Wedding Photography & Video Advice from Whole Picture

Last Saturday’s wedding was quite possibly my very favourite EVER!! Lisa and Hefin are such lovely people and were so relaxed on the day that they made it easy for us. I immediately fell in love with Lisa’s 1950s inspired dress and she was an absolute natural in front of the camera.

We started the day with Lisa’s family, whose home opens out straight onto the Teifi Estuary - what more could you ask for perfect picture taking!

Lisa reminds me think of a swan here - full of grace and confidence!

Then we caught up with Hefin and the boys at the pub, before going on to St Thomas’s church in St Dogmaels.

Hefin with his best man Gareth demonstrating the personality that makes him such a great children’s television presenter on S4C. Gareth used to play rugby for Wales, which you would perhaps not guess from this photo! At this point we should say thank you to our previous clients Awena and Cefin for recommending us to their friends. Gareth was also best man at Awena and Cefin’s wedding!

The forecast rain never happened so although it was very windy we were able to take photos in the abbey ruins next door to the church. Lisa was up for anything, climbing onto the walls in her high heels without a second thought!

Then it was off to Rhosygilwen Mansion for the reception. It was our first time here for a few years and it’s gorgeous now both inside and out! The natural light in here was fantastic! They only hold a very limited number of weddings here, but it’s a great choice so get in quick!

While the guests walked over to the banqueting hall, Lisa was driven round looking like a celebrity!

Finally, I wanted to mention the very moving speech by Lisa’s father Dai. Three years ago he was diagnosed with an aneurism; in the ‘extra’ three years he has been blessed with, two grandchildren have been born and his second daughter married. Instead of wedding favours, Lisa and Hefin had chosen to make a donation to the British Heart Foundation and gave each guest a tiny red pin to signify it. Dai beautifully personalised this donation by suggesting that perhaps it would allow another man like him to look his grandchildren in the eyes and walk his daughter down the aisle.

Thanks again to Lisa and Hefin and your wonderful families for letting us share your amazing day.

The complete photo gallery is now available here

I love it when a stack of sleek matching cases are on my desk, printed and ready for the discs to be finally burned. But it’s not going to happen again for a couple of months now.

We’ve just sent off our last set of wedding DVDs from our crazily busy Christmas and New Year of filming. Hooray!! We had our busiest Christmas ever with some truly gorgeous winter weddings which have been lovely to edit - but getting finished with the previous season is a milestone I love every year!

Of course we’ve already started filming spring weddings! After all the roaring log fires and candlelit dinners we’re enjoying getting back out to the seasides and sunshine.

Naomi & I were taking a rare day off to look ’round the shops of Aberystwyth. At the moment we are up to our eyes in editing - so this was a sanity break. Of course we went in Monsoon for Naomi but we saw these beautiful little dresses they have that would just be fantastic for bridesmaids. You can see them online - but you have to see them in person to admire the detail. You could change that ribbon for whatever your colour is, and they had them in ages 3 -13. 

We haven’t posted any video here for a while so we thought we’d share the montage from the gorgeous autumn wedding of Pete and Sujatha on the SS Great Britain in Bristol. We particularly love this one!

We recently had the fantastic opportunity thanks to Kyle Cathie Publishers to visit the Spanish island of Lanzarote. We spent a week at Club La Santa sports resort photographing a Triathlon Training Camp. We worked with some absolutely fantastic people, enjoyed a break from the horrid British winter weather, and came away with half a mind to become triathletes ourselves! Thank you to the inspiring athletes who let us into their (slightly crazy?) world!

And a peak behind the scenes!

We also had a chance to take a look around the fascinating volcanic island, and see what else was going on at this truly excellent sporting resort.  Lanzarote was an absolutely beautiful place we would love to visit again.

One of our several Christmas weddings was also our first time of providing the complete photography and video service. This is an exciting new venture for us, and has been very popular with brides and grooms booking us for 2008 and 2009. I single-handedly took care of the video side of things while Vince took photos with the able assistance of David Burton as second shooter.

We started down in Swansea for a chapel wedding entirely in Welsh. The bride and groom read their own modernised vows to each other, and the officiator chatted and joked all the way through and had everyone relaxed and laughing.

There was a choir of some 120 strong singing in the ceremony. Mallt and Berian met through their choir, and Berian is a music teacher and had his school children come along and take part. The music was absolutely fantastic, and a real highlight for us.

We went on to Newton House, Dinefor Park, a beautiful National Trust property near Llandeilo, to take family and couple photos. It has beautiful warm interiors which suited Mallt’s Edwardian look perfectly!

Then it was on to The Plough Inn in Rhosmaen for a lovely relaxed reception with lots of laughter. The speeches were particularly entertaining - one of those occasions where I have to try not to listen too much so I focus on filming and don’t tumble about with laughter!

Thanks to Mallt and Berian for inviting us, and to both their families for making us so welcome.

Perhaps the best compliment we’ve yet received: Simon and Claire watched their highlights montage for the first time, and Simon said he would have paid us just for that.

Red eyes all round on this day!

We have recently returned from a lovely short break in the south of France - our first holiday together since before we started Whole Picture Productions! We are nicely rejuvenated and ready to go again.

Our very cute cottage.

Villereal, the closest town. There was a fantastic bakery here where we got croissants and pain au chocolat for breakfast!

Last weekend it was back to my home town of Bristol to video a lovely wedding with Peter & Suj.

We went the day before so we could meet up, recce the venues for camera positions, and attend the rehearsal.

Stained glass 04
by kirstyhall

It was held at Clifton Catholic Cathedral. A fantastic modern building edged with technicolour glass walls. The kind of place that echoes and booms with every footstep; so glad we have the radio mic to capture the vows.

SS Great Britain
by Mike Caine

Afterwards it’s down to Brunel’s SS Great Britain for the Reception and wedding breakfast. This is my first time on the ship for years and it is amazing! The wedding party had a great time chatting and the drinks kept flowing. A few people commented that they were just getting their sea legs. And the effect of being at sea has been enhanced by the glass ceiling, that at night reflected ripples onto the bow of the ship.

It was the perfect venue to be shooting widescreen, and we decided to use both cameras during the speeches because the Galley is just so long!

A great venue and a great couple. Can’t wait to go back!

It is always lovely to get feedback from clients. Having spent weeks and days editing and fine-tuning a video it’s great to know we’ve lived up to expectations. On the shelf, here in our office, we have a row of lovely ‘thank-you’ cards from recent weddings.

Most recently we had an editing session with Huw and Bethan for their Wedding Video. They liked it, but it wasn’t until later we found out to what extent.

Last night they sent us this email to say how much they liked it:

“Hi both,

Thanks for the DVDs, we had them last Tuesday but haven’t emailed you sooner because we’ve been watching it non stop ever since!! Beth’s work even rang yesterday to ask her if she was intending to go back in…

We can’t quite believe how good it is so thank you both so much. Even though we saw the rough cut in your studio, now we’ve seen the finished article we can really appreciate all the time and effort you’ve put into it. You’ve obviously got the technical know-how but what we particularly liked is your attention to detail and that every bit of footage is so artistic. We’ve been amazed by all the little details about our day you managed to record, not just us enjoying the day but all the stuff we missed when we were in other places. Those bits of footage have been great to watch - like seeing our guests chatting, playing games and enjoying themselves. You’ve captured the mood and atmosphere of the day perfectly, it’s just how we remember it. It’s been an absolute joy to watch and we’ll treasure it forever!

Thank you both again,

Huw & Bethan”