OK, for a few months, I've been toying around with the idea of getting After Effects Pro for $999, mostly for the animations and 3D motion... now Apple released Shake for $499!! Since I am a Mac/FCS user, Shake would be a great addition, but with me doing mainly wedding videos, would it be worth the investment?

I use Motion now to make titles and lower thirds for wedding videos currently, but I never really was impressed with the control you have over the image. I also used a demo version of After Effects Pro 7 on my PC when I used to have Premiere, but I haven't downloaded a demo of Shake. After Effects was great, there was so much you could do it almost seemed overkill, not to mention I had no idea what I was doing.

I'm currently worried that the $499 price won't last long, and if I get it now, I'm worried that it may just be a useless tool for me. I know there will be a steep learning curve, but will it pay off and make some really impressive wedding videos? Any thoughts?

This recent thread might help: Shake 4.0 v. Adobe After Effects (http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthread.php?t=72779)

I found that thread earlier... I guess my real question is would Shake be beneficial for wedding videos? ... or is it simply overkill.

I found that thread earlier... I guess my real question is would Shake be beneficial for wedding videos? ... or is it simply overkill.
Really depends on what you intend to do.
Shake doesn't do a lot for text effects ... but that's really what livetype and Motion are for.

I've seen some guys do sky replacements on some wedding shots. Shake and/or AE are great for that. Moving photo montages into the 3D relm is also a great potential wedding use for either of these apps. Another would be custom transitions where, for example, you show a dance floor scene and as a couple moves across frame, the next shot is revealed in their wake.

If offering "little" touches like this helps you delight your customers and gain an edge in your market, these apps wouldn't really be "overkill", right? That determination is really up to you though.

The $499 price is not likely to disappear anytime soon.
Apple is working on a whole new replacement app. If they follow the same course they did with FCS, the upgrade from Shake 4.1->"new app" will be a nice deal too.

The two strongest selling points for Shake in your situation are the price and the fact that it integrates well with FCP and Motion. After that, it really comes down to your personal preferences regarding the UI and how quickly you feel you can get up to speed with one vs the other.

For what it's worth, if I were in your position, I'd probably go with Shake.