The amazing thing about choosing to have an elopement or microwedding rather than an all out, massive wedding is the amount of time you have to just be in the present, since you’re not borrowing 100-300 people’s time at any given moment.
Oftentimes, couples who opt for an elopement hire a photographer but nothing else. I think the case for hiring a videographer as well is made quite clear in this elopement video we made with Lillian and Ron at Rancho Cañada del Oro Open Space Preserve.
Burning sage
Their sacred ceremony was a non-traditional cleansing of the body, mind and spirit, where they shed and left behind any personal baggage in order to move forward as a married couple. I was standing off to the side with my camera and found myself meditating alongside them, tearing up during their vows, and by the end of it I felt a little different, perhaps a bit renewed.
Before we arrived at the open space, we got to spend some time in Lillian & Ron’s condo, which was filled with musical instruments, and cute notes to each other and themselves. Little reminders to be their best selves. In the background played Moonlight Cocktail 1942 by Glenn Miller & his Orchestra, as Lillian did her own make-up at her vintage Hollywood lighted vanity mirror.
The car arrived to pick them up for the trip to their elopement location - and when I say “car” I mean a 1956 Silver Cloud Rolls Royce Limousine from Elegant Journey Limousines.
I’m not certain that the gentleman chauffeur realized he’d have to drive that thing over a wet stream crossing bridge but we all made it fine.
I was lucky enough to be driving directly behind them and have my camera on the passenger seat, so I was able to film a bit of their journey and use it for storytelling in the film.
While looking for the proper music to tell this story, I recalled a track by one of my favorite composers on Musicbed with an orchestral track that I’ve wanted to use for ages. The Rage of Becoming by Benjamin James had just the right amount of dark ambience, leading into bright and ethereal orchestral swells and a beautiful and climactic chorus.
Ultimately, this turned out to be one of the most intuitive edits I’ve ever done:
Once I laid the music down, I pulled the most impactful lines from the ceremony for my "A-roll” track” and just made sure the final line from the vows ended just before the music began it’s slow build.
On the day of, I made sure to shoot a full sequence (rather than just random pretty shots) showing them getting into the car, driving the car down the road, journeying through the open space trail, arriving at the location, coming out of the car, walking from the car down through the field of purple flowers, arriving at their ceremony. And on the way back, running together through the field just for fun. So, in the edit, the story told itself. I just made sure those shots hit with the impactful moments of the music, and built the story before and after that.
If you’re looking for a videographer to tell the story of your elopement or microwedding, we’ve got your back. We are based in Rocklin, CA and serve the greater Bay Area, Santa Cruz Area, Sacramento and Placer Counties, and Tahoe area. We’ll go anywhere, of course, but those are our home markets.