The Cream City Difference

Couples often ask us what makes Cream City Photo | Video unique. We feel there are three things that set us apart: Approach,  Aptitude and Affordability.

Approach. Our approach is different than most studios in that we look to document rather than direct your wedding day. What does that mean? It means we’re not going to dominate and take over your special day.  Our fun is capturing your fun and we let you enjoy your wedding without endless posing and an obtrusive presence. Your wedding images will have a fresh, natural and spontaneous look that tells the true story of your day.

Aptitude. Our entire staff is made up of seasoned wedding professionals. Our experienced wedding photographers and videographers are familiar with most wedding traditions and with creatively handling the challenges and fast-paced nature of each wedding they document. Our album designers are visual storytellers, working with your favorite images to tell the story of your day in a creative and visually dynamic way. Our sales staff knows how to work with you and your budget to find the best package to fit your needs as well as those special photo gifts that will please your family and friends. And finally, our entire team is focused on you and ensuring that you have, enjoy and remember the wedding of your dreams.

Affordability. As a team, and utilizing the best products and talents in the industry, we can offer you the best value for your investment.  This doesn’t mean the cheapest, but high quality products and services at a price that won’t break the bank. After all, these are most important images you’ll have taken and we want to ensure they'll be there for you for the rest of your lives.

Call, text or email today for a free consultation and to have Cream City Photo|Video document your wedding...(414) 688-0858 or visit our web site.

What is a Fusion Video?

Photo Fusion – A Marriage of Wedding Photos and Video

For about 50 years, the wedding album has been the standard vehicle for remembering and sharing your wedding day. The 1980’s saw the growth of wedding video. Video brought movement and most importantly audio to wedding images. The problem was that most wedding videos ending up being long features of an hour or two that most people really didn’t want to sit through more than once. With the digital revolution of the 21st Century, the greatest benefits of traditional photographic images, video capture, audio, and the latest in digital editing tools and techniques have merged into a new output that is changing how you relive your special day.

Called Photo Fusion or Fusion Video, these mixed media presentations give you more than just captured moments. They give the sights, sounds and emotions of your day edited into a dynamic video slide show that can be shared online or watched on your DVD player over and over again. Featured in your Fusion Video are your favorite wedding images set to music in a slide show format. Interspersed with your images are video clips of some of the key moments of your day along with the audio of such things as your vows and toasts. What Fusion Video is not is: A traditional full length video; Just a slide show; nor, by any means, is it boring.

As storytellers, we photographers have become adept at creatively telling the story of your day through a collection of still images. These images, typically bound in an album, do tell a wonderful story, but they are missing something; sound and movement. With Fusion Video, we can add key audio moments such as your vows and toasts to bring an unprecedented sense of personality and life to a slide show of your wedding images.  By adding selected video clips as well, your slide show takes on a whole new sense of life drawing you those precious moments of your day. By being short, usually five to ten minutes, Fusion Video is unlike full length video in that it can be shared easily online and watched over and over again for decades of enjoyment.

If you’d like something more than just a wedding slide show, and more in depth than a traditional wedding album, consider Cream City’s Fusion Video. When combined with one of our photography packages, these video packages make wonderful keepsakes that bring all of the emotions, sights AND sounds of your wedding back to life for you enjoy over and over again.
Click here to view our sample Fusion Video.

Bridal Show Tips.

In the wedding business the period after the holidays is often known as "Engagement Season".  This means that many couples get engaged around the holidays as it is a time that people feel a natural sense of family, commitments and traditions.  If you've been dating someone you love for a period of time and you know friends and family will be in your travel plans or even in your thoughts it's a natural time for many to propose so they can share the joyous news during the holidays when they know they will be seeing friends and family.

Because of this in the Midwest the early part of the year is rife with many bridal shows.  With less weddings on the books during the colder months wedding  vendors plan to spend time at these shows as it truly provides a "one stop" place for brides and grooms to gather information and have some "face time" with vendors rather than emailing and texting for information.

So when it comes to  bridal fairs , here are some tips to keep in mind.

1.  Come prepared.  Many companies will have giveaways and drawings so pre-printed address labels are wonderful.  Also realize that when you sign up for these promotions you are giving the wedding fair as well as the vendors permission to contact you  via email or text.  TIP: Set up a separate  gmail  account for your wedding like karenlovesjim@gmail.com to put on all of you wedding communications.  The ones that you feel are really pertinent you can forward to your working email address.  

2.  The bigger shows here in Milwaukee can garner as many as 2000 brides coming through in a single week end. And that's just brides.  This does not count your mom, your BFF or even your fiancé who come along with you.  Girls who, just like you want to find the perfect vendor for their wedding vision.  To say that these shows can be overwhelming is an understatement.  We've heard these shows described as "Cattle Calls", "Disneyland lines"  and the like.  They can be busy, and they can be overwhelming if you are not prepared.

3.  Do your research.  Check the vendor listings on the publications, visit their websites and narrow down who you want to meet.  Most of the major bridal shows such as Premier Bride will give you a floor plan layout of where each vendor is.    

4.  Do expect that vendors will want to talk to you and will want to book appointments with you, but do not tolerate rude vendors.   Wedding shows are a symbiotic relationship.  Vendors book space because they want to book weddings.  You attend bridal shows because you want to meet the wedding professional that is right for you and you are hope to find them there.   It's normal for them to want to meet you outside the hubub of the bridal show booth, it's NOT normal for them to pressure you with scare tactics.  If a vendor intimates to you if you don't book at the show you will lose incentives etc, then walk away.  

5.  Be respectful of the vendors.  In most cases they've paid the equivalent of what they would earn on a wedding day plus expenses, they pay taxes and are invested in their career. If when inquiring about their pricing they give you information that is well out of your budget range thank them and refuse their literature for another bride who may be in that range.  You'd be surprised how this simple gesture will open a dialect and may result in great referrals for you, or even a custom package.

6. And the best tip ever....if the Packers are playing at any time during a bridal fair in Wisconsin, you can  practically have lunch with any wedding vendor there as the aisle will be barren and they will be bored out of their minds!