Live music makes such a contribution to any good wedding reception. This was doubly the case at this Sikh wedding reception held at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London. Sukshinda Shinda Live rocked the house and had the dancefloor packed with dancing fools. Look at the way the lead singer bobs and weaves his way across the stage? The guy just keeps on moving and keeps the crowd on their feet. From the spectacular sway of his turban, to the rustle of his robes, he is poetry in motion keeping time with his song! It was hard to keep our cameras still as we were bopping and weaving to the music too!

Doubling up on both keyboards and percussion gives a real depth to the sound and with one of the keyboards doubling on backing vocals it goes a long way to flushing out the sonic scope. Sukshinda Shinda Live were backed up by a great set of lights which pulsed and cut through the darkness helping to further lift the spirits. No expense was spared on their sound system too with bass sound that literally shook your bones. All the better to help you dance! Keep these great musicians in mind if you are planning an event or wedding reception. Well done guys!

Kiran & Kuldeep went all out on their Sikh wedding! It was a fantastic celebration. Early in the day we met up with the bride at the Hilton Hotel as she started her wedding preparations. She certainly wasn’t daunted by the path ahead and seemed to embrace the excitement of it all. Meanwhile our groom was being well looked after by his family who made sure he was dressed and ready for his ceremony at the Ilford Gurdwara. A couple of busses and a handful or Rolls Royce were on hand to ferry the wedding party in style. The ceremony was beautiful, colourful and over too soon!

Then it was on to the London’s Grosvenor House Hotel for a rather elaborate reception. The hotel pulled out all the stops to make Kiran & Kuldeep’s celebration a memorable one. The vast room was draped in a star cloth giving it a really pretty night-time sky effect. Coupled with a brilliant lighting setup and amazing floral displays made quite an impression on the guests. It was great for us to film too as there was so much to take in the with camera’s eye. The bride and groom made a spectacular entrance to the beating of many drums. And that was just the beginning of a long and memorable evening. Thank you to Kiran and Kuldeep for letting us be a part.

Sikh Weds. Jaspreet & Samantha were wed in a Sikh ceremony at the Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha in Nottingham where they were surrounded by their family and friends. Samantha was attired in a traditional Sikh wedding dress looking absolutely beautiful. Jaspreet (Skywalker) had lots of helping getting ready and was ready to commit himself to his princess/bride Samantha. The church leaders led them through the ceremony and pronounced their blessings on the couple all under the watchful eye of their family and their dearest friends. Our cameras operators had room to get about which allowed us to shoot some really great footage of the ceremony and get lots of close-ups of the guests.

The reception took place at Thoresby Hall Hotel where the grand, high-ceilinged rooms were appreciated by all. Drinks were lined up ready to greet the guests. With a change of outfit, Samantha and Jaspreet posed for photographs, taking advantage of the fine architecture of the building for backgrounds. The guests enjoyed a really nice meal – the food was beautifully plated and presented and was really enjoyed by the guests. As the sun set and darkness took over, the lighting in the hotel was especially romantic and was the right ambiance for the cutting of the wedding cake. Their first dance was to a spectacular waterfall of bubbles! Wishing much joy and happiness to these two.

Lalani and Rupert pulled out all the stops for their wedding in London. The day began with a lovely church wedding at St Mary’s Church, a really pretty little stone church which was soon filled with all their closest friends and family. Lalani arrived at the door in a chauffeur driven vintage Rolls Royce – emerging from the car like Cinderella from her carriage. The choir was singing inside to herald her arrival. Lalani beamed as she walked up the aisle to meet Rupert and exchange wedding vows.

The reception was at the Hurlingham Club and its well-tended lawns were the ideal setting for photographs. We enjoyed filming all the laughter and horsing-around which accompanied the wedding photography – this is a clearly a group of friends who enjoy themselves. As the photos were taking place, the remaining wedding guests had a chance to admire the sculptures in the Hurlingham grounds and enjoy a glass of champagne in the sun. Soon it was time to retreat inside for the wedding breakfast where tables were well-laden with beautiful floral arrangements. Lalani and Rupert made a splash on the dance floor executing a very elegant first dance – no shuffling feet here! The live band soon had all the guests up on their feet enjoying a boogie. All-in-all a fantastic wedding day for Lalani and Rupert.

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.

Nighat and Naveed had an Asian civil wedding ceremony at the Dunkenhalgh Hotel in Lancashire on a lovely July day. But there was no time to enjoy the sun for our bride – she was busy with makeup, hair and getting dressed in her elaborate dress. Even in black & white her radiance shines through and you get a sense of her enjoyment of the process – especially with some of her girlfriends on hand. Meanwhile in room 708 the groom was busy with his own preparations with his mates there to lend moral support. The guests began to arrive and take their places in the chairs (wrapped in white and tied up with ribbons). With all the beautiful saris there was plenty of colour about the room. When the civil ceremony was completed the flash bulbs started going as all the guests made their way up to take photographs with their cameras.

There was a complete change of dress for the reception with our newly married couple making quite a grand entrance for their reception. Our newlyweds took to the dance floor and gave a very polished showing for their first married dance – our camera was able to follow them around and capture all the angles. Thank you to Nighat and Naveed for letting us be a part of their big day.

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!