Wedding Video in Philadelphia

I’ve been in the video production business since 1984. It’s been my privilege to have shared a special day with so many families over the years. The part that is making me feel old is that I’m into the second generation of subjects. That is, I’m taping the Bar and Bat Mitzvahs for children whose weddings I recorded 13 (or more) years ago, and I’m now recording weddings for yesteryear’s Bar/Bat Mitzvah children. Of course, my own son is 19, and a sophomore at West Chester University, so that doesn’t help with the age thing.

As a video educator, I’ve met with videographers from all over. In the social event world, video is still not very high on the priority list for many people. That’s too bad, as a professionally-produced video something wonderful to have. So when videographers get together, as we did recently in Jacksonville, we always talk about business. What I’ve noticed (this is anecdotal, not scientific) is that the videographers who are doing the same old thing will continue to get the same old results. The studio owners who are constantly reinventing their businesses are doing very well.

After hearing those stories time after time, coast to coast, I applied the lesson to my business. Over the last couple of months, I’ve been regularly meeting with other industry professionals, as I sought to expand my referral base (and expanding theirs as well). Here are some of the outstanding vendors I’ve met with recently:

-Mark Kingsdorf, Queen of Hearts Wedding Consultant
-Bob Lambsback, Lambsback Florist
-Dale Lieberman, Petal Pushers
-Lindsay Martin, Open Aire Affairs

In the coming weeks, I’ve got several more meetings scheduled. This vendor outreach will be an on-going effort, as I want to keep current with the industry in the Philadelphia area.

Because I’ve had the opportunity to meet and learn from so many exceptional videographers, I’ve been able to implement new shooting and editing ideas, and I’m prepared to offer new services. I’m really excited about these in particular, although the availability is limited:

The Same Day Edit. This video is pre-planned and partially pre-recorded, but many of the scenes are recorded prior to the wedding reception. They’re all edited together in time to play on a big screen that night, or we can burn it to DVD so you can play it at brunch the morning after the wedding.

Sunday Brunch Video: Here, we take some of the video we recorded on your wedding day, perform basic editing, and provide you with a DVD to watch with your friends and family on the day after the wedding.

iPod Video: We can put any of your video choices on your iPod. The Same Day Edit and the Sunday Brunch Video can even go with you on your honeymoon.

Obviously, blogging is another part of the constant change in my business. Next up will be a revamped web site, which is overdue. I’ll be adding more videos to the web site, and updating the photos. My son will particularly appreciate that, since he was about 12 in the photo on the current edition of the web site.

Thank you for taking the time to stop by and read this. For more information about my video services, please visit www.videoccasion.net. For specific inquiries, please email me at steve@videoccasion.net.

Conference Wrap and Back to Work

After spending about a week in Jacksonville, FL, surrounded by the best people in the video industry, I reluctantly returned home. OK, I did get to spend most of one day in St. Augustine, which was great. Like everyone else in attendance, I'm totally energized by the experience. Because I was part of the team that ran the show, maybe I was more energized than most. At the end, I was certainly as tired as anyone else.

It would be crazy for me to describe the convention here. If you want to see what has been described by others at the "best convention in the industry", please visit www.4EVERGroup.org. The home page has direct links to the blogs and vlogs, along with the photos and podcasts.

The conference experience can be summarized in a couple of ways. First of all, if you're in the industry, you really missed something special. Because we have to make VIDEO 08 even better than VIDEO 07, please stay in touch with us at The 4EVER Group, as the 2008 dates will be announced shortly. If you're not in the industry, please make sure your videographer participates in events like this. Advanced industry education is vital.

Finally, we owe our thanks to the instructors, the staff, and every attendee, for their part in making VIDEO 07 the tremendous event that it was.

Welcome

Thanks for stopping by. I need to thank my son, Casey, for setting up this blog for me. Currently, I'm in Jacksonville, FL, in advance of the 4EVER Group videographers conference that I'm running with my business partner, Tim Ryan. It really is an exciting time to be in this industry, and we'll have a great show.

Other people will be able to blog more about the show here, and you can find those blogs at www.4EVERGroup.org and then selecting the blog news story on that home page. Meanwhile, I'll figure out how this works, and how to get signed up on the blogroll there.

Steve