Last summer we had the pleasure of filming the wedding of Steven and Melody at The Fairmont Hotel in San Jose.  The couple’s love of clean lines and contemporary simplicity really came through in this modern yet elegant affair.  Monochromatic hues of white and creams complimented beautiful orchid arrangements, designed by Amy Burke Designs for both the ceremony and reception, were truly magnificent and set a luxurious tone to the wedding.

Steven and Melody are a genuinely sweet couple with kind hearts and elegant style. We feel fortunate to been part of this special occasion and we hope you enjoy their handmade highlight film.

We also had a blast working alongside our pal Meg Perotti who has some seriously mad skills when it comes to capturing all those magical moments in her noteworthy timeless style.  You might remember Meg from the Amelie Inspired Wedding shoot we did a couple of years ago.  Check out these amazing photos from Steven and Melody’s big day.

Steven + Melody’s wedding recipe:
Filmmaker: LoveSpun ~ Handmade Films |  Photography: Meg Perotti | Venue: San Jose Fairmont Hotel| Lighting: Enhanced Lighting | Flowers: Amy Burke Designs

Music Licensed through The Music Bed

Thanks for stopping by for a little LoveSpun!

At LoveSpun, we approach every wedding that we film with the preparation and attention that it deserves.  We want our clients to feel beautiful, happy, and most importantly, relaxed on their big day.  I am a firm believer that being prepared for things helps to ease concern and makes you feel less stressed when confronted with life changing events.

It is based on this principal, that a few years back, I wrote down some of my favorite tips and started sending a letter entitled “Preparing for a Great Wedding Film” to each of our clients as their wedding day approached.  As our experiences have grown and changed over the years, this list has of course grown and evolved.  We want our clients to have the opportunity to do their part in making sure they can get the most out of their wedding film investment by following some pretty straightforward tips to ensure that we are able to capture the prettiest footage possible.

We recently sent this letter to our client Carrie Gorman, editor of ELLEuk.com, in preparation of her wedding in December.  She was delighted with receiving them and thought her audience on ELLEuk.com’s The Wedding Blog would enjoy reading them too.  We are so thrilled to be featured on ELLEuk.com for a second time and we hope that our tips and tricks prove useful for brides around the world, looking to put their best foot forward on their wedding day!

See below for the rundown.

Here goes…

• A Pretty Place to Get Ready When picking out a location to get ready for your wedding, look for a spot that is beautiful, free of clutter and if possible, one that has plenty of natural light.  Also request that your makeup artist and hair stylist set up in front of a natural light source instead of a bathroom with florescent lighting.

• Neat and Tidy Delegate bridal party members to help keep your getting ready room organized and clean. This will make you feel more calm as well as make a pleasing back drop for pictures & your wedding film.

• When music is not your friend Most brides love to have their favorite tunes playing as they get ready for their big day. When filming your getting ready footage, keep in mind that we cannot edit music out.  If we capture a special moment of audio that would be great for your film but an obnoxious song is in the background we may not be able to work it into the film.  At the very minimum, turn the music down when you’re putting on your dress for any exceptional reactions from your parents and friends.

• Keep the Sanctity Remind your wedding party that chewing gum and talking to each other during the ceremony can detract from the attention of your guests and that it doesn’t look good on the film or in pictures.

• Walk Slowly For the ceremony, the bridal party and especially the bride should remember to walk controlled and gradually down the aisle.  This is your time to shine, your guests want to have a good look at you, and it helps us, the filmmaker and your photographer, to capture the moment.

• Schedule enough time for photos and filming Family photos and portraits can take a while so make sure you not only allow for this in your time-line, but also have enough time for romantic shots of just the two of you with your wedding filmmaker and photographer.  We suggest 15-20 minutes in addition to your formal photography session to get some beautiful eye candy for your wedding film.

• Take your time to dance  Sometimes for whatever reason, couples choose to cut short their first dances, having the DJ fade out the music in the middle. From our standpoint we love to film the first dance from different, unique angles and look for tender moments. It’s hard to get all that in 90 seconds so why not just enjoy the moment and your time in the spotlight.

• Light it up  Reception lighting can sometimes make or break the look of your wedding film.  It’s a great idea to hire a professional lighting designer to add ambiance to a room but keep in mind that different colors of up-lighting can make skin tones look strange. Lighting that is too bright around the edges of the room can make the interior look dark. Even out up-lighting with spotlights on the dance floor and head table.  If a designated spot for toasts or speeches can be picked out ahead of time and then lit properly, it will make all the difference in the world.

Thanks for reading our tips for a great wedding film! We hope you have the best wedding ever!

We first met John & Jaynel at the filming of their love story for Wish Upon A Wedding and feel in love with this couple and their outlook on life and the future.  We are truly impressed by all the vendors who contributed their services to grant such an amazing gift for this couple.  We feel so lucky to have been part of this rewarding and wonderful wedding and to give them our gift of one thoughtfully made wedding film.  Congratulations to John and Jaynel!!!

{Wish Upon a Wedding was founded in January of 2010 and is America’s first nonprofit wedding wish granting organization. Wish Upon a Wedding is dedicated to producing weddings and civil union ceremonies at destinations across the United States to individuals facing terminal illness or life altering circumstances.}

Please enjoy their wishful, handmade wedding highlight!

John & Jaynel {Wish Upon A Wedding} Julia Morgan Ballroom from Lovespun ~ Handmade Films on Vimeo.

We were thrilled to shoot alongside our friends at Tinywater Photography who always bring their unique perspective to weddings. Check out these great shots from John & Jaynel’s wedding.

John & Jaynel’s Wedding Wish Recipe:
Filmmaker: LoveSpun ~ Handmade Films | Wedding Planner: Amazae | Photography: Tinywater | Venue: Julia Morgan Ballroom | DJ: Big Fun Disc Jockeys | Guitarist: Entire Productions | Lighting: Enhanced Lighting | Flowers: Flourish Designs | Invitations: May Inspired | Cupcakes: Sift Supcakes | Hair & Makeup: Professional Makeup Artistry | Rentals: Classic Party Rentals SF | Linens: La Tavola | Accessories for Bride: One World Designs | Shoes for Bride: Hey Lady Shoes | Officiant: Pastor Jon Olson

Music Licensed through The Music Bed

Thanks for watching!

I remember the day vividly when I stumbled across a film produced by my friends and colleagues at I Do Films in Chicago, a film that inspired me to the core.  It was the heart wrenching story of Beth, diagnosed with cancer, and Nick, her loving and supportive fiancé, and their wish to get married despite her illness.  As I watched the film I burst into tears and realized what an amazing organization Wish Upon A Wedding was and knew that I wanted to be part of it somehow.  I immediately applied to be a wish granter and waited patiently for the opportunity to be part of the magic.

{Wish Upon a Wedding was founded in January of 2010 and is America’s first nonprofit wedding wish granting organization. Wish Upon a Wedding is dedicated to producing weddings and civil union ceremonies at destinations across the United States to individuals facing terminal illness or life altering circumstances.}

Fast forward a year later and we are so privileged to have been chosen as a wish granter for a wonderful and deserving couple, John & Jaynel Gilmore.  You can read their full story at Wish Upon a Wedding. John & Jaynel are two talented writers who met and fell in love over their shared passions in life.  They have overcome obstacles through love and devotion and choose happiness for their future. This is just the beginning!

Photo credit: Tinywater

We hope you enjoy their handmade love story.

John & Jaynel’s Wish Granting Recipe:
Filmmaker: LoveSpun ~ Handmade Films | Wedding Planner: Amazae | Photography: Tinywater | Venue: Julia Morgan Ballroom | DJ: Big Fun Disc Jockeys | Guitarist: Entire Productions | Lighting: Enhanced Lighting | Flowers: Flourish Designs | Invitations: May Inspired | Cupcakes: Sift Supcakes | Hair & Makeup: Professional Makeup Artistry | Rentals: Classic Party Rentals SF | Linens: La Tavola | Accessories for Bride: One World Designs | Shoes for Bride: Hey Lady Shoes | Officiant: Pastor Jon Olson

Music Licensed through Song Freedom & The Music Bed

Thanks for watching!

Check out some of these stunning photos by Sean Flanigan followed by Danny & Shaudi’s highlights film:

Thanks for checking out this feature!

If you’ve been keeping track of LoveSpun, you know that recently I had the wonderful opportunity to attend  POSH 2010, an educational workshop for female filmmakers & photographers from around the globe.  When all of us came together it didn’t take long to realize that we are just scratching the surface on something huge.  I know in my local market of Sacramento, I am one of a few, if only, established female wedding filmmaker that I can find and even in San Francisco, a huge city,  in the Bay Area Professional Videographers Association I belong to, there are but a few female voices among the group.  This is not a “I am woman, hear me roar” sort of statement, just a reality that lady videographers have always expected.  There are so many amazingly talented men in this industry that I look up to, and motivated me to become the artist that I am today.

With that said, imagine now realizing that we have an instant support system overnight?  Other girls trying to run businesses, raise kids, be great wives, they just “get it!”  It was a powerful week of training and networking and the theme that rose to the top was that we have so much to offer to the wedding industry because of our feminine voice.  A wedding is after all, a little girl’s dream and WE are that little girl!

Inspired by our shared experiences in wedding industry, the attendees spontaneously decided to use our creative gifts to craft a short film illustrating the positive power and passion of women in the film industry.

We Create from POSH on Vimeo.

Shot on location at POSH 2010, “We Create” was directed by Maura Coleman-Murray and Kara Jensen, filmed by Maribeth Ratajczyk and Luiza Perkowska, and edited by Meg Simone. All 42 POSH 2010 attendees collaborated on the piece.

Thanks for stopping by!

September brought repeated trips to the Sonoma & Napa Vallies  for the wine country wedding of Matt & Odessa and a very special project we are working on with Chef Pajo Bruich and Anani Lawson, formerly of The French Laundry, to create a short film about their collaboration of food & wine talents. The film is set to be debuted late winter 2011.

October started out with a bang with the absolutely fabulous wedding of Ben & Amy at the San Francisco Ferry Building, expertly designed and executed by the awesome Alison Ulshoffer Events and scrumptiously catered by Paula LeDuc Fine Catering.  Stay tuned for their wedding trailer that we are working on as we speak.

We filmed the adorable wedding of Kristen & Casey at the Historic Bee Bennett House in Placerville and we wrapped up the month with another trip to the Sonoma Wine Country to film the wedding of Evan & Kamila Gerber.  Evan & Kamila tied the knot in sunset splendor at the beautiful Paradise Ridge Winery in Santa Rosa, CA.  Just a few stills we pulled from our footage which is a good inclination that the film should be stunning.

In November, things really started heating up with a trip south of the border to film Clark & Sarah’s Mexican destination wedding at the Hotel Playa Fiesta in Puerto Vallarta.  Another fabulously planned and designed wedding by destination wedding planner, Alison Ulshoffer Events, this wedding married California style and sophistication with the rustic and authentic experience of Jalisco culture and hospitality.  We had the pleasure of shooting alongside photographer Penny Sylvia, also hailing from Sacramento, to capture all the nuances of this very special destination wedding.

Less than 24 hours after returning from Puerto Vallarta, I was headed back to the airport to catch a plane to Florida where I was about to meet up with 40+ female filmmakers from all over the world for a 5 day workshop in the Bahamas.  At the POSH workshop we had the unique opportunity to network with and learn from some of the most influential women filmmakers in our industry.  Stay tuned for a film we whipped up about women filmmakers.

Upon returning back to California, I wrapped up the learning schedule by attending an all day, hands-on, Ray Roman Films workshop put on by the Bay Area Professional Videographers Association.  Needless to say, I was bubbling forth information to the LoveSpun team, infusing them with all the tips and tricks I gleaned in my travels.  After 3 months of non-stop filming it seems, the real work now begins.  We will be working our hardest to create new and exciting films to share with you soon

Thanks for checking out these images from some of our fall adventures. Stay tuned for new freshly spun films coming at you real soon!

Awesome!!! For those of you who are  not familiar with TwinSoup.com, you might just be missing out on Sacramento’s inside scoop, or as they like to call it, “The Daily Dish.” Sarah & Rachel, beautiful twin sisters, blog about what’s all the rage in Sacramento, from fashion & beauty, to lifestyle & culture, to the best places to eat & drink and most importantly Sacramento’s hottest wedding vendors and trends.  I personally follow their blog; in fact I have even won concert tickets during one of their frequent “giveaway” contests.  The last couple of years they have hosted the Stiletto Crawl which is an annual girls’ night out of shopping, dining and socializing, all in high heels of course.  Being a fan of theirs, I was actually quite surprised when they contacted me for an interview.  I couldn’t be more pleased to be one of their picks for favorite Sacramento Wedding Videographer.  Read the full article here.

Here is our behind the scenes look at the “Sweet Amelie” feature for Nonpareil Magazine‘s current issue followed by amazing imagery by Meg Perotti. Yelena Johnson of The Stylish Soiree brings the movie Amelie to life with her French inspired design & styling.  We are so honored to be the first videographer ever to have a film featured on Nonpareil Magazine!!! Too cool! Please enjoy!

~ More beautiful stills from “Sweet Amelie” ~

~Photo credits to Meg Perotti~
Special thanks to my friend & fellow filmmaker Matthieu Meynier for his French translation & vo work!
Also, thanks to Emily Jayne Scott who played the role of Amelie, she did a fab job!

The Stylish Soiree | Pink Lincoln | Meg Perotti Photography| Symmetry Beauty | Sand Rock Farm | Little Miss Press

Recently, I had the great pleasure of filming a behind the scenes look at one of the features for Nonpareil Magazine’s current issue.  This dazzling issue of Nonpareil Magazine features weddings inspired by famous romantic movies & for this particular article, Yelena Johnson of The Stylish Soiree brings the movie Amelie to life with her French inspired design & styling.  Meg Perotti, the oh-so amazing photographer, was on hand to capture the fabulous imagery for the article.

This article is a must-read! Yelena lets us in on her secrets for this concept & design, and how you can incorporate these types of design techniques into your own wedding.
Nonpareil Magazine also featured our accompanying “handmade” film on their blog!  Thank you so much to Maddy & Kristen over at Nonpareil for showcasing a bit of LoveSpun on your blog! What an honor!!!

This was a particularly amazing project, not only because of the stunning artistry of the shoot, but for the opportunity to work with such an innovative team of professionals.  Here is the team:
The Stylish Soiree | Pink Lincoln | Meg Perotti Photography| Symmetry Beauty | Sand Rock Farm | Little Miss Press