Come along while Rachel and I film a destination wedding in Colorado.
Some people won’t count Colorado as a destination. Coming from Texas, where the ground is famously flat, I’m counting it. We had the couple for three days, which is a genuine luxury, and the full film that came out of it is here.
Day One: Rafting And Scouting
Friday was whitewater rafting with the couple, which the cameras did not attend, and then scouting.
Here is the part that still amazes me: the couple had not decided where they were getting married. They handed us that. So Rachel and I went out around Ridgway State Park in the rain looking for the ceremony site.
The photographer had already scouted a lot of it, which is worth saying out loud: a good photographer who has done that work is a gift, and you should be talking to them before the day rather than meeting them on it. What we were weighing at each spot was openness, mostly. How much room is there to fit people in, and can we get the angles we need without standing on each other.
Day Two: Prep, First Look, Ceremony, Three Receptions
Both of them got ready in the same house, which removes an enormous amount of stress. No driving back and forth, everything in one place.
The bedrooms were the obvious choice and the wrong one. Harsh tungsten light, very few windows, so even with the lights off there was nothing to work with. We moved the bride into the dining room instead, which had a wall of light, and shifted the furniture out so she could do her makeup in it. Ask to move rooms. People almost always say yes and it costs you nothing.
For the ceremony itself, on a cliffside, here’s the coverage:
- Audio: two mics on the officiant, two on the groom, and a fourth recorder in my hand. Redundancy, as ever.
- Rachel on the a7S II on the left with a 70-200.
- An FS100 locked off on the other side with a 50mm on the groom.
- Me on a Glidecam, walking in behind the bride and then working creative angles, mostly on the 50 and the 24.
Between the two static cameras we had both faces covered, which frees the third operator to actually move.
Then three receptions. Dinner at the Hotel Beaumont, an after-party in a room they’d rented at the local distillery, and an after-after-party back at the house involving hot dogs and a hot tub. We did not get much sleep.
Day Three: The Mountains
They gave us the entire following day to take them up into the mountains, which is the day I’d been looking forward to most. Smoke bombs, altitude, and the kind of light you don’t get to plan for.
Every camera setting we used is burned into the corner of the video as we go, so if you want the exact recipe for any shot, it’s there on screen.
All the gear is on my gear page, and the audio gear specifically is listed here.