Just sent out Allison and Eric’s video. They were married at St. Mary’s Church in Longmeadow, MA, with the reception at Longmeadow Country Club. Got this e-mail from the Allison’s mother:
“The videos arrived today. What an absolutely wonderful job you did capturing so much detail as well as all the warm feelings. Everything is clear and beautiful and the sound is fantastic. Thank you so very much. It was worth the wait!!!!”
No, we did not make this. As much as we mean to be ambitious each year, we never got around to making our own. But each year, we bid on a house (or two) at the Hartsbrook School Holiday Fair in Hadley, MA. This is what we won this year, put together by some students at the school.
My daughters and I made a traditional holiday cookie this past weekend. I don’t know the “real” name of the cookie, but it’s one my mom always made, and still does. I think it’s a Slovak recipe. They’re a rolled pastry cookie, filled with apricot, apple, or prune butter (which sounds better if you use the Hungarian or Slovak word “lekvar”). Serve topped with powdered sugar.
Well, I tried Mark Bittman’s fast-cook turkey recipe (NY Times blog). My turkey turned out fine, taste-wise, but it took almost 2 and a half hours (instead of the estimated 1 hour for my 16-pound bird) and delayed our dinner. Luckily, our guests were in no hurry and were gracious about the wait.
On Friday, I was at St. Michael’s Church in East Longmeadow, MA, to tape Theresa and Ben’s wedding. Theresa’s cousin flew in from Ireland to celebrate the wedding Mass. Though it was raining on and off most of the day, the bride and groom seemed to avoid the heaviest downpours. The reception was at La Renaissance in East Windsor, CT—a great place to accomodate a large wedding.
Totally new to me was the Photo Booth, which you can rent for weddings, bar/bat mitzvahs, reunions, etc. It’s one of those boardwalk photo booths that take your picture four times, then spits out a strip of black and white photos. It was a huge hit! There was a steady stream of guests using it for all six hours of the reception. Guests were encouraged to leave their favorites in a basket for the bride and groom. Scissors provided.
Did a quick job last week editing together some clips for a client in Las Vegas. He was putting together a demo DVD of public speaking appearances for submission to a speakers’ bureau. His producer is from Northampton, so it was convenient for her to drop in for approvals at various stages of editing.
Why Didn’t I Post This Earlier? Am I out of my mind? I received a fabulous note from a wedding client in April, but never posted it. Laura and Jeremy were married at the Abbey Chapel at Mount Holyoke College, with the reception at the Hotel Northampton, in Northampton, MA:
Dear Tom,
My husband and I are completely blown away by your work. You really captured the essence of the day. When you asked me what sort of feel I wanted the video to have, I told you “fairytale.” I was so impressed by the way you added those fairytale/magical elements without it becoming cheesey or silly. You still retained the elegant/romantic quality while infusing a magical/fairytale element, and it truly is a work of art. A great example of this balance between elegance and fairytale is in the opening you created for the video. In this opening, you took shots of the outside of the chapel before people have arrived, and you allow us to hear the wind blowing, the birds chirping, and to see the trees swaying in the wind. It feels so magical and at the same time sacred, and it is such a brilliant way to begin the story. It felt like the opening to an epic romance film!
And you go on to capture so many moving moments throughout the day. We were truly impressed to find that watching the video felt like we were stepping back in time. The way you captured the walk down the aisle was just so beautiful. And the way you edit the ceremony was perfect. We feel there is nothing missing from the ceremony and yet at the same time it is certainly edited in a way so that the ceremony does not feel long.
We also love what you did with the highlights section. You really surprised me when you went from black and white to color as I walked down the aisle and changed the music from the original “A Dream is A Wish Your heart Makes” to the contemporary pop version to match the color change. That was a really inspired choice and I really love it. The highlights feel like a music video of all the best moments of the day.
I don’t know if you did this on purpose, but Jeremy noticed that the first words we hear spoken in the video is Jeremy saying to the groomsmen “let’s move forward” (meaning let’s go into the chapel.) It is such a symbolic way to begin the video. We also love how in the opening, when you are showing the chapel and the nature around the chapel, you show two of what I think are lilies of the valley. They look like little wedding bells and there are also two of them. Again, it just seemed very symbolic.
We also loved how you used the music requests we had. The change to “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” fit so perfectly with the change of mood. And we did notice how the lyrics matched different moments of the film. And we love how you used the instrumentation of “Storybook Love.”
I think one of my favorite moments is the first dance between my husband and I. You really captured all of the intimacy and emotion of the moment. It was lovely to watch and to remember what we were feeling and thinking as we danced. You just struck such a perfect balance between capturing the funny and light moments and capturing the emotional and romantic moments.
We think we may want to order the raw footage just so that we have it, but we feel like you really captured everything. And the editing is so flawless, and it truly feels more like a film than a boring/long wedding video. My husband, to be honest, was fairly indifferent to the idea of a video since he is camera shy, but he has rewatched this video over and over again because he loves all of the memories and moments captured.
You were definitely one of the best investments and choices we made for that day. You far exceeded our expectations for the wedding video.
Thank you so much for making this truly a work of art. And I know that when we watch this on our 50th anniversary, we will still feel so much gratitude that we had such a wonderful artist capturing our day for us.
Sincerely,
Laura
Located just outside Wellesley, MA, the Massachusetts Horticultural Society boasts a gorgeous setting for wedding or corporate events.
The weddings I’ve taped there have all been amazing events. There really isn’t a bad angle for shooting outside. And I love the Hunnewell Building, where the receptions are usually held. As a videographer, I appreciate that the room stays pretty light for shooting, so I don’t have to resort to adding gain, which adds grainy look to the video.
I highly recommend checking out their site if you’re planning a wedding in the Boston area. They are also looking for donations to their Annual Fund, if you’d like to show your support.
1st Anniversary thank you from a bride’s mother:
Dear Tom,
Okay, I know I already sent you an email about the wonderful job you did on my daughter’s and son’s-in-law video, but I just had to write again. Because they just had their first anniversary, and because we were together with relatives for the fourth of July, we played the video for everyone. They couldn’t get over how truly beautiful it is. We are amazed that you took a whole day and managed to condense it into a beautiful work of art. I guess in these days, anyone can point a camera and record an event, but your artistic choices on what to film and how to edit it (I suspect the most important part of the job) made it stunning. Thank-you again.
Lorraine
(Laura and Jeremy were married at Abbey Chapel on the campus of Mount Holyoke College, with a reception at the Hotel Northampton.)
Posting some video stills from Amy and Vivek’s wedding at the Fairmont Copley Plaza in Boston in late April:
Attended a meeting last night at The Northampton Brewery, the oldest operating brewpub in the Northeast. Independent business owners were gathering to hear about Pioneer Valley Local First, part of a nationwide network encouraging people to buy into their local economies and support their local businesses. The emphasis is on sustainable, environmentally-conscious ways of building strong local economies. Defintely worth checking out their website, and that of their parent organization, Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE).
Just received this e-mail from Susan and Anthony:
Hi Tom,
I have been travelling for business and was pleasantly surprised with
our video when I returned. We love it!!! Thank you so much for your
great work. It is an awesome documentation of our entire wedding and
captures exactly how we felt that day. It was so nice to watch it and
relive it! We look forward to making it a tradition to watch it each
year on our anniversary.
The Bradley Home video has been finished for a while, but now is online on their website.
Built in 1938 to serve the aged community of Central Connecticut, The Bradley Home is located in Meriden, CT. The staff were great, and the residents were amazing. Everyone we talked to couldn’t stop praising the place. They have some beautiful gardens which the residents help maintain. We spent a day and a half there shooting a promotional video which they will use on their website and distribute on DVD to potential residents and their families.
Videotaped Amy and Vivek’s wedding yesterday at the Fairmont Copley Plaza in Boston. They had their Hindu ceremony in a great ballroom, with balconies all along the one side. It made for many great angles. After the ceremony, during cocktails, the ballroom was made over for the reception—they worked fast!
Received lately from Rosanna and Joseph, married in NY last year:
“We just wanted to thank you for the beautiful DVD. We will have this wonderfully crafted memory for the rest of our lives! Thank you!”
This was the first wedding I shot with my new Canon XH A1 camera, and I was very happy with the results—the picture was very sharp, and I really enjoyed composing shots in the 16×9 format.
