SWP Episode 007 and Live Panel Recording
This video is our presentation at 2021’s SK Modern Wedding Summit. In it, our team talk tips for both the bride and groom, and give insights into our preparation and thought process behind shooting your wedding day.
Watch the panel session above, or listen to the panel on our podcast - The Sask Wedding Podcast - at the link below.
[Pre-recorded panel session from the SK Modern Wedding Summit on March 28, 2021 | Panel session is closed-captioned and a transcript of the panel is available below the audio link.]
Show links:
TRANSCRIPT
(slow music)
(music fades)
- Alright well,
we are really excited to be here.
It's been a crazy year
and we're really excited to be part of the
SK Modern Wedding Summit.
What do you guys call it?
- [offscreen] SK Modern Wedding Summit.
- SK Modern, did I forget "modern"?
Anyway,
we're really excited to be here.
Thank you very much to Karly
from Pretty in the Pines
and Crystal from Method Events
for spearheading this
and having us join.
It's been really awesome to be able to
capture everybody today
and see what they had to say
and some of their really helpful tips.
So anyway, really, really excited.
But before we go too far,
a little bit about us.
- Should we say something
related to what we're doing,
like what we do on the wedding day?
Oh! How about our favorite
part of the wedding day?
That's a good one, right?
(laughs)
- Good one!
- So my name is Chris Rempel.
I am a videographer
and on the wedding day,
you'll see me either running live stream
or standing behind cameras, filming,
and I'm capturing those
special moments in time.
And my favorite -
one of my favorite parts
of the wedding day is
that moment when the couple
is coming up the aisle,
just at the end of the ceremony
and people are cheering around them.
And then there's a lot of noise
and celebration
and their faces are just lit up
and they're excited.
And then there's usually
a moment when they just
look at each other
and make just like a
briefest of connections.
It's a busy day,
but there's like such a great
feeling in that one moment,
when you are just filming
or photographing them
coming up the aisle there,
it's such a cool moment
to capture in time, so.
- Do you ever cry when you see that?
- No.
- I do sometimes.
This is about you,
anyway.
- I'm Melissa Weir.
I'm a photographer and editor with MJ&Co.
And my favorite part of
the wedding day would be
getting to whisk the couple
away for sunset photos.
But I'll get into that a little bit later.
- My name is Crystal Ramage,
also: Matt's better half.
- Much better.
- The best.
- I am a photographer with MJ&Co.
and I think my favorite
part of the wedding day is
when the bride is getting
ready with her girls
and just capturing those
little fleeting moments
that just seem to go by so quick.
So the bride can go back
and look at those later.
- My name is Matt Ramage.
I'm the founder of MJ&Co.
and my favorite thing -
well, I missed "what I do" -
I take pictures and
help run video cameras.
And I love being on wedding days.
So mostly photography,
started a long time ago,
and now we're here
and it's great to be here.
I'm rambling.
Alright,
favorite part of the wedding day,
candy bar, donut bar,
and then,
but just a little bit more
than those is the toast
especially if dads - I don't
know what it is about dads,
but when dads start
gushing about their kids
and how proud they are
or how excited they are to
invite the new, you know,
son-in-law or daughter-in-law
into the family,
that is, that's my favorite part
and definitely I'll be sitting there like
wiping my tears away so.
It's awesome.
So today we're going to
share 10 important things
that shouldn't be
afterthought for your wedding.
So we've seen all of
these tips in the wild.
It's a super long title,
I know, rolls off the tongue,
but these are just tips we've seen
and we put them together
from real experience.
And they're to help you get better photos
and videos
and just enjoy the day better.
So you guys ready?
- [All] We're ready.
- [Matt] We're going to do it.
- Okay.
Okay, bouquets,
they're just great accessories.
They are a great representation
of a bride's style.
Florists nowadays
just have access to so
many different flowers,
different colors of flowers,
all the greenery that's out there,
so just so many options to choose from.
And the bride can just really
personalize it to her style.
And we've even seen brides
that will have a picture
of their loved one,
and they'll put it in a locket.
They may attach it to
the stem of the bouquet,
just to hold on as, you know,
they're walking down the aisle.
They catch a glimpse of that
little photo in the locket
or feel it
and they just remember
that person is there with them in spirit.
And it also makes for
great detail photographs,
whether it's in the morning
when they're getting ready,
just putting it with their
jewelry or their footwear,
you get those really
pretty detailed shots.
Even throughout the day when
you're doing your formals,
it's really adds a lot of color
and interest to the photos as well.
And then one we would say
is maybe most important
is just: it gives you something
to do with your hands.
Oftentimes for the photos we have,
those couples, bride or groom,
they may feel just a little bit awkward,
like what should I do with this hand?
And so it can be a great tool, accessory,
to use for that as well.
- Can you imagine if we didn't
give you a mic for this?
Like, you wouldn't know what to do.
- Yeah.
- That's right.
I have the mic to keep my hand busy.
I'm a very "hand person".
- This photo here,
this one's one of my
favorites I like to take
when I'm on a wedding day.
I love it when the groom
holds it for his bride.
It's just super romantic.
She's helping-
or, he's helping her walk, you know,
and I dunno', his arms' around her.
She's just all enthralled with him.
And I probably do that
one almost every time.
And it just,
it's not like I plan it.
It's just like, it comes naturally,
like he's helping her like,
hold her dress or hold
her flowers, you know?
And it's really cute on a wedding day.
Alright, this one's mine:
greet and acknowledge every table.
When you have a large amount
of guests at your wedding,
you know, you got tons
of people who been like,
come from out of town
or even across the country
or across the world,
it's really nice to be able to
get some face time with them.
And you know, a receiving line is fine,
but you don't,
it's very way more rushed
because typically if you
have a receiving line,
you're doing photos after that
and you're doing, you know,
let's say the family photos
and then the couples photos -
there's a lot of like pressure.
Or, you know,
a lot of couples these days
just skip it all together.
I would say more people
don't that than do do that.
So just visiting people
at the wedding reception,
at the table, you know,
between courses of your dinner
or maybe between, you know,
you've eaten first
and then your guests are
sitting there waiting;
it's really awesome,
it's super classy.
One of the things about photos though,
is you get a lot of great
opportunities for candid photos.
So bring a champagne glass
with you or, you know,
a drink or something,
and you can cheers your guests.
It's really fun.
Your guests will remember it.
And I think it'll be
more fun for you as well.
That's it, let's move it on.
- So there's a point in
every wedding when you -
or most weddings I should say,
I can't assume every wedding,
but where-
- Every wedding.
- Okay.
We'd like it to be for every wedding -
where you have an opportunity to
address all of your
guests or the attendees,
and whether that's a smaller group,
or like we're most used to
having like a couple hundred people.
I know that the potential
is there for you to forget
or to miss thanking somebody
or saying something special
about a particular person
but don't let that
squash your preparation for giving
a thoughtful toast.
And the reason that you
want to do that is two-fold,
like you do want to acknowledge
the guests that are there,
and you do want to acknowledge
the people that have put work
into your day.
But you also -
and this is coming from
a videographer point
or perspective -
it gives some really,
really great sound bites
for the keepsake films that we make.
And I think we might have
an example of that but-
- I've got one ready for you.
- Okay.
Well, sure. Let's do it now.
- Right now?
- Sure. Sure.
- [On Video] As any good
father of the bride,
it should end with wise words.
And I have some for my new son-in-law
and I am proud to say
you are my son-in-law.
It's only when you reach my age,
that you realize what it
means to go home at night
to a woman who gives
you respect, tenderness,
and affection.
But what that really means
is you've gone to the wrong house, so...
(laughter)
(upbeat music)
(music fades)
- So you can have a little bit of fun,
or you can be serious.
It's really up to you.
Just make sure that you
put some thought into it.
Don't leave it 'till the
day or the night before.
You're going to have
too much on your mind,
and you're gonna have too
much on your mind the day of,
and so if it helps you to write it out,
then just write it out.
Nobody's gonna hate you for
reading off a list of thank yous
for the many, many people
that will likely be supporting you
and helping you put
this day together, so...
- Yeah and to add to that,
winging it just like,
even today, it's like,
we've prepared quite a bit
but it's still like,
kind of hard to do this.
Like, on your wedding day,
there's a lot going on.
Plus you probably got a few drinks in you.
Winging it is not a good idea.
Plan it out, even bullet
points and it helps.
I'm going to go into this next section.
I'm going to do this one.
And this one, we call it tip number four:
make it personal.
So the whole idea of this is like,
you only have a few times
during your wedding day
that are like,
you have the floor
and the stage to talk.
One is your vows at your wedding ceremony,
and one is the toast that
Chris was just talking about,
and making them personal is,
again, great for the video.
But it's also super sweet and romantic.
And part of me just...
these always melt me.
And we're going to show you a
clip from a wedding that like,
when I watched the edit, after we made it,
I just -
I can't help but just feel warm and fuzzy.
And it makes me tear up.
So - and I remember it being
really special for the couple.
So this is from,
this video clip's from a
couple - Andy and Teagan.
They got married this past summer.
And you know,
they had custom vows or
what do you call them?
Not custom?
- Personalized.
- Personalized.
And actually at their
ceremony, their officiant -
a lot of people have done
this in the past few years:
they get married, [at]
City Hall, whatever,
and so they're actually
technically married already,
but on their wedding day they
just have someone they love
in their family do the officiating.
So they're, you know,
they're not actually signing
the papers or anything,
but that is what Andy and Teagan did.
And yeah, it was super special.
He was gushing about her.
She was gushing about him
and it was really great.
Plus independent research has
shown that your chances of
getting laid go up 10x
when making a public
declaration of your love.
So here's a clip.
(gentle music)
[Andy] I love how great
of a mother you are.
I love that you love my mom,
even though you never met her.
I love you Teagan.
[Teagan] You don't ever
talk about being good
and doing good things,
you just do them.
You don't let anger get the best of you
and you never speak ill of other people.
You're just such a good man.
(gentle music fades)
- So, are you guys crying?
- No!
- I had to wipe a tear.
- So sweet.
- So sweet.
Alright, let's move on.
...Melissa's turn
- Oh, it's my turn!
So lighting.
Lighting can completely transform a space,
especially from a
photographer's perspective.
Lighting can make all the difference.
So I find as a photographer,
that the majority of the
venues that we work in
really aren't set up lighting wise.
There's beautiful venues,
but when it gets dark in the
evening at reception time,
they're just not well lit
and that's not great for photos.
So it is really good to think about that
when planning your wedding
and yeah, what else?
- Well, yeah,
and your DJ and wedding
planner can help with this.
We've seen some really
shanty-looking, you know,
(what's the word?)
your town community center
really transformed with
drapery and lighting.
And that's where your, you know,
your DJ can bring the disco ball
and laser lights and all that stuff.
And then usually then if they're there,
they can also add
spotlights to the podium,
which is really good.
And then your wedding planner
can also provide uplighting,
which really sets the mood.
So, you know, you got a beautiful venue,
like the The Barn at Wind's Edge.
You don't need a lot to go there.
Maybe just some lighting on the podium
and the head table.
You go to the community center
so you can hold 300 guests
or something like that,
when that's available again;
that's where you need that help.
And some draping, some lighting, you know,
talk to your wedding planner about this.
It makes all the difference.
The photo on this slide here,
this was from Rethan
and Geraldine's wedding.
This is at the Remai Modern.
The light in that shot,
that's lights we've brought
so we do bring our own lighting
to just make the photos
and videos look pretty dynamic,
but you can see they also had -
you can't really see
it in this exact shot,
but - they had the words love
and like the lit up love
letters behind them.
And they had those spark-
I don't know what to
even call those lights.
What are those lights on that photo?
- String lights.
- Yeah, so they brought that
and then behind that
was a view of the river.
So anyway, you know,
work with the space
and think about that.
I guess why we put this in here was,
we've seen weddings where we're, you know,
the podium
and the head table,
you just can't see what's going on there
it's so dark and-
- that doesn't translate over
to video or photos very well.
And especially if you want
those like nice audio bits,
and you've got a video
coming down the pipe,
like from anybody, from whoever you hire,
hopefully us, but-
- Ask your photographer, videographer,
like we do bring our own lighting,
but it's like,
even for people just
to see it is super nice
to have some lighting that's kind of
highlighting what's going on.
And it makes it less noticeable too,
when people are at the back, getting up,
going to get a drink,
going to the washroom,
it just puts the focus on
the front of the room so.
- I should add to that you can end up with
some really beautiful,
like first dance shots
if you've got some fun lighting,
often provided by the DJ,
but you can have some
really romantic looking
first dance shots in there as well.
- Signage, just do it. Do signage.
We'll keep this one short and sweet.
We're halfway done.
So you get married on your
friend's acreage outside of town,
and you say,
"Okay, everybody take
a left at Martensville
or take a left at a wherever.
Go three miles,
turn right past the blue
house with the Quonset
and then into the field..."
Us city folk are intimidated
by that kind of thing.
So signage is a really important part,
but it could also be fun
and part of your decor, you know.
It doesn't take a lot to make
some simple stuff like that.
So think of it as like,
don't treat it like, you know,
it's the day before your
wedding you're like,
"how are people gonna know?"
"A balloon on a stick with an arrow?"
You know, you want your
name at least there.
I've seen, you know,
K and K wedding or something like that.
That's probably not even too bad.
I might just put the names on.
And then when it comes to your reception
and your ceremony space,
it's great to have signage too.
Let's say you're in a hotel, even.
Hotels can hold multiple
weddings in a night
and or a day,
and you know,
they have their little
digital signage with you know,
whose party's where,
and it's like, you know,
to have your own sign just looks better.
Right outside the doors,
you can talk to Mahshed from PaperOcelot.
She does really great work.
Or your wedding planner
can help you with that too.
But yeah, don't forget to do it.
What else did we got here?
That might be it.
You guys have anything to add that?
- Well, if you want to go
a step further than that,
at all of the venues that you have,
especially if they're outdoors...
if you're hosting an event of any kind,
just like at your parent's farm
or maybe your acreage or something,
nobody's going to know where you should
and shouldn't park.
Like you might think
that it would be obvious.
I've been on, yeah.
And this isn't a slam,
but I've been to many acreages or farms
where it's just like, there's gravel,
but I don't know,
like I haven't been there before.
So I don't know that you
can't park between this shed
and the fence.
It might seem like a safe space,
but you come back out
and there's three trucks in your way
and you can't possibly get out.
- Chris is like,
fears this.
(laughter)
- Being stuck somewhere.
- Signage is my love language so...
- Alright, this is another important one.
So your wedding day has a
lot of things you're doing.
I want you to kind of just
imagine you're getting ready
and we're you know,
your photographer and
videographer show up,
you spent the morning with
your friends getting ready.
It's a great time.
Now, if you just switched one thing,
and that's you're doing
too many of the things,
you're the one getting
table covers on chairs,
or you're the one picking up flowers
or stuff like that.
Or even just answering the phone
when people are doing
your errands for you,
it just takes away from it.
You know,
we want brides to be relaxed
and having fun - and grooms too -
just with their friends.
And so, you know, delegating
is really important.
Delegate it to people you can trust.
Well, maybe Melissa wants
to share about that one.
- Yeah, I would say
delegate to the people that
you know can handle the task.
It's not always necessary -
if you're not hiring a wedding planner,
then delegate to people that you know
will take care of it for you.
I think it's a common misconception
that you need to kind of
throw all your big tasks
on your maid of honor.
And maybe your maid of
honor is your best friend
or your sister, but maybe she just can't.
- [Matt] Or younger
sister, she's 17 years old-
- Yeah, maybe she can't
take on all of those tasks.
So maybe delegate.
- She doesn't even have an ID
to buy the booze.
(laugh)
- Delegate to the right
people that you know
can take care of it for you.
- And then that's also
the best way to have people
involved in your wedding
where you want them involved.
Because like you were
saying with Andy and Teagan,
they could have somebody involved
that was like a great public speaker
to do their officiating
and stuff like that.
And so it,
it frees up the people that are front
and center or should be
front and center for the day.
And allows other people
to also be involved.
So it's like a win-win.
If you're looking for people
to be involved in your wedding,
you don't want to turn
anybody down... (shrug)
- Yeah and one of the weddings
we did this past fall,
the couple had I think six bridesmaids,
Karly was there for Pretty in the Pines,
and we were filming it.
And there was this moment
where the bride walks down the stairs
and all of her bridesmaids
and her dad's there
and her mom's there.
And they're all there ready to see her
get her dress on for the first time.
And I'm like, that's special.
And that's a moment you
need everybody there for so,
ask for help.
Don't do it yourself.
We want photos where you're having fun
and we want your VIP's there.
- Okay, my favorite part.
So, sunset photos.
I recommend this to everyone
whose wedding I shoot.
This is my favorite part
of the day, like I said.
It's just a time when I
will whisk away the bride
and groom after dinner,
depending on the schedule for the day,
could be after the first dance,
but it's within that
hour or so before sunset.
And I find that you get the best,
most relaxed shots of the day.
The couple has a chance to
just have a really quiet
little moment together.
I just tell them to forget that I'm there
and they can just focus on each other.
And yeah,
I find that I get the
prettiest photos of the day,
not only lighting,
but just a relaxed couple that's...
now the stress of the day is over
and they can just sigh a relief
and give a little love to their partner
before heading back to the party.
- What kind of love?
What kind of photos are these?
- Kissing love.
(laughs)
- Alright, I want you to close your eyes.
Everybody can close their eyes.
Imagine it's a beautiful wedding day.
You have this beautiful outdoor ceremony.
The sun's shining, the sky's blue.
Your officiant said that
cheesy line about the rings
being a circle
and it's eternity
and how that makes them so special.
And all of a sudden your
great aunt Karen from Calgary
pops up in the middle of the aisle
with her iPad Pro, 13.9 inches.
She's got the folding
case so it drops down
and now you're looking at 26
vertical inches taken up space.
And just as you're
about to kiss, you know.
You don't want that. You don't want that.
You want-
- Eclipsing the entire view of the camera.
- Blocking the sun pretty
much with her iPad.
I mean, I joke about this,
but this has happened
many times with the iPad.
So stop getting your
grandparents iPads for Christmas
as their only camera.
No, I'm kidding.
But what I -
and there's another thing to this.
This isn't 1995,
photos during the ceremony
don't wreck your photos.
We take up a bajillion photos
and the odds of a flash
affecting my photo,
I mean, most cameras don't
even use flash anymore.
But what it is is
we don't want like a special
moment where, you know,
your walking, you know,
let's say we got some photos here,
even though this wedding here
is actually a good example.
This photo here is Frankie and Gloria.
She's walking down the aisle.
He's like losing his ____, you know,
you know what.
- ...Tears?
- Yeah, he's losing his tears.
And you know, the worst thing
would be like, you know,
the mom or the dad just they're filming.
And they want to remember it too,
which I don't blame them for.
But they're just looking
down through their bifocals,
chins tucked,
and all the photos of them
the whole wedding ceremony
are them recording.
I mean, you can picture it right.
- Not flattering.
- Yeah, it's not great.
So that's like our thing
about unplugged ceremonies.
They are good.
And they're, you know,
when you're going to have
that emotional moment,
we're like glued onto the
people we know are your VIP's.
'Cause when you cry, they cry.
When they cry, you cry.
So we're watching all those things
and you don't want to be looking over,
we don't want to be looking over at them
and then they got their phone,
they got their phone down here
and you know, we missed that.
So I'm going to show you these photos,
this one's Frankie and Gloria's ceremony.
This photograph is as she's
walking down the aisle
and right after we get a shot of his mom,
and that's the groom's mom,
just staring at him, just beaming.
She's just present with him.
She's there.
And it's really special.
So that's our advice for the unplugged.
So yeah, it doesn't wreck it,
but it is nice when we just can,
people can be there, watch it.
You know, make sure you just
send the link of the photos.
Grandparents do you want the photos
so send them the link, you know.
Or take a photo with
them after the ceremony
or something like that.
Make a photo book, I don't know.
But yeah, for the ceremony,
we definitely think the unplugged
just makes it more magical.
- Alright.
You do you.
So what we mean by this one is
just make your wedding your own.
You and your fiancé are going
to have values that, kind of,
you know what you want
in your wedding day;
what would make it special.
So just make it your own.
Pinterest,
seeing inspiration from
maybe other friends
who just got married,
other photographer's pages;
you're going to get some really
good inspiration from that.
But just make sure that
you always come back
to making it your own.
Pinterest can be a deep, dark rabbit hole.
It can almost get into a bit of a trap.
So just make sure.
- That has literally been a theme from
the other sessions today.
Pinterest has great ideas-
- It does.
- But-
- You need to be careful.
- You might go crazy or broke
trying to attain them.
- It's so true.
Yeah, so just make it special,
make it your own.
Just because your friend did something,
don't feel the pressure to do it that way.
- There's always that one bridesmaid.
They got married six months before you
and they're like, every idea is like,
"Well, we did it this way,
it worked really well."
And they mean good, but it's still,
they're them.
And they should do them,
you should do you.
- Yep. Totally.
- I'm going to touch on
COVID-19 for a little bit.
We're almost done here.
COVID-19 was...
like this whole pandemic
has been really interesting.
We actually photographed almost -
I think there's only four weddings
we didn't shoot this past year.
So most of the weddings that booked us
went ahead with it
and just did an alternate
version of their day.
And when we asked them
if they felt like it was a compromise,
they were all happy they did it anyways.
So that's one thing I thought
was really interesting.
And the other thing was that
they did miss out maybe on the big party,
but they got something more in other ways.
So they got to be more intimate
with their wedding party
and their family.
And there was a definite theme to it.
And none of them felt -
I got the vibe that none of
them felt like they compromised.
They still got a beautiful day
that was really special,
so I think that is going to still inspire
future people getting married,
like in the next years,
even after this is all done
to maybe have that smaller wedding.
You know, the food at these
30-person weddings was -
every time it was better.
- Definitely, yeah.
- It's just easier to cook for 30 people
than 200, right?
- Yeah, I think that having
a smaller wedding gives you
kind of more budget opportunities.
So if you're - rather than
spending on, you know,
200 to 300 guests,
then you have a little
more budget room for
more high quality things like food,
like a great wedding planner,
or like a great photo/video
team where, I mean,
an example would be
we had Jesse and Jenna last year,
or just this summer I should say,
they had a smaller ceremony.
They ended up opting for the video option,
which they wouldn't have done before
because they were able to afford it.
And now they've got this
special keepsake video.
- And they left us raving review,
insert here.
Motion track it here.
Just kidding.
Is that it?
Is that it?
Awesome.
Oh yeah, here's just a quick photo.
This is Teagan.
They had a food truck.
What was it Rebel Melt?
- [Crystal] Yeah.
[Chris] Yes.
- [Matt] They had a permit for a park
and got, from the city,
and they had a food truck.
They had some drinks
and a super casual day
and it was very unique
and very special.
- [Melissa] Very fun.
- And you know, they had the wedding -
they were going to do the reception later
on another date.
Not going to do that anymore.
All these people
that were going to do the
secondary reception later,
all of them with us
have already canceled it
'cause they had the wedding they wanted.
So anyway, that was really cool.
Okay, this is the ending.
So I just want to thank everybody
so much for being part of today
and joining us.
If you found this helpful,
you can find more tips like this
and conversations like this,
by subscribing to our podcast.
You can find it online.
It's called 'The Sask Wedding Podcast'.
It's available wherever
you listen to podcasts.
And definitely come by our booth.
We're wanting to chat
with you today too, so...
- Yeah well,
and the reason that we're doing this,
any of this,
is 'cause we love weddings.
And we love helping
people remember weddings.
And so it's like a treat honestly,
to be able to come along
and share in that day
with a couple and help.
And then to deliver them
something afterwards
that we know that they
will be able to continue
to look back on
and remember -
that's the point of why we do what we do.
- Absolutely.
And we'd love to connect with you.
So if you'd like to see what
it's like to work with us
and our team,
you can book a free Discovery
Call on our website.
- So look us up on Facebook
and Instagram at @mjand.co
to see what we've been up to
and some of our latest work.
- Lots of fun stories and shenanigans.
- Lots of shenanigans.
- Mostly shenanigans.
Let's be honest.
- Alright, thank you so
much for joining us today
for the SK Modern Wedding Summit.
We'll chat soon.
