Helen and Steve (Ste, Steven, Stevo, Keogh, half pint or the milky bar kid as he is known!) were a wonderful couple and we could see how much thought and effort they had put into their day from the outset. Friends and family spent the previous days helping them too, decking out the marque with all manner of personal touches from photos to an amazing fudge favour and Helen’s dad ensured no health and safety violations had occurred.

Morland house holds a very special place in their hearts, they actually met at the Morland Chorister camp at the tender ages of 11 and 12. Steve, being the elder, went about gaining Helen’s affections (as you would expect at that age) by writing to her brother Matthew and asking him to say hello to his sister for him!

Romance did finally blossom between the two and Morland house and Church was the only venue for them to celebrate their wedding with family and friends.

It was a beautiful day and an absolute delight to be there, and I hope this little surprise goes some way to thanking them for allowing us to be part of it.

come back soon for the stills of the day.

enjoy,

Wedding filmmakers can fall into the trap of putting lots of pretty but pointless moments into their trailers. Not so with Courting Whale Pictures. You can tell that each and every shot in this film was deliberately chosen to advance the story of the couple and the day. The result is a trailer that had me completely gripped and carried me along on an emotional journey. What’s especially powerful is that the filmmaker takes a non-linear approach, matching different parts of the day together because they share the same emotional notes. I especially loved how the intensity of the ceremony was heightened by cutting it with the drama of the couple’s first dance. This is the work of a very accomplished artist.

I have to say I agree completely with their sentiment. It is tempting to use your favourite visual shots but as film-makers we should remind ourselves we’re not trying to create the prettiest selection of images (that’s what the photographs are for), but the most engaging and emotional story.

If you missed the trailer first time round, here is the trailer they are referring to;

If you’re a bride or groom to be and are still uncertain about having a wedding film, I really recommend taking a look at the article on the Love 24fps blog “Why a wedding film is the best investment you’ll make”. Here is a little film they have put together on this subject. Do check out their site for other great examples of wedding film.

From the day we first met Bethany and Grant to go and see their lovely wedding venue, The Priory Barn, we knew it was going to be a great day and we would be working with a great couple.

Being a couple that work in the events industry they had it all planned to a T, Calm wasn’t the word, from Grant booking the honeymoon on the morning of the wedding, to Bethany not even batting a eyelid even when a stray pair of hair tongs tried to give her a Harry Potter style mark on her forehead!!

The weather was as perfect as the venue and the day flew by. To get 20 minutes of a couples time during such a special day for photographs is all you could want, we were lucky enough to have so much more. Bethany and Grant really were a perfect couple, allowing us to spend some great moments with them and their lively wedding party.

Thank you to them and their kind family and friends who we met throughout the day.

Venue:

http://www.thepriory.net/

To all our couples past and future, thank you for putting your faith and trust in us, thank you for letting us be a part of your day and have a fantastic festive period and a prosperous new year filled with love and happiness.

Merry Christmas y’all

- team courting whale.

Receiving nice feedback on a wedding film is extremely gratifying but nothing beats a live reaction and with this pre-wedding film we got the opportunity to witness the reaction of the surprise screening to an audience of over 100 guests at Braxted Park in Essex.

I was both nervous and excited in the moments leading up to the screening. Would the sound system or projector let us down at the last minute? Would the guests enjoy it and would get the reaction i had hoped for? Fortunately it was “alright on the night” and it even received a standing ovation.

This was such a good moment, I thought it should be shared.

As if the venue wasn't beautiful enough, cherry blossom trees were added in to line the ceremony room and to act as the basis of the table plan at the reception.

Lana and Raphael also laid on some incredible entertainment; an awesome indie-rock band, an original mini converted into a photo booth (and still road legal!), an amazing magician that despite being shot from every angle is still unfathomable. It was very British wedding but with some subtle Lebanese and German touches. It was lovely to hear the personal vows that Lana and Raphael had written for each other and also witness one of the best first dance routines I've seen for a while (notice the dress change!).

This trailer has a long build up to the crescendo and I've adopted a “less is more” approach as with most of our trailers, trying not to divert focus away from the story of the couple.

It took me a long time to find the perfect song for this particular trailer and I believe I've also beaten all the cool American TV shows in licencing this little gem for commercial use. The title, “this ain't how we planned it” didn't immediately jump out as be

ing appropriate for a wedding, but the more i thought about it, the more I realised just how incredibly apt it is. First and as is the essence of the trailer, love comes from the most unexpected places at times we are least expecting it. Second for all the planning and preparation goes into a wedding day and even if we perfectly execute it, there are some things we simply cannot plan for; our reaction to seeing your bride walking down the isle at her most radiant, speaking the vows to last a lifetime, entering a room to all your friends and family cheering you. You cannot plan, anticipate or even imagine how you will feel or react. And that’s what makes a wedding so utterly special.

Lana wanted the “look” of her wedding film to be like “Midnight in Paris” which has a very warm tone with heavy saturation in the greens and magenta’s and a heavy film grain. I tried to stick to that brief with the trailer.

Suppliers we digged;
Syon Park – Spectacular London Wedding Venue
Aljosa Videtic – Superstar Picture Taker
Richard Birtchnell – Top of the Toastmasters
Megabooth – Proprieters of an amazing original Austin Mini photo booth.

Having not previously been there, we instantly fell in love with their venue, the morning light through the windows creating some amazing dramatic effects in this beautiful tudor building. The Church was also an absolute dream to shoot in.

This trailer nearly went in another direction entirely with more focus on the beautiful church service which was very important to the couple, but it’s something so personal to them, i felt it better to save this element for the full film.

Lauren and David are a sweet and gorgeous couple (as you can see!) and their wedding was an absolutely perfect day of love and celebration

Suppliers we digged
The Grasshopper Inn – Stunning beautifully restored boutique Hotel and Wedding Venue
Short Film Company – Wedding video company with an awesome Big-brother style video booth hire which is available separate of or along side their wedding video packages
Miki Photography – Master of light, composition and the universe

It took place in The Brewery in Central London, veritable tardis of a venue bang in the middle of the city. Honestly, we would never have known that a venue so large and grand as this would have existed in the middle of the city.

Creating trailers are often the most challenging but ultimately most rewarding edits. Some themes can be developed whilst others sadly have to be thrown away. One thing that we touch on here but don’t develop too much is how involved the groom was in the organisation of the wedding. I love it when grooms are as excited about the day as their brides but Jana took this to a whole new level and this certainly gave the best men some ammunition for their speech!

The wedding was full of colour, energy and emotion. This trailer hopefully captures some of the anticipation, euphoria and general craziness of Mithila and Jana’s day!

We were made to feel so welcome by the entire wedding party and had a great (albeit very exhausting!) day shooting this.

Suppliers we digged;
M&R photography – Brilliant and lovely specialist asian wedding photographers who were amazing to work with helped us understand some of the cultural and ceremonial subtleties of our first hindu wedding.
The Brewery – If you are in search big (and I mean big) venue in the city of London, this is it.
Say Fromage – We are seeing that photo booths are more popular now than ever. These guys are cool because you can instantly tweet your photos from the booth.
Premier Rouge – The Asian wedding catering specialists. Food sooo gooood.

An awesome celebration that we’ll never forget.

This was a gorgeous venue, couple and wedding.

I used a different colour process for this trailer to give it a darker more dramatic look. I think this is probably also the first time we’ve included shots using our micro jib in a trailer.

Suppliers we digged;
Great Fosters – Stunning Surrey Wedding venue for all seasons
Jay Tough – Awesome Surrey based toastmaster
Roger Brown – Takes stunning pictures. Very nice chap too!

It felt like we lived all four seasons on this day; we had sun, rain and everything in between. Lois’ brother in his speech likened the changing weather to the emotions of the day and he was spot on.

Lois and Richard are an amazing couple with such love for each other. It was for a number of reasons, a very emotional wedding. It was also an incredibly fun wedding with the absolutely awesome “52 Skidoo” providing the entertainment for the first part of the evening with some authentic 1920′s swing. It was an awesome sight to behold with the wedding party showcasing some incredible Lindy Hop dance moves. We really really loved this wedding and this couple.

Suppliers we digged;
Crabbs Barn – Fantastic Essex Wedding Venue
Kerrie Mitchell – Very lovely and very talented fashion inspired Photographer
52 Skidoo – Amazing authentically styled 1920s harlem swing band