When producing a wedding film, there is no template that can be followed to put together a great wedding film. Every couple is different and each wedding has its own unique story to tell. For this highlight film, every video and audio sample was carefully chosen to tell the story of the day both contextually and emotionally. We could have easily put the best video clips of the day together with some hit adult contemporary music to produce a great looking video slideshow, but almost all of the story behind C+D’s wedding would have been lost. The deep and affectionate love they share for each other, their close family relationships, their Christ-centered ceremony, and the humorous moments with Derrick’s father as the officiant could have never been shared any other way.

Having worked with C+D since December on their wedding’s engagement film, we certainly have gotten to know them more personally than a typical vendor would over a wedding. Through interviews and filming, we have come to know their loves, passions, quirks and hobbies… all in an effort to tell a story that is accurate and genuine of the couple.

From the feedback we’ve received from viewers of this film already, it’s clear that they entered into 4 minutes of Christella and Derrick’s lives… to laugh as they did when Derrick’s father raised his camera… to cry as they did when Derrick proclaimed his deepest love for Christella… and to be joyful as Christella and Derrick shared their first moments of marriage together on the dance floor.

And this is what we hope to do with each and every wedding film we make.

-KA

In a nutshell: Derrick is an engineer, Christella is not, and they both love Jesus.

In his youth, Derrick built towers, bridges, explosives, and guns. Now he tries his hand at activities such as motorcycling and hang gliding. Christella, on the other hand, has never come close to trying these things, and probably has never wanted to. Derrick has also been a follower of Christ for most of his life whereas Christella didn’t know Jesus until college. But from the time these two met in their church small group, their desire to selflessly love people and experience God’s wonderful creation has been a strong catalyst in forming their relationship.

Nothing demonstrates this better than how much Derrick desires to live life with Christella and how she has repeatedly gone beyond her comfort zone to explore new activities with Derrick.

The moment I learned Christella had never ridden a motorcycle before, but would be open to the idea, I knew this was going to be a key theme in their engagement film. The simple action of her getting on the back of a motorcycle with Derrick captured their personalities, love and trust in each other perfectly.

However, as much as I am excited to share this small story of C+D with you, the most important part of their story is actually not their own… but Christ’s.

They wanted it to be clear throughout their wedding that it is not any action of their own that will sustain their marriage, but by wholly depending on God first and trusting in the work of his Son. Between the sermon at their ceremony, the toasts at the reception and this engagement video, I believe that it was.

Stay tuned for the wedding highlights.

But what was evident the entire weekend was that their love for their friends and family stemmed from their love and devotion to Christ Jesus. It was a real blessing to watch as Jesus took center stage all weekend long in the casual discussions amongst friends—and not just during the ceremony’s message and prayers before meals.

For me personally, I feel blessed by being able to help share with you Lusi and Kevin’s story because it’s not this couple that is ultimately glorified, but Christ alone.

I feel I don’t need to describe how gorgeous the Dominican Republic was… I’ll let the film speak for itself.

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As for the technicals, this wedding was filmed by 1 filmmaker (yours truly) with the Canon EOS 7D, T3i, and T2i with a set of 5 L-series lenses: 14 f/2.8, 24 f/1.4, 50 f/1.2, 100mm f/2.8 macro, and 70-200 f/2.8 IS.

Their lives have been in parallel since birth. Both Lusi and Kevin were born in China and moved to San Francisco as kids. Both attended college in Boston, but just as Kevin graduated, Lusi started her freshman year. It wasn’t until they attended the 3M Conference (Marriage, Marketplace and Ministry) in Hong Kong that they actually met.

Lusi and Kevin wanted their wedding to not only be a celebration of their union, but also to be a testimony to the work and lordship of Jesus Christ in their lives.

This engagement video was made specifically to help tell part of that story. It was shown at their wedding reception in Cabarete, a beautiful resort town on the north shore of the Dominican Republic.

For the rest of their story, stay tuned for their wedding highlights… coming soon.

During the next six years, God grew Jay and Kristi by leaps and bounds. During their wedding day, every single speaker at a microphone commented on the work Jesus had done in their lives. I was truly impressed by their love and devotion to Jesus—both individually and now as a couple.

When trying to decide what story to tell for this highlight film, it didn’t take long to see that Jesus was at the center of their relationship. This was made most clear when Jay so smoothly corrected Pastor Cliff’s incorrect reading of Jay’s vow to live first unto God and then to Kristi, his beloved bride.

I feel blessed in having the privilege to tell their story and share it with you.

This same-day-edit (SDE) was produced on location at Campus by the Sea on Saturday and opened the final session on Sunday morning. I initially attended to simply gather b-roll for future promotional use with no intention of producing a video on location, however, the UCLA campus staff leader came up to me on Saturday evening saying, “I have a crazy idea—tell me if it’s too much—but could we show some of the video on Sunday morning?”

Intrigued by the potential impact this would have on the students and excited by the challenge, I accepted. Several grueling hours after the last session on Saturday night, the video was complete.

When the video was shown on Sunday morning, it was a bigger hit than I could have ever imagined. Vikki (the main speaker) remarked right after the film that she was holding back tears over what God had done that weekend.

I feel honored and blessed to have been given the opportunity to produce this video and to be able to share it with you.

Alvina has always loved to plan parties and gatherings, and for her this one was going to be the ultimate. Everything from the table numbers to the outdoor decorations were hand made and truly exhibited the loving and creative personalities of these two amazing individuals. There was even fresh fruit lining the aisle! You can read all about the adventures and details that went into this wedding at timandalvina.blogspot.com.

On the day of the wedding, despite all the planning that could be done, San Francisco streets and Memorial Day weekend traffic got the best of the bridal party. I spent several hours with Tim and the groomsmen waiting for Alvina to arrive with the photographer as they inched across the Golden Gate Bridge. It almost seemed that the pre-wedding photoshoot would have to be canceled, but they arrived just in time to do a quick session and then head over to the actual wedding.

At the wedding reception, the principle attraction was the photobooth. Everyone from the the grandparents to the kids enjoyed the experience. And really, that was Alvina’s goal as a “professional” party-tuned-wedding planner. As a personal friend of Alvina, I can truly say that her love for people, driven by the unmeasurable love poured out on her by our savior, made this the most enjoyable wedding I have ever attended.

On a side note, this is the first wedding video I have ever produced. Only having a rough idea of what story I would tell coupled with the compressed schedule left me with less footage than I would have liked to capture. Despite the challenge, I really wanted to accurately portray the emotion and energy of that day for everyone to enjoy. I hope that you like it.