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.

Melissa & Jason

Jason and Melissa were an amazing couple that I had the pleasure of shooting and editing this summer.   I shot this one with Prashanna and Bernard.  For this wedding we shot wih 2 cameras and covered the whole day, starting with pre-ceremony coverage at Melissa’s and at Denny’s Resturant with the guys.  It was a lot of fun working with this group, just checkout the park footage!

Melissa and Jason, thanks for sharing an amazing day with us.

more about “Bride’s House – Melissa and Jason on …“, posted with vodpod

more about “The Park – Melissa and Jason on Vimeo“, posted with vodpod

Nichole and Stephen • August 27, 2008

Nichole and Stephen had a great day today and we were there to capture it all with video and photo.  We started at Nicholes dads house where the guys and “Pops” (Nichole’s proud dad) were getting ready.  I got some nice candid video of the guys helping each other out with each others ties, flowers and all the other details that made them as dapper as they were.  After some footage outside and around the area we headed to the bride’s location.

When we got to Nichole’s place the girls were getting their hair and makeup done and were still pretty much…not ready, but that’s cool, we started shooting anyway.  We catured the ladies transformations from shorts and t-shirts into the stunning bride’s maids that they became.

The ceremony was outside at Edwards Gardens and it was a HOT day.  As usual at they ceremony, I put a wireless mic on the groom so that I get really good sound of the priest, Nichole and Stephen, and I don’t get all of the background noise.  As I was scouting my shooting locations I heard someone calling my name and the voice sounded oddly familiar.  To my surprise my sister-in-law was a guest at the wedding.  Actually her boyfried is the groom’s cousin.  Small world huh?  Well, there was now another reason for me to shine today, I had to provide my best for the couple of course, but now I have family and friends watching me work as well.  I know they’ll love their DVD!

Congrats!

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.