During all these years of doing wedding videography and photography, we’ve come across much cross-cultural weddings. A cross-cultural wedding is interesting with its unique touch to portray different customs. It shows that love has no boundaries. Jeremy is a local Chinese with a Taiwanese mum and Joanne is an Eurasian with an Eurasian dad and Filipino mum. For Jeremy, there is the tea ceremony where the couple pays respects to the seniors by serving tea and receive red packets in return. Whereas for Joanne, they have a family party where family members and relatives have wines, cakes, toasting and loads of well wishes for the bride who is leaving the house for the last time as a single. The blending of the 2 cultures gives a unique taste to this beautiful wedding that we have the pleasure of filming.
vinnie + nicoleSo Pretty
During the wedding preparation stage, we didn’t have a chance to meet Vinnie and Nicole as they are both based in the States. It was only until a week before the wedding day that we finally had the chance to meet and to know this lovely couple more in-depth and to discuss the wedding videography approach. Nicole has a very capable mum who plays the one-time wedding planner and everyone knew that she was instrumental in the success of the wedding.
The day started later than what we usually film and having the absence of gate-crashing games enables us to focus more on the story flow presentation as the day unfolds itself naturally.
Nicole was the kind of bride that we always love to capture. Never worried about how things will turn out, and always full of smiles.
After meeting Vinnie and Nicole and getting to know their personalities and the wedding day, we knew that we want to approach this film with a slow soundtrack and edit it in a heart warming fashion with a good dose of dialogues which is a good representation of their characters.
the jamiesLove as a choice
Name of groom? Jamie. Name of bride? Jamie too! We couldn’t imagine the laughter both of them had when they first knew each other. How do their families and friends call and differentiate them? They call them Jamie boy or Jamie girl. Easy peasy!
This has got to be one of the most touching and memorable wedding videography film we have filmed this year and when we were watching and capturing their vows, we knew this wedding film was going to be something special. Before the wedding day arrives, Jamie boy & girl told us in details about the setups and plans they had for their wedding day and this enables us to capture moments that were not only important to Jamie boy & girl but also revealed how the small details that went into the wedding all came together – from their dating photos being set-up as a display, to the balloons and black and white paper cupboard rabbits that were placed all around the church lawn.
desmond + hsing yingTears of Joy
When we first met up with Desmond and Hsing Ying to discuss their wedding, we knew that they are a very special couple. Having knew and been together with each other for 13 years (since JC days), it doesn’t take long for one to feel the strong and certain love they have for each other over these years. For their wedding, they rented 3 villas, one above the other by the beach and the ceremony was held at one of it. As Bali is a favorite short getaway holiday destination for them, it makes perfect sense to seal their promises and vows there.
Instead of filming and editing the piece as a regular wedding day film, we decide to present their story more intimately by striking a balance between showing the wedding day event and a very personal interview with the both of them recalling their first meeting and how they get together. We remember Desmond told us that whenever they come to Bali, they love to hang out and relax with each other at the villas, hotel and beaches. Thus we decided to film them hanging and enjoying each others company around their 3 villas and beaches. We believe this is a very good representation of their usual holiday routine and by having this approach the audience will have a better understanding of their personalities and love story.
As you can see from the film, the interview gives a very good introduction of the earlier part of their love lives, and the ceremony vows further strengthen their love commitments. As a wedding videography film-maker, our belief and philosophy towards wedding film has always been story driven over visual candies and this is the reason why Desmond and Hsing Ying approached us right from the start.
bryan + lingIf It's Love
What we really like about this love story film is how it managed to bring out the humorous & adventurous personalities and lifestyles of Bryan and Ling in an interesting manner. If you notice, there are 3 different time dimensions in this film – the Dream, Flashbacks and Actual.
During the storyboard discussion, we discovered that Bryan has a good habit of reading newspaper – he goes through every single page without fail everyday. In order to portray this character in the film, we decided to incorporated newspaper reading scene into the courtship scene a few times in a humorous way. By doing this we are able to portray a few things at once; the reading habit, the humorous nature and the courtship of Bryan on Ling.
We are lucky that they had a fun group of friends who are very willing to play multiple supporting role in the film. None of them are pros but we must say, they were really good for 1st-time actors/actresses. One of the most important supporting character in this film got to be Keith (the waiter). His amusing smiles give a good conclusion and twist to the story. Hardly much NGs from him. Cool!
This film was screened before the first march-in during the dinner banquet and had received great feedback from the guests.