How to Choose a Photographer and Videographer for Your Wedding in These Financially Tough Times

My friend and colleague Greg Riccardi at Multivision Video and Photography wrote this article. You can visit him at http://www.gomultivision.com/

Ahh, JOY! You're engaged to be married. You've found the love of your life, and the only thing standing between now and your new life as a very happy couple (only chronologically of course) is the wedding! It may be the day you've been waiting for all of your life, or, like some people, you may see it as only a formality that makes your relationship official. Either way, you want it to be a day that's special, and one that you will always remember.

As much as you may want to go hog wild and make the day one that even the waiters at the reception will talk about for years to come, there's a good chance that if you're like a lot of couples out there right now, you're listening to the news, worrying about the economy, and agonizing over your wedding budget; you're trying to figure out how to throw this thing without putting yourself in a financial jam.

If you happen to fit into this group (the latter, prudent one), you may hereby congratulate yourself! You are officially a smart couple when it comes to managing your money. Your goal is to balance your desire to have a great wedding with the ramifications of how doing so will affect your financial picture given the current economic environment and your view of your financial future.

I have been in the wedding business for over 20 years. I started out as a videographer, and then, as a result of meeting and becoming friends with many of the best photographers in the business over all these years, I began offering photography. From a sales and general business standpoint my goal has always been, no matter what, to make sure that every couple we meet gets exactly what they are looking for, whether that means hiring us or not.

Now given all of the above, I have some important advice for you when it comes to hiring your photographer and videographer. This is advice I would give to my sister, cousin, or best friend. And if you adhere to the advice I am about to give you, you will be very happy with the decisions you are making now, over the course of your lifetime.

First, let’s make an important distinction. There are many items and services you will likely be buying for the wedding day itself – flowers, a DJ or a band, tuxedos, the food, a cake, and maybe a limo, to name a few. Then there are the service intensive products that you buy and have for after the wedding – and there are only two – your photography and video. The day-of items come and go; the food gets eaten, the DJ goes home, and the flowers die (I know, it’s sad, isn’t it?). Your photography album and DVD though – which, by the way, are your only preservation of all the other things that came and went – you keep forever.

Now I already know what you’re thinking I’m going to say – that you can skimp on the day-of services but not the photography and video. Hahahahaha! (I said that in the loud, low, and gravely pirate voice my kids like that I do btw, lol). But I’m not! I’m actually not. What I am going to show you, though, is a way that you can come away with the highest quality products in these two critical areas but attain them in a way that won’t compromise your financial health over the long run.

There’s a famous quote among sales professionals that goes like this: “The bitterness of poor quality lingers long after the sweetness of a low price is forgotten.” Having been on this side of thousands of wedding photography and video transactions, I am absolutely urging you to – if you have to reduce your photography/videography budget – avoid the temptation to feel like you need everything now. Please, please, do everything in your power to avoid companies that will promise you the world (i.e. “complete packages”) for a low price.

What’s the alternative? Opt for a pay-as-you-go plan.

Any photographer or videographer worth their weight in SD cards will tell you that the most important element to a great photo album and a great final DVD is what you start off with, or the raw pictures and video. You could buy the most gorgeous and expensive album ever created, but if the pictures that go in it are only mediocre or worse, bad, then the whole thing is bad. Get and pay a great photographer and videographer to just shoot the wedding and give you the raw photos (proofs) and video for now. It might cost you about the same as another company wants to charge you for their soup to nuts package, but you’ll be guaranteed to love what you receive.

Then, when the economy turns around and you’re able to afford it, and even if that takes years, go back to your photographer and videographer and purchase the rest of the package (the creation of the album and the editing of the DVD). Doing things this way will leave you no worse off than if you had walked in the door and booked (and paid for) everything up front!

If you do things this way, you’re spreading out the cost and, getting the amazing products you want in the long run.

Now here’s the icing on this very financially intelligent cake – you may be very surprised to learn that most couples take years to go back to their photographer to make their album anyway! I can’t tell you how many files we have on our shelves (ok I can – it’s in the hundreds) that are for albums and videos that we can’t even make because we’re waiting for the couples input to complete them! Some paid for our top package, some our bottom one, and some in between, but they’re all paid in full! We’ve had to archive the oldest ones just to make room.

If you booked with us today for what we call our ‘shoot only’ package (and by the way this is not intended to be a commercial for my company, you could do this with any company that's ok with doing it this way), and then came back to us in two full years to have us edit the video and make the album, you would still be light years ahead of a majority of our customers who paid in full but still don’t have their final product!

Now at the risk of making a separate but scary point, don't forget that the economy affects the vendors you choose, too. Read any astute financial periodical and you will quickly come to learn that in good times, almost any company that offers even a mediocre service can survive, but in bad times, the mediocre ones are the first to sink, leaving only the better ones standing. Choosing quality companies, no matter what part of the wedding they’re handling for you, is even more key in these times.

So there’s my advice! Hire the best but pay as you go. …And you didn’t even have to be one of my relatives to get it (and some of my relatives might be glad for you on not being one of my relatives, jk jk)!

Correction:

In my haste and excitement to get out the latest blog notes I, inadvertantly failed to recognize a big part of the whole event in Sarasota Florida. Bill and Christine Fenner of Artistic Occasions headed up efforts in Sarasota with the Browns, and coordinating with our team, creating ideas, supervising and providing all the decor and beautiful touches that helped transform the hangar.

The whole event was such a team effort, and the teams worked exceptionally well together that it all homognizes together into one splendid event for me. So when I say we I'm referring to the team of partners of which Artistic Occasions certainly played a lead role. We also partnered with Flashpoint grooup out of Atlanta to produce the light and sound design for us, who did a flawless job.

Bill and Christine really did an amazing job from top to bottom and made the place look like a million dollars. If you are having an event in Florida you owe it to yourselves to get in touch with them.

Florida Event LSNY Style

We just returned from an amazing trip to Florida to celebrate with the Brown family. We had been there in 2006 for their daughter Sammi's party (video on website) and I'm sure everyone was wondering how would we ever match that party. Well they did.

Air Jordan was the theme held at Rectrix, a hangar across from Sarasota Airport. The picture to the left is how we transformed the space.

2 giant screens over top a stage with 2 tiers. The highest tier is where DJ Dollar Bill spun the magic, and our light and sound crew were very much on point, taking care of any possible sound distortion on the fly, and lighting on the spot any place that needed it.

On Jordan's entrance the doors of the hangar peeled open to reveal her atop a Lear Jet coming down the stairs to meet one of our dancers who held her high in the air walking through a sea of guests to the gospel choral peak in "I Believe I can Fly" and everyone had a goose bump transcendent experience.

The entire party was a thrill to do and be involved in. And we cannot thank the Brown family enough for giving us another amazing opportunity to do what we love and love what we do. They have entered the pantheon of favorite families like so many of you before them.

ANOTHER HIGHLIGHT OF THE TRIP

We don't often get to spend a lot of time with our LSNY team and this was a wonderful chance to do that. We got to know each other in more well rounded ways. As I've always known, these are some of the greatest performers I could want to be associated with, but they are also lively, quirky, real, eccentric, animated and glorious fun to hang out with. Additionally, each of them has that beautiful twinkle in their eye to celebrate and promote life. Carlos, our esteemed percussionist is not only a gifted musician but few of us knew was a martial artist and very much into energy cultivation as I of course am.

I had an opportunity to work out with Carlos before the night event and I took him through my AEROFORM series which I've relayed here is why I feel I can do what I do. Below are Carlos' comments about his experience with that.

In all the years that I've known you, I have always thought; "what a POSITIVELY charged person". Working together at all these parties , you seemed both physically and emotionally full of energy and you are able to channel it into everyone you meet.

In all the years that I've known you, I have always thought; "what a POSITIVELY charged person". Working together at all these parties, you seemed both physically and emotionally full of energy and you are able to channel it into everyone you meet.

After finally taking your AEROFORM class, I was amazed at the level of ENERGY that I walked away with! We were both jet lagged, yet after the workout, I felt you had shared a great secret of how you maintain yourself so positive and energetic!

As a percussionist/drummer it is always necessary to have lots of energy to play for hours at a time, so I've trained for years in many physical arts such as Martial Arts, Aerobics, Yoga, Pilate's etc...

It is my opinion as an Adjunct Professor of Percussion and an Instructor of Martial Arts, that AEROFORM is a GREAT way to energize quickly and maintain Health. It is a great combination system that has elements of Yoga, Tai Chi, Chi Kung, Pilate's, and Systema. It uses the Jeet Kune Do concept of "Keep what is useful and discard the rest".

AEROFORM takes and uses only the best movements and breathing techniques from all of these arts.

Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with me.
I can't wait to become one of your fist Certified Instructors of this wonderful Art!!!

Carlos GoGo Gomez, Adjunct Professor of Latin Percussion, Queens College, CUNY; 2nd Dan Black Belt Shorinkenjitsu Kenpo Karate 2nd Dan Black Sash Sandata Ng Arnis Filipino Martial Arts Apprentice Instructor, PFS Jeet Kune Do, NLP Master Practitioner

Many of us had known Carlos for years and didn't know this about him. And we learned many things like this about each other, and one begins to see how a group such as ours is able to bring such life to parties. Prior to embarking on the away gig, I was stressing with the arrival of my second child coming in a few weeks. Yet once we got together we laughed with great abandon and I for one needed it. This is what the synergy of people truly coming together can do. Not only were we able to produce a memorable event, we were able to make a memorable experience for everyone. And this is the magic that is possible when you get all the right ingrediants together. It takes a special amount of energy and skill to do that, but you know what it's all worth it.

Party Central - Late Summer to Early Autumn

• Showboat Atlantic City for 2 High Roller events: – End of Summer party up on the 9th Floor Outdoor Pool Deck. Halloween Party at Club Harlem.
• One of the most memorable weddings of all time at the Palm House in Brooklyn for Hannah & Guy Serbin. It had everything and then some. I don't think anyone at that party will ever forget it.
• Old Oaks Country Club Labor Day party our 9th year with them. Always one of the best possible places to spend your Labor day if you have kids.

Notable mitzvahs over the last few months:

Alexa Wheeler at Water Street in Brooklyn was a fantastic party. Ethan Aronson, one of my favorite kids this year, had an amazing party at Mountain Lakes Club in NJ. Jackie Gavron had an simply elegant and fun party at the Ethical Cultural Society in Park Slope for Hannah, one of the most unique mitzvah girls we've had in a long while. She created some amazing dances we'd not seen before. Beth Bressman threw the first mitzvah ever at the newly created ballroom space at the Orange Lawn & Tennis Club for Lauren. It was a Broadway/Hollywood theme that came to life quite well. Lisa Haberman, sales director at the Orange Lawn & Tennis Club is a pleasure to work with and takes really good care of everyone in the new facility. It could be one of the new and up and coming places in NJ to have events.

Stay tuned for more thrilling events in the upcoming months.

Laser lighting is Back!

Laser lighting is Back!

In 2001when LSNY began adding incredible lighting to our events Laser lighting was very exciting to have at parties. Then over the years with color Kinetics and more elegant parties Lasers kind of went away. Laser technology continued to progress and had gotten more sophisticated, and technologically advanced. We can do so many more illusions as well as logos and text.

We’re excited to announce that 21st Laser Lighting effects are incredible and we’ve available at LSNY Enteratainment. Call for more information. Let's blow your guests away at your next affair.

201 475-5769

Celebrations - What ITs all About

November is a TV sweeps month and the month we all reflect to give thanks (for better programming :) As we at LSNY continue to have the privilege and joy to celebrate with our families and corporate clients I am reminded of a few simple joys: How wonderful it is to join in appreciation with other people in a way that is not forced. How satisfying it is to connect to someone or many some ones at a very basic level of a knowing shared smile. The recognition that what is before us is so worth enjoying, savoring at the deepest and grandest levels.

When I’m at home, I’m a father and husband doing multiple things, cooking dinner, playing with my child, finding the balance between wanting to give my all to my clients and savor my family. I’m not always energized like I am at the events. But every once in a while, I realize that I can raise myself up to those celebratory places, not just at parties, social gatherings or bars and ballparks. We can revel in our every day life as well.

When the market collapsed last month I read about it at the end of the day in my office, at the exact moment, my joyful frizzy headed 2 year old daughter had come in took my hand and asked to dance. I was blown away by the news, but all I really could do was share a dance with my daughter.

We turned the music up and we danced with abandon. The more we danced the less it all mattered. In a way that's saying what I have before me is what IS truly happening, and what is going on out there will go on with or without me.

I'm continually heartened and humbled by my clients’ embraces, emotional thanks, and letters. The feeling is that we shared something more fulfilling than what they had imagined it would be. But it's quite simple really. Just like my daughter asking me to dance in joy is a far greater thing than contemplating the woeful economy, which I have little to do with... so is the client’s day or night so much greater than anything happening out there.

We just devote ourselves to bringing celebration to life as IS. Our lives intertwine and so we share the same energy, like my daughter and I. My daughter's joy moved my energy to joy and I let my concerns and worries go. And so it is with your events.

We at LSNY want to make sure the event is genuinely appreciated with compassion and joy. I appreciate everything in my life that allows me to be there and do just that.

That's what celebrations are about. Piercing through all the things hovering around that pulls away from what is right before us - to find what matters in that moment: Our connection to being here. And when we do that we gain the essence of what we all are: Alive. And that is worth celebrating.

Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone!

Michael

Master of Celebrations

Excerpt from my book: The Master of Celebrations guide to PRACTICAL MAGIC

One of the things I currently do is produce entertainment for and MC Private Events. Most people understand emcee (MC) to mean master of ceremonies and you know these people as the ones on the microphone that lead the way through an event. For me this is a world of wondrous milestones such as (finding the love of your life) weddings or (making it from childhood to the beginnings of maturity and adulthood) mitzvahs, I found myself investing everything I had into celebrating people’s lives as if it were my very own family. It didn’t matter that I did not know my clients before, or maybe even very well leading up to the party. Or that I don't know their guests at all. On this day, they are me and I am them. And because I always want the very best experiences for myself, they shall have the same if not better.

And in that realization that this was so important to me, I evolved beyond being a master of ceremonies into a Master of Celebrations. The difference is in being able to do everything necessary to create ease and effortlessness of flow so the circumstances of the party do not block or distract from the ability to celebrate itself, while at the same time being able to lead and engage people into their greatest levels of joy.

To be a Master of Celebrations does not mean I am a Master. The label means nothing; it’s simply a way to describe what is indescribable. It does not mean I have arrived and there is no one better than me. It means I’m actively practicing Mastery so I can continue to perform at highly proficient and enlightened levels to keep creating more love, wonder and excitement for everyone. It also does not mean I have finished learning everything. There are always new situations being presented asking me to become more, find more, give more. It just means that I have invested and return with a high level of awareness, ability and efficiency to go to deeper places and create with ever expanding tools.

I love being a Master of Celebrations and think it's one of the greatest things anyone can ever do to appreciate and celebrate the aliveness of life. It gives me great joy to be able to express that with my clients. It brings me closer to them and them closer to me.