Jen and Jason Carlisle Highlights

Putting up some more highlight videos that we haven't had time to put up until now. This one is from the Wedding of Jason and Jessica Carlisle whom were married at Blissful Meadows Country Club in Uxbridge, MA.

Jessica and Jason Carlisle Highlights at Blissful Meadows Country Club from Ryan DesRoches on Vimeo.

This wedding was a lot of fun to shoot, as it was the fist wedding that we ever shot at Blissful - one of the more beautiful country clubs in Central New England. Hopefully we will get to shoot a lot more there in the future!

Kim and Kevin Stewart Wedding Highlight Video

Finally getting some post some videos from some of the weddings that we did this summer. First one is of Kim and Kevin Stewart, whom were married in a beautiful ceremony at Agawam Congregational Church then had a blast at The Oaks in Agawam for the reception.

Kim and Kevin were the first couple that I ever had that choose a rap song for their highlight, which made this video a little bit more interesting for me to put together. When I do a highlight video, I try to have the video flow with the music, and this was no different. I felt that having the video in Black and White and using some slow-motion really helped tie the song with the footage - So, here it is: (click on the Link to Vimeo to view the High Deffinition version)

Kim and Kevin Stewart Highlight from Lakota Den Productions from Ryan DesRoches on Vimeo.

Long Time - No blog - Where we have been!

Well, it's been awhile since our last blog! Here is a little bit of what I have been up to:

I got married! The big day was on August 22 at the Overlook Hotel (Masonic Home) in Charlton, MA. Yes, this year for us has been really crazy as we were helping our clients with their weddings while also planning our own! Needless to say, the wedding was perfect! Great food, great music and just a wonderful day. Our vendors were excellent. We had Chris Phillips as our Guitarist for the ceremony, and he was excellent! We had two GREAT photographers in Tammy Woodard as well as Tim Mulcahy - our photos came back super fast and were outstanding! Music on Wheels provided the entertainment and kept the dance floor moving, and finally Aaron Cadieux from Big Operations Productions filmed the ceremony for us (and we will be editing it ourselves, once all of our client videos are done for the year).

I always tell my clients is that your wedding day goes by like a blur, but until I lived it myself - I had no idea how right that statement was. We had a short ceremony, a five hour reception, and then an after-party (that went for another few hours) and it just FLEW by. I am just so glad we got the photos and the video to look back on, as there was just so much that we missed!

One thing that we learned is that a big wedding also doesn't have to cost a ton either, if you plan things out and are not afraid to get your hands a little bit dirty. Being in the business helped up out, and we know what (though experience) what was needed and what was typically wasted at weddings - so we planned our budget around that. No special favors (we donated to a animal shelter in lue of favors) - Flowers were bought the day before at a super-market and put together by the bride and a friend. We had two great photographers and two videographers that we were able to barter with - helping to cut down our costs. All favors and decorations were made by hand by my talented wife - saving hundreds in paper costs. Overall, our biggest expense was the food (which was excellent). Luckily for us, The Overlook is not a well known wedding location, and thus prices were very reasonable. So, in the end - we spend about $7000 total on our wedding. Proving that you don't need to spend 30-40 grand on a nice wedding - you just need to get 'creative' in how you approach your budget.

The Second big news that has kept me from blogging is that I took on a new "day job" as a Senior Web Developer/Designer at a large insurance company. It has just taken me a little bit of time to get acquainted with the new job - and thus stuff like blogging and marketing Lakota Den took a back seat for the moment while I focused on the .

For those that don't know, I only do weddings during the summer time and on a part-time basis - the "day job" allows me to pay my bills and not have to worry about "getting the next wedding" to pay the bills. Doing weddings part-time also allows us to be fresh and give our clients more personal attention. Since we work with a smaller group of brides, and only do one wedding on the weekends - we can spend a lot more time focused on that one wedding - instead of juggling multiple jobs at the same time.

So those two things are the reason that I haven't posted in awhile. We've been a little busy adjusting to all the new and wonderful things that have happened! I am hoping to get back to posting more often!

Standard Definition (SD) Video v.s High Definition (HD) Video

I just wanted to post a comparison of HD (High-definition) Video V.S. SD Video (Standard Definition) - Below is a video we shot with our Sony HVR Z7U camcorder. This video below (since Vimeo doesn't allow embedding of pure HD movies) is HD downconverted down to a Standard Definition output. To view the pure HD Version - click here

Stacy and Dave's Wedding Highlight at Zukas Hilltop Barn from Lakota Den Productions on Vimeo.

Below is an older clip that we shot with a Canon XL2 Camera - which is a Standard Definition Camera (Still very good $6000 camera in its own right - but it only shoots in Standard Definition).

Jen and Art Wedding Highlight Video. from Lakota Den Productions on Vimeo.

As you can see, the top video shot with the HD camera is more vibrant and has less pixelation than the SD version. This is even more noticeable when you view these videos on TV.

We Now Offer Blu-Ray!

Just added to our Al-La-Carte' selection of upgrades are Blu-Ray DVDs. Now you can enjoy your wedding video in TRUE 100% High-Definition. Blu-Ray is simply the best picture quality that you can get on the market today!


So what is Blu-Ray?

Blu-ray, also known as Blu-ray Disc (BD), is the name of a next-generation optical disc format jointly developed by the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA). The format was developed to enable recording, rewriting and playback of high-definition video (HD), as well as storing large amounts of data. The format offers more than five times the storage capacity of traditional DVDs and can hold up to 25GB on a single-layer disc and 50GB on a dual-layer disc. This extra capacity combined with the use of advanced video and audio codecs will offer consumers an unprecedented HD experience.

While current optical disc technologies such as DVD, DVD±R, DVD±RW, and DVD-RAM rely on a red laser to read and write data, the new format uses a blue-violet laser instead, hence the name Blu-ray.

Blu-ray is currently supported by about 200 of the world's leading consumer electronics, personal computer, recording media, video game and music companies. The format also has support from all Hollywood studios and countless smaller studios as a successor to today's DVD format. Many studios have also announced that they will begin releasing new feature films on Blu-ray Disc day-and-date with DVD, as well as a continuous slate of catalog titles every month. (taken from Blu-Ray.com)

Lakota Den Productions has been shooting all our wedding in HD for the past year, but had only been able to deliver on standard DVDs (by using a process called down-converting that converts a High-Def 1080i video down to the standard definition size and resolution). Since we started off with a HD video, we gave out clients the best quality picture that they could get with on a standard DVD. Blu-Ray now gives us the option to give our clients the true 1080i resolution for an even better picture.

How much better is Blu-Ray? Well, most standard TVs and DVDs come in a format called NTSC. The NTSC format has a picture resolution of 720×480 pixels and plays at a speed of about 30 frames per second (29.97 actually). HDTV (and Blu-Ray discs) can Display in a resolution of 1920 × 1080 pixels at a speed of 50 frames per second. That's more than twice the resolution and the faster frame rate allows for a crisper picture when it played - you really notice the difference in sporting events or anything that is fast-paced.

For our clients that have not upgraded yet to Blu-Ray Players, all of our packages will still come with the standard DVD that will play in any DVD player. When the time comes when you do upgrade to a Blu-Ray DVD player, just let us know and we will be happy to re-author your DVDs to Blu-Ray.

Check this out along with our other packages at LakotaDenProductions.com

Congratulations to Mr and Mrs. Carlisle!

Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Jason and Jessica Carlisle who were married this past Saturday at Blissful Meadows Country Club in Uxbridge, MA.

Thankfully the weather held out (it was suppose to rain all day!), and were extremely happy to be able to film the ceremony outdoors in Blissful's beautiful gazebo.


Jessica and Jason has a beautiful ceremony that had the entire wedding party in tears at the end. The vows were beautifully written and you could tell that these two would have dealt with any obstacle (and there were a few, to the threat of rain to the limo getting a flat, causing the bride to be late!) in order to get married on that day.


After the wedding - the weather actually started to brighten a little bit, allowing us and the great photographers from Total Focus Photography to get some excellent shots of this photogenic couple.

For this wedding, we shot with two HD cameras, allowing one of us to film the couple's formal photo session, while my assistant (whom happens to be my fiancee) covered the guests having a great time at the cocktail hour.

Not only does having two professional videographers at your wedding allow us to give you more coverage of your wedding day, but it also allows us to give you a more exciting video, as we are able to switch between camera angles when we are editing. It also allows us to get more closeups and interesting angles of the ceremony and reception than a typical single camera shoot. If you are interested in a multiple camera shoot for your wedding, please check out our wedding videography packages



From the photo session we went on to the Reception, where Alfredo from Soundforce Unlimited provided us with a great party and kept the dance floor moving! Alfredo was great, and he helped us get great shots of the bridal party and guests all night long. If your getting married in the Southern Mass or Rhode Island area - make sure to check out Alfred and Soundforce Unlimited.

One of the highlights of the night was when one of the groomsmen from the wedding performed a special song for the Bride and Groom. While the photos may have captured the bride and groom kissing while listening to their song, only will the video let them hear their groomsmen play and sing it to them over and over again. As we like to say, "a picture may capture a thousand words, but only with video will you hear them again".

I will say this, Jessica and Jason have some crazy friend and family! But crazy in a good way! We caught some really funny shots of the crew on the dance floor strutting their stuff. I can't wait to get to editing some of that beautiful dance footage.



Overall, it was a great day. The weather held out, the bride was beautiful, and the groom had a smile from ear to ear on his face all night long. This wedding was a pleasure to film, and I couldn't have asked for a better couple to work for! Have fun on your honeymoon guys!

All photos are taken from stills of the video footage and are property of Lakota Den Productions.

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