The Golden Hour at sunrise and sunset is great light but you have to be ready for it or it will disapear like magic
true Golden hour is actually when the sun is 6 degrees above the horizon and gives great light for video and photos
When planning your wedding think about the photography if you want great photos and Video
obviously great locations help but for videography more so than photography we need light (photographers love the flash)
on board lights on top of cameras are used as a last resort by good videographers
modern cameras are becoming better in low light almost as good as older film cameras used to be
but planning the day is always going to give a better result,
Sunrise and Sunset Calendar

Hair & MakeUp book in advance your Hair stylist and MakeUp to save disapointment
check out our Make up for brides wedding page
when you contact your Hair & Makeup they will be able to advise you of the time they need, it's always better to be 10 minutes early than 5 minutes late
Eyelashes individually attached can take hours, is the makeup girl fixing up the Bride, maid of honour, bridesmaids and mum
ive seen some that can do this alone and others that work in a team, one on hair and one on makeup. This can be a great opportunity to get some good shots, the girls having a toast with bubbly, the flowers, jewelery

Props and set ups we love props and setups for the photoshoot video, bottles of champagne spurting out in slow motion, a run through the woods or along the beach, a 360 degree spin, falling flower petals, bubbles from a dedicated blower or even a machine, white doves or butterflies released, low flying airplanes, superfast speedboats, a day at the races, groomsmen having fun at the Gokart track
setting up the cake cutting and even the bouquet throw is good for many reasons, the cake cutting a couple of seconds shooting this is great because when you actually do it for real, some relatives etc will push in front of my camera and rack off lots of shots with flash
When it comes to the bouqet throw a lot of the elderly guests would have either gone or fell asleep somewhere, so yes we love to set up shots if possible, and sometimes its a must have.

Collabarate , everyone working on the wedding should collabarate together to make your day special
celebrants, photographers, videographers, wedding planners, car drivers, and best man
as a videographer i need to know from the celebrant, where you will be standing and what way you will be facing
where will the celebrant stand or will he/she wander about and stand in front of the camera killing the shot,
knowing they wander gives me the option to set up my camera(s) in different spots
the photographer concentrating on getting the best shot may stand in front of my lens
this has only happened once for a short couple of seconds but in general photographers are good
low light and flashes can cause banding on video which is not too nice, Photographers use flash when the light drops
when you go out for the photoshoot some photographers tend to rush about a little, usually because light is fading
for a photographer this is fine if you clicking off 5,000 shots on a camera in auto mode
with a film camera we need to set frame, F stop, shutter speed etc and we usually hang back and let the photographer set the shot, so a bit more time would be nice
good photographers usually get the shots they want and before moving the bridal party into another location they ask do you want some shots

Cars & Transport include horse and cart, motorcycle, airplane and speed boats, we need to know the mode of transport
We have had the pleasure to film many different modes of transport horses and carts, exquisite wedding cars, planes and super boats
but we dont want to miss the shot because we were not told about it until 10 seconds before it happens

Locations sometimes weddings have a lot of travel distance between locations from preparation to ceremony or ceremony to photoshoot or photoshoot to reception and even all of these combined
obviously this information will be on the run sheet but it still makes no difference if your up and gone with the photographer who drives like hes in the 500 supercars
you need to be aware we have more equipment to cart about and set up, again this comes down to planning the day.

Weather its out of everyones control, but what is not, is a contingency, otherwise known as Plan B
ive shot a few weddings now where the weather has just turned from bright sunshine to heavy downpours
it's not the end of the world, sometimes it can work in your favour, rainbows are colourful backdrops
we had a wedding in a park that turned to heavy downpours and as we made our way to shelter an elderly couple pointed out a lovely big house they lived in across the street
with a big wonderful verandah where we held the ceremony with the park as a lovely backdrop and a big wonderful rainbow

Speeches & Toasts are great, but not if the speaker is completely sloshed, some people need a little Dutch courage but not too much
try not to make the speeches abundantly long, after an hour of a speech youl see people wander about, up the bar and even ignore the speaker and talk amongst themselves
if theres a lecturn with a microphone you agreed to use at the location, then use it, because usually i would have my Microphone connected to it either physically or at the mixer
i filmed a reception once where the best man said i dont need a microphone! and so he wandered about talking quite loud for half hour, but it was not worth recording
because this becomes known as wild audio, its junk basically, if he told me earlier he was going to do just that id have used a spare radio mic and set it up. (mind reading still not working)

Special requests please advise for special requests, it's your day and everyone involved will want to accomodate you the best they can
for me as a video guy no worries if you have a special request, vox pop styl interviews at tables, im not shy, underwater shots in the pool no worries, surf shots no worries, maybe an elderly member of the family or someone has travelled a long long way to attend should be filmed
please advise and let us know, preferably before the wedding if possible it really is Not a worry

Communication and Planning is my biggest tip to make your day superb.

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