Our vendor spotlight this week is Andrew of Studio MSV. We first worked with Andrew last year and were amazed by the same day edit he put together, it was a very artistic cut of the day and to have put it together so quick was pretty awesome. All of the guests at the wedding couldn’t believe the video! We have also been able to hang out with Andrew at other functions and he has a great personality and is a fun guy to hang out with, at a wedding its always a plus to have a fun videographer to capture your day. You can view his latest work on his blog at: http://studiomsv.net or check out his website: http://studiomsv.com/. Check out a little more about Andrew below:

the reason I love what I do ….
Someone once said, “do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” These words are true in the sense that working won’t feel like work if you’re happily doing your job each day. But one thing that I’ve found to be even more profound and can even better affect the way you feel about your work is the people you work with. Consider this: you find your dream job and are content to wake each morning to earn your living. But your co-workers are always gossiping about you or sabotaging your projects. How long do you think you will like your dream job? Conversely, if you love the people you work with, no job – no matter how nasty (have you ever seen “Dirty Jobs”?) – will ever get you down!
That’s why I love doing what I do. The people I work with and meet are top notch! The photographers I work with, the coordinators, and especially the brides and grooms, are all so inspiring, creative, and loyal, that it’s hard to have an “off day”!

your wedding specialty …
One of the things that I’m proud to say I helped pioneer in the Bay Area is the Same-Day Edit. The “SDE” – or as I call it, the Instant Video – is a short highlight movie that is shot, edited, and played back on the day of the wedding. It usually takes me two to three hours of editing time to create a beautiful short movie of the wedding day that can be shown during dinner or toward the end of the reception. In fact, we have the capability of turning the highlight movie into a wedding favor DVD that each guest can bring home with them! The Same-Day Edit is a real crowd-pleaser and something in which I was instrumental in bringing to popularity.

But beyond the Instant Video or products like our Covert Proposal Videos, fun Engagement Music Videos, and others, it’s my style that brides gravitate toward. Our videos are never boring or “typical” and always evoke emotions. It’s my unique style that sets us apart form the rest.

best wedding memory …
I see so many memorable things at so many different events that it’s hard to pick out just one!
But if you put a gun to my head – or invited me to participate in a vendor spotlight blog post – I might choose this one as my favorite wedding memory: I think it was the second wedding I ever shot. Ever. The bride’s caterer ran out of food and she went to her room really upset. The groom went after her in order to console her and I was stuck trying to decide whether I should follow and document it or let them alone.
I decided that, as the wedding videographer hired to document the event, it was pretty much my duty to keep record of what had happened so the events could be captured for posterity. I followed them to their room and started rolling tape. Teary-eyed and flustered, the bride described to me what had happened and how she felt. It was some of the most genuine footage I’ve ever documented. The couple subsequently sent me a thank you note that said they loved the video and that I was their favorite vendor. That, I was the “most professional and most pleasant to work with!”
It’s moments like those that make doing what I do such a pleasure!

favorite movie …
My favorite movie of all time is Ben Hur. No other movie comes close. Netflix it. (A close second is Die Hard and Fight Club.)

last movie rental you watched …
The last few Netflix movies I watched were all from my wife’s queue so I’m too embarrassed to name them.

where can you be found on days off …
I rarely have days off, but most recently, I went up to Lake Tahoe with my wife, two kids, and a bunch of my church friends. On other days when I’m taking a break from working, I relax by watching TV. Some of my favorite shows are (or “were” – alas, some of my favorites tend to be less popular and, to my chagrin, get cancelled before they’re due!): The Shield; Deadwood; American Idol; Damages; Flight of the Conchords; Dexter; and others.

what superhero would you be …
I used to collect comics in my youth and still find them beautiful to look at and stimulating to think about. So you might get a much longer answer than you anticipated if I go Full Geek on this answer. But the short of it is: I appreciate Batman’s emotional complexities and raison d’etre, but who wouldn’t want to be the seemingly immortal and nearly omnipotent Superman? My answer? Superman. (But I would skip the formalities of having an alter ego. I would just be Superman all the time… and I’d play sports instead of fight super villains.

if I am typically craving something it is ….
… dangerous to be in my way.

fav song at a wedding (and least fav) …
My least favorite is probably the electric slide. No offense, folks-who-used-the-eclectic-slide-at-their-reception.

The song that I’ve heard at a wedding that became my favorite is “I Loved Her First” by Heartland. I’m not a big country music fan, but the first time I heard that song being played during a father/daughter dance, I couldn’t help but to imagine 20 years or so into the future and to picture my daughter, Hannah (7) being given away to be with her husband-to-be. ..
See the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXhJ3oCg3K8

Studio MSV 2009 Demo Video from andrew msv on Vimeo.

Wedding photos from Leal Vineyards in Hollister, Ca. Léal Vineyards sprawling 45 acre estate offers the ideal setting for the perfect wedding. Whether your desire is exchanging your vows under a beautiful wooden gazebo, an elegant affair in the “Barrel Room” or dancing under the stars at “Lavánda”, Léal Vineyards and a great glass of wine can make all your dreams come true. Leal is a great venue that has a bunch of different options available for weddings. They have a nice barrel room for that romantic indoor wedding or a few different outdoor spots one with a lakeview and vines surrounding you. You can event rent the 2 houses on the property and make your wedding last the entire weekend! There are so many great spots around there for wedding photos, you can shoot in the vineyards the wine cave and waterfall or go up to the houses and shoot around the property. Check out the slideshow to see a recent wedding we photographed out there:

Leal Vineyards wedding photography from mark stagi on Vimeo.

Here is another new wedding slideshow from a event out at Villa Montalvo (now Montalvo Arts Center).  One of our favorite places to photograph in the South Bay we have shot many weddings out at Villa Montalvo.  There are two different areas you can have your ceremony there at the Oval Garden or the Love Temple.  This wedding was at the Oval Garden with the reception in the front of the Villa.  One thing I love about shooting weddings here are that the grounds are enormous and you have so many cool things to shoot, the inside of the Villa has some great photo ops the outside there are some great architectural spots to shoot around and then you have the vast grounds that you could spend hours walking around photographing a bride and groom.  

Villa Montalvo wedding from mark stagi on Vimeo.

Check out their site at:  http://montalvoarts.org/rentals/weddings/ if you are looking for a wedding venue!

 
– Mark

P.S. For any photographers looking for great slideshows like this one, check out http://www.motionslideshow.com/

Here is a slideshow from our last wedding at Pebble Beach. It was such a perfect day out there for a wedding, no fog but a little overcast which created some amazing soft light most of the day. Andrea and Erik were such a fun couple they had a permanent smiles on their face all day long, it was a great day!

Pebble Beach wedding photography from mark stagi on Vimeo.

Our workshop schedule has been released for 2009! We are excited for these new workshops and have even added a new one for Marketing that will focus on some of the new technology we can use to market our business like Podcasting! I love sharing everything I have learned in 10 years of business and our workshops are packed full of information and lots of fun!  Check out our workshop information at: http://www.wedclix.com/workshops/ I’ll also post some images from our previous workshops soon!
If you can’t make any of these workshops and would like to join our mailing list for future workshop info click the button below: