Insider Tricks to Create a Great Wedding Video.

If you have been hired to create a video of someone’s wedding and reception, it can be a really fun job.  Not only is there a lot of joy, laughing and fun moments during a wedding celebration but it is really gratifying to know that the video you are creating will be part of family celebrations of these people for decades to come.

Naturally, you want to do a good job.  But whether you are just getting started or have been shooting video for years, you know things can sneak up on you and make your job more difficult.  So there are some “insider tricks” that you should keep in mind especially on the big day so the wedding goes off like clockwork and you get that great video without disturbing the joy and fun of the family.

The first few precautions actually happen long before you drive up to the church and that is a thorough equipment check.  Check and double check your equipment and then check it again.  It can’t hurt to be a bit compulsive about this.  Also, check that all of your supplies are new, in good shape and that you have back ups of batteries, bulbs, tapes or whatever recording media you are using.  If you know your equipment is in good shape, you can walk in there like the professional you are.

Next, be everywhere early and well prepared.  In fact, it can’t hurt to scope out the church and reception hall the day before to check the lighting and do some planning on where you might plan to get your best video from.  If Martin Scorsese can preplan all of his shoots, so can you.

Now be sure everybody knows who you are.  Meet the bride, groom, the wedding party and others close to the planning.  If there are security people, be sure they know who you are as well.  If there is a need for passes or badges of any kind, be sure you have one well ahead of the wedding day.

Part of networking with the key players includes getting some face time with others who may be supporting the wedding.  Many weddings have a wedding planner who must know everything that is going to happen.  Be sure he or she knows who you are and what you are going to do before you start disturbing their domain.  It is also a great idea to meet the other photographers and do a bit of preliminary choreography so everybody can get their shots.  Be aware that you really don’t want to do such a great job of videotaping the wedding that you damage the experience of the wedding guests.  This all takes lots of planning.

If they rehearse, you rehearse.  The rehearsal is one of the great missed opportunities that wedding photographers and videographers have to step through the wedding with the party and plan where you are going to be.  Now secure permission to be there as you never want to surprise a nervous bride or her mother.  But if they know you are working as hard as they are to get ready, they will be thrilled and you may find them giving you directions on shots they want included in the video and where they want (and don’t want) you to be at strategic moments during the wedding.  This information is gold on producing a high quality video for your customers.

Once everything is ready, jump in there and enjoy the wedding right along with everyone else.  You know you are ready and you like what you do so you can celebrate this big day and produce a top-notch video that will be a treasured memory for this bride and groom for many years to come.

Come To Vegas For An Elvis Wedding!

Las Vegas is known for a great many things, not the least of which are Elvis Presley and weddings. Elvis is literally everywhere in Vegas. There’s a museum full of Elvis memorabilia and most of the hotels have some kind of Elvis presence. Weddings are as much a part of Vegas as Elvis is. About 100,000 wedding ceremonies are performed each year in Las Vegas and there are wedding chapels all over town. With so many weddings and so much Elvis it seems only natural that the denizens of Las Vegas came up with a way to merge the two into a bizarre yet popular hybrid known as the Elvis Wedding.

Elvis Weddings have been available at a number of Vegas chapels for quite some time. The concept that seems like a bad sitcom joke is actually quite popular in Vegas and couples show up every day to be married by Elvis, serenaded by Elvis, picked up in a limousine driven by Elvis, or accompanied on a tandem bicycle by Elvis. One chapel offers the option of having Elvis give away the Bride. The Elvis wedding is nothing short of a unique experience. And that experience is offered at just under a dozen chapels on and off the Strip. Some of the chapels themselves seem designed around the Elvis Wedding. If you’re getting married at the Viva Las Vegas Wedding Chapel or the Graceland Wedding Chapel, you pretty much have to expect an appearance by The King. The Viva Las Vegas chapel offers a “Blue Hawaii” Elvis Wedding that includes a Priscilla impersonator.

It may go without saying that the Aladdin Wedding Chapel is proudest of their Elvis Weddings and they are quick to point out that they were host to the original Elvis Wedding – the eight minute wedding of Elvis and Priscilla Presley took place in one of their rooms (at the original Aladdin) in 1967. The Elvis Weddings at the Aladdin Wedding Chapel may be the most low key of the bunch. Here you can be married by Elvis and have the option of having him serenade you.

Other locations that offer Elvis Weddings in Vegas include the Silver Bell Wedding Chapel, A Las Vegas Wedding Chapel, Cupid's Wedding Chapel, A Hollywood Wedding Chapel, and the Shalimar Wedding Chapel. Each chapel has different features included in their Elvis weddings and your choice of a site may be determined by just how much or how little Elvis you’d actually like in your Elvis wedding.

The prices for an Elvis Wedding vary by location and the different options included. Most are priced similarly to what you’d pay for a regular (i.e. non-Elvis) wedding at a Vegas chapel. So, if you’re going to choose to marry in Las Vegas, why not go all out with the wackiness and fun of the Elvis Wedding? You’ll definitely be left with interesting stories to relate to your friends, family, and any little Lisa Maries that may be in your future.

Cheap Las Vegas Weddings

Imagine the cheapest wedding you’d like. You have to pay the $55.00 fee for the marriage license and you have to pay someone to perform the service.  Then there’s the witness who must be present at the ceremony. And you have to perform the service somewhere, although it doesn’t have to be lavish. There are many places in and around Las Vegas that will perform the service and provide the witness for as little as $40.00. And they’ll even throw in a CD in the background featuring traditional wedding music.

You get there on your own, present your paid license and in a few short moments you’ll be in front of a person licensed to perform wedding services in Las Vegas that are recognized around the world. Not exactly the wedding of your dreams but for $40.00 and the price of the license what did you expect. Go for another $60.00 and they’ll throw in a limousine ride back to your hotel, a few photos taken with a disposable film camera that you’ll get developed on your own, a bouquet of flowers and a boutonnière for the groom.

It really doesn’t get any cheaper than that and you’ll have more than just your memory of the event to take home and share with friends and family. Getting married on the cheap in any other city but Las Vegas would be, well, tacky. But cheap Las Vegas weddings have been turned into an art form, unequaled in any other city in the world. Anybody can spend a lot of money, but doing a fun wedding and reception on the cheap shows real talent!