I’m taking you behind the scenes and showing you how to film a wedding. But this is not my wedding.
I’m in New Orleans, Louisiana with my friends Caleb and Elaine from KEJ Productions, and they’re going to be filming a wedding while I film them. So, very meta. I’m filming them filming a wedding and you get to come along and see how they do it. We’re filming a rehearsal dinner tonight and the full wedding tomorrow, there’s going to be a parade, and it’s all super high end. These are the folks whose work has been picked up by Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, People and Over The Moon.
Oh, and this one is sponsored by my friends at Musicbed, and I’ll tell you more about them in a little while.
The Rehearsal Dinner
We’re at the Virgin Hotels in New Orleans, up on the 13th floor, and the first thing that happens is a lot of hugging. Caleb and Elaine have been part of this family for a while now. Their last bride from this family, Sumner, is pregnant, and so is Elaine, so it’s basically a family reunion before anybody has picked up a camera.
So I asked Caleb the obvious question. Where does all of this go in the actual wedding film?
And the answer surprised me. Unless it’s a really poignant toast, he typically doesn’t put rehearsal dinner toasts in the film at all. He uses the rehearsal dinner to show interaction with family, and for variety in the settings, and if they can pull the couple out for a portrait session, great. But really the point of it is for the couple to get familiar with having cameras around them.
Think about what that’s worth. Half the reason they show up to the rehearsal dinner is to build a better relationship with the couple and get them comfortable on camera, so that whenever there’s a lens in their face tomorrow it doesn’t feel like a lens in their face. And the guests get a touch point too, because a lot of them don’t know these two yet.
The other thing is that on a beautiful rooftop like this one, with no photographer in their way, they have pretty much free rein to grab really cool portraits. And they got so many that Caleb told me, if we got zero portrait shots tomorrow, I am 100 percent confident I could build an edit just off of that.
Which is another reason he loves shooting the rehearsal dinner, because it takes the pressure off. Tomorrow he can legitimately tell the couple and the photographer, hey, just enjoy this time together, we don’t need anything, we’re just going to shoot around you and get what we get. That is a lot of freedom to have on a wedding day, and you really only get it if you shoot the rehearsal.
One more thing I loved. Elaine is the polite one, but she has no qualms about sending Caleb in to interrupt a conversation. She’s like, Caleb, go get ’em. So Caleb has to go be the bad guy, partly because when Caleb gives direction it just sounds nicer.
They also had the Aputure MC Pro out, which wasn’t even shipping yet, and it has these magnets on it that let you stick it wherever you need it. That’s pretty neat.
Drone Time
Good morning. The wedding day is upon us and the forecast is a 90 percent chance of rain. It’s about 8am, so we’re heading down to the pool deck with Caleb to fly the drone. Good place to do it, good time to do it, it shouldn’t be crowded, and it isn’t raining yet, so get your drone up while you can.
Caleb had done his research. He knew the French Quarter was that direction and the bridge was that direction, and he could tell me which side of the city was which. The reason he knew that is because he looked at his compass, but it sounds smart on camera.
He’s flying with PolarPro filters, on the ND4 that day because he’d scratched up his ND8, and it was very overcast anyway. Then we got to play the fun morning game, which is called Will Caleb Lose His Drone.
Two things he did that I do too, and that you should do. First, the last thing you want is to take off right next to a hotel and have people looking out their window as they’re waking up, seeing a drone hovering there, and freaking out. So take off, go up about ten feet, and cruise away from the building before you climb.
Second, get up on something. Caleb stepped up onto a ledge, maybe two feet, and it makes a huge difference to your antenna strength. Gotta get those antennas up.
He was framing to get the bridge and the cityscape together, flying up the river toward the bridge, and he flies in mode 2 on the sticks because he plays video games and it just works better for how he operates.
Wedding Day
Drone flight complete. Breakfast, and then, you know, film a wedding. No big deal.
Next we headed to the venue still casually dressed, with Caleb hauling this massive golf bag with all of their tripods and light stands and lights inside it, so they could drop it all off early and not have to set it up later. Smart. It was a little dim in there, but with a 90 percent chance of rain, it’s covered, and that’s what matters.
There was one problem waiting for them. The venue is right next to a music stage, because there’s a music festival happening while the wedding is happening. So establishing shots are going to be difficult, and the drone plan for the second line parade may not work because it’s going to be really crowded with musicians and stages. That’s weddings, though, especially in the city. You work around everybody else and make it work.
Then we took a taxi over to the hotel where the couple was getting ready, and it was pouring. Monsoon level. I was outside for two seconds and I was soaked.
Caleb still needed establishing shots of the building and the city, so out he went, in the rain, while I stayed inside where it was dry and filmed him doing it. Look, I don’t see the point of both of us going out into the rain. Just smart, as a shooter.
Then they split up. Elaine stayed with the girls and Caleb went with the guys, and since there’s only one of me, I went with Caleb for the variety.
Here’s a detail trick from Caleb that I liked. He doesn’t usually shoot a lot of detail shots for the guys, but he does gather all of the groom’s things and stage them in the room where the groom is getting ready. Not just for the static detail shots, but because then there’s a lot of action in between, the grabbing and the putting on, and that’s the stuff you actually cut with. And yes, part of being a filmmaker is cleaning up hotel rooms so you can film in them.
Ceremony Setup
The ceremony space was interesting. Kind of dark, warm overhead lights, smaller and pretty cramped once the chairs went in, and two massive speakers sitting right where you’d want to shoot.
So Caleb went and asked whether the speakers could be moved, at least down to the ground, so there’d be a bit more room for the ceremony, and then they could go back up for the reception. That’s the job. Not just filming, but negotiating the room.
The audio setup
Caleb takes the output off the speaker, and there were two details there I loved. He has a little clamp that holds the recorder right on the speaker, and he labels his extra XLR cable “video,” so that whenever the band or the DJ sees it, they know exactly what it is and they don’t unplug it. Genius, and it’s such a small thing.
But that’s not his main source of audio. The main source is lavs, two Zoom F2 recorders, one on the groom and one on the officiant, with the Tascam Portacapture X8 off the board as the redundancy.
The lighting setup
He runs a V-mount battery on the key light and NP-F batteries on the hair light, because the hair light isn’t as bright and doesn’t need as much. On the key he pre-runs the cable down and through the stand ahead of time, so setup is faster later.
And then the thing that made me go “oh, that’s so smart.” Cloth wraps that go over the light stands and cover the cable run. If you’re filming luxury weddings and you don’t want to stand out, if you want to blend in, if you don’t want your gear distracting the other vendors and you want to be on the planner’s good side, this is a great way to do it. It looks so clean. And these things are, like, eight bucks. Worth it. The same thinking applies to what you wear filming a wedding.
For the ceremony framing, Caleb needed a wide shot but didn’t want the speaker in it, so he pushed in far enough to crop it out, around 24mm. It’ll look like a smaller ceremony, but at least that’s the wide.
Now, I realize you may be thinking it’s disruptive to adjust lighting at a wedding, that you don’t want to move a light too much or make changes because it’ll bother the guests. But think about this moment. There are only two people here thinking about lighting. Three, if you count me. Nobody else cares about the lighting right now, and it’s on Caleb and Elaine to make the ceremony look good. So they need to light it, and light it well.
They ended up lighting up the front rather than bouncing off the ceiling, and it made a huge difference. Not just on camera, but for the guests actually watching the ceremony. That kind of thing is super important to get right. As Caleb put it, I don’t want my bride in the shadow, and if there’s going to be a shadow, I’d rather it be on the ground.
The Second Line Parade
The couple is coming out any second, Elaine is in there somewhere, and Caleb is on the street trying to get the drone in the air for an aerial of the parade.
Compass calibration, of course, right at the worst possible moment. He was stressing. But he got it up, and it was smooth.
Afterward he told me about the shot he got in the second half, whenever they turned onto a street where the buildings framed up and he came through it. “I don’t know if it’s any good, but it felt good in the moment.” And honestly, that’s all you can hope for.
Toasts, First Dances And The Exit
For the toasts they picked a nice spot outside with a floral backdrop, got a hair light on it, and then added a fill, because naturally people are going to turn while they talk and end up too far into shadow. Intensity down, spread to flood.
Then the band, the first dances, and everybody dancing. And then the exit, which was a bubble exit.
If you have ever filmed bubbles you know you have to light them, because otherwise it’s going to be super flat and you’re not going to see them at all. Lighting them, especially from the front with a bright spotlight, is what makes the bubbles show up on screen. And the couple left in a pedicab, which is a very New Orleans way to leave your own wedding.
The Debrief
We did it. Wedding over, complete. So how are we feeling?
Elaine was a little worried during the party because she didn’t have a lot of the bride dancing, but she got that sorted and got her on the floor, and she’s really happy with what they have. The last dance was beautiful.
Caleb’s take was that the whole day was hectic but it worked, and the reason days go like that is the people. Which is why they’re really picky with the couples they work with. Those days are just easy, and it’s a pleasure to be there. A low anxiety day.
I loved every minute of it. It was super cool to see how Caleb and Elaine work, because they’re a couple and Rachel and I film together and we’re a couple too, and it’s just interesting seeing the different dynamics and how you’re able to capture really good stuff at that level, especially at those luxury weddings where you have to make these couples happy and you have to do it right.
If you want to see more of them, follow KEJ Productions on Instagram, and if you want to hire them, they’re right here.
A Word About Musicbed
Before you go, I want to give a huge shout out and thank you to the sponsor of this one, Musicbed.
I’ve said it many times and I’ll say it again. Music is the essential piece of any video that brings everything together. I’m sure I made that evident throughout this behind the scenes, where I wanted to create a vibe that matched the energy and the feeling you get from being in New Orleans. I intentionally chose music to better reflect the couple and the city this wedding took place in, and it made the whole thing feel more cohesive.
Music is really important. If you choose the wrong songs your audience is going to notice, and they’re not going to be as engaged with the film they’re watching. That’s why I made the switch to Musicbed way back in 2011. Yes, I’ve been using them for over 13 years now. In my experience they have the best selection of highly curated music, the kind that gives my audience an authentic emotional connection to the video.
Don’t just take my word for it. For the wedding of Monica and David, they were all about having a big party, so I chose “Where I Wanna Be” by Dazy Chain to show the fun and excitement they had with their friends. And if you want to go more serious and emotional, during the tearful vows of Paul and Monica’s ceremony I knew I needed a song that would reflect that powerful moment, so I chose “Awakening” by Amanda Cook. That song elevated and enhanced the emotions of the film in such a beautiful way.
You can hear the difference for yourself and try Musicbed free for a limited time with a 14 day free trial. Trust me, after those 14 days are up you’re going to want to make the switch.
And if you’re a new wedding filmmaker just getting started and you want help booking your first couple, I’ve put together a free workshop called, appropriately enough, How To Book Your First Wedding In 30 Days Or Less. It’s completely free and it’s full of practical advice you can start using immediately.
Thanks so much for reading, and have a great day!