Miray & Sam

I booked Miray and Sam about a year and a half ago so I’ve really been anticipating this wedding.  The video crew today was Me, Prashanna and we brought Claude along with us for the first time.  Photo was done by Paul; a photographer from Montreal (which is where Miray lives).

The video portion of this amazing event started back in early June with an engagement shoot in Belfountain, Caledon, Forks of the Credit and the Badlands.  The footage that was shot there was edited and ready for the presentation that we were doing at the reception.  This video was accompanied by a SDE (Same Day Edit) that was also played for Miray, Sam and all of the 380 guests later in the evening.

We started with an early morning production meeting because we wanted to give Claude a final rundown of the day, and then we headed out.  Prashanna and Claude left for Sam’s, and I went to Miray’s.  After about 2 hours of shooting at the  bride and groom’s places, we went to the church.  3 video cameras and 2 photographers must have had Miray and Sam feeling like they were going to be on the 6:00 news, but it didn’t phase them at all.  They were stellar!

From the church, we headed to the “park”, which ended up being the Mississauga Civic Center because of the rain storm.  Well, rain or no rain we had a great time at the Civic Center and got a bunch of really cool footage.  The bridal party was really good to work with and they looked phenomenal!  I was shooting very strategically all day for the SDE and as soon as we were done at the Civic Center, I rushed off with Prashanna to the hall so that we could prepare for it.  Prashanna is one of my most trusted and able videographers.  When he said to me, “Joe, you worry about the SDE and I’ll take care of everything else.”, I knew that I had nothing to worry about at all…so I got to the editing.

The time came for the presentation and we set it up.  I was pleasantly surprised to see a pretty large group of family and friends filling up the dance floor and sitting cross-legged to watch the video.  We started with the engagement video and ended with the SDE.  It was a hit! And it was pulled off with the help of my amazing team!

Thanks Miray and Sam for letting us be with you guys on your special day.  Thanks to my team for your awesome work!

Julianna and Kris

Last weekend’s wedding came on the coattails of a trip to Edmonton to shoot a music video, so beleive me when I tell you that I was a bit tired.  Thankfully I was car pooling with my partner-in-crime from Frame of Mind Photography, Anthony.  Sean was also with us shooting candids as usual.  So we met at the studio bright and early and headed off to Kris’s house.

The guys were in great spirits and so easy to shoot.  Lots of family showed up which made for some great candid video along with some of the cool stuff that we set up.  Kris’s mom and Dad were right into it as well; Kris’s Dad having a pocket full of pictures from Kris’s youth, narrating a pseudo-slideshow to the camera as he flipped through some pics of his boy turned man, and Kris’s mom setting up the ribbon to be cut by her son as he walked through the doorway for the final time as a single man.  The bride’s house was a familiar sight to me as I shot Julianna’s sister Michelle’s wedding not even a year ago.  I was welcomed back by Julianna, her parents, siblings and some bridal party members.  As per form and fashion, Julianna looked amazing as did the front lawn that was absolutely covered with a whole spectrum’s worth of coloured rose pedals.

We moved through the church portion of the day relatively quickly and then we headed to the Don Valley Brick Works for pictures.  We’ve been known to pull of some really cool photo and video in the most unexpected venues.  This place was pretty industrial and had some really cool buildings.  After about an hour and a half we decided that we had all the footage that we needed and left for the reception hall.

I was pleased to see that we’d be working with Anthony from DJ Emporium again (amazing DJ and great guy).  Right away I knew that we were in for a smooth sailing night.  Julianna and Kris had a martini bar set up in the middle of the dance floor with an ice fountain in the center.  On the two ends of the dance floor were the Antipasto tables…good stuff.  As the night rolled smoothly along we saw the bride and groom dance with their parents and each other, we ran our Same Day Slide show, ate 5 courses of great food and wound it all up with a packed dance floor, great music and a midnight seafood table that tasted just as good as it looked.

Julianna and Kris, thanks for sharing this day with all of us!  Hope to see you guys again for your next family wedding!  Cheers.

Annie and Oneil •August 16, 2008

So this is the Sunday of the weekend and the second wedding of the weekend for me.  What a great day for Annie and O’Neil to tie the knot!  It was really a pleasure to work with both of them as well as the bridal party.

We started the morning at Oneil’s place in Thornhill.  I was shooting with my trusty Sony FX-1 (as usual) and as per form, all of my standard gear.  I also brought along the Fig Rig to really get some interesting shots while at both pre-ceremony locations.  O’Neil and the guys were as cool as ice at the house and we shot some really nice footage of everyone getting ready, getting nervous and eventually getting into the limo.

Everything was just as smooth at Annie’s house.  Her dress was very elegant with a full lace up back (which took 3 girls to tie up).  We set up the jewelery that Annie was to wear, and Roger (the photographer) and I took pictures and video of it as well as the beautifully decorated house, the girls getting their hair done, family and guests arriving, Annie’s decent down the stairs and of course…the look in her parents eyes as their daughter got ready to get in her limo and go to the church.

Speaking of the church…WOW!  This church was huge!  The architecture, stone work, stained glass, and paintings were amazing.  The lighting from the skylights cast almost an angelic spotlight down on the couple which looked really nice for the video.  I was able to have a conversation with the minister that was officiating the ceremony as I usually do, and he told me where he didn’t want me to walk of shoot from.  I was pretty shocked when he told me that I could basically do what I want as far as shooting locations.  This meant that I could get whatever shots I wanted…and I did.  I don’t know if it was because it was warm in the church or out of sheer nerves, but thanks to my trusty wireless microphone attached to the grooms lapel, I could hear him whispering to his best man to daub the sweat from his forehead just before the vows and rings.  Don’t worry O’Neil, I’ll edit that part out.  Man! Do those mics pick up audio.

After the ceremony, we hit Edwards Gardens for some park photos and video.  Edwards Gardens (for those who have never been), is a really nice park with lots of different areas to shoot.  My favorite places there are the Well, the bridge and the staircase…and yes, I used them all.  The bridge shot was especially cool just because of the sheer size of the bridal party (15 in all).  For this shot I like to go quite a distance back and shoot some really wide shots, as well as some closer shots with some nice camera movements.  I also do this shot where the bride and groom kiss (they are in the center of the group), and the whole bridal party is looking at them, cheering.  By this time, all of the spectators are ohhing and ahhhing, so I tell them to join in with the cheering.  By the time the shot is done I’ve involved the whole bridal party and whomever else is standing around and wants to “give it up” for the couple.  We finished off with some very slow, picture-esq walking along a path that’s lined with flowers, trees and other really nice foliage.

My favorite part of the day…the reception.  We celebrated the last part of the day at the Venetian.  I really like this place.  John at the Venetian is amazing!  If ever there were a bride who needed someone to make sure that everyone sticks to the plan, then John is your guy.  We ran a Live-Eye system so that everyone could view the grand entrance of the couple, the dances, speeches, cake cutting and the engagement video on 4 large screen in the hall.

The decor was done very well, with center pieces containing water that was tinted to match the bridal party’s dresses.  The head table was spectacular and (as usual), I was equipped and ready to shoot all of the fine details right up to the grand shots of the hall.  After setting up my lights and audio we were ready for a great night.  Everything went very smoothly…the speeches were recorded with the cooperation of the DJ (he let me plug my wireless gear into his mixer), the dances were shot with the soft light from my soft boxes and not a moment of importance was missed.

Annie and Oneil, thanks so much for choosing us to do your wedding, thanks for letting us share this amazing day with you both.

Polina and Taras •July 21, 2008

This weekend 4 of us went out to shoot Polina and Taras’s wedding.  Polina and Taras are a very cool Russian couple that we had the pleasure of working with this past weekend.

The day started off with me dropping Prashanna off at Harbourfront, DT Toronto, to shoot an engagement walk with Annie and Oneil, who are getting married in 2 weekends from now.  From there, I drove up the street to the Westin Harbour Castle to meet up with the Frame of Mind Photography guys and the Bride.

As usual, I was shooting the HDV format with my Sony FX1 and Prashanna was armed with his XH-A1.  Prashanna actually finished the engagement shoot and walked back to the hotel before the bride was even ready for us to start, so we ended up with alot of coverage of Polina getting ready.

We got to the church and did the detail shots inside and out and while I miked the groom.  The Frame of Mind guys shot stills of the decor and guests getting seated while we took some really nice footage using the tripod and Glidecam 4000.

As the ceremony ended, the rain started.  The plan was to go to the Guildwood in Scarborough.  If you haven’t been to the Guildwood, it is an amazing place with a lot of stone structures and very geometrical shapes to shoot with.  Almost like shooting architecture and live subjects at the same time.  The only problem is that when it rains, the whole place is wide open.  Anyways, we were on the brink of going to the Tannery Mall but the bride said that she put in  request with “the Man upstairs” and she was sure that it was going to be fine.  Well, sure enough we drove through the storm (and yes…it stormed), to the Guildwood where it hadn’t had a single drop of rain.  We had a lot of fun there, shot with 2 cameras (we had to bring the Glidecam back out for this place), and just as we said it’s time to pack up and got in the cars…the rain came.  Talk about timing.

We finished our day at Russian Nights in Thornhill.  Cool little spot that holds about 100 people.  The food was great and the entertainment was really good.  There was a cover band and these 3 Russian dancers that entertained the guests throughout the night.  With a small lighting kit we were able light the place very nicely  for speeches and some of the entertainment.  We did a Speakers Corner outside using a wireless handheld mic, which let’s us hear the person speaking extremely clearly while providing just enough ambient sound so that you know there’s a party going on (sounds natural).

The night ended at about 12:30a and we hit the road, ready to do it again next weekend.