Danielle and Aran’s WEDDING VIDEO FEATURE

The Venue

Wilderness Reserve is a beautiful 8000 acre country estate deep in the Suffolk countryside. Among the beautiful cottages and walled gardens is Sibton Park, a 14 bedroom country house with an attached orangery. The whole house is well-designed and stylish, from the Chinese wallpaper in the drawing room to the grand dining room and bedrooms. The park has rowing boats, bikes and is a perfect slice of English countryside so I was very grateful to work here twice last year.

Both my weddings at Wilderness Reserve took place in the main country house, so I was lucky enough to get full access to the jewel in the venues crown on two occasions. One of my weddings took place in the orangery and the other outside the house, with the stunning country views behind.

Danielle and Aran’s Wedding Day Plans

Both Danielle and Aran got ready in the morning in the main house and the first thing I noticed on arrival was Danielle’s beautiful dress which was beautifully designed. Danielle also had her daughter with her in the morning, making the preparations extra special.

Danielle descended the flower adorned staircase before heading out onto the lawn to meet Aran. It was a very windy, but atmospheric, September day and their wedding ceremony was conducted by a humanist celebrant.

After the very personal ceremony, and a great confetti exit, the couple and their guests made their way to the side of the house for drinks and canapés and we had a chance to go for a walk down to the lake and around to the front of the house for couple photos in the lovely September light (possible the nicest light of the year in the UK).

They were then met by cheers as they entered the Orangery for the wedding breakfast before some heartfelt and funny speeches.

While the couple and their guests had cocktails and were entertained by a roaming live band, the orangery was transformed into a stylish bar. The party then got into full swing with the live band taken centre stage as the couple and their guests danced the night away.

Wedding Videography Approach

My main aim as a wedding videographer is to produce cinematic, yet authentic, mementos of a wedding day. I want them to be stylish, filled with all the emotions of the day while being infused with a classic cinema flair, which I always have in the back of my mind when choosing which lens to use in a certain moment, how to frame a shot, the sounds and music I will use to tell that part of the story and thinking always about the edit.

Me filming a wedding in Portugal with my minimalist set up.

Danielle and Aran chose a celebrant I already knew and I was certain I would use some of her opening eulogy as the start and end of their film, which I gave a vintage sound to make it feel like a opening voiceover. I also knew the couples daughter and family were very important to them so made sure they were incorporated into the film as much as possible. The wind and changing light and weather throughout the day lent a kinetic energy to their day which I tried to emulate in my music choice for their film, though this changed for the evening, once the orangery was transformed, when I went for a cooler and more stylish track.

Once I have these all story telling elements in place I make sure my films are as cinematic as possible, and what I mean by that is I use every tool and technique at my disposal, from the filming style on the wedding day, to the editing and colour grading techniques afterwards, to create a piece of work that feels like a mini-movie, like a short piece of classic cinema, with a proper beginning middle and end, establishing people, place and story as elegantly as possible, woven together with music I choose carefully for each project.

Most importantly though, I use equipment and a filming style on the day that allows me to capture these moments without leaving a heavy footprint on the day- I use very minimal equipment, similar to a photographer, and avoid stage managing the day in any way because the most important element of making a great film is authentic moments and emotions and the only way to achieve these is allow them to happen naturally, unhindered by over posing/staging and manufacturing the events.

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