Kelmarsh Hall is a nice red brick manor house set in the countryside between Leicester and Northampton. Paul & Ruhi thought it a suitable venue for their Anglo-Hindu wedding ceremony. The spacious interiors were well suited to a wedding with plenty of space for the guests to mingle about. This also afforded us the room to circulate with our camera and shoot lots of video of the wedding guests in the finery. There were some great hats on display! The civil ceremony was brief and ended in warm applause for the newly married husband and wife. The entire wedding party then moved outside to explore the luscious parklands and take wedding photographs (not to mention enjoy a glass of champagne). We particularly liked shooting everyone together on the stairs of the Hall – a nice memory of all the guests who shared in Paul & Ruhi’s day.
Guests moved inside for a spectacular dinner. The food was piled on the plate like a work of art and it seemed to go down a treat. Having been married in a civil ceremony, the couple now had a Hindu ceremony which was beautiful. Now married in both traditions, our couple took to the dance floor. The beaming smiles on their face make it clear how much they enjoyed their special day. Thanks for letting us be a part of it.
When Jaimin and Rakhi decided to be married in a Hindu wedding ceremony, they cast about looking for a suitable venue. They settled on the Osterley Park Hotel in London (Middlesex) which was well suited to their requirements. We got some great behind-the-scenes footage of their preparations, like the groom dressing and receiving blessings from his family in the family home. When he was finally ready, he was ushered out into a waiting car to take him to the Osterley Park Hotel. Many of the guests were already there and they presented each other with ceremonial garlands.
The wedding hall was clad entirely in white which made for a very dramatic setting, especially against all the vivid colours worn by the guests. Our bride and groom were united and sat on ornate white thrones where the Hindu ceremony took place uniting them. One part involved them literally being ‘chained together.’ It was great to capture all of this on film so that Jaimin and Rakhi can relive it at some point in the future. Once they were married, the guests enjoyed a drink and a chance to mingle about and talk. Before long, it was time to have a dinner banquet with the hungry guests taking their place at large tables. Dinner was enjoyed by all and soon the dancing began…and went on for quite some time. Everyone was clearly enjoying themselves. Bravo to Jaimin and Rakhi!
For Manoj and Anupa, their Asian wedding had several components to it – so it was a pleasure for us to be invited along on the whole journey to document it for their long-term memories. For Anupa it all started with the helping hand of a make-up and hair professional to prepare her for her civil ceremony. When she was ready, a classic Rolls Royce pulled up to drive her to the wedding at Birmingham Botanical Gardens to meet up with Manoj for a large wedding ceremony. With plenty of family and friends arriving, the room was getting quite full and the anticipation was building. All eyes were on Anupa as she made her way up the aisle and she had a lovely warm smile with which to greet Manoj. As they left the Botanical Gardens, hand-in-hand and husband and wife, they were showered in flower petals and all their family snapped photographs of the happy couple. At the reception the couple cut into, and fed each other from, a lovely cake before taking to the dancefloor for a romantic first dance.
A week later they reconvened at the Shree Ram Mandir in West Midlands for a Hindu wedding ceremony. Once again Manoj and Anupa were the stars of the show beaming throughout the ceremony. We wish them much joy together and thank you both for allowing us to share in your special day.
Nirshanthan and Shiyamily had two separate events as part of their Sri Lankan style wedding. The first took place at Addington Palace, in Surrey, where they held a Hindu wedding. Filled with ritual, there were a series of blessings which the family & priest bestowed upon the couple. It is fascinating if you aren’t familiar with it, and we always enjoy filming all the various elements which make up an Asian wedding. Both our bride and groom were dressed in extraordinary rich outfits, covered in intricate detail and made of lovely fabrics. There were live musicians who filled the ceremony with music and entertained both before and after.
The couple then had a civil wedding service at Woburn Abbey in Bedfordshire. This was a totally different affair, with the bride in a white dress and the groom in a top hat and tails – and both arriving by a horse-drawn coach up the long drive to the venue! A beautiful civil service was followed by plenty of photographs in the stunning grounds of Woburn. Meanwhile the guests were enjoying a drink out on the lawns (and taking in the July sun). One lovely moment was when they released a bunch of white doves and our camera was able to follow them as they flew up into the sky. Congratulations to Nirshanthan and Shiyamily on two very successful weddings!
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!
A R Rahman for Asian weddings! Probably one of the hardest and relentless professionals working in the film industry today: A R Rahman is now getting recognition for his work here in the west!
After watching the BAFTAS I began reflecting on how relevant and widespread his work is, particularly in the field of Asian Wedding videos.
We always ask our clients to supply some choices for the music they want for their wedding video and they tend to choose popular, romantic songs from recent Bollywood films. These very frequently are songs composed by the man himself and we have found his work to be brilliant for enhancing the emotion in our films making them engaging even to viewers who did not attend the wedding!
It really adds that “Bollywood Love Story” element to the work we make here at Bloomsbury Films. Another huge plus is the sheer range of the music he puts out, music that goes well with dancing, the actual marriage ceremony, people socializing and the wide variety of special performances young people put on for Asian Weddings.
The other great thing is that many of the most popular movies have weddings in the story and so in turn the songs contain well suited lyrics that are relevant to work. Recently the most popular requests have been songs from the soundtracks of: Guru, Jodhaa Akbar, Rang De Basanti & of course Slumdog Millionaire… all composed by A R Rahman.
This allows us to give every Asian couple the Bollywood movie experience for their wedding video!
To me some of the most exciting projects we undertake are Asian Wedding Videos. I remember how excited I was when we received our first two Asian wedding video bookings in early 2007 – the same weekend Aatish & Amita booked us for their Hindu Wedding Video at the Hare Krishna temple in Watford and Sohit & Vandana booked us for their Indian Wedding Video at the Four Seasons in Hampshire.
I remember meeting Sohit for coffee a week earlier to discuss the possibility of us filming his wedding and him saying “so I guess you know I’ll be coming in on a white horse?” Not sure whether it was a trick question to test my knowledge of Indian wedding videos, I cautiously shrugged in manner suggesting ‘yes of course!’. As soon as I got back to my partner that evening I shrieked out my disbelief at the idea of a groom appearing on a white horse! After looking up the facts online to check I hadn’t inadvertently blown my cover, I was thrilled at the prospect of a wedding video with something REALLY filmic!
To make the most of the opportunity, I decided to hire in a Glidecam 200 crane at my own expense and to shoot the whole wedding in super widescreen. We were lucky with the mid-April weather and I was able to create my first Asian wedding video in a way that evoked the cinematic qualities I wanted to offer. As soon as the film was edited and online, it had an instant impact on our business with several other Asian couples booking us to film their wedding with a similar aesthetic.
The peak of this rise came in Autumn 2007 we went to Newcastle to film what is still the grandest wedding I have ever done – Surita & Sumita’s double wedding celebration at the Sage centre. During 2007 we produced many other Asian wedding videos including Amrita and Benjis Sikh wedding video which was the first to use three cameras. Needed for the sheer scale of the wedding, this enabled us to film multiple perspectives and simultaneous action. Personally I think you need at least 2-3 videographers for any type of live event filming.
Meanwhile Aatish & Amita’s wedding in July 2007 offered similar spectacle, hosted as it was in the grounds of Bhaktivedanta Manor in Watford. I remember meeting the couple at the venue a few months before their wedding and being struck by two huge bullocks transporting visitors around by cart. The venue features a beautiful temple in the main house and one of my favourite moments in the film is ‘Feeding the Holy Cows’. For me, this was something I never expected to see in a wedding video! Raising the bar from the Asian groom entering on a horse, I was delighted to film something that was as visual and interesting as I had hoped.
During the course of 2007-2009 we have filmed many Asian weddings – many of these amazed me for the sheer scale, spectacle and sense of occasion. I have also been very touched by how important they are to the families and the wider Asian community that is frequently invited to participate. I hope that as more couples see our Asian wedding films that we have produced for our clients, we will be invited to film many others – as I have come to love creating Asian wedding videos!
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:
