Summer is here. So are the weddings!
This Month's Mini Feature - The Wonderful Mrs Weems
Where to start with Joanne Weems?! Let's start at the beginning of my story with her ... When I was starting out in wedding filming and photographing, I put an advert out onto social media looking for brides and grooms who wanted their wedding filming. Joanne emailed me literally within minutes to tell me how she was renewing her vows and would love to have us there. Joanne was married 10 years prior to her rock, Paul, and at the time she was also battling cancer after being diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma two years earlier as she was pregnant with their daughter, Elle. Through pregnancy, illness and recovery her and Paul powered on, gave birth to a beautiful healthy little whippersnapper in Elle, were married and had been happy and healthy ever since! The vow renewal was a chance to re-celebrate the wedding as the guys were going through so much back then, but also to celebrate health. The day was set, the vow renewal arranged, we were booked to go film the day and everything was looking good ... then I got an email from Joanne one week before the renewal - she had been for a test to find the cancer had returned - this time breast cancer. It was hard news, but determined to conquer it again, the day went ahead - We got to film the entire renewal with all of Mr & Mrs Weems' friends and family celebrating at the family home - it was a beautiful day with one overriding sense ... summarised by Paul as he gave his speech in the village hall garden - "We'll tackle this head on - we've beat it before ... we'll beat it again". Fast forward to today and in true Weems Style - Joanne's done it again. It's been a long and difficult road, no doubt - but anybody that knows her, and that knows Paul & Elle, know that they are a positive, strong and loving bunch. It's been a pleasure to not only work with these guys, but meet them and get to know them and spend some time with them too. We wish them all the health and happiness in the world!
Wedding Craic!
One of the best things about filming weddings is the ability to journey around the country. We get to see hidden gems in the southern countryside, the epic architecture of the northern halls and meet people in their own back gardens (literally). Whether it's a cosy and intimate registry office ceremony or a wedding breakfast overlooking a Scottish Loch, each wedding is individually beautiful and never the same - we feel truly blessed to be able to capture these special moments and amazing days for a living.
The first wedding of July took us down to Suffolk to film the wedding or Peter & Jazz - the new Mr & Mrs Albon for a lovely church ceremony and then onto the Albon residence for a proper summer garden celebration.
Back home for the next wedding as one of my former work colleagues and friend Natalie finally tied the knot with her Fiance Carl on Friday 13th! - These guys had been wanting to get married on this particular date for a while and there was nothing unlucky about it as it finally arrived. A lovely ceremony for a couple who done things their own way, in front of the old gods and the new!
Next came the wedding of Nicola & Suresh in Gloucester! - a beautiful sunny day spent with all of their friends, family and Suresh's parents who had made the Journey over from India to celebrate with the happy couple!
Midway through our July weddings we were way down south below the capital as we headed to Guildford to film the wedding of Paul & Polly - a beautiful British wedding with some proper Jamaican soul. Paul's family had traveled from all around the world to celebrate the day with them and the dance floor didn't know what had hit it come the evening reception!
Next stop - The Jalil wedding in Stevenage! - A beautiful couple who do a lot in their local communities with charity work. After losing their baby daughter, Kylie and Sol set up Darcie's Wish - a project in the process of becoming a registered charity with the aim of raising funds and awareness into Edwards Syndrome which is a genetic disorder that affects many parts of the body and causes babies to often be born small and with heart defects. We visited Darcie's grave as Kylie placed her bouquet there before heading back to the wedding reception to rejoin the guests!
The 24th! of July was a special one for us - it was the day Sophie Lambie married her prince, Jake. Sophie was the first person to ever book us to film her sisters wedding and came back and booked us to film her own. It was so nice to see everyone again, see Steph & Ben - our first ever bride & groom - and the beautiful place that Sophie and Jake decided to tie the knot - Holdsworth House in Halifax.
The 28th July saw us zooming back down south again - this time to Kent - to film the wedding of Mr & Mrs Baker. Plenty of laughter, tears, a beautiful outdoor ceremony, a harp and a glorious sunset gave us all the ingredients for a fantastic film. The perfect way to end a month full of adventures around our beautiful country - and back home just in time for my 32nd Birthday!
Meanwhile ...
In between all of the travelling and filming weddings, it was editing time for May & June's bunch! - We got stuck right into the photographs and films we'd captured from the months before and were delivering some beautiful memories to our previous couples. To take a look at some of our recent photography and videography highlights from these weddings, visit our Weddings area on our website!
What we're up to!
July 30th this year saw me turn 32! It's been a crazy few years with lots of change and the start of my 33rd year on this planet has brought with it a lot to be thankful for. My two little dippers Belle & Chester finished Year 1 and Nursery and now have the entire 6 weeks holidays to relax, unwind, play, torture me and their mother, fight, cry and just generally be kids! - They are the best things in my life and I look forward to the day that I can start bringing them along to help Dad out with the family business - until then though, I plan to enjoy every minute I can with them while they're so small and innocent(ish)! Being a big Linkin Park fan, July 20th saw the one year anniversary of my hero and idol Chester Bennington's death. We were in the middle of a couple of weddings at that point but I made sure to celebrate and rock out to some of the bands classics when I got back home. You can see a tribute video I made to the man himself below.
Besides that ... lot's of wedding work in July didn't leave much time for anything else, so it was a few pints and a curry for my birthday and see what August brings!
What's Next?
August is another month of summer wedding fun ... we're mainly up North this time with quite a few weddings in the North East and Yorkshire - although we do still get to come down the A1 a couple of times! Looking forward to see what kind of photo and video magic we can whip up! If you've gotten this far ... thanks for reading. If you're getting married yourself or are interested in working with us on any other creative projects ... please contact us for a chat and we'll see what we can do for you! See you next month, Christian!
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