This time last year I remember spending the first days of January reviewing the edit on our first major Sikh wedding video. Created for Amrita & Benji, it covered a five day extravaganza which we had filmed the previous August. This epic project started with the bride’s Mehndi party & Sangeet in London on 1st August, followed by the groom’s Maiya and Jago party in Brighton on 2nd August. On 3rd August, their main day, we had crew in both places from 6am filming the families preparing for the big day and making their journeys to Southall Gurdwara. Its was a very visual wedding day with a baraat and milni outside the steps of one the biggest temples outside India. The main wedding day was followed on 4th August by a grand open-air banquet at Bearwood College in Wokingham and a gala dinner a week later on 11th August in Mayfair.
As you can imagine the film was quite an epic – the first cut weighed in at a hefty 3hrs 30! Since I always meticulously review all our editing work personally, it took quite a while to complete this. My main focus at that stage was to ensure there a clear story arc to their Sikh wedding video. This meant ensuring that individual chapters were coherent and made sense to viewers (a wedding film usually has to make sense of random events!). As always I went through the cuts with fine tooth comb looking at the quality of the shots and editing choices. Indeed, before the raw footage even went to the editor I had already reviewed it and provided notes on dialogue editing and music score. However it is only when you look at a first cut, can one be sure decisions previously made fit the intention. Occasionally I decide to change background music or trim dialogue. Of course, with a wedding film of this length, there is a big music score to decide upon! Clients usually request some tracks and where they fit, I include these, however I often specify around 2/3rds of the music myself, which can involve spending hours listening to Bollywood, Bhangra, Shenai & other Indian music!
We had Amrita & Benji’s Sikh wedding film completed by the end of January and no sooner was it shown online we were inundated with enquiries from other Sikh clients! I must say, looking back at the video, the open-air wedding banquet section looks especially good and I am always a big fan of filming outdoors rather than indoors – the light and sense of spectacle are always much greater! On this job we used a Glidecam 200 jib crane to capture the sense of scale – imagine 500 people sat around tables on a manicured lawn with cedar trees and a Jacobean style mansion providing the backdrop, plus the most wonderful weather anyone could hope for!
Having since made over a dozen more Sikh wedding films, I can honestly say I enjoy making them very much and have had the pleasure of creating some wonderful films. After making Amrita and Benji’s film I no longer find a three and a half hour film quite so daunting!
With Christmas only a few weeks away, it is great to see how many couples have booked us to film their wedding during the festive season. One thing is for sure, couples who resist the conventional Summer season tend to have a greater choice of venues and services on offer. I know how stretched we get during the Summer, which means our attention and enthusiasm is inevitably higher in the Winter when have more time to spend with clients.
From a visual perspective also Christmas has a lot to offer couples, providing a combination of dramatic landscapes, unique Winter light and attractively decorated and candlelit rooms. Looking back at last year, several wedding videos come to mind. One of my favourites is Leila & Carlton’s wedding, which you can see a clip from below.
Leila & Carlton married in mid-December, and as you can see from the video, Leila looked fabulous in her winter fur-topped outfit. The couple also had great light for their wedding photography and enjoyed a Christmassy feel at the attractive Hotel Russell in Bloomsbury.
Similarly, Vivek & Anneka held their wedding reception just a couple of days before Christmas at Addington Palace in Surrey. They had married three months earlier, but delayed the wedding reception to Christmas so they could go to India in the meantime. Around 400 guests descended upon the gardens of Addington Palace which were attractively lit with fairy lights. Inside the marquee wedding spirit combined with the spirit of Christmas to provide a very warm and festive atmosphere.
Kerrie & Martin choose to hold their wedding just after Christmas enjoying the Wintry setting of their local church and followed by the warm hospitality of the Blue Check Restaurant. Kerrie was keen to include some of the magic associated with Christmas in her wedding video, including allusions to The Wizard of Oz, and asked for one or two Christmas carols to be included in their wedding video sound track. You can see highlights from their post-Christmas wedding below.
With several more weddings around the corner this Christmas, I look forward to seeing the special spirit this time of year brings to these too!
In July our videographers set off to Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire to film Melissa and Brett’s wedding at Stapleford Park. When I saw the raw footage afterwards I was immediately struck by how well Melissa came across on film, she appears very animated and expressive. However the expressiveness didn’t end with her, indeed it seemed that everybody was openly brimming with feelings and emotions that day! I found this very rewarding as I don’t want clients to be inhibited by our videographers so the material we capture is purely natural and spontaneous. This discretion is something we go to great lengths to achieve, both in our training and preparations, but also technical issues such as the cameras and microphones we use.
Looking at the finished wedding video, one of the most amusing parts is the Surprise Sopranos who entertained everyone during dinner. Disguised as hotel staff, two sopranos and a tenor perform a seemingly improvised act for the guests. You can see it was a big hit with the audience and it was great to watch on video too. You can see highlights from Melissa & Brett’s wedding video below:
On a fine day in mid-June we had the pleasure of filming the wedding of a premier league footballer and his lovely partner. It was hosted at Four Seasons Hampshire under the supervision of VIP wedding planner & designer Mark Niemierko.
Four Seasons Hampshire
We received the booking only the day before which meant we were a bit less prepared than usual, however we managed to co-ordinate the filming as we went along. The day started with the groom and his friends clay pigeon shooting whilst the bride and her entourage got ready. The wedding ceremony was held at a nearby church in the village of Dogmersfield. Mark’s team lavishly dressed the church to create a quintessential country feel and it was completely full for the ceremony!
Church nearby Four Seasons Hampshire
Afterwards a drinks reception was held in the hotel’s fabulous Walled Garden. I’ve always believed that outdoor settings look better on film than indoor ones, and this garden really excels as a backdrop. Later on the wedding banquet was hosted inside the hotel with the cake cutting on the terrace accompanied by fireworks. The evening’s partying got off to a swing with a great band and the guests clearly enjoyed themselves. Below are highlights from the event.
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:
One of the privileges of creating wedding videos, is getting to know a couple at one of the most intimate moments in their lives. Whether the videographer on the day or the editor looking at footage in a darkened room weeks later, you can’t help but get involved in the couple’s story. At Bloomsbury we feel a huge responsibility for creating a film that captures our clients personality as well as the people and events surrounding them on their wedding day. It is no exaggeration to say a lot of heart goes into making each film – wedding videography just isn’t something you can do dispassionately! Although we run a studio style operation with many people involved in every film we make, each person is fully invested in each frame of the finished film.
Consequently when a film is completed, the response from our clients is very important to us! A recent example was Helen and Michael whose wedding at Easthampstead Park we filmed back in July. As you can tell from the wedding video, the couple are very popular with family and friends and this warmth was something we wanted to get across. When Helen saw the trailer she was thrilled and made us happy by showing her gratitude. It also made us smile when a week or so later she even commented on her own YouTube video expressing how proud she was; “This is our wedding and we were totally amazed by the fantastic job Bloomsbury did it was amazing!” Believe it or not, these few words meant a great deal to us and it is why we enjoy making really special films for our clients. Please have a look at the trailer for Helen & Michael’s wedding video for yourself below:
The day after my birthday in July, I drove slightly worse for wear down to Buxted Park in Sussex with Tunji to film Laurence & Zoe’s wedding. They had booked us last minute after being let down by another wedding videographer. Being let down is a common problem because of the many amateurs in our business (6 booking last year came to us this way and 3 so far this year!) There was an element of deja vu about filming Laurence and Zoe’s wedding as we had been to Buxted Park only 3 weeks earlier for Vicky & James (currently being edited). I must say it was a nice day and despite being slightly hung-over the videography in Sussex went fine. The venue has splendid grounds with views for miles around. Perhaps the archetypal Sussex wedding video the couple married in a civil ceremony with photography by Fergus Noone based in Greenwich market. Laurence was particular keen to capture all the funny moments, which I think we did. You can see highlights from his wedding in Sussex below.
Whilst Dan & David were filming in Oxfordshire (see this post), I was accompanying Dishad and Eva filming Manjit & Anju’s wedding at Coventry Gurdwara. The day started for Eva and I in Barking, Essex capturing Manjit getting ready before the whole entourage left for Coventry. One thing I always like to do when I am on a shoot to is film the baraat en route. This can be more difficult than you imagine because you not only have to speed after them and cut through traffic, but you then need to keep the camera steady long enough to capture footage from a moving vehicle. For this particular Sikh wedding video we decided to go one step further that we did in Amrita & Benji’s Sikh wedding video and stop at a service station along the M1 and film from a foot bridge. We’d hardly been in position for more than a minute when the bus carrying all of Manjit’s family went past. Although only one shot, it gave a lift to the film which I believe makes it feel like a TV documentary. Thanks to our sat nav we arrived in Coventry just ahead of the bus and was ready to film the arrival of the baraat and milni before the ceremony commenced. The reception was a bit hectic, not helped by traffic diversions on the two centre, but I am proud of the film we managed to pull off for Manjit & Anju. You can see highlights of their Sikh wedding video below:
In May we were booked by Helen and James to film their wedding at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire. It was a great location for a wedding reception, although the staff were a little obstructive when it came to filming outside the main house. However the weather held and our wedding videographers Dan and David ensured we got plenty of good material. As you would expect from an Oxfordshire wedding video it was a very elegant affair with beautiful surroundings and lovely details. The couple endeared themselves to their guests with personal touches such rowing oars outside the church and a rehearsed first dance. For their wedding DVD we experimented with the use of black and white for some scenes, which I think looks good for church weddings where the bride is wearing white. You can see a trailer from the Oxfordshire wedding video below:
One of our favourite places for wedding videos in Hampshire is the Four Seasons Hotel in Dogmersfield, where we film many weddings each year. What is nice about the venue is the unstuffy warmth and hospitality of the staff combined a wonderful rural location. Our clients, Susan and David, opted to hold their wedding ceremony in the walled garden which is wonderful feature of the hotel and makes for a beautiful wedding video. David being a Kiwi decided to add a touch of his cultural heritage by having Maori dancers entertain his guests in the evening whilst a band also provided great entertainment. Our wedding videographer Dishad did a great job as always of filming the wedding and I am pleased with the results. You can see highlights of this Hampshire wedding video below:
