Archive for the ‘Weddings’ Category

The Knot Spring/Summer 2010 at News Stands

Wednesday, January 27th, 2010

covernpicksmall

The Spring/Summer 2010 Michigan edition of The Knot has reached news stands and will be on display until March 22. This edition features a section dedicated to weddings in and around Ann Arbor.

One of the features The Knot offers brides-to-be is a guide to selecting prefered wedding vendors.  This is the “Best of Weddings” award. W. Cardone Productions is proud to have received this award from The Knot.

A DVD Dustcover

Saturday, December 26th, 2009

A dynamite wedding or event DVD is more than a mere composition that excites the soul. The packaging it is released in must be dynamite. We put together a sample 3d video that illustrates a stunning DVD case jacket.

2010 Pick: The Knot Best of Weddings

Friday, December 4th, 2009

We received word last week that W. Cardone Productions has been selected to receive a “2010 Pick: The Knot Best of Weddings” award.theknot

Sneak Peak of Our Premier Bride Ad

Tuesday, October 27th, 2009

WCPAd3Shown here is a sneak peak of the ad we will have in the January issue of Premier Bride magazine.

Katie and Merrick’s Wedding Highlights Video

Friday, July 31st, 2009

Every wedding we capture memories in motion at is unique and even moving. It never grows commonplace. Please take 4 minutes and view highlights of Katie and Merrick Miranda’s wedding from May 16th. This has moved some to tears!

Please feel free to leave your comments after viewing.

Ann Arbor Carriage for Weddings

Thursday, July 2nd, 2009

When we capture memories in motion at weddings we are careful to observe what memorable services vendors are providing at the wedding. One such especially memorable event was a horse drawn carriage ride at a wedding we did in May provided by Ann Arbor Carriage.

Kimberly and Atticus’ Wedding Day

Monday, June 8th, 2009

Zion Lutheran Church of Ann Arbor, MichiganOn June 6 we had the distinct honor to capture the memories in motion of Kimberly and Atticus as they captured their dreams in matrimony at Zion Lutheran Church of Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Atticus Flores, U of M ‘02 graduate, of Canton, Michigan, proposed to Kimberly Ellsworth, also a U of M  ‘02 graduate, during a romantic fall picnic in the Arboretum. Kimberly is a graphic designer at the U-M Law School. Atticus is an automotive product engineer at Plastech.

The staff and pastors of Zion were very helpful in helping us to capture wedding video memories that will serve this couple a lifetime. Of particular help was the church AV technician who went out of his way to assure that our site audio feed was superlative.

One technical issue we had to grapple with at Zion was the mixture in the sanctuary of outdoor daylight with indoor lighting. I am pleased to report that we had incredible success in overcoming this limitation. While photographers find this easy to deal with, videography imaging is challenged by it.

Digital imaging, whether still or video, must be balanced for the color or temperature of predominant light in a room. Once balanced, the light entering the imaging device cannot change its temperature without causing an objectionable change to the hue. While we can correct this in the edit room, results will be better if the original capture is balanced for color. For still imaging the photographer merely “swamps out” the ambient light with a flash. For video the problem surfaces when the camera frame moves from an area of one color to an area of another color. Such was the case at Zion Lutheran Church.

The sanctuary at Zion is architecturally divided between front and rear with a baptistery in the middle. Zion requirements for video and photography dictate that we cannot operate during the wedding ceremony any closer to the altar than the baptistery. The color of light for the rear half was predominantly daylight while the front was tungsten. This, therefore meant that to follow the processional of the bridal party down the isle a fundamental color shift occurred at about the middle. Our solution was to have one camera dedicated to following each celebrant down only half of the isle. The camera on the right covered the processional only until the middle and the camera on the left picked them up from the middle and followed them to the altar.

This, however, was not the end of the problem. The camera on the right, balanced for daylight, had to swing into a tungsten colored frame at the conclusion of the entry processional. Fortunately, our cameras are bi-modal for color. For the camera on the right we solved for two separate color balances before the ceremony. When it was then time for that camera to swing into a tungsten frame a simple switch was flipped for the alternate color balance.

At the reception, Kensington Court Hotel, we had an opportunity to view samples of the photographer’s work and decided it was excellent.

twofortheroad2We were particularly impressed, however, with the live entertainment Kimberly and Atticus had selected for their reception. “Two for the Road,” Vincent Vitale and Brian Bogozzi, were very creative in providing live family oriented entertainment and dance music. These two knew how to engage an audience, keep them informed of events of the evening, and provide for a memorable reception. We highly recommend Two for the Road and have added them to our link resources web page.

In addition, Brian and Vincent went out of their way in helping us to capture stunning audio for the couple’s video. At reception or dinner events where toasts or other speaking activities take place, we attempt to secure an audio line from the DJ to feed an audio recording device. This frees us from having to individually mike speakers or handing them a second handheld microphone to awkwardly grapple with. The price we pay for this, however, is a dependency on the DJ to send us quality audio. While we always have redundant audio sources for these events, the primary audio source is preferred and “Two for the Road” gave us pristine audio for Kimberly and Atticus’ video.

A nice touch the couple provided for their wedding reception guests was a shutter photo booth where guests could have their photographs taken.

Katie & Merrick Wed May 16th, 2009

Monday, May 18th, 2009

Katie & Merrick were married in Holy Matrimony on Saturday, May 16th, at St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Ann Arbor, Michigan. At W. Cardone Productions we prepared a stunning seventeen minute love story video of this beautiful couple and showed an abbreviated 10 minute version of it at their reception that day. In their love story Katie and Merrick answer in their own words questions such as: How did you meet?; When was your first kiss?; What do you admire the most about the other?; etc. More than anything else, in the video this couple describes in detail how Merrick proposed marriage to Katie.

As you view Katie & Merrick in the park you would not have guessed that the temperature that day was a bone chilling 35F. Yet Katie & Merrick both appeared completely at ease and natural. This was not an easy task for a couple of moderate climate San Diegoites. The video does give one hint on the temperature that day–ice on the lake!