I can honestly say at the tender age of 19 I have never even thought about being married never mind visiting a wedding fair, so you can imagine my surprise when I received an e-mail saying “how would you like to spend your Sunday manning the LightFilms stand at this years Derby wedding fayre and fashion show?” My first reaction, and I’m not going to lie, was 'ohhhhhhh nooooooooo' not on a Sunday, but then it dawned on me that it would be a new experience and you never know, I might actually have some fun. So I gave in, and got ready to go.

Now after waking up about 5 hours before my usual Sunday rising hour without the traditional headache and urge to eat myself out of house and home, I got dressed as my usual smart self (well for me its smart.) and headed down to the bulb to help Tom get our stand and filming equipment all packed up. Then we headed down to the assembly rooms, which would have been a lot quicker if it wasn’t for the council deciding to tarmac the main roundabout in Chellaston causing traffic jams at half 9 on a Sunday morning but I digress.

We arrived at the wedding fayre sharply on time, greeted by Chris and wondering where Charlotte was, which we quickly found out was just sat upstairs watching the world go by. First impressions were cake, dress, cake, dress, cake, dress, flowers, magician, cake, dress, DJ, cake, Chocolate fountain, dress, dance floor company and a fair few photographers, one in particular who we had the pleasure to spend the day next to. Things like this to me are quite over whelming when so many people are wondering round pretending to be interested in what your saying, thinking you are trying to peddle them any old rubbish, it takes quite a lot to smile while handing out scratch cards to people who aren’t looking at you they just take them and carry on without looking in your eyes, but at the same time its very interesting when people stop and talk to you to find out what you can do for them, these are people who are planning their special day and for them to want you to be involved there is something pretty special about that.

"I really like cake."	"Isn't that a game show?"

Anyway back to the main event, the first task was to get some establishing shots of the whole show, get all the stalls, catwalk and the early birds bobbing about. This was a nice little task for me as it was my first filming experience since leaving college, after that was done it was time to man the stall and make it rain (figuratively speaking) with scratchcards. Many hours and many a prizes won. The clock ticked over to the magic hour of 4 o’clock and it was time for us to make like a tree and get out of there.

Setting up camp for the day	Tom and Charlotte shocked by the offers

It was a strange experience my first wedding fayre, not strange in the sense of weird things happening, just strange in that I have never done it before. Ah well it’s another thing to tick of the list I suppose, that keeps happening a lot around here...

This blog was written by our Video Marketing Apprentice, Tom Lawrenson; to get in touch with Tom This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

On a wonderfully sunny day in May (a month in which it almost rained entirely!), my second camera operator Chris and  I headed out towards Cheshire to film a wedding.

Pretty soon, the built up housing started to disappear and rolling hills started to emerge. After a 90 minute drive, we arrived at a castle; literally. On our recent wedding shoots we have been privileged to work within some really beautiful locations, but this castle meant that we were almost hanging out of the car with our cameras before the car had actually stopped!

Chris quickly set about filming the stunning vistas, while I went inside to meet Gemma (the bride). This is always a really interesting part of the day; meeting with the bride as she is getting ready. The real trick of my job is to film the party getting ready; this often involves make-up being applied, hair being done, champagne being popped and most importantly a very excited bride; the challenge is to ensure no-one is overly aware that we are filming. The last thing anyone wants to watch on their wedding DVD is people turning their back to the camera, or staring straight down the lens like a 'rabbit in the headlights'. So, my aim is to always try to film people when they are involved in doing something or talking and laughing with other people. After a frantic morning of getting ready and trying locate transportation, everyone was ready to move.

The Church was a another magnificent location.  The bride and groom looked so happy with all their family and friends there to witness the ceremony. Afterwards, there was time for a few quick photos outside before we returned back to the castle. En route, there was just enough time to stop off in an oilseed rape field for a few photos. Again another stunning location that provided us with some amazing views to film before we headed off to see a falconry display which was then followed by the celebrations, the speeches and then Gemma and Paul's first dance. All in all a wonderfully unique day in which everything was different and interesting.  The locations and weather made our job much easier than normal and has made the edit an interesting process, we wanted to keep every last minute of the footage!

We hope you enjoy the mini-trailer we've put together whilst the edit is being completed...

On a cold Saturday in Mansfield Vicki and Pete prepare to wed. It is -3degrees and outside the Church the guests gather. Everyone remains hopeful that the rumoured snow stays away.

Inside the church the last minute adjustments to the decorations are being made. Pete arrives with his best man and ushers. Everything begins.

The ceremony was great and even Toby, the lucky couple’s son, joined in. After the Church it was onto Lakeside in the snow. With the temperature dropping Vicki and Pete were champions braving the elements, and with the help of Crash Taylor they were getting some fantastic photos.

When entering into Lakeside, that looked amazing covered in lights, I had the usual issue of my camera misting up due the sudden change in temperate. This gave a very different look to a very few shots. The food was fabulous, a big Thank You to Vicki and Pete for that.

Then came round two of the photos.  Back outside, with Vicki being lit up by the wonderful garden lights in the ground and sometime hidden by a bush (thanks to Jill, Crash Taylors wonderful assistant). Another array of tremendous images were captured, both in Video and Photo. Then back inside for the speeches and first dance.

It was a great day, I want to wish the Bride and Groom all the best for a long and happy future together.  Pete & Vicki, we hope you enjoy your video trailer!

This blog was written by Tom, our Managing Director.  If you want to start a conversation with Tom, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .