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!
The first Jewish wedding video we filmed this year was on a cold wintry day in March. It was for Michel & Michael a couple whose special day was hosted at the Millennium Hotel Gloucester Road. The couple booked our Director’s Cut™ package at a time when it was only two cameras (now three). We used Sony Z1 cameras and our jib arm, we also hired a Steadicam Merlin for the occasion to see if it was something we might buy. I must say I was very pleased with the Steadicam and would have no hesitation buying one if it wasn’t for the fact that we ditched our Z1 cameras for the new heavier Z7 cameras. Creating a Jewish wedding video is always interesting, especially filming the ceremony, dancing and blessings. This particular Jewish wedding was a bit more orthodox than those we’ve previously filmed as the men and women were divided during the reception banquet. Despite the very dark time of year (and being two levels below ground for the reception), the wedding presented enough spectacle to create a fabulous Jewish wedding video. One thing that stuck in my mind was the Talbis which took place before the ceremony and involved the males of the family each singing in turn before being joined in chorus. You can see highlights of this wedding video below:
We recently finished editing an Asian wedding video for Vivek & Anneka, who got married in a civil ceremony at Ealing Town Hall in September 2007 before going to Goa for their proper Asian wedding. Afterwards they held a reception back in the UK just before Christmas at Addington Palace in Croydon. The wedding reception was well attended by over 500 guests and both the bride and grooms families were absolutely wonderful! Dan and Simon filmed the wedding with me directing, we trialled the new EX-1 camera because of its low light capabilities – very wise considering it was the shortest day of the year! The shoot went well and everybody was in great spirits, I particularly liked the speeches, bollywood dancers (with uncle joining in) and the partying! Highlights of their Asian wedding video can be seen below.
