Boston Wedding TV by Mark Willand Productions

Wequassett Inn, Cape Cod

Boston Marriott Newton Unveils Ballroom as Newest Newton Event, Wedding & Meeting Space

Boston Marriott Newton celebrated 40 years of excellence by presenting its Commonwealth Ballroom. At 6,300 sq ft, this Newton event space provides ample room for meetings, weddings & special events.

Boston, MA (OPENPRESS) May 7, 2009 -- In honor of its 40th anniversary year, the landmark Boston Marriott Newton unveiled the new Commonwealth Ballroom recently. This expansive and newly developed Newton event space offers approximately 6,300 square feet of space, including the 5,000 square-foot Commonwealth Ballroom (divisible into four sections), and a spacious 1,300 square-foot foyer.

The Commonwealth Ballroom is connected to the hotel’s Grand Ballroom via a dramatic, glass-enclosed grand staircase. The design of the new space is sleek and contemporary, and features a warm palette of sun-ripened hues, from eggplant to bittersweet, and sunflower to sage. For guests’ convenience, this Newton ballroom is equipped with state-of-the-art technology, including high-speed wireless internet access, Bose sound system and full conference production capabilities.

“The Commonwealth Ballroom has been part of our plan since the hotel opened, and we are grateful to the City of Newton for its support in bringing this vision to life,” said Boston Marriott Newton General Manager Ed Rocco. “The Newton Marriott is well positioned to attract new customers to the area, thanks to the new Commonwealth Ballroom, our fully-renovated Grand Ballroom, meeting rooms, guest rooms, and health club, along with the outstanding guest service that our experienced hotel staff provides.”

The new Commonwealth Ballroom is the crowning touch on a series of hotel renovations completed at Boston Marriott Newton within the past few years. In 2005, all guest bathrooms were renovated. In 2006, the Grand Ballroom was renovated, and its maximum potential space was increased by 2,300 square feet to 10,000 total square feet (with seating for 1,200 guests), making it an ideal Newton, MA wedding location or reception site. In 2007 and 2008 all guestrooms were renovated, and upgraded furnishings and finishes were added. Also in 2007, the health club and pool area was renovated, which increased its size to 13,000 square feet (from 7,500 square feet previously), and all new equipment was added.

“Our customers are very excited about the Commonwealth Ballroom,” said Boston Marriott Newton Director of Sales and Marketing Erin Gilroy. “The space is perfect for exhibits, breakout sessions for larger meetings, meal service for corporate functions, as well for event space for social occasions, such as Bar Mitzvahs and family reunions.”

Situated alongside the scenic Charles River, the Boston Marriott Newton Hotel has more than 20,000 square feet of flexible Newton, MA meeting space, including the 5,000 square-foot Commonwealth Ballroom and the 10,000 square-foot Grand Ballroom. The hotel’s 430 newly renovated guest rooms feature high-speed internet access, cotton- rich linens, down comforters, abundant pillows and thicker mattresses. Guests enjoy taking a dip in the sparkling indoor swimming pool, and working out on all new equipment in the health club. Hotel dining options include the Riverbend Restaurant and Lounge, which overlooks the Charles River, and is considered a fine dining destination by the local community. For guests’ convenience, the hotel also offers room service, a Starbucks coffee bar, and a gift shop with newsstand. For more information on this Newton, Ma hotel, as well as meeting and event planning services, please call 617-969-1000 or visit www.newtonmarriott.com.

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Karen Bartolomei of Grapevine Discusses Wedding Invitations

Karen Bartolomei of Grapevine talks with Shayna Seymour about her elegant and expensive wedding invitations. Grapevine 105 N Street Boston, Ma 617-268-9409 grapevinepaperie.com

Grapevine began in 1999 when Karen Bartolomei realized her passion. A friend she worked with asked her for a favor. Her wedding package consisted of invitations, rsvp cards, directions, programs, and place cards. The response to Karen's work was overwhelming. Soon after, wedding guests began calling to have designs created for themselves. Karen now runs Grapevine a company that creates unique wedding invitations that cannot be ordered anywhere else.

BostonWeddingTV.com

PR Video .... Changing with the Times

PR Video .... Changing with the Times
By Jeb Bobseine/ Staff Writer Sharon Times

Sharon, MA - When Jeanne Herbert decided to try to get on Survivor: Amazon, she turned to local videographer Randy Fromkin to compose her three-minute video.

Sharon-based Fromkin made the tape of the North Attleboro marketing executive telling her love of eating bugs and living in the dirt. The ploy worked; with Fromkin’s video, Herbert made the sixth incarnation of the hit CBS show – something she surely will never forget.

There are moments in life – weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, and communions – you and your family and friends want to remember forever. Since 1982, people across New England have asked Fromkin to make sure these important events live on in video.

March will mark 25 years in business for the 62-year-old Fromkin, who runs PR Video Productions out of the basement of his Fisher Road home.

Down in the space he refers to as his “cave,” Fromkin does all the editing, as well as works on his website, prvideoproductions.com. But the legwork comes in churches, banquet halls, and auditoriums, across the region, with a camera in his hand.

A lot has changed over the 25 years, according to Fromkin. “Equipment that used to weigh upwards of 40 pounds now fits in the palm of a hand. Digital DVD’s and streaming video have outpaced the traditional VHS tape. New techniques and technologies are taking hold of the video industry and are being seen first-hand in the coverage of today’s weddings and other special events,” he said.

“We were so happy the day when the first camcorder came out,” he said, laughing.

The last few years he’s had to go back to school to keep up. The “school of hard knocks,” he calls it -- learning the newest technology on the fly.

Fromkin started learning about video at Emerson College in the late 60s, before moving to Texas for several years, where he worked in public television. He learned all aspects of video production at the “education-type” station, he said.

Following a stint with the Mitre Corporation in their video production department, and a couple years teaching at the Boys Club of Boston, Fromkin left the video world for a time.

In the early 80s, just as the “video revolution” was taking off, according to Fromkin, he went back to his first love. First, he simply sold video equipment.

His first wedding video job he got through a friend. He borrowed the equipment – nothing like what’s available today, he said. Dressed in a tuxedo, he hauled around a “good-sized camera,” plus a cord attaching to a shoulder harness holding a bulky recording device. It all weighed nearly 40 pounds.

At the time, he said, nobody wanted videographers at weddings. The priests and rabbis didn’t want them, and neither did the venue owners. It was new and different and people weren't used to it or comfortable with a guy with a camera, Fromkin said. And the photographers certainly resented videographer's presence, he added. In those days, videographers didn’t quite know what they were doing, but neither did the customers, he said.

All in all, that first wedding video “came out pretty good,” he said.

Then Fromkin caught a break at a summer softball game with some friends, where a man was filming the action using a large camera balanced on a tripod.

The pair started ProCam video. The first year, they did 110 weddings, Fromkin said. Soon he was on his own with PR Video Productions, named for his wife and his first names (Patti and Ralph).

In 25 years he's videotaped over 1,000 weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, and various other events.

He is a member of the National Professional Videographers Association – a group that Fromkin started along with other regional videographers. They held their first meetings at the Waltham Public Library, he said.

The group was necessary to set up a code of ethics for videographers, he said. It was an unknown, burgeoning field, he explained. The group wanted to establish consistency among those offers videography services.

The association also convinced manufacturers there was a commercial outlet were video equipment, accelerated the distribution of quality equipment to the public by several years, he said.

Nowadays, Fromkin turns more and more to the web. Pointing at his computer during an interview last Monday, he said the whole world is accessible through the internet. Interested customers can find information and check out sample videos without contacting Fromkin at all.

But above all he loves covering the wedding, the bar and bat mitzvahs, the communions -- the events. It’s like a sport, he said. You never know what’s going to happen.
“It’s like a rush, it really is,” he said.

On Feb. 28 – just before the 25th anniversary really kicks in – Fromkin will present a video for Cottage Street School’s Diversity Committee’s Annual Pot Luck Dinner. The video documents the cultural journey of more than 20 families new to the area.

And on into the future Fromkin will keep making videos of those events – the people, the places, and the occurrences – that people don’t want to forget.

BostonWeddingTV.com