About Weddings::: Prep Talk - Video Killed the Reception Star!

Entertainment for the reception doesn't necessarily mean that the groom must share his karaoke prowess or the bride should showcase her exceptional talent of knotting cherry stems with her tongue. There are countless entertainment options available for the newlyweds and their guests to enjoy.

A good and engaging emcee slash wedding singer could be a start. This person will practically carry the whole program and put together all its elements into one seamless reception extravaganza. You can also hire a string quartet to play your favorite love tunes during the dinner proper. The cliché-ish bouquet and garter tosses could also be transformed into a couple of lively and interactive games which could bring the house down only if your friends choose to willingly participate. But although these activities could be engaging, it lacks the personal touch that the couple could impart their guests.

So why not share with the guests something about you as a couple? Count on a projector, a screen and an AVP (audio-visual presentation) to do all that for you. A DIY (do-it-yourself) slideshow presentation of your baby pictures up until you became a couple would be fine. Just make sure to make it short as more than a minute of flipping and fading pictures just won't hold everyone's attention. But of course, hiring a professional would be way better. Our country has got an array of talented wedding and event videographers to shoot and edit an interesting life story of you with no acting skills necessary. An interview with you and your friends & family recounting how you met would help your guests know more about you. The innovative Onsite AVP shown during receptions never fails to bring the 'oohs' and the 'ahhs' among wedding guests who get to witness finely edited video footages of your hotel preparations down to the 'kiss-the-bride' moment. It usually captures unguarded moments that an ordinary guest rarely gets to see when it actually transpired. We never knew this was even possible when we first heard about it a few years back. Instant photo is one thing, but instant EDITED video is simply mind-boggling! This is proof with how much talent and passion our local wedding videographers have when it comes to their craft.

W@W AVP Week

Earlier this month, we held an AVP Week through WeddingsAtWork.com and showcased the works of just five among the many talented wedding videographers in the country. The worldwide web exposure of this undertaking -- coupled with the recent recognition that two local videographers won for our country -- may have prompted the discussion in an international wedding videographers' forum with observations that the Philippines could be the new "Wedding Videographers Capital of the World". That's saying a lot!

Below is our take on the five one-minuiter videos we’ve featured in our site. All are video montages of past weddings they’ve covered. To view each of them below.

DAY 2: The next video is from a fresh and young talent (the guy's only in his twenties!) whose name we first came across only this year. Bob Nicolas (www.bobnicolas.com) is the new guy on the block and fellow videographers agree that he's somebody to watch out for. The treatment of his one-minuiter clip here started slow with a climactic build-up towards the end.

DAY 3: For thir part, the three guys from Threelogy (www.threelogy.com) made the second part to the video they presented during our very first AVP Week. Being on the Top 5 of last year's W@Wie Awards makes them one of the favorites by the W@Wies. The video is again a visual paean for them. There must be a third installment in this series if we assume they'll live up to their name. As we eagerly anticipate for their 'jedi', their current video hold proof that their empire can indeed strike back.

DAY 4: During our fouth day, we were seriously concerned that the scheduled video would not make it on time. You see, we invited Naga-based MangoRed (www.mangored.com) to do a short teaser but its editing somehow got tangled amidst the frenzy of the annual Peñafrancia festivities in Bicol which has gotten their hands full. But they made it, and it was truly worth our wait. Indeed, their video lives up to the spunk of their website and the way how edgy their photo shoots and album layouts look. We can only find one word to describe the clip -- CINEMATIC!

Day 5: The only one other WEVA Gold which brought glory to our country and that's courtesy of an onsite video edit by Jason Magbanua (www.jasonmagbanua.com). Visit US-based wedding video forums and his talent is also renowned halfway across the globe. No kidding! There is no other way to describe Jason's video presention here since one simply could not expect anything less from THE J-man! With his video, we literally ended our AVP week with fireworks!

We hope to feature other talented wedding videographers in future editions of our AVP Week. If you know of any other talents out there, let them get in touch with us with a sample of their work and we’ll gladly consider them the next time.

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prep talkback: Send comments and queries to P.O. Box 233, Greenhills, San Juan City 1502 or email: mail@WeddingsAtWork.com.