Platinum Wedding at Waldorf Astoria Orlando

Wow! That is only way I can describe this wedding.
    The Harper/ Dorko wedding had many firsts for me. It was the first time I have shot the wedding of a 'Mother of the Bride'. It is a great feeling when the mother of a former bride/client calls you up to shoot her wedding. This will be the fourth wedding I have done for this group of family and friends, I guess I am an honorary member of the family now.
    Speaking of going back to a very first, the Bride's daughter, was the very first wedding that I worked with the incredible Susie Weiss of Wonderful Weddings. Through that very first wedding, I started to develop a great relationship with Wonderful Weddings and a great relationship with the Harper Family.
     It was the first major wedding at the brand new beautiful Waldorf Astoria in Orlando. This resort is beautiful and the service was phenomenal. I never felt like a vendor, I felt like a guest the whole time.
It was the first Platinum Wedding I have shot. This wedding was going to be featured and the bride pulled out the last minute. Good thing, they would have just got in my way.
     It was the first wedding I could dedicate the talents of my partner and his Canon 5D Mark II just to artistic shots. And it payed off with some killer moments.
Finally this was my first wedding with a charity casino after party. The talented artist from Flourish created a mini casino complete with slot machines and a slot machine groom's cake. All the proceeds went to four of the couples favorite charities. That is pretty cool.

Linda & Andrew's Wedding Trailer from Perfect Sky Productions on Vimeo.
Cast & Crew:
Bride - Linda Harper
Groom - Andrew Dorko
Cinematographer/Editor - Perfect Sky Productions
Cinematographer - Douglas Howard
Cinematographer - Seth Cohen
Wedding Coordinator - Wonderful Weddings (Susie, Donna & Elaine)
Photographer - Nu Visions in Photography (Kurt & Stephanie)
Floral and Design - Flourish Floral Productions
Hair & Make-up - Marjorie Robinson
Location - Waldorf Astoria Orlando
Cakes- Bake Me A Cake
Chocolate Fountain - Chocolate Traditions
Cocktail Music - Hapara Music
Reception Music - Fifth Avenue
After Party - Fun Factory

Goodbye 4x3, Hello HD.

    When you have lived most of your creative life thinking in a 4x3 box, it is hard to let go. Standard definition (SD) video and its standard picture dimension became so en-grained in my creative mind. I could compose the most beautiful and creative shots without thinking twice in this 4x3 format. Then came along SD in 16x9. Now as a filmmaker, I welcomed the cameras that shot natively in this format. If I wanted the effect on my old camera, I would have to add a letterbox filter in post production.  I love the cinematic look of 16x9, but at the time, most Brides still owned traditional TVs that had a 4x3 screen. Most, not all, did not like their wedding film to be displayed with those evil black bars on top and bottom. The artist and filmmaker in me cringed when people would rent 'Full Screen' versions of movies as opposed to watching it how God and the filmmaker intended, in its native and glorious 16x9. As time progressed, more and more brides liked the aesthetic look that 16x9 would give. I still played it safe, I only used it for ceremonies and cinematic recaps.

Catherine & Geoff's Cinematic Recap from Perfect Sky Productions on Vimeo.

Megan & Bobby's Wedding

The first part of this blog should be sung, not read. The melody is 'These are a few of my favorite things'.

Susie on duty and Damon on photo

Perfect blue skies and warm fuzzy moments

DJPJ spinning the records so smooth

These are a few of my favorite things

Brian & Richard adding touches from Flourish

Dougie with Lee Day and Jay looks like Opie

The Ritz being Ritzy the Church being holy

These are few of my favorite things

When the shot rocks

When the brides hot

When I'm feeling glad

I simply remember my favorite things

And then I know this all so fab!

Now take a bow (really, no one heard you singing). It was just like your morning shower concert, except I hope you were not naked at the time. Now that the singing is out of the way, I have to get serious for a moment.  Let's talk Megan and Bobby's Wedding, what a great event. Here is my run down of the day.

The Joy of Networking

Like most people in the wedding industry, the thought of networking lists between a trip to the DMV and having a prostate exam. It is one of those necessary evils we must do to keep working. It makes me feel like the wall flower at the school dance. Yes, you know the one, the girl in the potato sack dress that could be pretty if she did something with her hair and had some confidence. Well anyway, I am here to announce I have found the secret formula. Write this down! One 5 Hour energy drink, One Captain and Coke and 4 hours of sleep that night = Networking Magic. I believe this to be so until I get those Facebook updates asking what the hell happened to Sky. Any hooh, I actually had a good time at this gig. Saw my usual mix of Wedding Friends and Evil Doers. Met some cool new contacts. That's it. I'm out.