youre there to work with them..
When people leave their egos at the door
when u show clients shots uve just done (ie rewind the tape and show the shots.. usually they freak out a bit when they see its all in camera and natural and no SFX)
when clients prefer your work to their overpriced photographer
When bridemaids give u their room keys
when ur taken to an amazing oasis of a photoshoot location which is virtually unknown.
when u discover photoshoot locations unknown to anyone else..
couples who are down to earth and actually thank you in their speeches
the money
cute bridesmaids that dance like strippers..
cute bridesmaids that act up for the camera while dancing like strippers..
Taking better photos than the official photographer
Watching peoples reactions to SDE's and our slideshows.. its a bit of a buzz and to be honest, it DOES boost the ego quite a bit (and the walllet usualy)
the money.. (of course)

there are afew others, but i CBF thinking up anymore

- the challenge of being creative in different environments each and every time

- the 'we've watched this almost 20 times already and cried everytime' quotes

- when you spend hours on a particular edited scene, and it comes out how you want! :)

Like Steven says "getting in the dance mix". Getting fun and creative shots of the hot looking women. (I have to remember to focus a little on the guys since my girlfriend does the editing).
Bruce S. Yarock
www.yarock.com

Hi Adam,

This is a great thread. It seems like there are so many in this business that love to complain about how bad it is. I love this business.

There are so many great things that happen on the wedding day and we hold the power to let the B&G as well as others relive what they saw, heard and felt on one of the biggest days of their life. We can actually let them relive it better than they remember it.

I'm pumped because I'm editing a wedding where the couple was great at expressing their emotions. That always makes my job so much easier. Here is an example of why the first dance is one of my many favorite parts of the day.

http://tulsaweddingvideos.com/video/FV1stDance.wmv

Great thread!

I like working with really cool vendors....photogs, djs, planners, etc. When they are all cool.....the day is that much more enjoyable, plus you make some friends along the way.

I like being part of something so positive...many take it for granted but it's a pretty darn big deal...our client's wedding day.

I enjoy the pressure of making everything happen smoothly....the audio, the cams, the shots, the producing of what we all do.

I enjoy working with my partner Mike and my resident cam op Ben.....they are awsome to work with and I am fortunate to have such great talented people beside me on shoot day.

I enjoy building my business from zero client's at one point to more referrals now than I can take on ( currently).

I love it when a client loves what we have produced for them......sure, we all need a pay check to live from......but when what you do makes someone else so happy.......that is worth more than what money can pay sometimes.


...by the way, I LOVE it when everything goes right on.....on shoot day!

I like it when the groom is a cool guy that loves his bride.

I like it when the bride forgets about all the pointless details and is beautiful and graceful to her guests.

I like getting great footage of the small children knowing that this is probably the best video of them to ever exist. One day, their parents and aunties will be able to look at that footage of the kids on their own wedding days.

Great Shots As Always Mark & Trish
 

Thanks for sharing that piece. Good to see some emotions on camera. For some reason my last three have been pretty dry when it comes to tears, so I am looking forward to the next one to try something new. And great shots as always Mark.

jason

Hi Jason,

Thanks for your kind words. The dry ones do make it more of a challenge. A good friend of mine, Donna Greenwood, made an interesting observation. She said some edits just fall into place so easily and other have to be whipped into submission. It is so true.

Mark Von Lanken,

I'm a 280 lb guy. I have facial hair. I like John Wayne movies and I occasionally smoke cigars. It takes a lot to get me emotional: the birth of my first child, the death of a good friend, the love God has for me, and Braum's chocolate milk (It's like angels dancing on the tip of my tongue!). Anyway, your first dance clip you posted here made me misty-eyed. And it made me want to be that good at wedding videos. Thank you.

The "check" clearing the bank.

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the kind words. You painted quite a picture.

When you mentioned Braums it made me wonder where you are located. I like Braums chocolate milk as well.

Mark,

I'm located pretty close to you. Just a quick trip up I-44 in Joplin, MO. That's why I'd REALLY love to come to one of your workshops. I could be there in an hour and a half. But being so new to this business, I'm just not able to spend the cash right now. But it's a HUGE goal of mine to attend sometime soon. I want to be the absolute best I can be, and I can't think of very many things that would help me more than spending a weekend learning from you and Trisha.

Hope to see you soon!

Is that for real?? I mean, not staged? I've never seen anything like it. The emotion! What a great clip!

How many cameras did you have on the first dance? It seemed like a lot but it could have been done with editing.

Heck, I'm jealous of the lighting even. :} Very nice clip. Just curious, they're final was longer or was that it.

Hi Michael,

Yes it's for real. It is the most emotional First Dance I have witnessed in 10 years of weddings. The first shot I did was the close up of the hands and then slowly panning up to their faces. When I saw the emotion on the Bride's face I almost lost it. Then when she started singing the song in the Groom's ear I did lose it. Talk about powerful!

We used three cameras, but normally we just use two. Chip Goolsby was in Tulsa for some training and he shot wedding with us. He provided some nice perspective shots as well as the shots from outside looking through the windows.

Typically when it's just the two of us, I do the closeups. Trisha gives me about a minute of head to toe wide shots. Then she roams around getting creative shots. We like this approach so much better than just doing an A/B roll of the First Dance.

Hi Steve,

Thanks. This is the way we deliver the First Dance to the client. It's one of the ways we compress the reception to make it more enjoyable to watch.

I took about a minute out of the song. Did you notice? Did you miss the Verse and Bridge leading into the climax of the big Chorus with the key change? Probably not.

Does the couple want to see all 4.5 minutes of the First Dance and then all 3 minutes of the cake cutting and then the 2-5 minutes of the tosses everytime they watch their wedding DVD? Perhaps some do, but our clients love they way we compress these events into the First Dance.

Our clients hire us to make a Wedding Movie of their day and not just a documentation of what happened, the way it happened, in real time.

It's not for everyone, but for the clients that like this approach and are willing to pay for it, absolutely love the way we compress these events.

What I LOVE....!
 

My cute little thing is to create a short 3 - 5 minute short Wedding highlight video within 24 hours after the Wedding is over. I'll put the link on my website and within hours, I'll get a call from the Bride telling me that she LOVES the video...! That's what I love.... that someone appreciates my work. Simple.

Favorite things
 

When the bride see's the Video and calls you to say that she LOVED the shot of her having the first dance with her Father and I captured an excellent shot of her with her head on her fathers chest, both smiling. It was a special moment for both her and her father. She cried when she saw it. I did a frame capture of that moment and printed it out for her.

i think the doozy.. above everything else.. is when u have a client from your early days... and that client brings in at least 3 other client each year.. and each of those clients bring in their 3 referals... and theyre all indirectly associated with each other..
then, as u do the job, and ur out shooting, so see so many of your previous clients come up to you and thank you personally and go out of their way to make sure that youre being looked after.

In addition to that, i like it when clients tell me their stills from video are better than their pro photographers. Sure enough theyre small, but this doesnt dissuade them from printing them up and creating smaller mounted albums with the pics. Its no skin off my nose, and about half the work, comes from the fact that I offer stills as part of the package

Peter's right about the photos. I had someone run the video camera for me at one wedding because I was on meds, although I still went to make sure things were being done right. Anyway I brought my Nikon D50 with me and was taking candid photos all day. Since I decided that at the very last minute I didn't charge anything for it. I didn't even know if they'd be good. I gave them all the pictures, untouched, as a gift to them. Turns out they liked them better than the paid photos. I'm not a pro photographer, but what I do know is that you don't use the built-in flash for all your pictures. An add-on flash unit and a Gary Fong Lightsphere goes a long way.

-Michael

try a canon 5d with a 580ex.. then throw on a 24-105L and the bugger is heavier than a fully loaded DVX100.. lol thing is though, people see this gear and go "wow"how much did "that"cost u.. and im like.. as much as my video cameras cost me... lol funny thing is i get more photographic referals from wedding than video.. not because i might be good or not (they dont know this u see.. ) but the fact taht my camera is "bigger"and sexier than the official photogs.. also they see me runnign around with 2 or even 3 video cams, then i whip out the 5d for the hell of it and people usually stop and take notice..

i knew i shoulda bought the camera sooner though.. :(