Come along with me behind the scenes as I film a multi-day wedding in California. Part one is my location scouting process, plus how we filmed the couple adventuring and white water rafting, and some creative stuff with a projector that you will not want to miss. Here is part two and part three, and you can watch the finished wedding film here.
This one is sponsored by my friends at Musicbed, and I will tell you more about them at the end.
Day 1: Welcome To Lake Tahoe
Welcome to beautiful, slightly dry, hot Reno, Nevada. Well, the outskirts of Reno. We are heading up into the mountains to the north side of Lake Tahoe to do some scouting, because we are going to be filming a wedding this week and it is going to be amazing.
It is only 9am right now and the sun is already up pretty high, because it is summer, and it is already very bright. We are planning on filming this couple in the morning, and I am realizing now that we are going to have to get up pretty darn early. 5am, 6am, something like that, so I can get them in that golden hour morning light instead of super harsh bright light. Thankfully we have a lot of nice tree shadows here, so I should be able to work with it, but ideally we want to be on the east side of the mountain, in the shade.
Planning The Feel Of The Film Before You Shoot It
This couple, Monica and David, are a lot of fun. Typically weddings tend to go in one of two directions. Either you go more sexy and romantic, or fun and exciting and goofy and ridiculous. They are definitely more on the fun, goofy, exciting, ridiculous side, so as we are thinking about the wedding film, the way we shoot it and the way we are going to edit it, we are really trying to bring that out. As we film the wedding we are looking for really funny moments, and we are going to try to help facilitate and create those funny moments too. They have been telling us things like, oh, we are going to have a mechanical bull at the wedding.
Because the wedding day and the reception are going to be so incredibly fun and crazy, I am hoping that whenever we take them out to the mountains, we can provide a contrast to that. I want to go a bit more romantic with the mountain footage, a bit more intimate, and show a softer side to them, because then we can juxtapose that softer side against the really high energy craziness. That is going to make for a really cool edit.
If you go high energy the entire time in your edit, it kind of gets boring after a while, because it is just constantly hitting you in the face. But if you can go up and down, then after the crazy high energy the slower, more romantic parts can be really, really cool.
Drone Flight
A little morning drone flight, not too crowded out here yet. You can see the lake, you can see the side of the mountains. Should be good.
Whitewater Rafting Location Scouting
One of the big things we are planning with the couple in a few days is white water rafting, and where they are going to be putting in is right up here in Tahoe City. So one thing we really wanted to scout is exactly where they are going to get in the water, and then find some places alongside the river where we can film them.
We will not be rafting ourselves. Noah will be, and we are putting him in there with a GoPro. He is going to have a great time.
Okay, so we have the river here, a nice straight shot where we can see people coming in and see some faces as they come by, and they will come right along here, hopefully really close. I really like this spot. I think it will work well if I can find at least one other spot like it, maybe two.
And here is another really nice location with good rapids. My only concern is how fast the river is moving, and whether we can get from that first location to this one in time. But I think it will work. What is nice here is that the river starts moving faster, there is a bit of rapids, so it will be more engaging than just a slow float, and then the rapids spit out into a really nice slow section where we can hopefully get a few more shots of them.
Mountaintop Location Scouting
Now we are heading north up through the Tahoe National Forest, and this is really where we are looking for spots to take the couple the day before their wedding. It is all going to be mountain forest, but three different types, I guess you could say.
The first shot I want is the couple out in some trees somewhere, with shade and broken up sunlight so they really pop. I also want shots of the couple up on a mountain of some sort, something with a scenic view off in the distance. And the last thing I want is a body of water, some sort of water feature, which always helps.
We cruised up a gravel road to a fire lookout station, and okay, this is what I wanted. Exactly what I was looking for. Fantastic. Beautiful. Wildflowers. There is a really nice rocky outcropping here that we can probably get the couple to sit up on and cuddle with all of that behind them.
One thing I really like is that there are multiple trails here at different heights, so I can have the couple down on this lower trail while I am up on the higher trail with all of this behind them.
Another thing I am doing here is checking my phone. I have an app called Sun Seeker that tells me where the sun is going to be at a specific time. Standing on the edge of this cliff, it is telling me the sun is going to rise right over here and come up, so I could have the couple backlit by the sun, or put them over here with the sun coming in from the side. Very cool. It also tells me the mountains are not really going to be blocking the view, so I want to get up here pretty early.
Trees, Trees, Trees
I am also going to grab some establishing tree shots. Nothing too crazy, just nice ambient shots, because there is no guarantee we are going to have time to get those later with the couple, and right now we have a lot of time. It is the middle of the day, which is not usually the ideal time to do this, but it is the forest. It is dark and shadowy. What time is it? Who knows. Could be morning, could be night.
Got some amazing forest shots. Really basic, nothing too crazy. Subtle trees, pine needles, beautiful neon green moss. Cannot wait to put the couple in there too. But now at least the establishing shots are done.
Lake Scouting
Now we are heading down the mountain slowly and carefully to look for a body of water. There is Gold Lake, which we may try to hit, and a ton of other little bodies of water.
Gold Lake is pretty, but it is also very crowded. It is a Saturday, so there are a billion people here. I think we either go around the lake or we have to go further up.
Very pretty over here, and nobody is around. This might be the winner. Nice trees, nice water. Actually, I found a spot I like even more over here, because you have a bit of water, then this little spit of land to provide some depth, then a little tree, then the lake. I love the depth we are getting from this. If I can put the couple right here with that as the background, it could work even better. We will do both, cuddled up on a rock, and then this combo.
I am very happy that we have our locations scouted. I am feeling super good about our adventure date with the couple. We found a lot of locations that are all within a 10 to 15 minute drive of each other, which is just amazing. If we get up early, start around six or seven in the morning, drive out here and start filming, we are going to see some really beautiful stuff.
It is always nice, if you are doing a destination wedding like this and you want to incorporate the landscape, to get out early and scout so you can find locations you love, instead of being stuck on the wedding day trying to find something. If we had decided to scout on the same day as the adventure shoot with the couple, it would not have worked nearly as smoothly and everybody would have been exhausted. Instead we know exactly where we want to go, and this portrait shoot is going to be epic.
Day 2: Meeting The Couple
Good morning, and welcome to the day where we actually go to the wedding venue. We finally made it. I get to actually meet the couple in person. Really low key today, maybe some establishing shots, especially as the sun goes down a little. We will see.
Welcome to the Chalet View Lodge. Time to go inside and find the couple.
Met the couple, very friendly, super excited. Now over to the groom’s villa. Nice venue. Very nice venue. A plus. And we are about to meet the wedding planner, Paulette, which is very important. Planners have been met, she is super nice. Time to actually check into this lodge and get a room with air conditioning, because the bright California sun is beating down right now, and then we start unloading all the camera gear. So much camera gear.
Evening Drone Flight
High ISO evening light here. Everybody is chilling over by the pool, nothing crazy is happening, and I was like, this light, the drone needs to be flown. The tops of the trees are still getting lit up a little by the sun.
I am not thinking anything crazy for these shots. I want basic establishing stuff. Some trees, some landscape shots, nothing really crazy. Cruise over here a bit, some really nice forest, love it, then turn around and fly back the other way. With the sun setting it is a little bright, so tone that down a bit.
Really nice little establishing shots. Nothing too crazy. A bit of the trees, a bit of the sunset, a bit of the venue. Feeling really good about it. It is a gorgeous venue, gorgeous trees, gorgeous sunset. It is California. It is kind of cheating.
If you want to go deeper, I’ve also got Wedding Filmmaking Behind The Scenes – Monica & David’s WILD California Wedding Part 2.
Day 3: White Water Rafting
Good morning again. So many mornings here, my goodness. Today is the first official day of the wedding extravaganza. There is a bus behind me, everybody is about to get on it, and we are riding down to raft the Truckee River.
I say we, I am not doing it. I am going to be filming from the side. But Noah, who is filming, will be riding, and we have got a GoPro for him, so he can get some cinematic shots from the raft. Rachel and I will be off on the side, and I may try to fly the drone. For now we have an hour and 15 minute drive down to the rafting location.
We have dropped Noah off. He is getting on the raft and they are about to float downstream. It is going to take them a little while, and we are a little ways ahead of them, so we will pull off on the side of the road, get some gear together, run down there and see what we can see.
We found the couple. They stopped for a break, so we are just waiting for them to get back in the raft so we can film them. Not a bad place to wait. The weather is real nice.
A Cool Projector Effect
It is now evening, and we brought along this projector that I bought on Amazon for $59, and we are going to do some creative stuff with it and try some new things.
We are going to set the projector up in the room where the bride is staying, project onto the wall, and then have the couple stand in front of it so it is projecting onto them. Rachel edited together some clips of them from earlier in their relationship, David proposing, them on dates, Monica dancing, things like that. It should look creative and abstract and really cool.
Okay, so we start off basic. I want you both standing here, holding hands, facing out this way. Yes, that is good, with a little bit of distance between you. That is what we want. Now just look straight ahead. It is kind of this weird, surreal thing.
That looks really, really cool. Super excited. We kept it basic, having them stand there, dance, do some of the things they were already doing in the videos we had. We do not even know where we are going to use this in the film yet. It will be something interstitial, some high energy moment or low energy moment, just something that feels completely different from the mountains and the wedding and the vibe we already have. I really like it.
And with that, time to go to bed. I have got to wake up at five to start driving at 5:30 to get out to the mountaintop right at sunrise and film the couple. It is going to be amazing.
Thanks To Musicbed
Speaking of things being amazing, we need to talk about the amazing sponsor of this video, Musicbed. If you film weddings like me, which I assume you do considering this is a video about filming weddings, I am sure you need to license music for your films, and one of my favorite places to license music is Musicbed. I have been using them basically since I started filming weddings, and in my opinion they have some of the best music, from real bands with real emotion.
If you want examples, I am excited to tell you that you have already heard some, because every single song in this behind the scenes video is licensed from Musicbed. With over a thousand artists and composers offering over 40,000 record label quality tracks covering a huge range of styles and genres, you are guaranteed to find something that matches the vibe you want in your film.
There is so much good music, and it is not hard to find, because Musicbed’s search tool has so many advanced features and they update their curated playlists all the time, so it is really easy to find new songs that not everyone has used yet.
Musicbed’s Wedding Filmmaker subscription lets you download unlimited music from hundreds of musicians for your films, and they created a system called SyncID that automatically removes YouTube copyright claims for any music you license through them on your subscription. You and your couples will not have to deal with music copyright issues on YouTube, and that is amazing.
Sound cool? Use this link to sign up and use the coupon code WHOISMATT23, and you will get your first month of an annual wedding subscription free. That is 12 months for the price of 11 to license unlimited music. Thank you very much to Musicbed for sponsoring this video.
I also want to give a big thank you to my friends at Archaius Creative for helping me edit this behind the scenes. If they were not here to help me, you would probably never see this video, because these behind the scenes videos take so long to edit. If you need help editing your wedding films, corporate videos, YouTube videos, literally anything, they would love to help you out too. Use my link and tell them I sent you and they will give you 10 percent off your first edit. So if you are struggling with your backlog, or there is a part of the editing process you really hate, like color grading or sound mixing, no matter how big or small your project is, Archaius Creative would love to help you out.
All of the footage here was colored with my presets. If you want to go deeper, I have filmmaking courses here, and here is my full list of filmmaking gear.