Great news for the wedding videographers – the Guide has been re-published for Kindle. It is still the same great and useful book, only cheaper, and of course it’s readable on Kindle, or on iPad with a little help of the Kindle app.

“The birde’s dress signals how wealthy she is,” – continues the narration. “But it can also signal how seriously she is taking this marriage.”

OK now. What is the point of putting on a “signal” dress if the ancestors have no chance to see the photo if it’s not been taken or filmed? Does not hiring a videographer signal a seriousness of intentions for both bride and groom, and also the one of their families?

Received the book last week and it is great!  An indispensable guide, has all the information needed for producing a good wedding video.  It’s much like some articles I’ve read online from wedding video sites and Kirk Barber’s book, The Wedding Video Handbook.  His book has more details with photos, but yours is a good size to pack in the camera bag as a handy reference guide.  Here are my responses to your questions for publishing:

What is your experience in the wedding video business?

I have 14 years experience–have been in business for 16, beginning with school memory and sports videos, expanded into wedding video two years later.  Have produced 17 wedding videos, looking to do many more in the near future, keeping up with the new trends in wedding videography.

Was the book helpful, and if yes in what way?

It was (is) very helpful–has detailed step-by-step instructions on what to cover on the wedding day,  ways to make the video interesting–using different angles, lighting techniques, etc.  For different kinds of weddings, good advice on what to cover there.  Whether just beginning or having been in the business, it’s a good basic guide.

What topics have been left uncovered, or was there anything wrong or confusing?

None left uncovered that I noticed, but some of the techincal details could have been expanded–for instance, what kind of wireless and shotgun mics to use, light kits and on-camera lights, etc.  Also, a short chapter on using tapeless cameras or SDLRS (could be included in a revised/updated edition), etc.  Otherwise, an excellent book, highly recommended.

I look forward to using it on all upcoming wedding video sessions, may also download the E-book to use for reference here in my studio.  Photos are attached to use along with the above information, pick the one you think works best.  Look forward to reading it on your site and/or wherever it is published.  Thanks again and look forward to hearing from you.

Jason J. Young

Executive Producer, J-NIC Video Productions

Thank you Jason. In my book I tried to stay away from technical details of working on the wedding. It was addressed to the wedding videographers using all kinds of cameras. Approach that I offer may be similarly applied to anyone working with MiniDV,  BetacamSP or P2 cameras. Lighting is a similar issue, and I touched on that in the book. I will try to elaborate on that topic more here and at the Videomaker forum. All the best to you and to all who purchased my book. I wish you well in your uneasy but rewarding endeavor.

Here is in my opinion typical aftermath conclusion, borrowed from the Brides.com forum:

“I spent $10,000 on flowers and event design – all my own money because my mother thought I was insane (I probably was insane). Looking back at it later, I am acutely aware that my wedding would have been just as beautiful, just as memorable, just as fun for my family and friends if I’d spent $1,000 on the flowers. I’m ok with having spent it because I didn’t go into debt to pay for it and learned a valuable lesson about needing to say “do I really need that??”, but if I had it to do over again I’d have cut it back and put that money to better use. This is why I said to really think about whether you NEED a videographer – that’s $1500 you could save just to have another layer of permanent memories on top of the photos, which you’ve already paid for (and will probably look at a billion times more often). “

And there is also very interesting response to that entry:

“When I heard the videographer was going to be $1900 extra I said HECK NO. I hate my voice on video and I hate seeing myself on video too. I wasn’t going to pay thousands knowing I’d never watch it.”

I’ve heard similar words said right into my face. It seems to be just fact of life – people hate seeing themselves on the photo, never mind the video. Is there more self conscious brides nowadays then 10 years ago?

What do you think?

Nevertheless, this is what I’ve got -

• from Derek Sine: “The book is awesome!”
• from Karen Irvine: “The suggested shoot pieces were very helpful. Overall it was very helpful.”
• and my favourite from Mary Howald: “Honestly, I think that the book is great!  I’ve been looking for information all over the internet about the process of shooting a wedding, and this was definitely the most clear cut guide that I found.  The thing I liked best about it was that it’s easy for me to understand.  I’m not extremely technical, so this was great!  Most information I find deals with the technical side, but this was the first time I found a real guide…how to shoot a wedding…what to do…what to shoot…when/where/how to do it.  It was great!”

I would like to thank all the participants from the bottom of my heart. Stuff that I have not put in this posting means even more for me than all the good words.

And for you, who unfortunately fell out of the lucky ten, there is a chance to get a signed copy, shipping and taxes included, at the price of the ebook, that is $14.95.

The wedding season is still picking up the speed. Purchase your own signed copy of the Shoot-It-Yourself Wedding Video Guide before it’s over. Offer valid until June 31, 2010, or until quantities last.

/A\ Morning Ottawa has performed another live on-air wedding – this time for Heather and Robert, who had never managed to get married for last 13 years.

The building was turned upside down to accommodate for all the sponsors, contests and of course for the bride and the groom and their two daughters.

At the photo’s bottom right you may see two digital frames – one on the left played video, the other one on the right played slide show of the sample wedding photos. While the photos attracted good lot of future brides, the videos – not so much. The indifference at some point turned into full ignorance – I have been asked, what is the point of wedding videos:
“Do people watch it again after they got married? Really?”

I replied that of course they do, and I know it for a fact. And not only they watch their wedding videos again. They watch the videos with their friends and their children. And I hope many of my customers will enjoy watching their wedding videos with their grandchildren. Is not that fun?

Something is fundamentally wrong with the marketing of the wedding videos since we’ve got asked such a question. Is it not?

Family and guests are looking down on the ceremony from the second floor of the Media Mall on 87 George St. in Ottawa, Canada.

I asked the show producer Ziyada Callender to assess the success. Ziyada kindly responded, and here is the interview:

Q:  What was the success on a scale form 1 to 10?

Z: On a scale of 1 to 10, I would rate the wedding show a 9… since
there’s always room for improvement! There was so much to do in such a
short space of time, I’m more than happy with the outcome of the show.

Ingrid and Gino are leaving the Ceremony at the A-Morning Ottawa.

Q: The most important motive of every wedding is keeping the bride happy.
Do you think we made Ingrid feel good?

Z: Keeping Ingrid happy for this wedding was even more important than the
first wedding we did, because our focus was on couples who had a
disastrous first wedding. Ingrid’s first wedding was a complete
catastrophic destination wedding so it was extremely important that she
was pleased with everything. Thankfully, she was!

Q: Have you heard back from the viewers? Any exciting emails you could
quote for me?

A: We had a quite a few emails from viewers saying how happy they were with
the wedding show (the dress was beautiful, they got so many prizes,
etc.) but the best one for me — the one that I kept — was from the
bride and groom themselves:

Thank you for giving us such a great ‘re-do’. It was an experience that we will never forget. Please pass on our thanks to the staff and hosts of the show. Everyone was so nice and worked hard to make the day so great for us and our guests. We may not have come across as sentimental on the show but this ‘re-do’ experience not only gave us a new wedding day experience that was far better than our own it also helped to remind Gino and I that we have a great life together with our children.

Wedding gown show makes good television.

Q: Local wedding vendors charge big money for their services. You have not
charge the couple a penny. Are you going to spoil local brides?

Z: We love our community and showcasing local businesses. If there’s a
venue for us to support both, we’re definitely going to do it!

Q: How do you think it affects local vendors in terms of setting up certain
standards. Who is catching up?

Z: I think shows like this gives vendors involved a chance to showcase
their supply to such a mass audience and ultimately, generates more
business. Because of what we’re doing, I feel local vendors are raising
both their quality and quantity to meet the demands once being on our
show.

I will let you know if there is another live on-air morning show in the future. Thanks!

I often hear requests to include the slide show into the final video. If you have to shoot it, there are few basic rules:

1. Before the show is up on the screen, ask the projectionist to bring white on the screen, it could be clear light through the lens of the slide projection, or a blank page of any document or browser if the show is played off the computer. Do your white balance.
2. Switch to manual focus. I never use auto focus, but many people do, so for the slide show I recommend to use MF.
3. Unlikely you’ll be able to set dead center against the screen. Therefore the screen won’t be a rectangle from your camera point of view. You have a dilemma – either to include full and skewed screen in the shot, or crop it – I always prefer the latter.

But more fundamentally – do you need to shoot it? Seems to be obvious – why not if the customers want it? Here is why not in my opinion:

1. Slide show eats time of your final video. If you follow the couple for entire day, you may have a hard time squeezing the slide show in your final project.
2. Quality. You are judged by the quality of your videos. If the images in the slide show are out of focus, improperly exposed and have unbalanced colours, that may cast unwanted shadows on your skills.
3. It is easier to provide the couple with the double- or quadruple-disk case with some slots empty so they could place the slide show CD along with your DVD as a “bonus” disk, rather then to deal with the wrong colours, skewed picture and bad sound track altogether.

Joanne produces daily breakfast television show in Ottawa, National Capital of Canada. The city with its suburbs totaling up to around one million inhabitants wakes up to the only local morning show named simply – A-Morning. /A\ (sic!) is the brand of the station, hence the show title.

On the photo: the weather and the best man Bill Welychka looks up as the A-Morning host Kurt Stoodley performs the ceremony.

 While the station struggles through the hurdles caused by the federal regulations and current status of economy, the staff decided to take on the wedding theme and run four hour show culminating in the live on-air wedding ceremony.

JOANNE WOO: “It’s something we’ve never done… I love the challenge of new things. So we thought what the heck, let’s take a chance.”

The show propped up by the local sponsors went well as a high class wedding with the white limousine, make up artists, decorators, clothing retailers and jewelers, all focused on promoting their businesses at the same time making good television. Response was strong and positive -from the married couple, their families, sponsors and viewers as well. The station in fact has received several requests for the copies of the show.

JOANNE WOO: “It’s a big morale boost to know that our little station can put together a big production with so few resources.” The show was put on shortly after the major cuts in the industry in a whole and about 50% staff lay off at the station.

On the photo: news anchor Sandra Blaikie blows bubbles on the newly married couple Stephan and Christina leaving the TV station.

Apparently the station is keen on capitalizing on success and eager to run the sequel, and possibly to make the wedding show a regular one.

Is it going to affect local wedding video production businesses? It will definitely raise the bar in production quality challenging local videographers to catch up. Is it going to compete with the businesses? Probably not. Few occasional weddings a year won’t bite out of a big pie. On a contrary, production team wants to see wedding videographers on the show, says Joanne.

That’s all. Let me know what you think in the Comments box. I would like to hear from the videographers, marrying couples and local TV stations, what do you think of a live on-air wedding on your local morning TV show?

More photos of the live on-air wedding of Stephan and Christina.