All this wedding planning and changing dates can be a real headache… or so Elaine keeps telling me. We changed our date from July to October and we had to juggle our clients dates, friends and families schedules, and our suppliers availabilities before we could settle on a date and venue. Everything was going just perfect for us: We managed to nail down The Malton in Killarney – one of my favourite filming locations! – our band The Marvels from Cork were available, our piano player Maurice Culligan was still on… and then, disaster. Glen Elliott, the wedding videographer I was flying in from Philadelphia was booked and unavailable. I was gutted! So what does one do in situation like this…. well, I went looking for someone else in Canada but more of that some other time.

We are all delighted with The Malton hotel. I’ve had the opportunity to film several weddings there in the past so I know what to expect from them: beautiful surroundings, great service, fab food, and I know our guests will be in the safest of hands.

My good friend Roger Overall took this picture of me while I was telling him about my crusade to change the face of wedding video in Ireland.

Six months or so further down the road it looks like I’m finally making an impact with my wedding films for modern young couples.  Not only have I been lucky enough to film weddings throughout Ireland but I’ve also told Wedding Stories in the UK, Crete, and I’ve even filmed in the USA.

Now, it seems that Velvetine Studios has a huge fan base in Sweden!

To be honest, this TV campaign about our unique approach to wedding video has come as a huge surprise to us but the great thing about this international exposure is that people are finally waking up to the fact that there is a new breed of wedding film available to today’s young couples.

Contact us by phone on 00353667119980 or email us if you are looking for a meaningful wedding film to remember the biggest day of your life with!

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Please watch the video advert below. Enjoy!

http://en.tackfilm.se/?id=1265148579237RA32

Finding Elaine’s engagement ring (Askomoy’s in Cork) was a long process and there were times when I began to think we’d never find it… but this pales in comparison to her search for her wedding dress: I’m just thankful that I didn’t have to tag along to countless bridal shops!  Just when everyone was starting to worry about the dress – or lack of – Elaine found it on a recent trip to Belfast where she was visiting her grandfather in hospital.  It turned out to be a great weekend when he made a fantastic recovery from his illness and Elaine walked into Jean Miller’s and fitted on “The Dress.”

Roger's picture of me during Joe & Mary's reception

Making connections with the entire wedding party is a very important part of what I do… And these connections include all the other vendors like the hotel staff, the florist, the musicians, and the photographers.

In July, I had the opportunity to work with Roger Overall for the very first time and his documentary style of photography made an immediate impression on me… it also complements my wedding films because his lack of “orchestrating” events allows me to shoot fluid and real moments.

I must say that dinner time at Joe & Mary’s wedding was one of the most enjoyable for me in a long time as Roger and I discussed everything and anything about weddings!

Now, I regularly check into his website to catch up on all the news but I was quite surprised and flattered to discover that he featured a nice article about me on his blog!

At the moment I’m working on a couple of non-disclosure weddings (couples who prefer not to have any of their wedding displayed in the public arena) but I hope to get around to Joe & Mary’s fantastic July wedding as soon as possible… and who knows, I might even squeeze the talented Mr. Roger Overall in there somewhere.

Maurice Culligan - A Great Musician!

I’ve had the pleasure of watching and listening to the very talented Maurice Culligan – based in Galway – play at a couple of weddings… instead of the DJ!

People are always a little apprehensive at first when we tell them we’re having a piano player instead of a DJ… some of our family thought it was going to be a sedate affair (I’m wording their thoughts politely here) but nothing could be further from the truth.

What Maurice Culligan brings to a wedding is an intimate gathering around his piano after the band have gone home and he rocks the night away with a sing-song.  He has the crowd singing everything from Your Song to Patricia The Stripper and I’ve even witnessed 50 people blasting out a rousing rendition of The Flakiest Milk Chocolate from the Cadbury’s ad.  Mighty, mighty craic and we just had to have him for our wedding!

Like The Marvels, Maurice was unavailable for our original date – he plays The Radisson every year for The Galway Races – so we happily moved the date and are delighted that he’s going to be such a big part of our day… or should I say early morning!!!!

Elaine and I realised the importance of great entertainment at our wedding so we were always prepared to invest in a brilliant band…. And these guys were No 1 on my list after seeing them in action at a wedding I filmed in Sneem last year.  The Marvels are a Cork based band and they are fun, energetic, gifted entertainers, and most importantly, they’ve got that something that’s just different about them.  In fact, we liked them so much (and another one of our suppliers) that we moved our date when we learned that they were unavailable for our original date.

Uber professional, super to deal with, and oozing talent… I can’t recommend them highly enough for anyone who’s looking for a great wedding band.

It’s only natural that I’d put a huge emphasis on my own wedding video and it was the first thing that Elaine and I discussed.  She asked me who was top of my list and now you’re looking at them above: Two of the best videographers in the world who are coming all the way from Philadelphia and New Jersey to Kerry for my wedding and I can’t tell you how excited I am to have them as part of the day; and not just because they’re fantastic at what they do but because we have grown to become very good friends over the past few years.

I first met Glen and Darrell in person at a training event in the USA last year.  This year, Darrell invited me to Philadelphia to film Glen’s own wedding and I had such a good time there that I was lonesome after I left.

So my wedding video is sorted and with a little bit of luck and the promise of a green card, we might even be able to marry young Darrell off to one of the village girls from Kilflynn… and in case any of you potential brides are worried or turned off by the fact that he sent two pictures of himself to me then fear not… you see, he reckons he does the work of two men at every wedding and that deserves two pictures on my blog.

Roll on July 24th!!!

Thanks largely to Elaine… (OK, she deserves all the thanks actually)… our wedding plans are really starting to fall into place now.  Despite some of the great hotels in Tralee that I have filmed in and highly recommended, Elaine fell in love with the relatively new Fels Point from the very second she walked in the door.  I’m not filming my first wedding there until late July but I’ve been hearing fantastic feedback about this venue and I have to say that I was very impressed with the place when Elaine and her posse of women hauled me in there to check it out during a recent weddings promotion.

Manager Andrew Jackson has been looking after us and nothing is a problem:  Whatever we (meaning Elaine!) want is immediately accomodated by Andrew.  Great service, mouth watering food, intimate setting… Excellent choice, Elaine!

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