Wow! What a wedding. This was a day to remember. Thankfully for Olivia and Mark they'll treasure the memories forever on the DVD I'm producing for them.
The weather was perfect for this wedding, hot and a little overcast with a nice breeze. The ceremony was held at Saint Matthew's in the City, Auckland. And the reception was held at Highwic House in Newmarket/Epsom. Both venues are highly recommended if you are considering a church wedding and a garden marquee reception.
I also high commend the services of Tanya Erkkila of Perfect Settings. www.perfectsettings.co.nz Tanya's professionalism and overall organisation of both the ceremony and reception was exceptional. Hats off to Perfect Settings for a great job.
The thing that caught my attention on this shoot was the way the little details were created. Each aspect was conceived and designed perfectly. From the place names on the tables to the Indian Raj style tent for the bar. The flower arrangements and the two Ice sculptures/Vodka luges were a nice touch. When I left after filming the 2nd dance, the party was in full swing and all the guests were well into it!
As with every perfect thing there is always 'one thing'. This one little issue is one I had to bring up. The flower settings on the tables were very tall. I mean Shaq tall! The biggest of them was about 6 and a half feet. That's taller that the guests standing around. Anyhow, this caused a slight problem with positioning the cameras for the speeches. Having to move the tripod every time a speaker shuffled around was not good. Usually I recommend that speeches are made from a fixed microphone so that people don't wander off, but on this occasion it was out of my control.
All in all, a very good wedding to shoot and lovely people all 'round.
Good Luck to you Olivia and Mark.
Toni.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Happy Birthday Kalani
To Kalani, my first daughter. You are a wonderful ray of glory. So beautiful and full of love, and such a loving older sister to your new sister Elena. We love you so much. Happy Birthday.
Happy Birthday Jane!
To Jane, my beautiful darling. I would not be who I am today without your support and love. Happy Birthday!!
Welcome to the World
Our 2nd blessed baby girl arrived last year on November the 18th. Elena Jade Apa was born 9lb 4oz.
David & Kate
On October 25 I attended the wedding of David and Kate in Napier.
Filming began at 10.30am with the hair, nails and makeup preparations. After an hour or so I left the girls to find the boys to film their preps as well. Napier being a small town afforded short traveling distances and allowed me to film both preps for the price of one.
The boys seemed quite relaxed and took in a game of snooker at the Hawkes Bay club before the ceremony. Once they left fo head down to the beach for the ceremony I went to the County Hotel to film the girls coming down the staircase.
Dad seemed quite nervous and emotional while waiting for Kate to arrive but once she got there a proud and smiling dad led her off to the vintage car for a short ride to the waterfront fountain for the ceremony.
I scooted down to set up and captured the boys greeting guests and then lining up. The car arrived and circled the fountain a couple of times while the guests were seated. then, the processional.
Now one thing about having your ceremony in a public space is that you can't control what onlookers will do. So was the case with the lady who stood at the foot of the stairs looking towards the ceremony. This was the same stairs where the processional would be passing through. As the bridesmaid arrived and walked past the old lady, the groom motioned to the old lady to move over. The bridesmaid saw the hand gesture and she, thinking it was for her, proceeded to make a wide berth of the lady and ended up walking around the groomsmen instead of straight towards them...This and the boys on their bikes in the background during the ceremony were the only distractions for a short time.
Timing played a bg part for the ceremony. As soon as the official part was over, it started to rain! Getting my gear out of the weather was my main concern, but having a backup handycam for just this occasion was ideal. The main camera was safely out of the rain and filming continued.
The pace of this day was nice and sedate for me, there was no rushing around, besides to avoid the rain, and filming ended only 30 minutes overtime in the evening due to a rather long speech. All in all this Napier wedding was very nice. The weather fined up in the end and the city itself provided several opportunities for some great shots. Napier is on the East cost of the North Island of New Zealand, 4 hours drive from Wanganui.
Filming began at 10.30am with the hair, nails and makeup preparations. After an hour or so I left the girls to find the boys to film their preps as well. Napier being a small town afforded short traveling distances and allowed me to film both preps for the price of one.
The boys seemed quite relaxed and took in a game of snooker at the Hawkes Bay club before the ceremony. Once they left fo head down to the beach for the ceremony I went to the County Hotel to film the girls coming down the staircase.
Dad seemed quite nervous and emotional while waiting for Kate to arrive but once she got there a proud and smiling dad led her off to the vintage car for a short ride to the waterfront fountain for the ceremony.
I scooted down to set up and captured the boys greeting guests and then lining up. The car arrived and circled the fountain a couple of times while the guests were seated. then, the processional.
Now one thing about having your ceremony in a public space is that you can't control what onlookers will do. So was the case with the lady who stood at the foot of the stairs looking towards the ceremony. This was the same stairs where the processional would be passing through. As the bridesmaid arrived and walked past the old lady, the groom motioned to the old lady to move over. The bridesmaid saw the hand gesture and she, thinking it was for her, proceeded to make a wide berth of the lady and ended up walking around the groomsmen instead of straight towards them...This and the boys on their bikes in the background during the ceremony were the only distractions for a short time.
Timing played a bg part for the ceremony. As soon as the official part was over, it started to rain! Getting my gear out of the weather was my main concern, but having a backup handycam for just this occasion was ideal. The main camera was safely out of the rain and filming continued.
The pace of this day was nice and sedate for me, there was no rushing around, besides to avoid the rain, and filming ended only 30 minutes overtime in the evening due to a rather long speech. All in all this Napier wedding was very nice. The weather fined up in the end and the city itself provided several opportunities for some great shots. Napier is on the East cost of the North Island of New Zealand, 4 hours drive from Wanganui.
Kieron & Laran
Date: 18th October 2009
Wanganui, NZ.
Ceremony: Pukatea Estate
Reception: Belmont Golf Club
Congratulations to Kieron and Laran on their wedding. Watching Laran pull up in a 20ft long Chrysler limo was a sight to behold! Kieron was emotional and together with his boys made a perfect welcoming party to the girls.
Filming went well apart from the strong wind down at Castlecliff beach for some of the photos. The couple were blessed to see a seal pup close up who was quite curious and hung around for a bit.
After the editing and waiting for a wee while for Laran to send photos for the DVD, editing was compete and the end product was received very well. I met Laran in the street a couple of times since then and she was blown away with the video.
I'm very pleased to have filmed this wedding for a lovely couple with a young family.
Wanganui, NZ.
Ceremony: Pukatea Estate
Reception: Belmont Golf Club
Congratulations to Kieron and Laran on their wedding. Watching Laran pull up in a 20ft long Chrysler limo was a sight to behold! Kieron was emotional and together with his boys made a perfect welcoming party to the girls.
Filming went well apart from the strong wind down at Castlecliff beach for some of the photos. The couple were blessed to see a seal pup close up who was quite curious and hung around for a bit.
After the editing and waiting for a wee while for Laran to send photos for the DVD, editing was compete and the end product was received very well. I met Laran in the street a couple of times since then and she was blown away with the video.
I'm very pleased to have filmed this wedding for a lovely couple with a young family.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Congratulations Sarah & Robert
On the 6th of September, on an overcast and windy day in Martinborough, NZ, Wedding Day Videos filmed the wedding ceremony of Sarah and Robert at St Andrews Anglican Church.
St Andrews church is the oldest church in the Wairarapa area and was designed by a famous church designer whose name escapes me at the moment. In its early day, the building was blown off it's foundations by a gale and was subsequently reinforced with buttresses on the right side when it was re-established.
Anyhow, to the ceremony. I arrived early to film establishing shots of the venue and met the advance party as they arrived. Robert and his groomsmen arrived soon after.
Sarah arrived in a classic burgundy colored Jaguar. An classic ride. Robert waited nervously inside and before we knew it, the bride was being escorted up the ailse by her father.
The ceremony went smoothly. Besides a last minuted change of live music instead of cd music for the processional, all went well. Hymns were sung, readings were read, vows and rings were exchanged. After the signing of the register and a couple more prayers, the happy couple exited the building and received congratulations from family and friends.
From a production perspective, filming went smoothly. The Canon XL1s I use performed great. I love the skin tones that this camera produces. In the low light of St Andrews it produced an even cast from black to white while protecting the colours earlier balanced.
The only problem I encountered was with the photographer, who did not seem to realise that there was a professional camera operator (me) at the venue as well as himself. The fix for an operator is not hard. When using the zoom, simply moving 6 to 12 inches one way or another you can remove the offending obstacle from your shot. Though this doesn't guarantee that the obstacle won't reposition himself bang in the middle of your new frame! Ah well, no important shots were obscured, and to be honest, griping about problems instead of trying to solve them is a waste of time. No biggie.
I was contracted via email and met Robert and Sarah on the day. A common occurrence with clients who book me from overseas, which seems to be a lot lately.
We communicated and planned what they wanted via email and all fees were paid via internet banking. Our new PayPal facility was being built at the time. I received an email with their order of service attached. I was well pleased to have this so I could plan filming on the day.
Editing is now complete and their DVDs are wining their way to Canada as I write.
Once again. Congratulations to you Robert and Sarah. It was my pleasure and privilege to be involved in your wedding.
Best Regards
Toni Apa
St Andrews church is the oldest church in the Wairarapa area and was designed by a famous church designer whose name escapes me at the moment. In its early day, the building was blown off it's foundations by a gale and was subsequently reinforced with buttresses on the right side when it was re-established.
Anyhow, to the ceremony. I arrived early to film establishing shots of the venue and met the advance party as they arrived. Robert and his groomsmen arrived soon after.
Sarah arrived in a classic burgundy colored Jaguar. An classic ride. Robert waited nervously inside and before we knew it, the bride was being escorted up the ailse by her father.
The ceremony went smoothly. Besides a last minuted change of live music instead of cd music for the processional, all went well. Hymns were sung, readings were read, vows and rings were exchanged. After the signing of the register and a couple more prayers, the happy couple exited the building and received congratulations from family and friends.
From a production perspective, filming went smoothly. The Canon XL1s I use performed great. I love the skin tones that this camera produces. In the low light of St Andrews it produced an even cast from black to white while protecting the colours earlier balanced.
The only problem I encountered was with the photographer, who did not seem to realise that there was a professional camera operator (me) at the venue as well as himself. The fix for an operator is not hard. When using the zoom, simply moving 6 to 12 inches one way or another you can remove the offending obstacle from your shot. Though this doesn't guarantee that the obstacle won't reposition himself bang in the middle of your new frame! Ah well, no important shots were obscured, and to be honest, griping about problems instead of trying to solve them is a waste of time. No biggie.
I was contracted via email and met Robert and Sarah on the day. A common occurrence with clients who book me from overseas, which seems to be a lot lately.
We communicated and planned what they wanted via email and all fees were paid via internet banking. Our new PayPal facility was being built at the time. I received an email with their order of service attached. I was well pleased to have this so I could plan filming on the day.
Editing is now complete and their DVDs are wining their way to Canada as I write.
Once again. Congratulations to you Robert and Sarah. It was my pleasure and privilege to be involved in your wedding.
Best Regards
Toni Apa
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