Tag Archives: Las Vegas wedding videography
Jill + Bobby/Bradford Ranch
Driving up to Bradford Ranch, you immediately know your going to find something special waiting. Filming with Jill and Bobby, we were able to celebrate a wonderful love story and enjoy a one-of-kind afternoon and reception. Here’s a peek at a simply fantastic day!
Twenty20 Films
818.714.9372
Emely + Khoi at LA’s Botanical Gardens
Looking for a Wedding Officiant? Heres some Q and A to know!
Write down ideas for questions whether they make sense or not. A professional wedding officiant will be willing to answer all of your questions. If you have never hired a wedding officiant or minister before, you may not know what questions to ask. Here are a few questions you might consider asking:
• How flexible is the wedding officiate to changing parts of the ceremony that you may not like?
• Will they permit you to write some of your own vows? (I call them, “Personal Promises!)
• What is the process for creating your ceremony?
• Is there anything that they will not say or do?
• How many wedding ceremonies have they performed?
• Have they ever been late for or missed a wedding?
• How many weddings do they perform in an average year?
• Do they have a “back-up” in case of extreme illness of emergency?
• Talk about your spiritual faith so the officiant can adjust the ceremony accordingly.
• Will they marry you if you are of different faiths?
• Will the wedding officiant perform “theme” weddings?
• Are there any restrictions as to your attire, or the bridal party’s attire?
• Who gave them the right to perform wedding ceremonies in your state?
• Can they legally perform wedding ceremonies in your state.
• What are their spiritual beliefs? (Be sure to tell them what YOUR spiritual beliefs are and ask if they will make changes to honor your beliefs)
• Will the ceremony be a religious, non-denominational or secular ceremony?
• Will the ceremony be traditional or non-traditional?
• Will they provide a little light-hearted humor if that is what you want?
• Do they require premarital or religious classes? Is relationship coaching available, if you want it? What are those requirements?
• Are they qualified to offer premarital relationship coaching if you want it?
• What is their fee? Do they require a deposit to secure the date? Does the fee include the rehearsal?
• When is the balance of the fee due? What forms of payment do they accept?
• Are there any hidden charges?
• How many meetings will be necessary to finalize the words in the ceremony?
• Do they attend the rehearsal dinner and the reception, if invited?
• Will they give a blessing or prayer before the meal at the reception?
• How will they be dressed? Will they wear a suit or a robe?
• If you have children, do they have some creative ideas of ways to include them in the ceremony?
• Do they have a “Refund Proceedure or Cancelation Prceedure and is it part of the agreement?
• Do they have references that they are willing to share with you?
• Would they allow another Officiant, Minister/Rabi or Priest to take part in the ceremony?
• Is flash photography allowed during the ceremony?
• What kind of microphone does the officiant perfer?
• Are there any restrictions on photography or videography?
• How accessible/responsive are you by phone and by e-mail?
• Do they work well with other wedding vendors? Will they recommend other wedding vendors?
• If you have been living together, be sure to ask if they will preform your ceremony.
Remember, this is YOUR wedding, not the wedding officiant’s or the minister’s. There are no stupid questions. Ask about whatever you want to know.
The couple I referred to above got all their questions answered and the meeting ended with them presenting me with a deposit to secure the time and date of their wedding.
If the vendor does not have a written agreement (contract) you might be wise to hire someone who does. All the details of the wedding should be covered.
Go with your gut feeling or intuition. If it feels right and your personalities click, hire them.
This is your very special day. It will only happen once. A lackluster minister or wedding officiant with a boring ceremony – like most of the others you’ve heard – can leave the guests cold and uninspired. They should be the very best you can hire. I know its cliché, but you really do get what you pay for. Perhaps the primary deciding factor should be a wedding officiant/minster performs the most memorable and unique wedding ceremony for you and your guests and what other extras do they offer in their package that other ministers do not. You will enjoy the comfort and assurance of knowing you are contracting with a first-class minister who comes with professional experience, impeccable integrity, commendable references, a gentle and enthusiastic spirit and a subtle, but delightful sense of humor (hmmm, sounds like a description of Larry James). 
I would never recommend that you make your decision to hire a wedding officiant or minister on price alone. There are numerous other areas that you can cut back on when the $$s are tight. Read, “How Much Will Your Wedding Cost? + Ways to Save!“ (See the BONUS Articles listed below).
Ask yourselves: Do we feel comfortable with this person? Is there a clear green light to engage their services? If not, don’t move forward until all your questions or concerns are completely resolved. Often, just talking about your concerns with the officiant or minister will help you be clear.
Choice dates book quickly. If the wedding officiant is good their schedule is most likely very busy. Why does that matter to you? If you wait to book them, the date of your wedding could be booked by someone else before you offer a deposit to secure the date.
NINA + SCOTT
TWENTY20 Films Presents
Kristoffer + Victoria/Dana Point, CA.
Twenty20 Films presents Cheryl and Tyler
The Seven Great Truths of Your Wedding Day Schedule!
Twenty20 Films presents a wedding planning article that is super informative! Thanks to Tony Porreca of Zanadu Photography for the post. Visit him at: http://www.zanaduphotography.com
Since you were a child you dreamed of your Wedding Day. It will be special, magical. The sun will shine, music will play, people will laugh, dance sing. There will be talk for years of how a good time was had by all. It can all happen, but it takes the planning of a Movie Producer, the discipline of General Patton and the patience of a saint.
And guess what? You can do it. And you can have FUN too. All it takes is some planning and organization. I’m going to take it for granted that you have, at this point, done all the necessary ground work to make your Grand Production happen…the hall, the caterer, the church, the photographer, the music, the flowers, etc.Now lets get down to the nitty gritty of the Schedule of the Day.
TRUTH #1…TIME IS YOUR ENEMY
You have a lot to do in a short time during your wedding day. If you can develop a good schedule and stick to it you can accomplish a lot. Work backwards from the time you and your caterer have decided you should arrive at the reception. This is a critical time point because all of the reception activities will follow this point. Remember your schedule at the reception is fairly fixed and will usually follow a tried and true script set out by the caterer. Keep in mind that if you have booked a five hour reception that begins at noon and is set to end at 5:00 PM, you can usually assume that at 5:00 the lights will come on and the caterer will begin to turn over the hall for the 6:30 reception coming in after you.
If you are a half hour late getting to the hall, either the dinner will begin to get cold, or other activities will be rushed. Not a good thing if you are trying to relax and enjoy yourself. By the way, if the hall offers you a separate room for the Bridal Party to hide in during the cocktail hour, let your bridesmaids and ushers use it, but your time and interests are best served by mingling with the guests. This will leave you more time later for dancing and playing rather than the mandatory table visits when the music is too loud anyway.
TRUTH #2…TRAVEL EATS UP TIME
Many couples forget to include this into their estimates. You may spend as much as an hour or more in the limo during course of the day. And god help us all if one of the bridal cars gets lost. It is often a good idea to hire a party bus to transport the critical attendees. Nobody gets lost and, unlike the traditional limo, you can all have fun together.
TRUTH #3…GOOD PHOTOGRAPHY TAKES TIME
When you see disaster footage on the local news, victims are always shown looking for their most precious keepsakes…the family photographs. Not their vcr’s or hot tubs. Those are the important memories you are looking to preserve. The FORMAL PORTRAITS (not a dirty word) are an important historical record and as such you should devote some time to creating them. You will appreciate them more as you pass them on to your children and grandchildren. You should generally allow about a half hour for them and they are best done right after the ceremony. All the important players are there already, assembled and freshly attired. The worst place to try to get these is at the reception where trying to get people off the dance floor does nothing but eat up time. Receptions are for informal and fun photos.
TRUTH #4…RECEIVING LINES WASTE TIME
After all you will be seeing each of these guests at the hall anyway, right? Why throw away as much as 20 good minutes that you could spend at the cocktail hour.
TRUTH#5…START YOUR DAY EARLY
It’s easier to spend a little time waiting for the show to start while lounging in the limo than it is to make up for lost time. This means you should plan to leave for you hair appointment early. If you plan to meet your bridesmaids at your house beforehand and go together, give them an earlier time. Plan a little slack into the schedule early, you will appreciate it later.
TRUTH#6…NUTRITION IS POWER
Yeah, I know this sounds like your mom talking, but it is true. When you don’t eat you loose energy…and you can’t have any FUN if your tired and hungry. Plan a good breakfast. Even if you think you can’t eat a thing, at least drink a diet shake. Have one of your bridesmaids compile a snack basket for everyone to pick at during the day. Soft pretzels work great…no mess and they soak up alcohol. Give the basket to your limo driver to attend to. By the way, Alcohol early in the day is usually a BAD idea. Hangover at the reception…not FUN.
TRUTH#7…YOUR PHOTOGRAPHER IS THE CRUISE DIRECTOR
He will be with you from the beginning of your day until the cake is cut. If you work with him to realistically plan your schedule he will keep you on track and maximize your FUN. Believe it or not this is in his best interest. When you are relaxed your photographs look best.
By Tony Porreca
Zanadu Photography
310.504.1505
info@twenty20films.com
10 Tips for Creating a Great Slide Show or Video Montage
A wedding planning article filled with great tips from Michael Yarid!!!! Catch all his info at:
http://www.dvdphotographs.com.
Creating a captivating video montage or slide show that you can enjoy for years is not difficult, but by taking a few steps prior to creating a slide show or having one created for you can go along way. Here are some lessons that we’ve learned at DVDPhotographs.com while creating our slide shows.
- Know who your audience is – Knowing who your intended audience is an obvious, but sometimes overlooked step in the process of developing your slide show. For instance, if you’re showing your slide show at your wedding reception, perhaps you’ll want to include some pictures of the guests, and not just pictures of you and your fiancé.
- Shorter is sometimes better – After you’ve determined who your intended audience is you can start to get an idea as to how many pictures you’ll want to include in your slide show. We’ve found that video montages that are between 8 – 12 minutes in length are ideal for wedding receptions. This usually works out to about 3 songs and 75-100 pictures. While you can certainly display more photos during your slide show, you want to be careful not to overdo it. You may want to create two slide shows, one you show at your wedding, and another you keep for yourself.
- Choose Quality Photographs – While recent advances in digital photo restoration have allowed torn and poorly developed photographs to be brought back to life, there is only so much that the software can do. Pictures that look great printed (correct lighting, framing, developed properly) will also look great while scanned. Pictures that are extremely dark or grainy, while perhaps improved somewhat, will still not appear the best. Make sure to choose a photo montage company that can make digital enhancements to your pictures.
- Choose a Variety of Photographs – Even though you may love all the pictures of your dog Rusty, the audience may not want to sit through all the pictures of him. Instead of showing 10 pictures of Rusty, perhaps choose the best 2 or 3. Using a variety of photographs can keep your audience interest.
- Landscape pictures show better than Portrait pictures – Given the standard 4:3 dimensions of television monitors, photographs that are in landscape mode (vertical) as opposed to portrait mode (horizontal) show better on a TV. While portrait photographs certainly can and SHOULD be used, you should be aware that there will typically be a black border that appears around the photograph. It’s best to use these sparingly throughout the slide show and not clump them all together.
- Give some thought to music – Choose music that has meaning to you, music whose lyrics go well with the pictures. Also pay attention to how long the music you’re choosing is. If you’re only showing 30 pictures, you might not want to choose a 8 minute song. The photo montage company should be able to give you some suggestions as to the number of pictures with your selected songs.
- Add short video clips – Do you have any home videos sitting around gathering dust? Think about adding perhaps a 10-15 second video clip in the middle of the slide show. The video clip can help break up the video montage and is a great way to keep your audiences interest. Make sure to choose a slide show company that can convert your video clips.
- Add motion to your slide shows – Slide shows developed on PowerPoint and other consumer level software will typically be just static photos that go from one picture to the next. Consider having your slide shows created with the “Ken Burns” effects that Pan and Zoom on each photograph. This can help bring your pictures to life. Make sure you inquire to see if your photo montage company can create motion with your pictures.
- Add transitions to your slide shows – Transitions such as fade in/fade out, dissolve, and image peel are also an effective way to move from one photograph to the next. Be careful not to get too carried away with transitions as they too many of them can distract from the overall slide show.
- Test! Test! Test! – An event as big as your wedding requires that you make sure you test ALL the equipment prior to the big day. Make sure the projector or television, DVD Player or Laptop, and sound is all working.
Creating a captivating slide show or video montage can be done successfully with keeping a few of these tips in mind. Pictures that are preserved to DVD can be enjoyed for years to come. Partnering with an experienced slide show company like DVDPhotographs.com can help create a slide show you’ll be proud of.
By Michael Yared
www.dvdphotographs.com
info@twenty20films.com
310.299.2147
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