San Francisco Wedding Reception at The Pearl

Just as so many couples who originally planned an entire wedding to take place in 2020, Russell and Alisa had a long and harrowing journey to hold a wedding reception event at The Pearl in San Francisco.

Drone shot of the San Francisco Skyline from the Dogpatch District, next to The Pearl.

It was indeed, only a wedding reception, because they were able to have a Jewish ceremony in 2021 as a backyard microwedding, recorded on an iPhone by an uncle. Fortunately I was able to use this footage in the final edit of the highlight film to complete the story! As a wedding videographer, post-pandemic edits have involved quite a bit of shaky iPhone footage, and I’ve actually enjoyed figuring out ways to integrate that footage.

I’ve shot at the Pearl numerous times and the 3 story building is always gorgeous. The rooftop is the perfect place for ceremonies and cocktail hours, and a great place to do your family photo sessions.

The 2 creative edits I made, a wedding trailer video and a full highlight film, were some of the most fun edits I’ve had the pleasure of working on. Their personality, as well as the city scape of San Francisco, graffiti covered pink/red walls, and the general vibe of the day was easy for me to pin my finger on for music choices. I was able to make a spunky, bouncy, fun edit to some cool indie rock tracks and loved how it all turned out.

It was also great working with their amazing photographer, Ryan Chard Smith who has an avant-garde style and great vision. Many photographers would shy away from shooting in a dingy ally behind a hotel, but Ryan and I both agreed it was a perfect spot for a first look, and the proof is in the pudding.

If you’re curious, you can also look back to one of the first weddings we shot at The Pearl, a beautiful same-sex wedding back in 2018:

If you’re looking for a wedding videographer for your wedding, whether it’s in San Francisco, the Greater Bay Area, Napa Wine Country, Sacramento, or Tahoe, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us for availability! We’d love to hear from you.

Wolfe Heights Winery and Event Center // Wedding Video

If you’re living in the Sacramento area and planning a wedding, you might be torn between keeping things local for ease and convenience, or migrating your family for a few days out to Napa Valley wine country.

But back in 2019, I was hired as the videographer for a wedding that had me rubbing my eyes in disbelief that we were actually at what felt like a wedding venue in Healdsburg, but in actuality was in the South East of Sacramento towards Elk Grove. That feature-rich, picture perfect venue was
Wolfe Heights Winery and Event Center.

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Drone shot of the unity circle, a perfect wedding ceremony space.

The Unity Circle, Dance Circle, and Circle of Reflection are all encompassed by peaceful, well-landscaped plantings and scenery.

Downstairs from the estate house where the bridal party gets ready, a tavern-style bar is equipped with refrigerators, beer taps, tables and chairs, and its grand-arched double doors open to the courtyard, making it easy for your guests to sip and mingle during cocktail hour.

A perfect atmosphere for private celebrations, this meticulous venue boasts a pond, waterfall, babbling brook, footbridge, and a plethora of botanical landscapes, including breathtaking willows, vineyards, and a 12-acre olive grove. It’s a dream venue, really, and we hope that you’ll rent out our meticulous space to host your special gathering.
- Wolfe Heights Website

And our favorite thing about the venue are the willow trees that surround the turtle and koi fish pond. We took David and Virginia around for a few minutes to capture some cinematic moments with her in her traditional Vietnamese tea ceremony dress and Red Ao Dai hat and the results were stunning.

If you are looking for a wedding videographer to capture your wedding at Wolfe Heights Winery and Event Center, The Goodfolk Film Co. is based in Rocklin, CA and ready to film there with absolutely no travel fees, and we are very familiar with the venue at this point.

Reach out to us to inquire for our availability!

Twenty Mile House Wedding // Cromberg, CA

One of the first 50+ guest weddings I was able to film in 2020 after the COVID pandemic slowed down was at the incredibly lush and secluded TWENTY MILE HOUSE in Cromberg, CA. And despite the sky being filled with smoke from the massive fires, it was an unforgettable experience, and a dream venue for a wedding videographer.

First off, Jen and Wes’ wedding was actually originally scheduled to take place at Ruby Hill but because of the local restrictions in Pleasanton at the time, the couple had to scramble to find a new solution - and I think we were all very happy that we ended up out here instead.

Originally constructed as a stagecoach stop and trading post, Twenty Mile House has long served as a respite for weary travelers. In the present day, our 200-acre eco-estate is a breath of fresh air from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. We are proud to be a certified carbon-free venue and Green America–approved business. We are committed to limiting our ecological footprint and doing our part to ensure the pristine natural beauty of our property for centuries to come.

- Twenty Mile House Website

We simply cannot wait to return to Twenty Mile House to film the next wedding.

Gold Hill Gardens Wedding // Newcastle, CA

If you’re looking for a wedding videographer for your Gold Hill Gardens wedding in Newcastle, California… look no further. We’ve recently relocated to Rocklin, CA which is just a few minutes away.

Watch the 2019 wedding film below to see our past work at the venue! We loved everything about working at Gold Hill Gardens and we’re excited to be so close by.

Edgewood Tahoe Wedding in South Lake Tahoe

Engagement Photo Session in South Lake Tahoe

Weddings at Edgewood have a mystical, magical quality to them that can’t be beat. The immaculate, uninterrupted view of Lake Tahoe and surrounding mountains is the perfect spot to hold a wedding ceremony, while the hearth-warmed tavern serves up the perfect wedding reception.

As Sacramento based Wedding Videographers, traveling to Tahoe to capture wedding films and photographs is one of our favorite ways to spend a weekend. We don’t charge for travel to Tahoe, because our packages always include those fixed costs, and generally we like to turn trips like this into a weekend getaway anyway. (A nice thing about being a husband & wife videography team!).

Watch the video!

The Edgewood hotel being right on site is also a big benefit, for brides, grooms, and videographers! Being on site during the getting ready portion of the day makes things much easier for us to get to your room, capture b-roll of you getting ready, get shots of your invitations, rings, etc. and also make time to go out and film scenic shots of the lake, trees, and venue.

Clear blue skies over an ever blue Lake Tahoe

We’ve only recently moved to the Sacramento region, and we’re very much looking forward to working as Wedding Videographers in Tahoe, Graegle, Truckee, and the surrounding area.

Contact us now for availability!

Rancho Victoria Vineyards Wedding in Plymouth, CA

One of our favorite wedding venues in the greater Sacramento area is off the beaten path in Plymouth, CA.

Complete with vineyards, a lake, bridal cottage, and a wide open space for an outdoor reception, there’s nothing a bride and groom will be left wanting at Rancho Victoria Vineyards.

This particular wedding of Amber and Bobby was an absolute riot. As a wedding videographer, I’m always looking for ways to subvert the genre and create something a little unexpected or unique.

Bride’s Dress Hanging at the Bridal Cottage

Before the ceremony and throughout the reception, the DJ played chiptune covers of recognizable video game theme songs, including the original Zelda. This inspired me while editing the wedding film to use an unusual Musicbed.com track called “I Don’t Know Nothing” by Graphite Man for the intro to the video.

Bride and Groom Skipping their way to the reception

I was able to pair the song with the lively Grand Entrance into the reception. In reality, the grand entrance was a long but entertaining moment where the MC was actually the voice of the Google Home AI bot, which indeed was another hint at how I should approach this part of the video. Immediately following the grand entrance, the groom introduced his bride as the model for a specific First Dance they called “the interlude” with a number of coordinated dance moves.

Dance Party

At the end of the day, I didn’t want the entire wedding video to be as crazy as the intro - I still wanted to highlight the romance and love between the two and thought it would be a good idea to slow things down and transition back in time to the beginning of the day. There was plenty of story to tell with their vows, and speeches, and a big surprise baby announcement that they dropped on all their family and friends right before the dance party kicked off.

Now that we have moved from the Bay Area to Placer County, we’re looking forward to working at Rancho Victoria Vineyards again as wedding videographers for more couples.

This film was recorded using (3) Sony A7sIII cameras, Peak Design Tripods and Duffel Bags, Zoom H6 and Tascam Dr10L’s.

Music: I Don’t Know Nothing by Graphite Man | So Alive by Leucadia | Better Things by Krane |
Venue: Rancho Victoria Vineyard | Planner: Erica Estrada Design |
Florals: G. Rossi Florist | Photographer: Bry’s Photography |
Hair & Make-Up: Stephanie Garcia & Maycup by Yenisei | DJ: SJ’s Disc Jockey |