Weddings, family, charity, stories, laughter, tears. Our blog starts here.
First things First!
Welcome to our first official blog, there's plenty to look back on and plenty more to look forward to as the month of the summer solstice arrived ... but let's start with the formalities!
My name is Christian, I am the founder and director of Cassidy Storytelling and although we are only just over one year old, I have been involved in film and photography in some way since I was 17 years old (I'm 32 on July 30th!).
When reading our blog, it will often be myself who you're hearing from as I let you in on our adventures across the country. At times we may have a guest writer pop up with something for you all or one of the freelancers I often work with may chime in with a tale for you too ... whoever is in charge of the keyboard though, we'll be throwing as much into the mix as we can to let you all know exactly what we're up to over here!
The blog will follow a usual structure (unless I think of a better one!) - Each month we'll have the following lined up for you -
- The Monthly Mini Feature
A short story that's taken place in the last month or so that we'd like to focus on and share with you all.
- Wedding Craic!
News, stories, snaps and video from some of the weddings we have been working on and the amazing people we meet.
- Meanwhile ...
Our calendar is predominantly filled up with beautiful weddings, but we often work on other events, with families, charities and businesses ... creating photo and video for all intents and purposes. In this section we will show and share some of the other projects we have recently been involved with!
- What we're up to
Like you guys sat reading this blog right now ... we have our own lives to lead and our own story to tell. In this section each month we'll give you a little update on what the Cassidys' & co have been up to - a little more personal and a nice way to let you all get to know us a little better!
- What's next?!
A brief look at the month ahead ... what we'll be capturing and where we'll be going. A preview for the people!
So ... I think that's enough groundwork for our new little blog ... if you'd like to get in touch with us to discuss absolutely anything at all, please contact us using THIS link.
If you're here to see what's been going on ... let's get started! ...
This Month's Mini Feature - Familiar Faces
Before we look back through the action in June, I have to delve back a little further to how May ended. We filmed our first 2 weddings in May 2017 and as the one year anniversaries arrived, for one of our couples so did a beautiful little lady not long before!
We filmed the wedding of Max and Sasha Spence on 26th May last year and Sasha was not long pregnant, giving birth to their little beaut Elouisa on the 30th November.
I always like to keep in touch with our couples after we work with them, it's lovely to see their stories unfold and see what they're up to on social media - it's even better when they get in touch for an anniversary photo shoot! - We had a little chat and decided to return to the place they were married, The Bridge Inn, just outside of Wetherby in Yorkshire, to recreate some of their wedding photos - this time with their little girl!
It was a very wet, rainy, windy day ... but that couldn't stop us - We had a great little catch up and ended up with some beautiful photos. I'm already looking forward to the next time we get to capture some of the Spence's story!
Wedding Craic!
'Wedding season' is not only the summer months anymore - we film and photograph weddings in every month of the year and the contrast from one to the next, from winter to summer and everything in between is beautiful. Having said that - there is no denying that the majority of our wedding bookings do come somewhat concentrated in the middle months of the year.
June was the first month to really pick up the wedding pace this year and it saw us travel far and wide to film and photograph each of our amazing couple's big day - from Glasgow to Essex and a few more stops in between.
As my right hand man (and little brother) Connor headed over to Richmond early in the month to capture a charity family fun day ... I headed down south (to Southend-on Sea) with one of my freelancers, Cayler, to capture the glorious Livermore Wedding. Disney was the theme of the day as real life princess Nicola married her prince charming Luke after arriving to the wedding in a magic pumpkin turned horse & carriage.
We headed over to Robin Hood county the following week to film the wonderful Mr & Mrs Whiting's Wedding at Swancar Farm Country House in Nottingham. A gorgeous day complete with ring-bearing owls and a hilarious game of Mr & Mrs just before the first dance!
Before we headed off on our little city break adventure to the absolutely unbelievable Italian capital - Rome (A little more on that towards the end of the blog) - we were invited to film the wedding of legendary premiership footballer Dominic Matteo and his beautiful bride Jess at Oulton Hall in Leeds! Great people ... and they know how to dance!
Upon arriving back from our little trip ... it was straight back up north of the border to Paisley, just outside of Glasgow, to film the wedding of Lynn & Grant Sloan. A proper Scottish wedding with kilts galore at the scenic Gleddoch House Hotel. These two had a beautiful Humanist wedding overlooking the River Clyde in the beaming sun - lots of fun!
June was wrapped up on the 30th of the month as we ventured over fairly locally to us to the Talbot Hotel in Malton - a little treasure of a town just outside of York - for the wedding of Colleen and Danny Ovington! There were tears galore during the ceremony and so much happiness, laughter and joy in the sunshine as we spent the day in and out of a gorgeous marquee. Such welcoming and fantastic people!
Meanwhile ...
In between weddings, we often fill our time with some photoshoots ... a bit of drone work here and there and some other types of events and charity work! This month we were invited to film a Charity family fun day aiming to raise money for motor neurone disease, for which we will be putting a short video highlighting the day together in the coming weeks! The day was arranged by Mr Nathan Murphy of Smoothsounds UK - A cracking DJ and events company - and a top human being who we have worked with on weddings in the past.
We were also invited by Dawn Carney & Paul Harrow to film the regional finals of the Miss Great Britain - Teesside & County Durham over at Rockliffe Hall near Darlington. A night of charity, games and great causes which seen a plethora of beautiful and inspiring young ladies take to the stage with the goal to representing the North East in the nationwide final later this year. You can see a short highlight from the night below, complete with a performance from guest judge and former pop idol contestant Zoe Birkett!
What we're up to!
In between filming and photographing all of the above, as I mentioned, we headed off for what was my first trip abroad for quite a few years to Rome, Italy ... and then landed back in England just in time to see the Summer Solstice at Stonehenge!
I'm a bit of a medieval/history geek so to be able to visit these two places back to back was a real bucket-list treat for me. We stayed in a beautiful hotel just outside of Rome called the Relais Castrum Boccea with fantastic mountainside views - visited all of the major sights including the Collosseum, Trevi Fountain and the Vatican and ate proper Italian pizza, pasta, ice cream and enjoyed a wine or two (or three or four ...).
Stonehenge was amazing - druids and pagans and family and friends all gathered all night long, waiting for the sun to come up and bring with it the very first day of summer (and it really has done this year ... some beautiful weather we've been having countrywide at our weddings!) There is something so mystical and special about places like this and after seeing the place for the very first time only three months ago when down in Wiltshire filming the wedding of Mr & Mrs Penny ... I finally got to go and touch the stones and see the phenomenal sight of the sun coming up through the rock - a sight that humans for thousands of years have celebrated and worshiped.
What's Next?
So as you can see ... June was simply amazing ... the weddings are starting to flow and I managed to fulfill two of my childhood dreams in the space of four days!
July is now ahead, and my 32nd birthday is bringing with it even more weddings from far and wide - Norwich, Gloucester and back up to Yorkshire to name a few. We will be filming the wedding of Jake & Sophie, who is the sister of our first ever Bride and has booked us to film their wedding.
More familiar faces ... more new faces ... and i'm fairly confident of a lot of partying too ... because as most of you know now by the time i've gotten around to writing this ... Football's Coming Home!
Thank you for reading ... Until next time!