Savadelis Films Featured in Your Wedding Day Magazine

We were surprised and delighted to open the latest Spring 2008 issue of the beautiful magazine, Your Wedding Day and see ourselves mentioned in 'Things We Love'. Event planner extraordinaire Cindy Danbom of Belle Notte Events shared what's hot in San Francisco including Miette, The Pampered Girl, the Rotunda at Neiman Marcus, the SF Giants, Courting Eileen invitations and...us! Here's what she said about us:


SAVADELIS FILMS
A good movie tells a story. It's a series of unfolding moments - as is your wedding. Savadelis Films professionally and poignantly documents your wedding for those who couldn't be there as well as for everyone who attended. Chuck and Jewel Savadelis can also broadcast your wedding day live to friends and family members around the world.

Thanks Cindy!

Savadelis Films Featured in Brides.com

We've been featured and quoted in the Spring/Summer 2008 issue of Brides.com - in at least three editions - Northern California, New York and Philadelphia! Here's the text:


For guests who can't attend, weddings can be streamed online in real time. "It used to require a permanent setup with Internet access," says Jewel Savadelis of Savadelis Films in San Francisco. "Now all you need is a cell phone signal." Improved technology, including faster Internet connections, guarantees a higher quality video than ever before - think YouTube, not webcam. "Couples can share their wedding videos the same way they share their photos," says Jewel. With online hosting, through your videographer or through sites like Viddia.com, your wedding video can be easily emailed, or downloaded to a video iPod.

"One of the most creative ideas we've seen lately: sending guests a video save-the-date. "It's sort of a tease - it lets guests know to expect a wedding full of surprises," says Jewel. These videos range from simple, personal messages to extravagant productions. Typically, videographers use shots from the venue and interviews with the couple, to give guests a sense of what's to come.

High -definition DVD packages are becoming increasingly available, and while HD will become the standard eventually, the preferred format remains foggy. [Note: The world of technology moves fast. Since my interview last autumn, the format wars have been decided. It's 99% certain that Blu-Ray and not HD DVD will be the standard.] Talk to your videographer about the pros and cons of an HD DVD; if you're alredy hooked up at home, we think it's a great investment.

Some videographers are using a "surround sound" approach to capture more of an event's auditory details. "In addition to mic'ing the couple, readers, officiant and musicians during the ceremony, a sound engineer also places a few mic's discreetly throughout the space," says Jewel. "Those mic's record guests' reactions. It's a big hit," she says.

Style Me Pretty

Remember the phrase, "The best part of waking up is Folger's in your cup"? Well today there was a better reason to wake up.


The ever-lovely Abby Larson of Abby Jean Press has invited us to join Style Me Pretty's Little Black Book of the best wedding professionals! Abby, author of 'the Ultimate Wedding Blog', is the arbiter of good taste and all things chic. She is very diligent when it comes to researching whom she personally recommends. So it is a special honor to be featured in Napa/Wine Country.

We have worked with many Style Me Pretty San Francisco wedding vendors and highly recommend them, including: Angela Nelson of Lulu Events, Bridget Brown of Bella Bridesmaids, Nick Brown Photography, Lisa Lefkowitz Photography, and Barbara Callow Calligraphy. In Napa, where we are listed, you'll find fine professionals such as Dee Merz of Everlasting Memories, Jessamyn Harris Photography, Sabrina Moyel of Hello Lucky!, and Karen Hsu from Grandi-flora.

For those of you in the perspiration, oh I mean preparation stages of your wedding planning, Style Me Pretty is a blog full of ideas and inspirations for creating a wedding that reflects who you truly are.

The Flirty Guide

We are so excited to have been selected to be in The Flirty Guide. The Flirty Guide is a brand new online resource for brides which features wedding and special event professionals who share the same high standards, honorable ethics, positive attitude and flirty image.

The editor, Stacie Tamaki, has a philosophy that every couple should evaluate which traditions they want to keep and which ones they want to re-invent with a twist so that their wedding uniquely represents them and honors their guests. Stacie walks the walk and talks the talk. At her own fun and flirty wedding a few months ago, she and her adorable husband John set out two extra place settings at each table. Then, instead of just toasting each table for 30 seconds, she and John actually sat down and visited with the guests at every table. We all felt like VIPs.

There were so many more flirty ideas, most of which do not cost very much money - just a little imagination. Come browse The Flirty Guide site and visit our page.

Time Magazine Person of the Year

Tongue in cheek, we wrote a press release based on Time Magazine's most recent selection of "you" as the Person of the Year. They are referring to the millions of people who participate in social networking on places like MySpace, post their videos on YouTube, or put out more current information than the professional newsmakers in their individual blogs. So, enjoy!

San Francisco, CA -- January 16, 2007 -- Savadelis Films has been named Person of the Year for its participation in the new digital democracy. "Yes, we are one in a billion, of internet users that is, but we are no more deserving than the other 999 million users," said a modest Chuck Savadelis co-owner of Savadelis Films. "Time Magazine named all of us as Person of the Year for "seizing the reins of the global media", citing YouTube, Facebook and MySpace as the prime examples."

Savadelis Films has done their part to earn the moniker in 2006 by being the only wedding videographers tapped by two of the most prestigious wedding magazine websites to provide their wedding videos online.

Conde Nast's newly redesigned omnibus website, Brides.com, features two Savadelis Films wedding videos at www.brides.com/videos. The website combines articles from Elegant Bride, Modern Bride and Brides Magazines along with original material, attracting well over 200,000 unique visitors a month. Theresa DiMasi, Editor in Chief of Brides.com said, "A Savadelis Films wedding movie is an exquisite work of art that tells a story and deeply affects you. In fact, it is more accurate to call their métier wedding cinematography because their work looks just like a movie."

Grace Ormonde, Editor in Chief of Grace Ormonde Wedding Style Magazine, personally selected a Savadelis Films movie trailer as the first online Featured Wedding at www.weddingstylemagazine.com/featured/ to inaugurate her newly redesigned website which was launched on September 29, 2006. Ms. Ormonde said, "Savadelis Films is one of the premiere wedding cinematography companies for brides who want a wedding movie which is as stylish as every other aspect of their wedding. Their work is beautiful, tasteful and elegant. Stylish brides have discovered the Savadelises and are close to having a feeding frenzy over them."

Grace should know. She is the doyenne of the ultra chic wedding magazine that recommends the best professionals internationally. Grace Ormonde has a knack for discovering new talent, giving established wedding industry artisans a forum to express themselves, and inspiring them to take their creativity to a new level. Artists whom Grace has encouraged include wedding gown couturier Reem Acra; celebrity photographer Mike Colon; event designer Colin Cowie; caterer Paula Le Duc; and cake designer Sylvia Weinstock.

"We are delighted to be associated with visionaries such as Grace Ormonde and Theresa DiMasi who have long provided insightful and useful information to their readers in print, and now have grabbed hold of the future by offering videos and other interactive experiences on the internet to serve and enrich their brides." said Jewel Savadelis, the other half of Savadelis Films. "Perhaps they more than we deserve to be Person of the Year because of the way they are shaping the web in meaningful ways."

Flight of Fantasy

We received a bit of good news. Grace Ormonde Wedding Style Magazine has just launched a new, spectacular website. Grace added the capability to show featured weddings in video format and we were the very first cinematographers to be selected to showcase our work. Grace is such a visionary. She is the first publisher of a major bridal magazine website to do so.

I remember having dinner with Grace at the Mandarin Oriental in San Francisco last November after a wonderful party Grace had thrown for the key players in the wedding services industry. We talked about many things, but in particular we talked about how underrated wedding video is, how many stereotypes and misconceptions exist among brides, and that not having a video is the #1 regret of brides. We explored options. I asked her, if Chuck and I can pioneer a new, exciting format, a 90-second movie-trailer for you to post on your website, would you do it? She promised me she would. She has fulfilled her promise in under a year. It was a massive undertaking and a major expense, but Grace kept her promise. I have admired everything about Grace - her intelligence, wit, deep understanding of brides, and now, I admire her integrity. Go Grace!

You can see our trailer at www.weddingstylemagazine.com/featured/ then click on Savadelis Films, Flight of Fantasy, then click Play Video. The first time you play the movie trailer, it stops several times to load. To get the full effect, please play the trailer a second time. Then it will have fully loaded and it will play straight through.

Savadelis Films Wins Gold Award for Creative Excellence!

August 21, 2006

We are so thrilled! We just received the Gold Creative Excellence Award for a Wedding Highlight piece we produced earlier this year. Chuck was at the annual Wedding and Event Videographers Association convention in Las Vegas to receive it. As a proud wife, you will forgive my gushing. I am so happy our peers have recognized Chuck's remarkable technical genius and knowledge. And 'what goes around comes around'. Chuck has always been generous with his time to talk with, or even go over to another videographers' office to help solve a technical problem, particualrly when they were stumped and a deadline was looming. He is open and free with his knowledge so that we, as an industry, might all improve. I am so proud of my man!!

What You Get For the Money

Check out the Fall 2006 issue of Brides.Com Northern California. On page 124, you will see yours truly quoted on what kind of videography you can expect in the Bay Area at various prices.

$500-800 The Basics. Up to four hours of ceremony and reception coverage with one camera and simple editing.
$1500 Fuller coverage of the day, including bride's preparation.
$2500 8 hours+ of documentaion with 2 cameras at the ceremony, plus more creative editing.
$3500 Two cameras throughout the day and cinematic-style editing.
$5000-7500+ High definition exquisite 45-minute fully edited wedding movie.

Extra! Extra!

Extra! Extra! Our latest press release is out. You can view it at...
www.emediawire.com/releases/2006/5/emw382902.htm.

The power of the web never ceases to amaze me. After 24 hours, our press release was picked up 465 times by media outlets, and at least 30 people were serious enough to print it or download the PDF file. And, no, it wasn't Mom who ran off 30 copies to have bragging rights with her friends.

As we anticipated, 75% of the hits came from Yahoo News and Google News. We also have a window into which search terms were most popular. Someone was looking for an event planner and I hope she found one in Jubilee Lau, one of our favorites who was liberally quoted in the press release.

I read an interesting article about the new rules of PR. You can reach clients directly through the web rather than having to go to the press which first filters information and then releases what they choose. This changes everything about how you write, optimize and distribute a press release. We're not in Kansas anymore, Dorothy.
www.davidmeermanscott.com/documents/New_Rules_of_PR.pdf

If you're wondering how to optimize your press release, here's some information.
How to Increase Traffic to Your Website Through Optimization
www.seo-pr.com/pdfs/guidetoincreasesitetraffic.pdf