We thought it would be a good idea to go behind the scenes and show the day in the life of a wedding videographer. This was Danni and Ben Osbourne's wedding who got married at High House in Chelmsford.
Getting started It’s late summer, the sun is rising and it is forecast to be a beautiful day. Food and equipment packed, suited and booted, we head off excited for the day.
11:00 – Prep Jamie and I offer both groom and bridal prep. Filming this helps us tell the story by building up to the events of the day. Jamie headed to film Ben and his groomsmen getting ready and I headed to High House where Danni, her mum and her three bridesmaids, one of which was her little girl Eden, were all getting ready in the bridal dressing room. Just after midday Jamie arrived at the venue with Ben and the groomsmen and started to film the guests as they arrived.
14:00 – Ceremony With the bride all set, I joined Jamie at the ceremony. Danni and Ben opted for an outdoor ceremony in the grounds of High House in Chelmsford under a beautiful thatched gazebo. As the ceremony music began it all went quiet, I focused my camera out towards the bridal-annex as the bridesmaids began to appear. After the formalities and the standard joke of ‘giving the wedding license to the head of the household’, Danni and Ben walked down the aisle through the pergola where they were greeted by their guests throwing confetti. Jamie and I love the confetti shot. It’s colourful, beautiful and really sums up the romance of the day in one moment..
14:30 – Photoshoot While the guests enjoyed the canapés and champagne, Jamie and I, along with the stills photographer, took the couple away for some couple filming and photos. The rustic pergola that was draped in vines
was a romantic backdrop along with the heart-shaped lake and countryside. We invited the bridesmaids and groomsmen over for some group walking shots, which always adds to the cinematic feel of our highlights. The photographer took the traditional group photos, which while they look great as photos, don’t quite have the impact on film, so Jamie and I filmed the candid moments that were happening during this time.
16:30 – Speeches The reception was held in an elegant white marquee and cute artificial white blossom trees were placed as centrepieces of each table. The marquee led out to some decking that looked over the lake and would later give amazing sunset views for us to film. I always find all the speeches funny, so it’s good that my camera is on a tripod, otherwise I would get laughter shakes on the film. So we can get the best sound from the speeches, we place our own mini mic on the venues microphone. If no microphone is provided by the venue, we place a mic on each of the speakers. The speeches included little Max’s speech, Ben and Danni’s seven-year-old son. It was so cute and made our hearts melt.
18:00 – Evening Photoshoot Later in the day we took the couple away to High House’s very own vineyard. The sun was setting and it made such a beautiful scene; the orange of the sun, complementing the contrast of Danni’s white dress and the green foliage. It was perfect to capture the couple being all cute and romantic in this dreamy, calm setting and the colours came out beautifully on our cameras. These are the moments you pray for at a wedding. When we edited this moment, we can slow the footage down to add to the amorousness of the scene and day. Danni and Ben’s cake was a beautiful three-tier cake with pink flowers sweeping around the side, with ‘Mr & Mrs Osborne’ crowned on top in calligraphic writing.
For their first dance, Danni and Ben made their way to the hidden black and white dance floor. Jamie filmed the close-upshots and panned around the couple, while I had the wide lens to capture the couple and guests in the one shot.
Giant L O V E letters lined the dance floor and star-cloth lining draped the walls, which made a magical background and beautiful bokeh look on the film. The evening settled in with a BBQ feast. We thanked Danni and Ben for an amazing day, got our customary photo with the couple….and cut.
The Edit
After an amazing day with Danni and Ben, Jamie and I start the editing process. Usually we look through all the footage,looking at the key moments first and making sure we have good footage. We had so much from their day, everything was perfect.
Once we are happy with all the videos and audio. Jamie and I will discuss what feel or vibe we got from the couple,the day and the venue. We will then search for backing music that complements the couple’s day. Once we have our theme,we create a 60 second Instagram teaser within the first 10 days for Danni and Ben.
Straight after that, I will work on the key moments including the full length videos of the speeches,ceremony, first dance and cutting of the cake, while Jamie edits the wedding highlights.
A highlight is the whole day edited with audio and music summarised into a 5 to 7 minute film, which is perfect for facebook and sharing with friends and family who want to relive the day without watching a feature length film.
What Danni and Ben said... "My new husband and I love making memories and knew we definitely had to have our wedding on film, to look back on. The guys from Peekaboo films were fantastic, they both made us feel really at ease and they were both so discreet we hardly knew the cameras were there."
FEATURED IN ESSEX LIFE MAGAZINE
