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!
Yane was tucked away in the Chesterfield Hotel where she could have some space and quiet to prepare for her church wedding to Tim. With a little help from her friends, she was soon ready to go and posing for a few photographs in her stunning dress. As she was putting on her finishing touches, the guests were starting to arrive nearby in Hanover Square in the heart of London at St George’s Church where Tim was waiting to catch a glimpse of his bride. Yane arrived in a spectacular white Rolls Royce before being walked up the aisle. It’s a nice bit of editing there where the film changes from black & white to colour when they share their first married kiss – you can do amazing things in post-production. While the bride & groom had a vintage car to travel to the reception in, the remaining wedding party were ushered over in rickshaws – a nice eco-friendly touch.
Once they all safely arrived at Dartmouth House there was drink waiting to welcome them. The group posed for a bunch of wedding photos – the highlight of which had to be when all the blokes hoisted up Yane for a photo in their arms. Good thing they didn’t drop her. After dinner the dancing began. With a large contingent of Brazilians it wasn’t hard differentiating between the English and the Brazilians on the dance floor – they are a nation of people with rhythm and they didn’t disappoint. We wish a rosy future for this dancing couple.
Sarah & Richard chose to be married in London’s lovely borough of Mayfair with its stone buildings and historic squares which ooze history and class. Richard took advantage of Farm Street Church’s vicinity to several great pubs to sneak in a cheeky pint at the Punchbowl pub nearby. Talk about steadying your nerves! Farm Street Church has lovely architectural features including wonderful stained glass windows high above the altar – a romantic choice for a traditional church wedding. Although the bride arriving in a London cab wasn’t such a traditional choice; but was an inspired one. When the service concluded the church was an ideal backdrop for some group photographs. Before long it was time to board the red bus (or the white taxi cab) for the short ride to the National Liberal Club for the reception.
Within the ‘old-world’ confines of the National Liberal Club, we were able to make our way around filming all the guests while they enjoyed a glass of champagne. Sarah & Richard made a point of greeting all the guests as they made their way in for supper (with our camera on hand to film all the interactions). Later everyone was able to mix it up a bit on the dance floor, interacting with each other and enjoying celebrating the union of Sarah & Richard. Thank you to them for choosing to share their special day with us.
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.
Yasamin and Bilal chose to be married at The Gherkin – one of London’s iconic landmarks. The tower, which stands in the heart of the City (also known as 30 St Mary Axe) is one of architect Norman Foster’s crowning achievements. It proved to be a spectacular venue for Yasamin and Bilal’s Arabic wedding. However the day actually kicked off at the Lanesborough Hotel where Yasamin and her bridesmaids went through their wedding preparations with some experts on hand to help them look their best. The girls were in great spirits and the excitement was bubbling throughout the room. When she was dressed, the only car lovely enough to transport her to the wedding was a Rolls Royce and one stood idling in front of the hotel ready to whisk her away.
The wedding venue surpassed everyone’s expectations. From its glassed-in top, the views stretched as far as the eye could see while inside rows of clear Phillipe Starck Ghost chairs were lined up ready to prop up the guests, all of whom were gobsmacked when they reached the top of the tower! During the ceremony, when Yasamin and Bilal kissed, the audience broke into applause which reverberated throughout the glassed-in space creating a thunderous effect. It was a thrilling moment. There was so much to shoot at the wedding that we didn’t know when to stop! Thank you to Yasamin and Bilal for allowing us to share in your special day and the very best wishes to you both.
The anticipation began to build quite early on in the day at the family home as Gemma began to prepare for her church wedding. Our camera crew was there to film as she did her make-up and hair and prepared herself for her wedding day. She wasn’t alone, with plenty of family on hand to help her steady her nerves and give her a giggle along the way. When she was all dressed in her wedding gown, she made the loveliest of brides! We used a mixture or black & white and colour footage, cutting and interspersing to give a nice texture to the behind-the-scenes footage of her wedding day. Nigel had his own preparations to undergo including receiving a very manly boutonniere on his lapel! Nigel and Gemma were soon ready to move on for their church wedding.
The Oxfordshire country church, a charming little stone building, was already getting filled up with their loved ones waiting for the bride & groom. The ceremony didn’t disappoint and when it was over they retreated outside into the glorious sunshine. We used this time to get about filming the groups of guests as they chatted, took photographs and admired Nigel & Gemma. Gemma rode to the reception on the back of a horse being led by her new husband! What a way to go. We hope it is only the first of many great adventures for Gemma and Nigel and we wish them all the very best.
St Mary Brookfield Church, an imposing red-brick London church, was the setting for Lucy & Nick’s church wedding. The high vaulted ceiling of the church drew the eye upwards past the stained glass windows and allowed bountiful daylight to stream in which were optimal conditions for filming. The elegant groomsmen in their morning suits made sure that everyone was seated, comfortably ready for Lucy’s grand arrival to the church (in a gorgeous vintage Rolls Royce). Lucy was a beautiful bride and all eyes were on her as she walked down the aisle where Nick stood ready to give her a quick kiss.
When the ceremony was complete, our beaming happy couple walked hand in hand out of the church where they were showered with confetti and posed for photographs. Throughout, they kissed each other and glowed with happiness. The reception took place at Kenwood House where the champagne stood ready to greet the wedding party. To the music of the fiddle and guitar duo, they enjoyed some time to visit with all of their guests. The bucolic lawns of Kenwood House made a suitable backdrop for wedding photos and the August sunshine meant that guests lingered outside as long as they could. They were drawn inside by the promise of a wonderful meal – a promise which was definitely fulfilled. Lucy & Nick, we wish you all the best!
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!
Ever since creating our first wedding films, I have wanted to bring elements of my interests in feature film production to the table. One of these elements is trailers – I love watching them at the cinema as they don’t just advertise, but build the sense of expectation and excitement around a film release. Similarly after months of work in the production and editing of a client’s wedding film, we create a short wedding video trailer for them.
These are extremely popular and get watched hundreds, and in some cases, thousands of times. The trailers are presented in a unique website created for our client. Some examples include:
Our trailers are uploaded about 7-10 days before the wedding DVD is delivered. To give you an idea of their popularity, the least any of these has been watched is 50 times and the most is over 1000 times! I consider this to be a very significant because the full length wedding video is unlikely to achieve such audience figures ever!
Many of our older trailers have attracted even bigger viewing figures as clients pass on their site to family, friends and work colleagues. For example we have a Sikh wedding video that has attracted 5000 hits over the last 6 months and we have one Bengali wedding video reaching over 20000! Surely that must make these box office hits within the wedding video world? Of course, not all our wedding videos appear on our You Tube channel (a few clients anxiously avoid it) but those that do are very glad of the opportunity to share a small part of their video with so many others. At around 3 minutes in length it is digestible enough for everyone and saves either lending DVDs or imposing on less enthusiastic family and friends.
