That’s when I kept thinking, “Yes. 100x yes.”

Which is the same thought I have when I think about Atsuko and Karl together. Enjoy their film.

So when I sat down with their footage and began charting their film, this is what I kept coming back to. A quiet feeling of love and joy. After a while I found a song that spoke perfectly to that feeling as well, and then came the decision about the audio. Normally I try to find a piece from the ceremony or the reception to use as the backbone of the film, and that certainly was an option here (even though most of the ceremony was in another language there were parts in English and the entire reception was in English as well). But every piece of spoken audio I inserted felt out of place, almost to the point of distraction. The thing about Hindu and Sikh ceremonies is that the bride and groom say almost nothing audible, and putting in words from someone else kept pulling me away from the feeling I had on their day. So I began to strip their film down, removing everything that didn’t convey that feeling, until I finally realized that all I wanted was the ambient sound of their day to come through.

This is a film that I hope conveys the feeling not only of Reena and Vin, but of the day they were married. Enjoy.

Photography: Olivia Leigh Photographie | Venue: The Ivy Room | Coordinators: LOLA Events | Decor: Botanicals | Design: Art of Imagination | DJ: Swara Sagar

One other quick note: Jessica wore her mother’s wedding dress (slightly altered, of course) and Coe wore a really awesome blue shirt/black vest combo. I’m generally not much of a fashion person but goodness gracious did I love how they looked. Going into a wedding I never know what’s going to resonate with me about a couple, but in Jessica and Coe’s case it was definitely the clothing. What they wore was perfectly aligned with who they are.

I hope you enjoy their film.

Photography: Melissa Hayes Photography | Venue: Gallery 1028 | Flowers and Design: Kehoe Designs

But that’s not the primary reason I like to keep my consultations low key. The primary reason is this:

You really don’t get to know someone all that well if you meet them in an artificial environment. A traditional consultation is basically a two-sided interview, which is about as artificial as it gets. (When is the last time you just happened into an interview?) Since my work centers on each couple’s personality, on their story, on what makes them unique, it’s important we meet somewhere they feel at ease. I don’t even like to think of it as a meeting. I approach it as if I’m just hanging out with a couple of friends. This is why my consultations tend to last a long time. And the reining champs for Longest Consultation Ever are Jaime and John-Mark.

When we got together earlier this year we started around 7pm. We had a few beers to break the ice, then ordered a few burgers because we were hungry, then had a few more beers because why not, and by that point time was flying. We finally called it quits just before midnight. If it weren’t a school night (Jaime is a teacher) we may have carried on even longer.

What’s the point of telling you all this? I’m not sure. But I will say this: Jaime and John-Mark are a lot of fun and really make me love what I do. It’s wonderful to do something that results in becoming good friends with new people you might not otherwise meet. Here is their film.

Cheryl has a type A personality.

Ed has a type B personality.

The only way for Ed to be more laid back than he is naturally is for him to be asleep. Which is exactly what he was fifteen minutes prior to when the schedule had him waking up. Of course ten minutes prior to when the schedule had him waking up one of Cheryl’s bridesmaids went up to his room to wake him up anyway, because in the land of detailed spreadsheets ten minutes early is really on time.

I’m not really sure where I’m going with this except to provide a little context for maybe my favorite moment of their day. Here it is:

When Cheryl wrote her card to Ed she cried. Crying wasn’t on the schedule. She had to run downstairs to have the makeup artist touch up her makeup maybe 20 minutes after she had just finished it. That wasn’t on the schedule either. So when she read Ed’s card to her it was really touch and go there for a few moments before she decided that there wasn’t any more time for crying (I still caught a few tears in her eyes though).

Here is their SDE:

Details: Photography: Mark Hawkins Photography // Venue: The Weidner Center // DJ: Dreaming DJ //

One more thing. Mike: One week. It takes one week. Unless the food is really good, then it takes ten days.

Weddings are always a reflection of the couple, but this was a wedding where even the smallest detail was motivated by something of importance to them. Or as Dan would put it, everything was deliberate. From Dan’s cufflinks to his tie, Keila’s necklace to her hair and makeup, quite literally everything had a story. Now here’s theirs.

Shoutouts: Ryan Thurlwell, who in addition to being a handsome groomsman also designed Keila and Dan’s wedding invitation and save the date, from which the graphics in the video are adapted. Olivia Leigh did the photography. Kate from Toast and Jam rocked the tunes. Salvage One hosted the reception and were gracious enough to let us film the interview there.

The back story:

From the time they were engaged Dan had wanted to see if he and Keila could be featured in the Vows section of the New York Times. He figured they didn’t have much of a chance. Still, what would it hurt to apply? So he did. A couple weeks ago the Times told him they would be running their wedding announcement in the Sunday, June 5th, edition of the paper.

So yesterday morning, while Keila was having her makeup done, her father was sitting nearby reading the New York Times, as fathers often do on Sunday mornings. Flipping through the paper he eventually arrived at the Style section, where the first wedding announcement in the paper was for his daughter. Quiet and unassuming, you never would have known he was reading about his daughter’s wedding in our national paper of record, but there it was, and there they were, father and daughter, sharing a moment few get to experience.

Dan and Keila commissioned a Love Story. As part of that project we got together a couple months ago for an interview that will be woven into the story of their wedding. Along with their wedding announcement the Times asked if they could provide a video where they explained how they met. It just so happens they could…

So Tiffany and Jeff are getting hitched this summer on a Christmas tree farm. Their wedding has a vintage flare with a good dose of fun, which I tried to capture here in their video save the date. Enjoy!