A wedding is like fine wine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What kind of title is that for a blog post about a wedding?  Well it’s appropriate for our Saturday, July 12, 2008 wedding with Piero and Maggie Spada.  You see Piero grew up in a family of Italian winemakers and now he works at a vineyard in upstate New York.  

Their wedding day started at Gesu Parish on Marquette Campus in downtown Milwaukee.  As we were awaiting the arrival of Piero and Maggie at Gesu, Danica Accola from Dreams and Designs event planning came around the corner.  Since we had worked with Danica before we knew things would be running efficiently and on time all day. 

After the wedding we were off to the Renaissance Place near Lake Michigan to start the frantic process of building their Same Day Edit presentation for showing later in the reception.  The wedding party made a few stops around Milwaukee for photos with Heather from Heather Cook Elliot photography before arriving at the Renaissance Place for cocktail hour.  A big thanks to Heather as well for the providing the images you see here.  The edit process went smoothly and we were burning our first DVD of the video before the bride and groom were introduced.  We always provide the family with at least 3 copies of the Same Day Edit and their photomontage on DVD for them to have immediately. 

After the introductions of the wedding party Piero and Maggie did their first dance and dinner was served.  The caterer for the event was Louise’s Italian Cafe’ on Cathedral square.  It was kinda funny for us as we had just been there the night before for dinner after the rehearsal.  A previous customer tipped us off to this jewel of Italian dining in downtown Milwaukee.  When we heard they were catering the wedding we knew the food would be good….and it was.

After dinner we showed our photomontage and Same Day Edit.  The Same Day Edit can be seen below.  Before I show you the Same Day Edit I have to tell you about the live band Piero and Maggie had for the reception.  Easily one of the top one or two bands we have heard at a reception (no offense to the other good bands we have heard).  The band was called Maggie Speaks and they were very good.  At times it was hard to tell they weren’t the original performers of many of the songs they performed that you may be familiar with.  If you are looking for a band for your reception you have to check out this band.

Ok…I know you want to see the Same Day Edit.  Here it is.

 

The Olympian wedding

No, the couple Josh and Amy from our wedding shoot on June 28, 2008 weren’t Olympic hopefuls for the games in China.  They were getting married at the Olympia Spa and Resort in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. 

The day started with absolutely gorgeous weather with blue skies and cool temps. After Amy and Josh got ready and saw each other for the first time down by the resort’s lake it was off for a little road trip around Oconomowoc for some elegant and romantic footage.  We don’t get to go along on these trips many times because they are usually after the ceremony and we are getting ready for the reception or creating a Same Day Edit.  Since this was before the wedding we had the opportunity to go along for some pretty footage.

We hopped in our van and followed the photographer, Justine from Justpix, to some locations they had scouted the day before.  The images here on the blog are compliments of Justine and her crew.  The weather was still sunny and gorgeous….not exactly the best conditions for photography.  Justine kept praying for clouds….be careful what you ask for.

On our second location for shooting we were in front of someones house with an incredible brick wall with ivy all over it. A really neat shot for footage and images.  The owner came around the corner and said there are plenty of shady spots in the backyard and we were welcome to use them.  Score!   It was off to the backyard overlooking the lake for more great shots.  The scene in the swing was from that location.  As you can see in the image Justine got her wish for clouds, lots of clouds, lots of big black clouds rolling in.  Just as we were heading back to the van it started raining lightly.  As we arrived back at the resort the skies opened up.  It dumped rain for about 20 minutes.   

The rain eventually stopped and the sun came back out.  It was nice enough that by wedding time the clouds were gone and the outdoor wedding went off without a problem.  The DJ, Scott, from Scott Parr Weddings assisted us with audio for the ceremony and also at the reception.  Scott kept the party running on time and efficiently.  He really made our job much easier in regards to making sure we were set and ready for everything that happened.  A big thank you to Scott.

Overall it was a fun day of Olympic proportions. 

Click below to see the movie trailer for Josh and Amy’s wedding movie.

 

A wedding at the Club

Well, a wedding at the country club.  Mequon Country Club to be specific.   The wedding date was June 21, 2008.  I hadn’t met the bride and groom before the wedding day so when I see a gentleman walking towards the clubhouse in a tux I figured he was with the wedding party so I asked.  He responded, “Yea, I’m Shaun, the groom”.  As the rest of the groomsmen arrived I see one of them arrive in a bright yellow car with a Milwaukee Brewers logo on it so I figure they gotta be fun if they are Brewer fans.  I realized quickly that it was going to be a fun time with everyone when one of the groomsmens sees the drink girl in the golf cart drive by and he runs to stop her and get something to drink.  Everyone was just having a good time which was great because isn’t a wedding a big celebration?

The bride, Sandra, finally arrived in her parents van fully dressed and kneeling in the back.  It was quite a sight as she backed her way out attempting to keep the dress clean and wrinkle free.  Once everyone arrived the photographer, Clark, from Wedding Connection Photography and I got some elegant footage around the club with Shaun and Sandy.  Of course a country club yields plenty of photo ready locations for imagery. 

After the photos it was off to the ceremony in The Club Room.  It was a quick but special ceremony as they united their lives together.  Later in the evening as the sun was setting Clark and I stole a few minutes with Shaun and Sandra for some footage outside with the sun low in the sky.  A perfect time for shooting. 

One of the fun things that Shaun and Sandra wanted to do was have their picture taken with a pitchfork like the painting American Gothic since he was a farmer.  They were going to use the picture as their Christmas card ( hope I didn’t spoil the surprise with that one).  Of course with video being a moving medium they worked a little extra action into the shot as witnessed in the movie trailer below. 

One last thank you goes out to Michelle from Mequon Country Club.  She took meticulous notes at the rehearsal on Friday night so we would know what was going on for the ceremony.  She was there to answer any and all questions and really made our day work.  She did double duty as the Club event coordinator and the wedding day coordinator as well.  She made our job flow smoothly and efficiently and we just wanted to say thank you to her.

Click below to see the wedding Movie Trailer for Shaun and Sandra.

 

 

 

And the winner is……?

Us…again.  Yipee!  Well sorta.  Let me explain.  On Monday, June 23, 2008 we attended the Wisconsin Bride Magazine “Best of” awards in Milwaukee.  For the third year in a row Frogman Productions was voted as Best of for videography.  This year had a little twist to it though.  We actually tied.  That was ok by me as the other company we tied with was Lenz Studios from the Appleton area.  I have the opportunity to meet Tim a few times at videography conventions and get togethers and we have become good friends and colleagues.  Kinda cool to share the award with a friend.  Congratulations to Tim (and his wife who shoots photography).  

 

 

 

Included here are a few pictures.   One is Sherry and I with our award and then Tim and I together.  Sorry you can’t see the awards well….it was a small room.  This issue of Wisconsin Bride should be hitting the newstands soon.  It will also be online soon as well at www.wibride.com.

 Another congratulations goes out to Lisa Braley from Natural Moments Photography the winner for the second year in a row of the “Best of” for photography.  Lisa and I are great friends and wish we could work together more frequently.

A wedding at the museum

 

 

The Milwaukee Art Museum is one of those locations we have seen many times while working in Milwaukee.  We have frequently shot footage there with photographers after a wedding but had never been inside.  I have seen many images from wedding in there but never seen the inside of the museum.  As you can imagine when Erin and Erik hired us to make their wedding movie and the reception was in the Art Museum I smiled a little.  Finally that opportunity would be ours.  I can tell you I wasn’t disappointed.

 

 

Erik and Erin had to get married before the party could start.  Their ceremony was held at Grace Lutheran in Waukesha.  After all the rain and flooding our area had in the days leading up to the wedding date it was a welcome relief to see clear blue skies the morning of the wedding.  After the ceremony at Grace Lutheran the wedding party was transported by limo to the Art Museum for pictures with Kim from KBImage Photography.  We had met Kim at a wedding a few years back and had a great time working with her and when we heard she was the photographer for Erik and Erin we were happy to work with her again.  She takes great images (all the images here are compliments of Kim) and we worked well as a team all day long documenting the day for Erik and Erin.  The weather held up long enough to get some great photos around the exterior of the Art Museum.  We did get a small rain storm come through during the cocktail hour but it cleared away and during dinner a beautiful rainbow appeared over the lake.  The ending shot of the movie trailer below shows Erik and Erin with the rainbow to the left.  A beautiful photo moment for sure.

I have to give another small plug for Shully’s Catering.  The meal created by Shully’s Catering for the reception was one of the finest we have had.  Guests were talking about how great it was as well.

Thanks to Erik and Erin for letting us enjoy your day with you.

 

Here is the Movie Trailer we created for Erik and Erin’s wedding movie.

The frog blog is back

If you have missed getting notifications of blog updates in the last few months I think they are all figured out now.  We had to move our entire site and blog to a new internet host because the old one upgraded some software the made the blog sort posts the wrong way.  They refused to fix it so we just packed it all up and moved. 

Like anything else, when you move something as big as our site and blog something is bound to go wrong and it did.  I believe we have all the wrinkles ironed out now and hopefully the subscriber notification is the last bug to get fixed. 

If you haven’t visited the blog lately because you weren’t getting notifications check it out.  The look and feel are the same but we have added a few new posts from recent weddings.  Our season is undersway in full force now and there will be lots of new material to read about and video clips to watch. 

I plan to post a few wedding related tips soon and I even have a Bar Mitzvah video we did last year to put on the blog soon as well.

Sorry for all the recent problems with the blog.  Thank you to my loyal readers for hanging in there.  Happy reading! 

 

Brian and Amy’s Same Day Edit

One of the most popular wedding dates for 2008 is June 7, 08 (6/7/08).  In fact Brian and Amy’s wedding was the first 08 wedding we signed early in 2007.  Turns out Amy was a friend of a previous customer, Joel and Tricia Guse from 2005, so we looked forward to working with customers that already knew all about our company.

Brian and Amy were lots of fun to work with, and with the help of Tricia planning the wedding timeline and making sure everyone stayed on task, everything ran smoothly.  Tricia remembered how much time we need to create a Same Day Edit working on site on the wedding day.  She helped Amy give us all the time we needed.  It was much appreciated and the Same Day Edit turned out great. 

 

 

What Brian and Amy didn’t know was that when they arrived at the reception site, Memories of Plover Wisconsin, we already had the Same Day Edit finished and burned to DVD ready to show.  BUT….they were doing their first dance right after the introductions and since we were caught up on the editing I decided to create a second version of the Same Day Edit and include a few first dance clips.  As soon as the first dance completed I went to work getting the footage on the end of the edit.  We got it all done in time but it was nice knowing we had a version ready to go “just in case” we couldn’t get the first dance version completed. 

We got the DVDs burned and while people were having wedding cake we put the big screen up, got Brian and Amy a few front row seats, and started the video.  It went well and as expected Brian and Amy were both pretty emotional when it was over. 

Brian and Amy’s wedding day went well and we had fun working with them to create some fun video memories they will enjoy for years to come.

Wedding Vendors:

• Reception Hall - Memories
• DJ - Malibu Express
• Photographer - M Photography
• Videography - Why US of course

Here is the Same Day Edit from Saturday, 6/7/08

 

Robert and Jaimie’s “Wedding Weekend”

On Saturday May 31st, we had the opportunity to film the Wedding Movie for Robert and Jaimie Thayer.  When we found out it was going to be at the Award Winning Heidel House in Green Lake we were pretty excited. 

When we started discussing plans with Robert and Jaimie we quickly learned they were looking for something interesting in a wedding video.  We decided a Same Day Edit was an option they wanted.  Because the start of the wedding was a little later than we usually work with for the quick turnaround, we decided to have a little extra fun with the Same Day Edit.  We decided to include some footage from the rehearsal, the girls day at the spa and Robert doing some water skiing on Friday. 

 

Upon arriving Friday, I hopped in the boat with Robert and a few friends, one of them a former professional trick skier, and hit the lake for some fun.  Robert jumped into the cold water with his slalom ski and made a few great slalom passes for the camera.  Next was his friend, Chevis, the trick skier.  Chevis was from down south and wanted to stay dry because of the cold water.  He took off right from the pier.  He eventually fell and since he was already wet he proceeded to do a few backflips for the camera.  What cool footage we had to work with.  Then I took Sherry to the spa for the girls time of pampering and hanging out.  While Sherry was there I was filming a few holes of the guys on the golf course (golf footage didn’t make the same day edit). 

Once we checked in that afternoon it was off to the rehearsal where we got more footage for the Same Day Edit (now called a Weekend Edit).  Things were coming together nicely for our Weekend Edit.  Saturday was a busy flurry of activity that culminated in an elegant ceremony and reception at the Heidel House.  Our Weekend Edit, which we called, Robert and Jaimie’s Wedding Weekend, went well and the guests loved the fun shots of skiing, spa and rehearsal. 

The evening ended with a fireworks show over the lake.  A great ending to a fun day.

The Wedding Vendors were:

• DJ - Celebrations Entertainment
• Band - JP and the Cats
• Videography - Frogman Productions
• Photography - Pierre’s Portrait Art

Click below to see Robert and Jaimie’s Wedding Weekend 

 

A little wedding related humor

I got this silly little cartoon via email a few days ago from my dad.  I figured it would be a great little addition to the blog.  Enjoy!

 

Joel and Lisa’s wedding.

The Date: May 10, 2008.

The Setting: Historical Gesu Parish on the campus of Marquette University.

 

What a fun day working for Joel and Lisa.  We had the privelege of teaming up with 2 of our favorite Milwaukee based professionals.  We got to team up with Gretchen from Expressive Photography and Craig from All Star Music DJ.  Working together with them was a real blast. 

 

After a beautiful ceremony as Gesu Parish, we were off to the Harbor Lights room next to the lake in Milwaukee.  Joel and Lisa’s day of wedding planner, Dorothy Owsley from Original Occasions did a great job decorating the room into a very elegant reception. 

 

 

 Joel and Lisa were having fun all day long.  From the getting ready time, to the ceremony to the party at the Harbor Lights room. 

 

May 10th was a great day to start their lives together and will hopefully be just the beginning of many more good days to come.

 

 

Here’s the movie trailer we created for their upcoming movie.