As our shooting season slows down enough for us to catch our collective breaths, we thought it would be fun to look back on some highlights of a pretty amazing year. We had the honor of capturing the weddings of so many great couples in so many fun locations that we’re still pinching ourselves. Is this real life? haha
Most would say that the wedding season begins in spring, but we got a super early start filming Danielle + Brandon’s January elopement in Forks, WA. Yep, that Forks! Danielle searched the country looking for just the right cinematographers and we’re so glad she and Brandon found us.
You’d think after our trek from Nashville to Seattle to the otherworldly Ruby Beach that things would settle down a bit until the spring. Nope! We were then whisked away to Philadelphia for Danika + Arvin’s epic three-day Indian fusion wedding. These two definitely know how to throw a bash! Day one was spent at Arvin’s home for the mendhi and some surprise performances by Danika’s friends. Day two was the most elaborate sangeet you’ve ever seen, complete with bagpipes and group dance numbers. The final, and most heartfelt day, featured a traditional baraat, their wedding ceremony, and a reception celebration that carried on into the evening.
Here’s a sneak peek film that Danika + Arvin received just one week after all the festivities wrapped. They loved it!
March also saw us filming Kelsey + Tyler’s wedding at The Hermitage Hotel in Nashville, the start of a very busy spring that kept us a bit closer to home. May opened with Hannah + Anthony’s wedding at Homestead Manor, continued with Amanda + Jeremy at Loft 212, and came to a dramatic close with Stephanie + Sumeeth’s three-day wedding weekend, also an amazing Indian fusion event.
Even though we already had Seattle and Philly under our belts, June kicked off our big destination wedding streak and it was a doozy!
Our first taste of the summer wedding season included our team hopping on a plane and heading down to lush Guanacaste, Costa Rica to spend a week with Jillian + Seth and their closest family and friends at the Dreams Las Mareas resort. There was zip-lining, waterslides, and plain ol’ playing in the sand. We got to shoot alongside rockstar photog John Yates of Celladora Wedding Photography and the collaboration was as refreshing as the ocean breeze.
John actually started a new podcast soon after our trip, aptly named The Awesome Wedding Podcast. WTR owner and lead cinematographer Brian was thrilled to be invited as one of John’s inaugural guests and the two enjoyed tossing back a couple cocktails and talking shop.
Download previous episodes of The Awesome Wedding Podcast to catch up!
Just a couple weeks later our team headed up to Connecticut to spend the weekend with Emily + Dan and I *have* to share a little bit of their wedding film with you. See, during their engagement Dan frequently encouraged Emily to get back into the studio to record music after a bit of a hiatus so she surprised him on their wedding day with a special song just for him! And we asked if we could use it as the soundtrack for a portion of their wedding film. Swoon! (here’s an excerpt)
We finished out the summer with Charity + Kyle and Frances + Jim in our home base of Nashville, then hightailed it up to Milton, NY to spend a couple days filming with Britton + Adi (and to spend a couple days in NYC celebrating Brian’s birthday!).
Our fall wedding season was CA-razy. I just have to warn you. Buckle up!
August ended with an Indian fusion wedding double header weekend. We spent Thursday and Saturday with Nadiya + Sherief, and Friday and Sunday with June + Rachit…zigzagging a path between Philly, New York and New Jersey over the course of four days. Two couples, two amazing weddings, and two sneak peeks that offer some insight into how we adapt our style from couple to couple.
Oh, and Brian did a quick interview in August with International Business Times for an article on wedding tech trends. It’s here.
September and October brought us back home to Nashville as we captured the weddings of FIVE *awesome* couples: Amy + Brandon, Jaime + Alex, Lauren + Travis, Christian + Andrew and Emily + Evan.
That should be a great wedding season right? All these weddings, all these locations, all this travel? We’re not done yet!
Late October. Mexico. Ythy + Chris.
These two lovebirds were originally going to tie the knot in Chattanooga but decided that Tulum, Mexico was more their style. Great decision, as it just so happens to be more our style too. 🙂 There was love, laughter…and plenty of tequila.
November brought us back down to earth with Dani + Jason’s wedding at Loveless Cafe in Nashville and we rounded out the month with a promo video shoot for The Estate at Cherokee Dock (formerly Reba’s home and currently a luxury wedding venue).
And finally, December: we drove seven hours in the snow down to Point Clear, Alabama to spend the weekend with Mary Catherine + Chase at The Grand Hotel and then flew down to sunny Florida just a couple weeks later to film Pamela + Bryant’s wedding at the Tampa Museum of Art. I’d be lying if I said we didn’t plan a fun side trip to Orlando to spend a couple days at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter (where we drank waaay too much butterbeer and can solemnly swear we were up to no good).
The second wedding shoot of our whirlwind double-header weekend was with Nadiya and Sherief in New York! Their sangeet at Akbar Restaurant and Banquet Hall kicked off the celebration, and a couple days later the two wed in a traditional Indian ceremony on the waterfront at Greentree Country Club.
Here’s a fun sneak peek of Nadiya and Sherief’s cinematic wedding film!
A Vogue feature, our 10th anniversary, and more frequent flier miles than we can keep track of. All in all, 2016 was an incredible year and we’re thrilled that we were invited to capture the weddings of so many amazing couples!
As things slow down a bit we thought we’d take a look back at some of your favorite sneak peek films of the year as ranked by likes and shares on social media (in no particular order). Let’s get started!
1. Katie + Justin
2. Nina + John
3. Diana + David
4. Kayla + Ben
5. Ayesha + Daniel
6. Natu + Philip
7. Preksha + Ankit
We hope you enjoyed this look back at our most popular sneak peeks of 2016. Sound off in the comments below about your favs and what awesomeness 2016 has brought your way!
We’ve filmed hundreds of weddings over the last ten years in some amazing places with some amazing couples, but nothing quite prepares you for getting a call from Vogue and being asked if you’d like to be featured in their magazine. What?! Of course! A million times yes!
We were honored to be included in the January 2017 issue of British Vogue in their “Vogue’s Big Day…” editorial, a curated selection of wedding professionals from around the world. The issue hits newsstands on December 5 and we’ve got a sneak peek at all the good stuff below!
On our final trip of the wedding season to New York City we spent the day with Tara and Venkat as they brought together their families and celebrated their new union in style. The day began at Kimpton Hotel Eventi in Chelsea, then took us to Pier Sixty, Manhattan’s largest waterfront event venue.
We thank RB Event Design for their talent, Nadia D Photography for their collaboration, and rockstars Elegant Affairs and Bollywood DJs for bringing everything together.
Now, exclusively here and on our Facebook page, we hope you enjoy this sneak peek of Tara and Venkat’s cinematic wedding film!
We ❤ New York, and we loved spending the day with Nina and John as they tied the knot last weekend at Saint Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church. If you follow our travels here or on our instagram feed, you’ll know we have the pleasure of filming in New York from time to time and it’s definitely one of our favorite destinations for its diversity and charm.
So many amazing vendors pulled together to give Nina and John their dream wedding. A huge thanks to RB Event Design for the expert coordination, Charmi Pena Photography for capturing the day alongside us in style, and to the staff of the Hyatt Regency Long Island for effortlessly hosting us all.
And now, exclusively here and on our Facebook page, is a sneak peek of Nina and John’s cinematic wedding film! Hope you enjoy!
Once in a while a wedding comes along that’s so epic, so grandiose, and so much fun that we can’t wait to share it with you! We spent four days filming in New York with Preksha and Ankit and put together this same-day edit to screen on Saturday, the evening of their wedding reception.
We spent the afternoon of day one in Central Park on the lake and enjoyed Ankit’s mehndi in the evening. Day two saw us covering Preksha’s mehndi in the morning and their sangeet reception later that night at the elegant Chateau Briand, and day three featured their super colorful turmeric ceremonies and a little filming at Preksha and Ankit’s middle school (where they met – how cute is that?). They tied the knot on the fourth day at the Hyatt Regency on the Hudson backed by the expansive NYC skyline and celebrated into the evening as the newly minted Mr. and Mrs. Butala!
So many vendors came together to make this amazing wedding weekend perfect, including the experienced team of Jay Seth Photography and rockstar event planners Reema and Kurien of RB Event Design. Reema and Kurien, can’t wait to see you again in August!
And now, for the second time ever, here’s Preksha and Ankit’s same-day edit!