16th July 2009 - taking a break from watching the Open Golf to look at some of wedding clips on the internet. Some very stylish work is being done, it's entertaining,easy to watch and easy to be seduced into thinking that's what I want.  Just watched a clip where the Bride arrives in the car -- what are we shown - a close up of her shoes followed by the dress cascading onto the pavement in slow motion and slightly out of focus at times.  I think, what would I be showing -well the rather more  appealing close up of the Bride and Dad in the car before showing the exit from the car. Everyone is entitled to have different tastes, but it seems to me that what passes for an entertaining clip may be very different from what you would prefer to live with as a reminder of your day.

I have been asked to produce some customised services lately and this has prompted me to think about introducing a new option " Romance " It is a sort of halfway house between the Bronze and the Gold Service and may appeal to those that would prefer to have the special effects intermixed from the start rather than as we do ,reserve them for the special feature sections. The new options will cost £650 and £720 respectively - you will get a stills slideshow lasting between 7 and 8 minutes,  a highlights of the day version lasting 8 to 10 minutes and as I said special effects (slow motion - colourisation etc) will be intermixed during the main film where deemed appropriate. 

This is an extract from a  letter that I received from the Vows Awards.  "Creative Video Troon did receive enough nominations to qualify, however just fell short of being in the top 4 when the short list was drawn.You clearly offer an excellent service from the customer comments and scores received."

There is a lot to do when organizing a wedding and you might be tempted to take some shortcuts such as using all in one suppliers for your photography and video.  Remember 3 to 4 years ago none of these hybrid suppliers existed so that is the timescale for their photographic experience. Some have had a little formal training , some none at all and some think that because they have seen talented photographers at work over many years, then they can just copy the best of the styles. It is not  as simple as that. If it were then I could play golf  like Phil Mickelson and tennis like Roger Federer.

Wedding Fayres

We are cutting back on the number of Wedding Fayres that we attend because it is turning more and more into a money making machine for the organisers. The chances of you making the best choice gets slimmer in line with the greater number of suppliers. Although we continue to be busy we were even busier in the days when people took the time to come and see us and compare what we could provide. Now those days may be gone forever but I can rely on getting new business by way of recommendations from prevoius customers or from those suppliers that wish to see you making a good choice. If I could not then you would be seeing my desperate face at almost every wedding fayre.

There are many talented people out there and I hope that they are the ones that you choose to use.

We are now filming and editing in high definition before down converting it to DVD. This preserves a lot of the detail and sharpness and basically gives you better pictures. You can of course upgrade and get the full wedding in High Definition on Blu Ray. A lot of extra time is needed to produce a Blu Ray disc and it costs £150 to upgrade (you get one blu ray disc and 3 DVD's as before)

A lot of the images on this site will be replaced over the next few weeks to reflect the improved picture quality that this process facilitates.

There have been a number of occassions this year when customers have put friends or amateur photographers in charge of filming their day. It is quite often very obvious that they are out of their depth either in skill levels , people management or artistic vision. Whilst it is not my job to set up shots, I have found myself needing to do so in order to maintain the high standard of content that I set myself when producing your DVD. I would always prefer you to use a good wedding photographer as the video is always going to look more natural and have a better flow to it. If you must use someone who is inexperienced then please ask me beforehand about a mini video photoshoot that takes about 10 to 15 minutes and will ensure that you have some classy content with some fun and good memories of your day.

Many Hotels will provide you with a microphone to aid the delivery of your speeches but few provide any guideance as how to use the equipment to give good results. We use very good microphones but if the sound is distorted before it reaches them, then the results are never going to be satisfactory. The file below will give some tips and advice on this subject.

File 1 (10kb)