Live music always makes such a great contribution to any wedding festivities – whether it’s string players, brass instruments, harpists or singers, each one adds a really nice, jolly touch to the festivities. What a big surprise this Greek violinist was at a recent Greek wedding banquet at The Grove in Watford (Hertfordshire). First off, his instrument was incredible – it was just the ouline of a violin with the strings more or less floating – it looked amazing and the sounds he coaxed out of it were even better. He started slow, just to warm the crowd up and soon the men, in particular, began to clap along with the music (it was really useful having a two-camera set-up so we could follow the violinist and the audience reaction at the same time). He wandered up close to the tables to include everyone in his performance.
Meanwhile, the bride and groom were on their feet enjoying every moment and egging the audience on. The frenzy was starting to build. Interestingly the reaction was as great from the younger members at the wedding as the older (more traditional?) Greeks – something about his mesmerising and winding tune got under everyone’s skin. It was great fun to watch him work his magic on the crowd and we hope it brings pleasure in the future to the bride and groom.
Mark and Andrea celebrated their Greek church wedding at Christ the Saviour Greek Orthodox Church under the watchful eye of their nearest and dearest. As the guests wandered up the path to the pretty stone church, they lingered to enjoy the late Autumn sunshine peeking through the golden leaves. The small church was packed with well-wishers and all eyes turned to clock Andrea when she walked in wearing her veil and white dress. Mark met her at the altar where the Orthodox Priest undertook the Ritual of Marriage. After proclaiming them husband and wife, Mark and Andrea walked out of the church hand-in-hand into the sunshine and a shower of flower petals. They climbed into the vintage car ready for the short journey to Eltham Palace for the wedding reception.
Eltham Palace is a stunning South London venue and we were able to get some really good footage of the wedding guests mingling around in the Art Deco interiors enjoying a glass of celebratory champagne. With the dome skylight, the lighting was perfect for filming indoors. Mark and Andrea had a fiddler to escort them into the dining hall and soon the excellent food began to appear. After dining, Mark led Andrea on to the dance floor for a very romantic first dance together as husband and wife. Then the band started playing and everyone took to the dance floor. What a great evening! Best wishes to you both.
Louise and Michael celebrated with a traditional Greek wedding at Twelve Apostles Church in Hertfordshire on a fine July day. Earlier in the day, Louise laughed with her girlfriends while they got themselves done up with hair and makeup – nothing like surrounding yourself with your best girlfriends on your wedding day. While Louise was busy with her bridesmaids, Michael was in the family home getting assistance from the family with his own preparations. Soon after, they met up at the altar in the pretty little Watford church. The Greek wedding service was beautiful and we were able to capture it all with a multi-camera set-up with lots of close-ups. Now married as husband and wife, they came out of the church to be showered in confetti and soap bubbles by their appreciative guests.
The wedding reception was at The Grove and when the guests arrived the champagne was on ice ready to greet them. The string quartet played while the guests enjoyed a drink and the wedding party were whisked off to be photographed. This was a great time to get about and capture everyone on tape. When it came time for supper, the table settings were extraordinary and our couple made a grand entrance. After supper it really took off. What’s a Greek wedding without dancing – and they didn’t disappoint. Best wishes to Louise & Michael.
Many clients visiting our website and YouTube channel find it useful to watch clips featuring a venue they are planning to hire for their event. Over the years we’ve filmed at hundreds of venues around the country so now have an enormous resource which we can offer people access to. Consequently, we have just launched a weddings & event venues section on website which lists all these in an easy to use way. Over the coming weeks we shall be adding more and more videos. We are excited that this will provide a fabulous opportunity for people planning their weddings & events to visualise how they might look in these locations.
For 2010 Bloomsbury Films has already been booked for dozens of new and interesting venues both in the UK and overseas. We therefore hope that we shall be able to continue adding to this resource in the future and look forward to helping our clients plan the perfect day. To visit our new wedding & event venues page click here.
A few months ago we decided to launch our own Facebook Page as a way of interacting with past, present and future clients. We now upload highlights of different jobs to the page as they are completed, so visitors can see our range of work and make comments in an easy, friendly environment. I am pleased to say it is very popular, with clients taking a keen interest in the videos and newcomers watching these as a source of inspiration. Indeed our videos seem to not only serve as an example of good videography, but provide an excellent source of ideas for planning their wedding or event!
We heartily welcome comments from prospective clients, whether they are wondering about how to achieve the best videography, which photographers we recommend or what venues to book. As film-makers we know a lot about making things look good, so our advice is sought after on many subjects. Meanwhile the ‘Discussions‘ section of our Facebook page has a number of topics that are being widely shared. We’ve also included some general tips and advice which we hope our clients enjoy.
If you haven’t already subscribed to our Facebook page or know a friend who might like to check it out, please don’t hesitate to look it up at The Bloomsbury Films’ Facebook Page
At the start of this month Bloomsbury Films was neatly packed up into boxes and moved across town to a new studio location in London’s trendy East End. Taking advantage of the hard hit property market on the periphery of London’s financial district, we were lucky to find a 1500 sqft unit in a converted warehouse that would suit our needs now and in the foreseeable future.
New Bloomsbury Films Office
A stone’s throw from Brick Lane, it is conveniently close to Aldgate & Aldgate East tube stations as well as Tower Gateway DLR. From these new offices we continue to operate our sales & administration, video kit storage and maintenance, production planning where our director’s overseeing all our projects. Over the coming months we shall also be introducing additional in-house studio facilities that will enable us to extend our range of services.
We’re very excited about the move, especially as we continue to expand the range of services provided by Bloomsbury Films. Although wedding videos are still currently our biggest market, we are beginning to attract more types of live event filming including interest from businesses for conference filming. We hope you will be able to pay us a visit sometime!
Perhaps this a reflection of being based in London, but perhaps also it shows the growing acceptance in our society for marriage based on love and like-mindedness, rather than seeking a cultural safety net. A particularly good example of this is Shahara & Christophers wedding which we filmed at York House, Richmond in early August. Shahara is from a Muslim Bengali family and Christopher from a traditional English one. In marrying Shahara, Christopher not only adopted a new family, but a new (Muslim) name. When I met them both months prior to their wedding, it was clear they were both very much in love and that whilst Christopher may not have have grown up in a Muslim/Bengali lifestyle, he was more than willing to adopt one.
I like their video very much, and the trailer shows their coming together well. They had splendid weather on the day and I am glad that there was a lot of opportunities for filming outdoors – which I always believe looks so much better than filming indoors! We have done several Bengali wedding videos of late including a stunning Bengali wedding in Newcastle, but this is the first mixed Anglo-Bengali marriage I am aware of filming. I therefore wish Christopher and Shahara all the very best in the future! Below are highlights from their day:
Earlier this year we were invited by the A&R Allstars to film a concert they were doing at Sound in Leicester Square, London. The band wanted us to capture them live so they could create a demo DVD for clients and have a trailer on their website. After consulting us on the how to capture it in a way which focussed on the different vocalists and instrumentalists, we decided on using three videographers with a jib arm and a steadicam flyer. The concert filming was a lot of fun, and the band managed by Lisa and Andy, were a real pleasure to work with.
You can see highlights from the concert filming below, it shows 30 second clips from 6 different numbers. We shot around 12-15 tracks in all which were then edited and put on a specially designed DVD that the band now send out to clients. I like the trailer because it shows some of the camera movements and the details of the performers. I’d very much like the opportunity to do more concerts, although in future I would consider having four videographers and using slightly different equipment.
