Midnight Magic Studios

Can You Negotiating with A Wedding Professional?

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I found this blog post the other day by an event planning business called Reverie out of Hamilton, New Jersey.  I thought it would be a great post to share with you about negotiating with your wedding vendors and the view point from a wedding planner:

Negotiating with your Wedding Professionals.

It’s not often that I post something ‘negative’ in nature, so I was hesitant to blog about this after mapping out the idea in my head. But this is a topic that is so near and dear to my heart, and there is so much contradicting information floating around out there on the web. In my own little corner of the internet, I wanted to share my thoughts on the subject of negotiating with your wedding professionals.  It may make me different from other planners, but who ever said I had to be the same?

I received an inquiry last week from a bride and groom who were eager to book me to plan and design their wedding. The bride had been following my blog and social media, and she knew I was The One before even meeting me. Awesome! This is what I love to hear.

So I asked her the same question I ask all potential clients: “Why do you need a wedding planner?” Her reply was this:

“Well, we really need someone to negotiate on our behalf to get us the best deals possible.  We have some wedding professionals in mind but I don’t know if we can afford them without some help.”

WHOA. Stop the train. I couldn’t even find the words to reply for a few seconds, which felt like minutes. I wrapped up the conversation and told her I’d get back to her. I didn’t feel that we were a good fit in the end, and I told her that via e-mail, as graciously as I could.  When it comes to screening clients, my gut instinct has always, always been right.  So I tend to go with it.

As many of you know, I just spent the past six months working toward a re-brand that I feel truly encompasses the style, philosophy, and love behind Reverie Events. Not once during that process did I want to appear like the Priceline Negotiator.

The truth is, we value everyone we work with when we plan a wedding.  The clients, the clients’ families, and last but certainly not least, their carefully curated wedding professional team.  When we set out to plan a wedding, we match our couples’ style, personalities, and budget to whom we feel would be the best wedding pros for them.  Wedding pros we trust.  Wedding pros we’ve worked with on a number of weddings prior, and will continue to work with for years to come.

Let’s say you read reviews for local day spas and everyone seems to rave about XYZ Spa.  You walk in, you love the ambience, and you decide that you want to get a massage there.  But a massage is $100 for an hour, and you think that’s a bit steep.  Would you go up to the front desk and explain that you really want to book their services, but you’d like them to offer them to you for $75, instead?

No, you wouldn’t.  Because that would be offensive.  You trust that the spa is pricing their services accordingly, and that you’re going to get an AMAZING massage for that money.

Even if you were daring enough to TRY to negotiate the price of your massage, the owner might look at you, confused, and explain that their massages are priced accordingly for the services rendered.  The reason they charge more is because they have comfy, heated massage tables, a paraffin wrap for your feet during your massage, aromatherapy, and the use of the sauna, whirlpool, showers, lockers, and little snacks and cucumber water while you rest on a chaise, flipping through a magazine.  If you want to pay $75 an hour, you can go down the street to ABC Spa where there is no locker room; you unrobe right in your massage room and there are no showers or paraffin wraps.  Both companies are pricing their services accordingly, because both companies know their market and how their services compare to others.

The same holds true for the wedding industry.  Your wedding professionals didn’t pull their pricing out of thin air.  Proper pricing comes from years of experience and past reflection on the amount of work done for past clients.  Your photographer looked back on past weddings and realized that to shoot a wedding, hire a second shooter, spend hours editing the photos; to keep a website up and running, pay rent for a meeting space, and to keep their equipment updated, they needed to charge $xxxx for their services.  Your band, your DJ, your floral designer; everyone carefully calculates what they charge in order to continue delivering the standard of service they choose to offer.

Your wedding professional team will be like your family on your wedding day.  They’ll be participating in the best, most emotional, most personal day of your life.  In return, they’re giving you their heart and soul.  Their very best shot at your dream wedding.  And they’ll work hard for you because they feel valued.

So when you hire a wedding planner, hire a planner that will give you your ‘Best Wedding’.  Whatever that means to you.  If it’s the ‘cheapest wedding’, then Reverie Events isn’t the best fit.  But if it’s a wedding designed around love with AMAZING photos, killer floras, little details that will make your guests smile and memories that far exceed your wildest expectations, then we truly look forward to receiving your call.  We’ll connect you with a team of wedding professionals with the same exact passion, heart, and soul.  In life– and especially in the wedding industry– you get what you pay for.

As they say, you catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.  And because of our respect for our fellow wedding professionals, they respect us right back.  Because of that, maybe– just maybe– you’ll get a free e-session from the photographer we hook you up with, or a comped cocktail hour from the DJ who will have you on the dance floor the entire night.  Because in the end, there is value in feeling valued.

 

 

 

Wedding Memories

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What are your memories worth?

Today ended up being a pretty rainy day so since we didn’t get to do the Easter Egg hunt with the girls, we decided to make today a quite day at home.  So, I decided to take a rare day off and just spend some time surfing the web and catching up on some things.  I ended up on one of the wedding message boards that I like to go to and noticed that one statement kept popping up; “$500 seems like a lot of money for a wedding video.” “Is a video really worth the $800 they are asking for?”and then my favorite one: “I don’t understand why wedding videos are so expensive.”.  These are also questions I hear a lot from brides as I’m meeting with them to discuss wedding video.  Most times I give them the standard “your wedding day goes so fast, you won’t remember anything.” and “you will never see your self walk up the aisle in your wedding dress.” answers but I have always wanted to have a better response to those questions and statements.  This afternoon, my wife came up with the best answer and I want to share it with you, because it makes sense when you think about it. I’m going to refer to post on here about the average cost of a wedding with the information provided by TheKnot.com’s annual wedding report.

  Venue – $12,116

The venue is one of the first places a bride picks for her wedding day.  It is the key to the entire wedding day and sets the tone for the day.  However, the thing most brides don’t know is that half way through your reception, the venue staff is already getting ready for next weekend.  Never thought about that before, did you?  It’s true.  The venue has a wedding the next weekend and the following weekend and the weekend after that.  That’s not to say they don’t care about you, they do, but they also care about the bride next weekend.  Also, how many bride do you think go back to their wedding venue on their first anniversary?  That answer would be none.  $12,116 gone and you get nothing for it in return

Flowers – $1,894

Flowers are very important as well, who could picture a bride without a bouquet?  The flowers provide the beauty that focus on the bride and her day.  But, how long do they last?  Most times, they last about a week.  I know some brides dry the flowers and either press them in a scrapbook or create a shadow box with them.  I guess my thing is why spend $1,894 on something that’s going to die in a few days?  This is the reason I don’t get my wife roses on Valentines day.  She would kill me for spending all that money on something that’s going to die in a few days.  $1,894 gone and you nothing for it in return

Reception DJ – $988

Now, what would a reception be without some great music and an emcee to help move the events of the evening along?  A pretty boring night.  We have some great DJ’s in our area and I would suggest any one of them for your reception.  I, personally, prefer a DJ as apposed to a live band.  A live band has a set list they play, that’s it. If your guest don’t enjoy the band, they most likely won’t get up and dance.  However, a professional DJ can read your guest and make adjustments to keep your reception flowing and fun.  But at the end of the night, after you leave the DJ packs up and is planning for the next wedding next weekend.  $988 gone and you get nothing in return.

Memories

I could go on for the rest of this blog post talking all the different parts of your wedding and how they are nice at the time, but they give you nothing in return.  I mean after all, at the end of your day all you have, besides a husband, are memories.  Memories that fade over time.  It’s a fact, most people only retain less then 50% of an event the next day.  As time goes on, that percentage gets lower and lower.  There are only two ways to capture memories.  Photography and Videography.   For most brides, a photographer is the third or fourth thing they book and I suggest that you get a great photographer.  But, only a video will allow you to not only see your wedding day, you can hear it and watch it move as well.  A professional videographer will capture those moments you missed, moments like your vows, that first dance, spending time with your mother and the list just goes on and on.  So my answer to those brides who say that $800 is too much to spend on a wedding video, I will say this;  how much are your memories worth?  How much are the memories of your day worth to you?  Memories are priceless and a wedding video provides you with a lifetime of memories.

Wedding Report

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Recently TheKnot.com came out with it’s yearly wedding report. This is based on a survey of brides done right after their ceremony asking them, among other things what they spent on each category for their wedding. I want to share a few fun facts from this report:

The average wedding: $28,427 (excluding the honeymoon)
Most expensive place to get married: Manhattan, $76,678
Least Expensive Place to Get Married: Alaska, $15,504
Average Marrying Age: Bride, 29; Groom, 31
Average Number of Guests: 139
Average Number of Bridesmaids: 4 to 5
Average Number of Groomsmen: 4 to 5
Most Popular Month to Get Engaged: December (16%)
Average Length of Engagement: 14 months
Most Popular Month to Get Married: June (17%)

I’m going to add some to this list based on the Knoxville area, most popular months are April, May, June, September & October. We have a much longer wedding season then most areas due to the climate and the beauty of our outdoor venues.
The average cost of a wedding in Knoxville is right at $26,500.

Here is the break down of what brides spent in each category:

2012 Average Wedding Budget Breakdown

Category                           2012 National Average Spend         2011 National Average Spend
Overall Wedding            $28,427                                                 $27,021
Venue                               $12,905                                                 $12,116
Photographer                    $2,379                                                    $2,299
Wedding Planner              $1,847                                                     $1,753
Reception Band                 $3,084                                                    $3,122
Reception DJ                         $988                                                       $929
Florist/Decor                      $1,997                                                     $1,894
Videographer                      $1,619                                                      $1,486
Wedding Dress                   $1,211                                                        $1,121
Groom’s Tuxedo                   $230                                                          $215
Wedding Cake                       $560                                                          $535
Ceremony Site                     $1,711                                                        $1,599
Ceremony Musicians           $554                                                           $536
Invitations                             $453                                                           $440
Limousine                              $708                                                           $669
Favors                                     $289                                                           $285
Rehearsal Dinner                $1,135                                                        $1,078
Engagement Ring               $5,431                                                        $5,130
Catering (price per person)    $63                                                             $61
Figures based on respondents who hired a professional vendor for the service.

Now I highlighted two categories I want to bring to your attention, photography and videography.  The reason is very simple, every category on this is a one time cost item.  In other words, at the end of the night those items are gone or thrown away.  The only thing you have left at the end of the day are memories and the only way to capture those memories is with photography & videography.  What’s more important to you, the flowers that die the next day or the memories from your wedding day?

Busiest Wedding Weekend of the Year

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Living in Knoxville is wonderful.  It’s a friendly, welcoming place and a place I’m proud of have settled into.  But, there is one thing you have to be aware of when you live her, University of Tennessee Football.  Around here the season starts about mid July when everyone gets ramped up for the fall football season.  What’s most amazing about UT football is how brides will schedule their weddings around the football schedule.  Which leads me to this blog today.

Every year when the schedule comes out for UT football there is almost always an open weekend, or open date.  That’s great for football, but rough on wedding vendors.  You see, every bride who wants to have a fall wedding will want to have it this one weekend because she knows most of her guest will come and it’s easier to find hotel rooms for out of town guest.  This past football season I worked not one, but two weddings. One Saturday and one Sunday.  Now I’ve done back to back wedding weekends before, but this one was a lot of fun.  Let me show you:

First up was Ashley and Eli.  Ashley is the wedding and event coordinator at the Knoxville Zoo.  Which by the way, if your looking for a great venue for your wedding you should really check them out.  Anyway, Ashley has become a very good friend of mine and her one and only, Eli, is a great guy that I have enjoyed getting to know.  Their wedding was at Twin Cedar Farms in Rockford, TN (she didn’t have it at zoo because would you have your wedding at the same place you work at? Didn’t think so).  Bonus points for this one because I got to work with one of my favorite vendors, Brenda Johnson and her staff at One Enchanted Evening.  Enjoy.

 

Sunday morning comes and I find my self driving out the the Wears Valley area that borders the Great Smokey Mountains to a beautiful venue called Trillium Springs.  Hidden in the trees on the side of a mountain, this venue offers both beauty and a private location that has amazing views and backdrops.  The only problem this day was it was a misty, rainy day.  Our bride, Leah, didn’t let it get her down.  The really big change was we had have the ceremony in the pavilion instead of the garden area.  But you know what, it was still beautiful and they had a great day.  Again, I got to work with Brenda and One Enchanted Evening and 2911 Event Planning Studio, but I also got to work with one of the best DJ’s in the area. Corey Goin of Music in Motion.  The man can rock a reception and keep it moving and fun. Check it out:

 

Very busy weekend, but a couple of beautiful brides who both had amazing weddings.  Congrats to both couples.  Man, I REALLY love my job.

Gifts For A Guy

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Gifts For A Guy

There are 4 major “gift buying” holidays for most any couple.  Birthdays, Christmas, Anniversaries and Valentines Day.  The majority of these holidays most guys have a difficult time trying to find just the right gift for that special girl.  My wife even says I’m awful at getting gifts.  She says  she drops hints all year for me to pick up on, but like most guys I don’t get the hints and have to scramble to find a great gift for her.  I think you gals have it a bit easier.  Guys are pretty simple to buy for, for the most part.  Electronic gadgets, hunting or fishing items pretty much will just about do it.  My wife is so good with buying me gifts, most times she finds gifts that I didn’t even know I wanted.

However, it seems like the guys get a break on Valentines Day.  It’s pretty much given to the guys on a silver platter.  Some roses, a romantic dinner at a nice restaurant topped off with a piece of jewelry.  Now not every guy does it this way,  but that is how the media and marketing gurus push it, so we just follow along.  But what about the gals?  What do you get that special guy in your life?  Flowers are not the thing most guys want to get at work.  The romantic dinner is nice, but it’s something we guys try to own and we are not huge on jewelry.  So what just what do you give him?  What gift can you give him that is romantic and memorable?

Why not give him you?  Give him you in a way he will never forget.  Give him you at your sexiest in a boudoir shoot. But before we get into a boudoir session, lets dispel some “boudoir myths”: Historically, the boudoir formed part of the private suite of rooms of a lady, for bathing and dressing, adjacent to her bedchamber, being the female equivalent of the male cabinet. In later periods, the boudoir was used as a private drawing room, and was used for other activities, such as embroidery or spending time with one’s romantic partner.  It comes from the French verb bouder, meaning “to be sulky” or boudeur, meaning “sulky.  Today, it’s the hottest type of photography.  More and more women are doing boudoir sessions for their guy as a  way to explore their own beauty and to bring out that sexy woman that’s been hidden behind the mini van or the morning carpool.  Boudoir is not pornography.  We don’t shoot you in the nude or in graphic poses. We want to capture you as the beautiful, sexy woman you are and we want to do that in an artful and tasteful way.

  A lot of women also think they have to have fancy, expensive lingerie from Victoria Secrets.  This couldn’t be further from the truth.  Sure, lingerie is common and beautiful, but we have had sessions with ladies in their guys favorite shirt, sports jersey, or even a simple nightgown.  We even had one session where the gal didn’t have any lingerie at all, not so much as even a night shirt.  She wore clothes that made her feel sexy, powerful and special.  When we get a call about a boudoir session and the woman ask “What do I wear?”, we tell them to bring whatever makes them feel comfortable, sexy, powerful and special.

The last myth is two fold; I have to be super model thin or I don’t know how to pose for photos like that.  Did you know the average size of an American woman is a 16?  We say EVERY woman is beautiful and sexy, no matter if they are a size 2 or a size 22.  We want to bring out that woman in every session, and we help you bring her out.  We make you feel comfortable and at ease through the entire session.  We laugh with you, play music you like and just generally have fun.  Normally within 10 minutes of shooting, most ladies are relaxed and are enjoying the entire session.  Plus, we help you with the posing.  We walk you through each pose and help you get that sexy, WOW look each time.  Plus, if I can get in the pose, you can to.  Also, we will never ask you to do any pose or wear any outfit your not comfortable with.  NEVER.  We tell each lady that if we ask you to so anything your not comfortable with, just say NO and we move on. No questions asked.   If your thinking “I’m too old to do this.”.  Well, your not, we have worked with ladies well into their 60′s.

Lastly, we are going to make it even easier for you, starting Thursday, January 17, 2013 we will be offering a Groupon for a one hour boudoir session and you also get a free 8×10 to go home with that day.  How much easier can we make it for you?  Why not give him that gift that ONLY you can give him, give him YOU.

7 Minute Movie

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My wife and daughter are really excited about the new “Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Part 2″ moving coming out this weekend.  It’s all they have talked about for weeks.  I think they have seen the trailer online about a dozen times or more the past few weeks.  I, myself, am not a fan of the Twilight movies and will send them off for a “girls night out” fun that mothers and daughters love to share.  I’m sure most of you reading this blog are planning to see it as well.  Think about this as you are going to the movies this weekend.

You stand in line to get your tickets (if you haven’t purchased them online already) that cost you in the area of $9.00 each.  More if you see the IMAX version of a movie.  Then you have to have some popcorn, a cold drink and maybe even a little candy.  When all is said and done, you’ve spend close to $20 and you haven’t even seen the first frame of film yet.  As you sit down in the theater and wait for the movie to start you are so excited and just can’t wait for the movie to begin.  I mean, you’ve only waited almost a year or more for this final chapter of the Twilight Saga.  Then the lights dim and the music starts.  After what seems like 30 minutes of movie trailers and commercials, which I still don’t get, the feature presentation starts.

7 minutes later, it’s over.  That’s right, 7 minutes.  That’s the whole thing, the entire movie; 7 minutes.  You waited months, spend $20 to see a seven minute movie?   How mad would you be?  How upset do you think the others in the theater would be?  I know if I spend $20 or more for a movie, it better be more then 7 minutes long.  But, that’s what brides are paying for today and some of them may not even know it until it too late.

The latest, greatest thing for wedding films is called the short form video.  It’s about 7 to 8 minutes long and only gives you the best parts of your wedding day condensed down to fit into that time frame.  Most Catholic wedding ceremony’s  can be an hour or longer.  Hindu weddings are upwards of 3 hours long.  How do you fit a wedding day into 8 minutes?  My typical wedding day is in the area of 9 to 11 hours long.  I capture in the area of 7 to 9 hours of footage from the wedding day and that’s if I do nothing more then just the ceremony and reception only.  I can’t fathom the work that would be involved in just shrinking 9 hours of footage to just 8 minutes.

The craziest part of all this is the wedding videographer is charging you the same price for an 8 minute video that I charge for a full wedding film that can last on average 90 minutes or more. I don’t understand how they can do that.  I look at it this way, they are charging the same price for a 10th of the work.

Midnight Magic Studios offers brides a full length film of their wedding day.  They get the entire day, from hair and make up to the grand getaway at the end of the night.  No shortcuts, no short form video, nothing but the entire day given to you, the bride.  You didn’t plan an 8 minute wedding day, why try to relive only 8 minutes of it?

Video or Film: What’s The Difference?

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Video or Film: What’s The Difference?

I was asked a very good question by someone last night.  I was asked by a lady at the table next to us last night “What’s the difference between a wedding video and a wedding film?”.   I was having dinner last night with my wife and some friends and I guess the lady overheard me talking about a wedding film I’m working on.  Seems her daughter is getting married next year and she was thinking about getting a video done, but really wanted to know why I was calling it a film.  I know on my blog I have talked about wedding films and how important they are in capturing your magical day, but do you know the difference between a wedding film and a wedding video?

Let me explain it this way; I can give anyone a video camera and say “Go video that wedding over there.”.  I can even give a 4 year old a camera and tell them to push the button and video something.  The question is, would you want to watch that video?  Most of you would say “No”, unless the 4 year old was your child or somehow related.  Even then you would watch it maybe once and that would be it.  But, in the same way if I said to Steven Spielberg “Go shoot that wedding over there.” first off he would look at me like “Any you are…?”.  But for argument sake, lets say I could do that.  That would be something you would watch, a Steven Spielberg wedding film.  That’s the difference.

Anyone can hold a video camera, point it in the right direction and push the button.  You can even record HD video on your smart phones now.  But, there’s no work involved in that, no way to tell a story or to really capture the feelings and emotions of that day.  Think about all the “videos” your family has stored in a closet someplace.  There are birthday parties, vacations, special occasions on those tapes, some of your families most memorable moments.  But when was the last time you pulled that box down and watched one of those videos?  My guess would be “never” or “hardly ever”.

Now think about the DVD’s you have around your house.  I’m a movie lover so we have TONS of DVD’s in our house.  I have two huge bookcases just for those DVD’s.  But, look around at the ones you have and my guess is that one or more of those DVD’s has your favorite movie on it.  For me it’s the Star Wars Saga.  I bet you I have seen those movies a million times, but I will still put in one of those movies from time to time when we are just relaxing or with friends.  I have no doubt you do the same thing.  Those movies tell a story, are full of emotions, and special moments.  Those are films, works of art, someone’s labor of love.

That’s what a wedding film is, a work of art.  A film is something someone will spend hours and hours working on making sure every part of it is just right.  The lighting is perfect, the sound is good and the music is in the right place.  Do you think Uncle Bob is going to spend that much time on your wedding film?  Unless he is a professional editor, my answer would be “No”.   I create wedding films, a living history of your wedding day.  One of the most important days in your life, a milestone moment, the beginning of a new chapter in your life.   I, and my team, work very hard to make sure we get all those special moments that you will never see and all the moments you do see but will have a hard time remembering years from now. Did you know you will never see yourself walk up that aisle in the perfect wedding dress?  You will never see the look on his when he sees you for the first time in that dress.  And years from now, on that day you’re missing your dad the most, you will never get to see that dance you had with him.  I create a work of art that you will WANT to watch.  Something you will want to share with your family and friends.  Something you will put right beside your favorite movies.  In most cases, this work of art, my labor of love, will become your new favorite movie of all time.

Ask your self, as you’re planning the wedding of a lifetime, do you want a simple video that will never see the light of day or do you want a piece of art, something that will tell the story of your wedding day?  Something you will watch now and something you will share with your family in the years to come.  Picture your self watching your wedding film with your daughter as she gets ready for her wedding day.  It will happen sooner then you think.

Is The Wedding Film Really Worth It?

Don Advertising, Films, Weddings No Comments , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Is The Wedding Film Really Worth It?

This has to be one of the most popular questions I hear when brides talk to me about wedding films.  Is it really worth it?  I can’t answer that for you.  That sounds strange, doesn’t it?  I’m a wedding filmmaker and I can’t tell you if a wedding film is worth it or not.  Wasn’t the answer you were looking for, right?

Well there is a reason why I can’t answer that question and the reason is simple; I’m not YOU.  I have found over the years that every bride has something that’s really important to her, something that is key to her.  Some brides put the major importance on flowers and decorations.  Other maybe feel food is more important or the reception.  Every bride is different and everyone of them look at things differently.  So, for me to tell you that a wedding film is really worth it is not my place.  I can tell you that I have worked with brides who thought that the wedding film was the most important part of their wedding and I’ve worked with one bride who was on the fence about the wedding film altogether.  I’ll tell you about her later.

I do, however, think it would be best to hear from brides like you who are thinking about wedding films.  I found a web site not too long ago called WeddingBee.com. This is really just a message board where brides like you can post questions about any part of their wedding; should I invite kids to the wedding?  What kind of music should I play?  Any suggestions on a first dance song?  The list just goes on and on with questions that brides like you have.  Don’t be surprised if you find that question that’s been bugging you for weeks is on the board someplace.

I, of course, go to the video board all the time to see what is being said and today I found this: “How often do you watch your wedding video? Was it worth the cost?“  That one question hits the nail on the head for so many brides like you.  You want to know if this is something your going to watch ever again and is it worth it?  Instead of me giving you the answer, her are some of answers posted on this and other boards with the same question:

“I was one of those people who was very against a video. I thought it was a waste of money and we had splurged so much on our photos. I thought that was enough. My in-laws insisted and insisted. I found one of the least expensive people in my area. Let me tell you, and I would never admit this to (groom) or his family, I am SO SO SO glad they insisted. Our video is AMAZING!! I watch it all the time and it captured moments the photographer couldn’t. I don’t regret it at all and we didn’t go nuts on the cost. Here is our preview cause I love showing it off, but seriously I am am so happy we have it and you don’t have to break the bank on.”

“I did not get a videographer.  That is the only regret of my wedding.  I had an AMAZING photographer and my photos could not have captured everything better, but I still wish I had a video.  That’s the one thing I would change if I could go back.  I say do it:)”

“YES, get one. I can’t tell you how much we love our video and how happy we are that we got one. We booked it super close to the wedding–like 3 weeks before–because we were unsure, but we were SO happy that we did. Hearing our vows over again, getting to see everyone dancing, it was just wonderful. So I would highly highly recommend it!!”

“YES, get one. I can’t tell you how much we love our video and how happy we are that we got one. We booked it super close to the wedding–like 3 weeks before–because we were unsure, but we were SO happy that we did. Hearing our vows over again, getting to see everyone dancing, it was just wonderful. So I would highly highly recommend it!!”

This one is my favorite:   “The main reason people who got a video don’t watch it is poor quality.  If you have a video professioanlly done, you’ll watch it more often.  We did DIY video for our wedding and my sister had a pro.  I watch her video more than I watch mine because you can hear everything clearly and the picture isn’t all shaky, discolored and grainy. Hers is also like a movie and mine is just random shots.  Sure, you can put the camera on a tripod and make it steady, but you can’t make that tripod move around the room by itself.  That reminds me of my aunt’s wedding video from the 80′s.  The camera guy hardly ever moved. He may as well have been a  tripod. REALLY BORING!  Part of the reason I didn’t want a pro, but with my sister’s video, I learned that things are different now.”

This is my favorite for a number of reasons, but the main reason being that she covers it all.  Brides who say they got a video but never watch it because it’s so bad or hard to watch.  When you hear this, ask them who shot their wedding.  Most likely it was a family member or a friend.  But what gets me the most is that she watches her sisters wedding film more then she watches her own.  Now, there are those on the board who say they have no regret about not having a wedding film made and you may very well be one of those brides, but let me tell you about Ashley:

Ashely contacted me about 6 months before her wedding.  Her friend got married and I had done her wedding film and she wasn’t sure if she wanted one or not.  She told me up front she was on the fence about the whole thing.  Ashley told me she loved the film I had done for her friend and all but she just didn’t think it was something she would watch ever again.  We talked some that evening and at the end of the night, she signed the contract and we shot her wedding in November of 2010.  As I got to know Ashley more over time I found out she had a very close relationship with her grandmother.  A relationship that was very important to her.

As Ashley’s wedding day approached I found out that the chance of her grandmother making it to the wedding was very slim.  Seems her grandmother was not doing well and was in the hospital.  Well, the wedding day arrived and Ashley told me her grandmother would not be able to come. You could tell she was very sad and hurt, but she was going to go through with the wedding with a smile on her face.  As she was getting ready for her wedding, I was outside getting some shots of the church when out of the blue, here comes her grandmother in a wheelchair, with her hospital bracelet still on.  Well, before she saw Ashley, I went over to her and asked if she would want to say a few things to Ashley on her wedding day.  She got teared up and talked to Ashley through the camera for a couple of minutes and went on into the church.

The rest of the day went well and at the reception Ashley got to spend a few minutes with her grandmother.  Just before she took off for her Honeymoon, Ashley gave her grandmother one last hug and off she went on a week long honeymoon.  When she returned late the following Sunday night she was just too tired to go see her grandmother, so she planned to go the next afternoon.  Ashley’s grandmother passed away that Monday morning quietly in her sleep.

When it came time for me to deliver her finished wedding film, Ashley had no idea I had done that little interview with her grandmother.  As I sat and watched the film with them, when her grandmother came up on the screen and talked to Ashley, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.  Ashley came to me after that and told me that this was the most wonderful thing she ever got.  She has her grandmother with her now for the rest of her life.

So, is a wedding film really worth it?  Ask Ashley, I’m sure she’ll have an answer for you.

Ashley & David’s Wedding Trailer from Midnight Magic Studios on Vimeo.

A Look Back and A Look Ahead

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A Look Back and A Look Ahead

As the year comes to an end, I always want to look back at some of the weddings I’ve had the pleasure of working on this year and this has been a BUSY wedding year to say the least.  This year we took to the road a couple of times heading up to Jonesboro for Stacie & Josh‘s wedding and then up to Johnson City for Megahn & Andy’s wedding.  Both of those trips were a lot of fun and opened up some new venues for us at Midnight Magic Studios.

We also did a wide range of weddings this year from the small country wedding to the large Catholic.  We even had a Christmas wedding in July this year, thanks to Christy & Joey for that fun summer wedding.  We worked on outdoor weddings this summer and for the first time EVER, I actually wore shorts to a wedding due to the high heat.  I have to give huge credit to those brides this summer who braved the heat in those amazing dresses and I swear, not one of them broke a sweat.  We had to joy to shoot at Dara’s Gardens again this year and love working with the staff there.  Along with the great folks at Butterfly Gap and the Barn Event Center.

We also had the chance to work with some of the most amazing wedding vendors this year, far too many to count or mention.  I know for a fact we have some of the best wedding vendors here in East Tennessee.  I had to chance to meet several wedding vendors from across the country while at the WEDDING MBA convention in Las Vegas this year and I can tell you, we have the best in the country right here.

As always, I would not be where I’m at today with Midnight Magic Studios without some important people, my second shooters/assistants Alexis Massey and Lindsay Danis.  These girls doing a fantastic job and I couldn’t do this without them.  And of course, a huge thanks to my wife, my friend and the best finishing editor there is, Leeann.  All the videos that go out, get her approval before they ever leave the studio.  At the end of the December we will celebrate our 20th Wedding Anniversary.  She is amazing and is my biggest source of support.  Thank you, Boo Bear.

Now looking forward to the up coming year holds some big new adventures for us at Midnight Magic Studios.  First you have noticed the new web site, I’m sure.  The old site was nice, but it never conveyed the feel or the message we wanted to share with you.  It took us a long time to put this together and we have put a lot of time and effort into the site, so we always welcome your comments.  You will also notice a new word on the site, PHOTOGRAPHY.  That’s right, we are introducing photography to our list of services making us a true STUDIO.  We will be making a bigger announcement in the coming days about what we will offer and you need to be on the look out for a grand opening coming VERY soon.

Midnight Magic Studios wants to wish all of you a very blessed and wonderful New Year. May your wishes come true  and your dreams become reality.

The $500 Wedding Videographer

Don Films, Weddings No Comments , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The $500 Wedding Videographer

You’ve been planning and planning that wedding and you’ve almost got everything set.   You even managed to reserve a few hundred bucks of your budget because you want someone to video your wedding.  You know you can’t afford anyone great with the money left, but you think you might get someone ‘decent’.  You got the photographer you love and think maybe adding a video would be nice. So, you jump over the Craigslist or find someone online who says their a videographer and will only charge you $500 or less for your wedding video.  You think having some kind of video is better than having no video at all.  It’s beats nothing, right?

Well, when you hire this person try using this line:

“Excuse me, I’m paying around $3000 or $4000 for photography and I would like to pay you $500 to get in the way of the professional photographers.”

If that sounds crazy, it shouldn’t. (Well, depending on your budget, $3k or $4k for photography might sound crazy.) I’ve been to more then a few weddings as a guest and have seen the bride and groom spend a few hundred bucks on some cheap videographer because they just wanted something on video.  What a lot of brides and grooms don’t realize is that the photographer and videographers are going to have to work together and in some cases, the same work space.   Otherwise, they are going to be in each other’s way and the quality of their work is going to suffer. If one or the other doesn’t know what to do, or where to be, this will make it impossible to work together smoothly.

It seems that some of the low-priced, inexperienced videographers don’t understand how to work with the photographer or understand what some of the professional courtesies are.  Spending $500 or so might sound like a lot of money, and it might be a lot of money, but it isn’t a lot of money for having someone make a video production of your wedding. Think of it this way, when you pay $500 for a car, you get a $500 car.  That car might get you to work or school for a while, but you know at some point it’s going to break down on you.  When you break down business expenses for things like taxes, equipment, computer (yes, you have to have a computer to edit video today) and compensation for time, a videographer charging a few hundred bucks is probably working for about $3 an hour from start to finish. Does that sound like a real professional? What kind of quality and service do you expect for $3 an hour? You can’t even pay someone to make sandwiches at Subway for that much.

Wedding professionals are there to do a job and to work with each other, not get in each others way.  We work together with one goal in mind;  making the day great for the bride & groom and their guests.  Inexperienced amateurs don’t typically understand this, much less how to do their own job.  They are usually so afraid of messing up that they overcompensate and often put themselves in a bad position and force the photographers to take a bad angles to compensate for the videographer being in the way.  You don’t want to see the videographer in your wedding pictures, do you? These inexperienced videographers move when they shouldn’t, or they will excitedly run about like a spastic ninja.

And what some of these guys wear on your wedding day is amazing. I’ve seen cargo pants, a t-shirt, and Crocs. Worst yet was a videographer who wore an Hawaiian shirt, denim cut off shorts and flip flops  He blended into the background really well and no one noticed him at all. Yea, right.  As a wedding professional it is our job to capture your wedding day from all angles and get all the special moments all the while being invisible to you, your guest and your family.  Some of the greatest complements I get are: “I didn’t even know you were there, how did you get that shot?”   A lot of times, inexperienced video people are probably shooting more for their portfolio than to meet your personal expectations for your wedding.

A wedding is a big deal. You get one chance to get it right the first time. There are no “Do Over” in weddings, if you miss it, it’s gone.  So, it makes sense that you only want experienced professionals there that day.  You aren’t going to go to your neighbor to make your wedding cake just because she has a kitchen. When you look at your pictures or video, you want to relive that special day. If you hire an unskilled, inexperienced videographer, you probably won’t look at your wedding video more then twice. I hear newlyweds tell their friends all the time, “We had a wedding video made and I’ve only watched it once.  It wasn’t worth the money I paid.”  I can almost guarantee you that bride paid no more then $700 for her wedding video or she had a “friend of the family” shot if for her. On top of all that, you may never know what awesome pictures were missed because of the inexperienced amateur videographer who pushed their way in front of your $3000 photographer. The photographers will know, of course.

Of course, we live in the real world and we all have budgets and priorities. Sometimes you have to make a tough call on what investment to make. Ultimately, it’s your decision and your wedding day.  From my own personal experience, having shot around 250 weddings, spending a few hundred dollars just to get something on video is a huge gamble and will eventual cost you money in the long run. Honestly, the Craigslist videographer  or the $500 video guys causes more problems and annoyance for the photographers than probably anyone else. But why pay thousands of dollars for photography and then pay someone a few hundred dollars to get in their way? Now, I can’t say all inexpensive videographers are a nuisance, but, if you want a great wedding film, hire someone who is going to provide it for you. Hire someone to show up at your wedding because you want them there. Because you know they are going to do a great job not just because he fit’s into your budget.  If you need a couple of referrals, we can recommend more then a few amazing wedding professionals here in Knoxville area whom we’ve worked with often.  Professionals communicate, know what to do,  and get it done. You shouldn’t be paying them so they can try out a new profession on your wedding day.  And, remember, just because someone has decent gear doesn’t mean they dress and act professional or play well with others.   This day is too important to gamble.  If you want video, your best bet is not to bet; hire someone good that you like who has a solid reputation.

You know, maybe the best bet is to hire a videographer who works hard and deserves your money. *wink* *nudge*

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