Captured Productions

Kristen | Sean Wedding Day Highlights

2011-10-02T03:00:00-07:00

Kristen and Sean started out their day in Sebewaing for their ceremony and were picked up by a Midnight Maddness party bus which set the tone for the rest of the evening. They made multiple stops along the way on their way to the Doubletree in Bay City. Enjoy some highlights from their wedding day.

Molly | Jason Wedding Day Highlights

2011-09-30T13:35:28-07:00

Molly and Jason have one of those stories you would find in a movie. They lived in the same town and knew each other since they were 16. They always had interest in each other but life pulled them in separate directions to different parts of the country. Jason persued his baseball career and ended up down in Louisiana. Shortly after, Molly found Jason on Facebook but held off on 'friending' him. She then saw the word "Single" on his profile, and that is when emails turned to texts and texts turned to 4-5 hour phone calls between Santa Monica and Lake Charles. They later decided to meet up in Houston and see if what they thought was still there, was. It only took one look and they knew it was still love. Well the rest was history...and that is where we come in. Molly and Jason got married back with family and friends in Bay City Michigan. You could tell it was a reunion of sorts and truly a celebration. I am so glad they opted to have us capture the rest of their story on their wedding day. To quote Molly,

"we've been in love for a long time and just had to live life a bit to get back to each other to finally say it and live it. And we'd both do it all over again if this is the ending every time. :)"

I loved that I was able to captured their day along side the best photographer in the world Renee' of Captured Photography ;-)...you can see some of the images she captured on her blog.

We can't wait to share more, until then here are a few highlights from their wedding day.

Kim | Eric Wedding Day Highlights

2011-07-22T18:32:47-07:00

We were introduced to Kim & Eric through previous...spectacular clients, Meg & Erik. Kim & Eric had a perfect day that started at the Doubletree Hotel with the perfect river backdrop...blue skies...seaguls flying nearby. Their perfect day moved on to Frankenmuth where we couldn't help but find great locations to film. Their wedding day then concluded at Candlelite in Bridgeport. Enjoy some highlights from their wedding day...we can't wait to share more.

Behind the Scenes of Lauren's "Beautiful" Video

2011-05-31T14:47:00-07:00

Like with any feature film...often some of the behind the scenes or bloopers are as good if not better than the film itself. As cute as Lauren was for her video, she sure did not hold back her "spunk". After watching her outtakes you won't wonder who was really in charge of this shoot. If we can handle this client we can handle any client :-)

Here are a few scenes that did not make it to Lauren's Day in the Life video & yes we do offer Out Takes for other clients as well.

Lauren is Turning 3!

2011-05-29T21:21:31-07:00

In spite of our growing business over the past 11 years, I have always promised to create movies of our own kids. With Lauren turning 3, I just had to capture her in her element. Lauren has such a unique personality. She takes life straight on and makes sure she is heard, given that she is the youngest of four. I just love this Beautiful girl and as bittersweet as it is, I look forward to watching her grow up and become what God has created her to become.

Take some time to enjoy Lauren as she turns 3...{and then stop back and check out the outtakes to truely understand what Lauren is all about ;-) }

If you would like to see more "Day in the LIfe" films, check them out here, and let us know if we can create one for you.

A Step Back in Time with Meghan & Erik

2010-09-22T18:59:02-07:00

I love weddings that have a theme. Meghan & Erik's definitely did that. Their wedding took place in front of an old school house in Frankenmuth, where Meghan arrived by horse and carriage and they both drove off in a Model T. Their reception was in their hanger with a Paris theme (later to find out that was where Erik was going to take Meghan on their honeymoon). We had the chance to shoot along side Marek Dziekonski of Dziekonski Photography. We love to work with creative photographers. Marek was great to work with and capture their wedding day. With Meghan being a photographer, you know she did her homework and with much research came across Marek....no pressure Marek :-) You can see what Marek captured of Meghan & Erik on his blog.

Not only was it a beautiful day but I Meghan & Erik had to be the nicest couple. The first time meeting Erik, I thought he was a family member or something. He walked around calm and relaxed, like he wasn't getting married that day. He walked up to me and asked if he could get me anything...you have a good man Meghan. Yes, Meghan had that great smile on all day, you could tell that she truely enjoyed her wedding day. She never go stressed and yet everything fell into place pefectly. What a great couple.

Take a step back in time and enjoy some highlights from Erik & Meghan's wedding day.

Captured Productions - Click to play

The Day That Changed My Perspective

2009-06-27T03:21:00-07:00

One year ago Renee' & I were out to dinner with our parents enjoying the evening while the kids were at home with our baby sitter. At dinner we got a call from our babysitter that she saw some smoke coming out of our upstairs bathroom vent and that she got everyone outside and called 911. Needless to say we moved quickly to get back home. On our way down our street we saw 4 fire engines, fire hoses across the street and a lot of fire fighters....reality began to sink in. Unable to get down the street we parked and quickly walked to our home along with half of our neighborhood. There we were met with our kids and babysitter....although we knew they were safe, it was great to see their faces. You can see more about that day on our blog post Counting Our Blessings.

It is amazing how something like that can change your perspective on life. As important as our house and all that is in it, including our studio, and decades of memories, it is amazing how it paled in comparison to seeing our children walking down the sidewalk towards us. Those next couple of months were a blur of remote living with 4 kids including a 2 week old, insurance claims, moving out of our house, and moving back in. With all of the stress and inconvenience behind us, we are so grateful that all it was, was inconvenience that would soon be over. With the source of the fire being wiring smoldering in insulation, we were only hours away from going to bed with the unknown burning in the attic above us.

In hindsight it is all like a bad dream...still a little shooken up but our family and life being intact. I am eternally grateful to God for sparing us from so much worse than inconvenience. All's well that ends well, a couple months later we created Lauren's First Video (a tradition for us with all of our kids), we didn't plan the story to play out that way, but it serves as a constant reminder of what God spared us from and what a beautiful gift Lauren was, the calm in the middle of our storm (Lauren's First Video).

Yana + Brannon + St Joe

2009-06-26T07:41:37-07:00

Friends of ours grew up in St. Joseph, MI and always talk about how beautiful it is down there. I have only seen St. Joe from a train on the way to Chicago or stopping by on our way to a vineyard wedding. What a beautiful location for a wedding and of course we couldn't argue with the day...beautiful blue skies with puffy white clouds. Of course it didn't hurt that Jessica Pennington of Stella Event Design was there to make Yana & Brannon's wedding day a reality. After watching the amount of work that coordinators do just on the wedding day to ensure all goes perfectly, it is hard to image how couples do it with out a wedding coordinator.

Yana & Brannon got married under Shadowland Pavilion and wanted to give it a warmer feeling so Jessica worked with Michael Angelo's to create an environment out of pink fabric. The ceremony site was right on the chanel and right off of Lake Michigan, a beautiful backdrop to a gorgeous ceremony. We shot along side Cindy Corstange of The Open Shutter. We had a great time walking down the beach and boardwalk looking for the perfect location, which seemed to be at every turn. I loved Cindy's energy and how she took on the day. Later I learned that this was her third wedding that weekend...wow, give me a shot of what she has....impressive.

During the wedding preparation I got a chance to hang out with Brannon while he was waiting...which is a typical preceremony tradition for grooms. Brannon talked about how he wanted to be more than just a wedding day where people came and left. So they planned a weekend with their guests, including a day at the beach, wave runners, food, drinks, and a roof party downtown St. Joe....sign me up....and that was before the wedding day. Brannon & Yana truly enjoyed their wedding day and the time they spent with their closest friends and family, and it truly showed in the footage we captured from the day. Until the release of their wedding movie, here is a sneak peek at Yana & Brannon's wedding movie.

Full Service Event Planning: Stella Event Design
Event Decor: Michael Angelo's
Florist: Bloomie's
Ceremony: Shadowland Pavilion
Photography: The Open Shutter
Reception: The Heritage Center
Catering: Bistro at the Boulevard

My First Wedding....

2009-06-25T20:47:00-07:00

...well okay maybe not my first wedding since we have been filming weddings since 2000, but this was my first wedding where I shot camera two...and it wasn't a video camera. It is a good thing that I was accompanied by my super talented wife of Captured Photography. After shooting weddings with me for the past 9 years and being a photographer since high school, she has finally decided to offer wedding photography as well. This was her third wedding and she has several more on the books for 2009. I have a feeling I will be shooting second camera for her on my "weekends off", especially after the amazing images that I captured. It is hard to tell which ones were mine, but if you like them, I am sure they were mine ;-) I also learned that videographers are used to shooting at 30 frames a second and I shoot near that photographing this wedding....sorry hon for all the extra work....and thanks for letting me steal your blog post. I am a big fan and love your work. If I were to do it all over again, I would have you photography my wedding....okay, maybe that wouldn't work out too well :-|

It was getting so hot and to cool off Lindsay was twirling... I thought she looked so cute!

Look Who is ONE!

2009-06-12T22:00:00-07:00

My beautiful, sweet, sweet Lauren... is ONE. I really cannot believe how fast this past year flew!! Lauren is such a good baby. She likes to be held... but is very content otherwise! She just sits back and takes in all the activity around her. It was only yesterday that she began crawling!! I haven't minded her laid back nature one bit. She is a joy and we all adore her... it is so sweet to see how the kids fight over who gets to go in her room to get her when she wakes up. She certainly is the center of our little home and we are so excited to celebrate her One Year birthday! We love you little Lauren and are excited to see how God is going to use you for His purposes and His glory. Happy birthday.

Her Splits... crack us up... it is pretty impressive too...

Trashing it on the Farm

2009-06-12T12:26:36-07:00

I remember Stephanie saying at the end of her wedding, as we were walking around downtown getting some great night shots,"I'll give you a call, we're gonna trash the dress this summer". I remember thinking, I like the way she thinks....

Well a couple of weeks ago we did just that. I traveled down to Dowagiac (a fun word to say, but not so much to spell), and we trashed it at Silverstone Farms, Matt's family's farm. There are tons of reasons why brides decide to trash the dress and I could tell Stephanie's reason was just to have fun, and fun we did.

Not sure what we would find on the farm, I was glad we had an assortment of unexpected items to work with; an overturned car, tractors, manure shredder, a derby car, a swamp (I guess 50F ruled that out), and tons of farming equipment. I love how Stephanie was able to be herself and have tons of fun with the shoot, and I love how Matt escorted us around to all of the various locations, he was probably a bit nervous that we would become the next overturned car.

It was great to shoot along side Tim Motley of Motley Cat Studios again. He definitely has a passion for what he does. You can check out his TTD images here.

Stephanie, thanks for having me do this, I had a great time! Matt & Stephanie, you definitely have it "going on".

Captured Productions - Click to play

Jordan Picasso....Coming Soon!

2009-05-31T19:22:19-07:00

One of the biggest holidays are coming up...at least in Jordan's eyes...his birthday. Ever since Christmas, he has been asking me how many more days until his birthday...I am so glad "they have an app for that"...172 more days Jordan.

Ever since I started creating movies for others, I promised Renee' that I would never get too busy to create them of our kids. I can't say I have not gotten too busy to create them, but I have found a way to continue to create them throughout the years...I'm not doing anything from 1AM to 6AM anyways right?

Each year Jordan has a theme for his birthday party, usually chosen 6 months in advance. With every theme we try tie it to his annual birthday video and show it at the party or send it as a DVD invitation. In the past it has been, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and this year he threw us a curve ball, "Dad, this year I want an art party". Wow, an art party, how do you create a video about art. I gave it a few months to sink in...still nothing...what if it was only 30 seconds long?...still nothing. In his past movies Jordan has played the part of Jordan Skywalker and Indiana Jordan. I asked Jordan, "what should we call this movie", he replied "Jordan Picasso", in his best French accent. At least now we have a title, which was very fitting since that has been Jordan's nick name ever since he was 2 and he colored the neighbor boys entire face blue and his own countless times. Jordan has always loved art, and if you ask him what he is going to be when grows up, he will confidently say, "an artist". Okay, an artist video it is for sure now, but I still don't have a clue what it looks like.

Renee' & I started brainstorming the idea together...and leave it up to Renee' to come up with the most brilliant idea. I can't give away all the details yet but it involves nature, a very creative boy and A LOT of paint. The video will debut right here on this blog on June 3rd, in time for his June 22nd birthday. Until then, here is a shot from behind the scenes of "Jordan Picasso"

Share Your Story - DVD Wedding Invitations

2009-03-11T17:23:22-07:00

Well hats off to Josh and Kaylie for stepping outside the box and working with us to create a truly unique wedding invitation for their upcoming wedding. It started with Kaylie asking..."what do you think about creating a DVD wedding invitation......to this! The amazing photos were shot and edited by none other than Sara from sara anthony photography.

Picture this....you send out 100's of invitations to your big day and instead of getting an expected normal invitation, you open the envelope and pull out this....

...after you untie the bow...... (great colors by the way Kaylie).... there is their engagement photo by sara anthony photography.....

...and the best part (in my opinion) their invitation & DVD....

...pop the DVD into your DVD player or computer....and witness not only Josh's proposal, but also a fun story of how they met, ending with an invite to join them for the rest of their story on their wedding day....

....now sit back and enjoy how Josh & Kaylie met....oh and tell all of your friends getting married about this super cool idea....