We were hired by the lovely ladies at Wedding 101 to create a promotional video to advertise on their web site. Our goal was to show how Wedding 101 makes it incredibly easy and enjoyable for brides to plan their wedding. A visit to their beautiful showroom will provide plenty of inspiration for an event—as well as help you find wedding vendors for any portion of the event, and at any price level.

Check out the video below to see our final project as well as the gorgeous space they have in Franklin:

Feria Cinematic Imagery is known for our story-based wedding cinematography, but, we have been blessed to get to work with some great companies on their promotional and marketing efforts as well. We look forward to working with more clients like this!

We were invited by Krystal Mann and Cedarwood Mansion here in Nashville to take part in a wedding style shoot. We were able to capture some great footage and was excited to work with all of those involved, especially the beautiful couple! Of course many people here in Nashville know Krystal as a very talented wedding photographer for Mint & Sage but what you may not know is her artistic ability to concept, stylize and produce a creative and elegant wedding for any couple. And anyone who has been to Cedarwood Mansion knows what amazing location it is for weddings.

We’re excited to be working with Krystal and Cedarwood and can’t wait to get this piece together. Below is a couple of screen shots.

Venue, Flowers & Decor: Cedarwood www.historiccedarwood.com
Styling: Krystal Mann & Cedarwood www.krystalmann.com & www.historiccedarwood.com
Handmade Details (art, favors & fabric banners): Krystal Mann www.krystalmann.com
Invitations, Programs and Stationery:  Designs in Paper www.designsinpaper.com
Photography: Krystal Mann www.krystalmann.com
Jewelry: Stella & Dot www.stelladot.com/krystalmann
Wedding Dress: The Bride Room www.thebrideroom.com
Groom’s Attire: Billy Reid www.billyreid.com

A little late posting about this but two weeks ago we had the privilege of finally meeting Kara and Jake in person to shoot their pre-wedding story. Even though their from Jackson, Mississippi they made the trek to Nashville to take advantage of the scenery and variety of locations. A couple of the places we shot at were the Nashville Farmer’s Market and Cannery Row.

Can’t wait till we shoot their wedding day in May in Jackson. Kara and Jake are an amazing couple and fun to work with. Below are some screen shots from the footage we captured.

Why do I want a wedding video?
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard from women after their wedding saying how much they regret not having video. How they wish they had some motion footage of their day that showed their experience, what the location looked and sounded like, the voices of those involved, etc. All the things that pictures cannot do. Think about it this way: if a picture says a thousand words, imagine the number of words video can say. The question isn’t “why do I need video?” The real question should be, “why shouldn’t I have a wedding video?” If the cost is the only answer—keep reading.

The Wedding and Event Videographers Association (WEVA) commissioned a 2005 nationwide study to look at brides’ attitudes about videography, both before and after their weddings. The brides were asked to rank videography on a personal “Top 10” list of wedding priorities. Prior to their weddings, barely 50% of the brides listed videography as a Top 10 item. However, after the weddings the emphases changed dramatically—a whopping 79% of the brides placed videography among their Top 10 items for wedding planning.

Why does video cost so much?
This answer could get long but let us touch on a few points. First, the reality of expenses. Video takes up much more hard drive space than photos. For instance, a typical photographer will take between 600-1000 photos during a wedding.—the average photo will be about 5mb in size. One minute of HD video equals about 350mb, and a typical wedding will take up about 10-15 hours of footage (taking into account multiple cameras), so if you do the math, video on average takes up about 60 times more space than photography does—expenses are greater. Additionally with wedding cinematography, we use 3-4 different software applications to edit/create audio, video and motion graphics to complete a project whereas a photographer, at most, will use two. Working with video forces us to utilize very high-end computers, graphic cards, monitors and audio components, all which is not as necessary for photography.

So why am I comparing the expenses with photography versus videography? Because on average couples spend 25% more on photography than video services. We believe video is very undersold because it has to compete with photography and make it affordable. We see it as a vital asset to your complete budget and skimping on motion video may be regrettable. At the end of the day you won’t have your cake, the meal, the company of your friends, the sights, the laughter, the flowers, the ambient sounds, decorations—all of those things which video captures and preserves for you.

Instead of thinking of video as a service, think of it as an investment in preserving your momentous occasion for you, your children and your heirs to follow.

Whats the difference between Feria and other videographers?
Because of our background in other creative mediums and styles, we harness those skills to take a different approach to wedding cinematography. Other videographers will offer a “love story” in their packages but they charge extra for it and it’s usually not included in the main edit of your film. Our approach is that your story is the whole reason you’re at this point in your life, so your story should be the feature! We use the wedding day event as a backdrop to your story. This, in turn, creates a more compelling and interesting feature to not only share, but watch over and over again. Relive those moments during your engagement, recollect those special moments before you said “I do” and remember what it was that brought you together as a couple.

Ask any couple that have been married over 5 years—who only have an edited version of their wedding day event—how often they watch their video and they’ll probably say once, twice, a few times at most! We want you to watch a Feria-produced video again and again—this is why we take a documentary-style approach that will make you want to share it with everyone in your life.

Why would I need unlimited hours, a trailer, a third camera, etc?
So in other words, why would you need to upgrade? We’ll take this answer in three parts:
Unlimited Hours: The benefit to having us all day long is two-fold. For us, it allows us to capture as much footage as we can. We have more time to gather all the nuances & details that you spent so many hours planning for, more of the sights and sounds that makes remembering your day so special. It also allows us to have the freedom to spend more time with the couple, experiment with different angles, techniques and use additional equipment to grab unique material. Not having a time limit give cinematographers the freedom to be as creative and forward-thinking as possible. Keep in mind, we capture about 10 times as much footage that’s actually used in the final feature, so the more footage we capture, the more we have to work with.
Third Camera: A third camera, essentially, gives us a third eye. Whether it’s the ceremony, reception or any of the activity in between, we can achieve an additional angle to cut to while editing during the ceremony (typically a wider shot showing the area and setting of the ceremony). Another use for a third camera could be getting those time-lapse shots that act as great segways in a feature. This allows us to keep the two other cameras rolling during that time—in a word: flexibility.
The Trailer: Typically a trailer rolls out just weeks after your wedding day event, allowing those who weren’t there to get a glimps of what they missed and maybe something extra for those who were there. It’s a great 2-3 minute piece to share with friends & family and gives the couple a sample to view until the remaining film is complete.

How long does it take to get the finished film?
We do not try to hide the fact that it takes time to finish a feature. Think about how long a typical movie is…. about 90-120 minutes. Think about how many names you see during end of movie credits… hundreds! Now, of course there nearly isn’t as much time that goes into capturing your story and wedding day event but that doesn’t mean we do not work as hard. It takes a crew of about 3-6 people to capture your story and 1-2 people to edit and finalize the film. You end up with a main 20-30 minute feature, along with edits of your ceremony and reception so you end up with at least an hour to 90 minute of footage, about the length of a full feature film. We do not rush the editing process, we comb it over and over to make sure your story is told with clarity, is compelling, and fits who you are. Each clip is purposely placed where it is and each sound is accentuated at the right moment. Because of this meticulousness, the process can take 3-6 months. Keeping our clients in mind, this is why we offer options such as the Trailer Feature so the bride and groom can receive a final-edited piece to share soon after the wedding day—while we take additional time to create a stunning package of features that they will treasure for all time.

The Feria team dedicated some time to renovating our Nashville meeting room next to our studio. In the chaos of wedding shows, client meetings, shooting and editing, we were able to scrounge some time up to get some frames up, a flat panel LCD TV and some new lighting. We though we’d upload some images to share. We already broke it in with our now newest client, Brittnay and Trenton. We are excited for their engagement and look forward to getting to know them and tell their story.

It’s a beautiful Spring day in May and we’re at Center Hill Lake, about 90 minutes east of Nashville, TN. All of the guests are arriving to our lakeside resort we’ve rented for the day. Because of the earlier afternoon rains we had to move the original wedding location from the large lake front amphitheater to the front side of the villa on the hill over-looking the lake.

We’ve got all the ornaments, flowers and decor set up at the villa, photographer is ready, music is ready and I just turn for a minute to look out at the shimmering water, the beautiful tree lines guarding the lake, the hills standing tall, (remnants of what the lake has carved out of the Tennessee foothills) all while standing at the top of this hill in front of this Italian style villa and I thought, “wow, we got all of this for $450!”

You heard me right, $450! My wife and I, at the time of planning our wedding, were running on a very tight budget. We were paying for half of all the wedding costs so had to tighten the belt when it came to certain aspects. We wanted to make sure that no matter what, we could look back on our images and video and not regret having a better location, better photos or a time with friends and family. So with that it mind we splurged on photography and were about to splurge on a location but with our budget, we needed to be conservative. Once we found Lakeside Resort we were disheartened to find out that they were all booked up for the wedding date we had chosen. We were about to start looking elsewhere until we found out they had a Sunday open on Memorial Weekend (Great! three day weekend, important for our out-0f-town guests) so instead of spending more money for another location, we changed the date and saved so much money. Lakeside had everything, beautiful scenery, lodging on-site for our traveling guests and a reception location on site. Granted, if you are expecting 300+ guests this location may not have worked but for us, having under 150, it worked perfectly!

So why am I touting Lakeside so much, because one needs to know it is possible to find a location that has everything and not break the bank. And coming from an imagery perspective, location is just as important as the dress, the flowers, the decor… showing the location is an important part of telling the story of the days events whether it’s photography or cinematography or both. Would any of the images above be just as impressive with a flat wall in the background or a plain church interior (not knocking church weddings but I’ve been in some churches that are pretty plain and un-attractive)? Most likely not. The point is if you’re going to spend thousands and thousands of dollars for photography and video you want to make sure your location is just as appealing as the rest of the wedding. And that doesn’t mean you have to spend thousands and thousands of dollars more. You just have to do a little leg work.

Break out of the box, don’t just look at churches or places that advertise wedding locations, look at botanical gardens, private or public farms, museums, historical hotels or B&B’s, or in our case, state owned locations and facilities. Lakeside resort is owned by the state of Tennessee so this is why prices were very affordable.

One of the most compliments we received about our wedding, even today, was how beautiful the location was. Our food was great but even I don’t really remember it. Same goes with the cake, the band, invitations and decor, they were all great but what we remember most, as well as our friends and family, was the location. And it’s even more sweet to know we didn’t spend a ton of cash for it!

Posted some images earlier from our Birmingham wedding day with Andrea & John—here is the wedding video trailer.

It was such a pleasure working with this great couple. The location was beautiful, the wedding party were fun to be with, and the weather set the scene for a memorable ceremony.

We were so glad to receive this note from John, the groom:

I had no idea how incredible this would be. Also nice choice on the music. I love Sigur Ros!
All I can say is Excellent! and Thank You!!! I’m telling everyone I know to hire you!
- John Dorgan (groom).

When we heard about a couple in Birmingham, AL that needed wedding video coverage with less than a week’s notice, we jumped at the chance. It was a minor scramble to put together our travel kit and team, but, we made the 3 hr trek down south, thirty minutes outside of downtown Birmingham.

John and Andrea were got married on her family farm—rolling acreage that includes picturesque ponds (complete with swans!), green pastures with grazing horses and even a covered bridge. Raindrops fell a couple times during the day, but, tapered off just in time for the afternoon ceremony—outdoors overlooking the water.

The ceremony itself was beautiful, accompanied by violins played classical music throughout the service. We experimented with some timelapse shots of the amazing rolling clouds and had our glidecam going to capture some dynamic moments. We will have more still images and our trailer up soon.

We had so much fun during our two days with Bryan & Amy. We also ended up with so much usable content that the editing process was a bit difficult. However, we think what we ended up with really reflects the fantastic wedding event and the love that each one of them has for each other.

We’d love to hear your thoughts—enjoy!