Kristine and Greg at the Glen Cove Mansion!

Kristine couldn’t have looked more radiant, even in the cool bridal shorts and tank-top she was wearing when I arrived at the incredible Glen Cove Mansion.

Her bridal party and her Mom were totally fun and they really seemed to enjoy our approach to telling Kristine and Greg’s story for their wedding movie. Greg and his guys looked charming when we first saw them in the mansion library.

You could really feel the excitement build as we got closer and closer to the ceremony. And what a beautiful ceremony it was… the weather was great and so were their vows. Naturally, it was followed by what can only be described as an awesome reception.

Tina Dalgish was a fantastic photographer and we enjoyed working together. It was fun to chat about our mutual friend once we discovered we had one. The staff at the Glen Cove Mansion did their normal fantastic job and the place never looked better. Check out their cool new chairs! Jerry Kravat’s Manhattan Rhythm Machine band really kept the party hopping and the compliments for them never seemed to stop.

Here is Kristine and Greg’s “Wedding Movie” trailer… we’re looking forward to producing their complete movie soon!

The Beauty of Southern California!

What can possibly be said about the beauty of Southern California that has not already been said? Well, you could start with Michelle Caiazza!

Then add Dustin Conard, a little Huntington Beach Hyatt Regency and an incredible looking bridal party and you’ve got Southern California beauty that had not previously been experienced!

While our East Coast style of wedding video might have been a little bit of a revelation to Michelle and Dustin, they could not have been more open, cooperative and interested in sharing their “Love Story”.

From the men’s golf outing and the ladies shopping spree to our retrospective interview concluding their wedding celebration events… Michelle and Dustin were the ideal couple who as a seasoned veteran of the wedding business love to work with!

Despite the unseasonably cool weather, the Huntington Beach Hyatt was more spectacular than the couple could have imagined, and Brooke Keegan of Details Details had each and every desire of Michelle and Dustin coordinated perfectly. We worked together with Josef Isayo their photographer to collectively capture their day in the most elegant and artistic fashion!

Here is a small preview of their wonderful wedding day!

Everyone LOVES the Circus!

Jericho’s George A. Jackson Elementary School did an awesome job at their 5th grade Circus! And what an honor it was to be selected to record it for them!

Between Alex Wolf, the photographer for the event (who introduced me to the Jackson School PTA), Lori Caputo and the PTA staff, and Jackson’s principal and wonderful teachers… plus Ann Dorwin and her “National Circus Project” staff… What a nice diversion from our wonderful world of Weddings and Mitzvahs.

This is a brief but exciting highlight reel from their circus.

Central Park Boathouse

I certainly had heard of the Central Park Boathouse before shooting a wedding there this past weekend and I have been in and enjoyed Central Park, but I was not familiar with doing a wedding at the Boathouse. However, once I had my parking pass and figured out how to enter the park (roads closed on weekends) I was excited about the event.

As I made my way through NYC and entered the park somewhere up in the 90s, there was graceful peace and calm inside of the park. I was a foreigner with my motorized vehicle slowly driving amongst the bicyclists, skaters and walkers towards my destination. As soon as I arrived at the venue, I knew I had found a very unique place for weddings and events.

Earlier in the day, when I arrived at the bride’s family home for her preparations; I was introduced to their photographer. Jimmy was an unconventional “wedding” photographer from my perspective, but I knew instantly that he was an exceptional artist. Somehow, great artists just know great artists when they see them. Jimmy had a “way”, a “move” and a “technique” that just spoke volumes about the images that I had not even gotten to see yet.

Jimmy and I worked simultaneous in and around our bride and her friends and family… it was a very big loft apartment in midtown and we both took full advantage of the architecture and décor. The ability to anticipate the other artist’s next move is what makes it fun to work with true professionals. Despite only meeting that day, we worked together like a well oiled machine. The day only improved when we arrived at the Central Park Boathouse.

Regardless of the celebrities and the high-profile politicians in attendance at the wedding, it was a truly great event. And much to my surprise, Peter the maître’d at the Boathouse was a very familiar and friendly face as he spent many years as Maître’d at Long Island’s own Swan Club!




Central Park Boathouse
James Ferarra Photography

Amazing Parallels

I had a recent phone conversation with a fellow wedding professional. Photographer Dan Wagner contacted me to inquire about my eNewsletters. We chatted about technology and our wonderful wedding industry. We both have a strong passion for what we do… but what ended up surprising both of us were the parallels in our lives. It turns out that we both studied photography and Farmingdale State (we studied a few years apart, but I won’t say who was older). We had many of the same professors and had nearly exact likes and dislikes in the curriculum we studied.

It also turns out that Dan lived in the same town as me for a couple of years, but again… parallels, our paths did not cross. Then the kicker was when Dan asked if I knew a particular videographer that he had befriended early in the wedding/event video industry. Sure enough we had both been friendly with the same videographer, but again at different times.

While Dan and I have not yet worked together… after that very pleasant conversation, I know that I’d enjoy that opportunity.

Dan Wagner Photography http://www.danwagner.com/

Karen Cosenza and Wesson Oil?

Speaking of Hockey...

This was a long time ago, but like a classic song it is timeless. I’m not going to comment much on this other than the fact that I was never 100% sure that those funny phone scams on the radio were real.

That was until my wife (then girlfriend) decided that it would be funny to pull one over on me!
She did… VERY successfully!

A Hockey Love Story!

In the spirit of the NHL post-season, we're going to post a

Hockey oriented clip this week.

Let's take a look at Anita and Scott's "Love Story".

Anita and Scott's story was a fascinating one to say the least; and it sure does their NHL themed wedding day justice. I won't tell you much about their story, because the video will do that for you!

However, how often can you say that the New York Islanders, the New York Rangers and the New Jersey Devils actually brought a wonderful couple together?

We shot their Love Story on the same day that we shot the "Final Fitting" for Anita's gown. If you have time, take a look at their "Retrospective" clip as well.

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We work in New Jersey on a fairly regular basis, but this was the first time we worked at The Madison Hotel, it was a fabulous place. And it looked absolutely fantastic in the early summer!

Since this was not the first event we attended for Anita's family, we had already enjoyed the pleasure of working with MMP Entertainment, Marcello was the consummate professional we knew him to be and his team did a great job, everyone was thrilled.

Anita and Scott had done a lot of searching for a photographer in New Jersey, but they didn't find what they were looking for. That was until upon our suggestion they met with one of our Long Island colleagues (and now back in New York) Paul Marino, from Paul Marino Photography. Paul's work and creativity speaks for itself.

Pope Benedict XVI and Saint Ignatius Loyola

We had a wedding at Saint Ignatius Loyola on Park Avenue in New York City last Saturday. This was the first time that I had ever been to this church. I had heard that it was historic and quite beautiful. I was very much looking forward to being there until I heard that there will be MANY road closures in Manhattan that day due to Pope Benedict’s travels throughout the area.

Frankly, it is difficult enough to navigate and park a vehicle when we do weddings in NYC, but having roads closed put me in alarm mode. I studied the NYC.gov site to see exactly which roads would be closed and exactly when they would be closed. I plotted out three different travel routes in case of sudden changes of schedule. I packed an equipment dolly in case I had to walk several blocks to reach the church. I even asked my wife Lee Ann to chauffeur me because I was so panicked that even if I get to the church, where on earth would I have to park the car. She agreed to chauffeur me (on her day off) and I was totally relieved.
So, GPS ready, pages of varied directions printed and a two-hour earlier than normal departure… off we went to Saint Ignatius Loyola Church on Park Avenue! It was an incredible day, the temperature was perfect, the sky was blue and the Long Island Expressway was clear and moving. Make the move on to the Grand Central Parkway and heading towards the Triborough Bridge; we were making great time and enjoying the ride… over the bridge and into uptown Manhattan in no time at all. But I knew what was coming.

Make right on to 96th said Karen our Australian GPS voice. Still enjoying the ride and wondering where we’ll finally be stopped… we made the right and a few minutes later we made the left on to Park Avenue. Ten more blocks and we’d be at the church. However, now we can begin to see policemen and police vans EVERYWHERE and they are directing traffic. But they didn’t stop us from turning on to Park Avenue and we can basically see the full NYC skyline and the incredible view of Grand Central from Park Avenue. There is NO traffic and no closures… we are carefully counting down each block as we get closer and closer to 84th, where St. Ignatius Church is. Four blocks to go… two blocks to go… There it is… there is St Ignatius… We slow down to evaluate the situation; there are already “Wedding Today” signs in the road blocking vehicles from parking in front of the church.

“Watch out for that van” says Lee Ann. As she says that, I realize that the van she is referring to is backing up towards us; but it is parked in a legal parking spot on Park Avenue, directly in front of the church. Is it possible that we can move into his parking spot? Is it possible that we can get THE FIRST parking spot in front of the church? We stop to allow the van to move out of his position and allow him to depart. We look at each other in disbelief, we make sure we are clear of the “Wedding Today” no parking signs and make our move. Not even a parallel park… we pull straight in to the first parking spot in front of St Ignatius.

A week of stress trying to determine what to do, what will happen… how will I get there, where will I park, how will I get the equipment from the car to the church? Where will the police stop us from proceeding? And we pull straight into the best possible parking space. We got to the church in less than an hour and had NO ISSUES what-so-ever! NONE!

As I put the car in park, we looked at each other in amazement… then I looked the church… and thanked Saint Ignatius and God himself!

Twenty Things

Many years ago, I was speaking with one of our brides about a variety of topics regarding her wedding. It seemed to her that I had a quality suggestion for virtually any of the issues that she wanted to discuss about her wedding; mainly because almost every aspect of a bride’s wedding decisions affect her wedding movie in one form or another.

Anyway, after the fifth or sixth quality suggestion that she wrote down, she half jokingly said that I should write a book. Well, while I did not think I was capable of a book, I did realize that I had a LOT of suggestions that would help ANY bride prepare for her wedding day and without even realizing it, she’d be making her wedding movie better as well.

So I started documenting a variety of suggestions; and in a very short time, I had created an article that I titled “Twenty Things You Can Do To Make Your Wedding Video Better, Without Even Trying”, or TTYCDTMYWVBWOET for short (just kidding). I usually refer to it as my “Twenty Things” article.

Intermittently I will be posting some of those suggestions here on this blog. Here is the first…

GOWN SELECTION –

When choosing your wedding gown (and bridesmaids dresses too), consider the fact that you will be dancing much of the night. While it may look appropriate for the “Chicken Dance”, clutching your dress under your arms and lifting is not necessarily the best shot for your wedding video. Strapless gowns may not be the best choice for all brides… unless you like “popping out”!

Simply stated, when trying on gowns, DANCE IN IT! With or without music, dance around as if it were you were screaming out TWIST AND SHOUT! Then you’ll know for sure that you will be 100% comfortable all night.

What did Kristen think about Treasured Memories Video?

Look for Kristen and Brendan's Wedding Day Music Video... will be posted soon!