Plan B Doesn't Have to be a Compromise | Sophie & Matt | Covid Wedding

Last month we had the honour of filming the first wedding at the beautifully, elegant church - St. Mary the Virgin Nunthorpe-in-Cleveland, since the world went crazy!

The wonderful Sally T was photographing.

It’s no secret that I (Charlotte) cry at every wedding that we shoot, but this one was different. It felt so emotionally charged! The combination of not having filmed a wedding in so long & the fact that something so lovely and so happy was happening in amongst all of uncertainty and odd way of life that we all currently have. An intimate ceremony is always a more emotional one, but this one really hit home.

For anyone wondering how things might be different keep reading . . .

Firstly - the timeline of the day didn't change, it was just a little shorter than usual. There was the normal calm before the storm bride prep, the groom prep, the guests arriving, the ceremony, the confetti, the couple shots & group shots and on this day there was even socially distanced dancing, but we'll come back to that!

We were able to film outside for most of the bride preparations. The gorgeous Sophie was getting ready at her Mother's home which has a room downstairs with double doors opening out onto the garden. With the doors open to let in loads of natural light we could get 'up close & personal' without actually having to be that close! I know that not everyone will be able to recreate this exact situation, but there could be a great solution to the morning part of your wedding day, it just needs a little thinking outside the box.

The groom, Matt, was getting ready where the newlyweds were going to be spending their first night as a married couple. This was in a log cabin: Blackthorn Gate, with the MOST incredible view of Roseberry Topping (I'm from Middlesbrough so I loved this!). It's got a hot tub that looks out towards the peak - Imagine relaxing in the hot tub with a glass of something fizzy in your hand - bliss.

Everything was close by so it was just a quick drive to the church after this to capture the guests arriving. Seeing everyone all lit up in their finery for the first time in months was magical. The atmosphere was one of glorious appreciation for this to be happening.

Craig & Sally wore masks inside the church as did everyone apart from Sophie & Matt and the vicar. This was a minor factor for the whole day and did not at all take away from the occasion at all! I was filming from outside the church (the maximum of 30 people were in the church) and was able to capture Sophie walking down the aisle & the full ceremony from my vantage point.

At the end of the incredibly special & intimate service there were a few revellers waiting outside with corks ready to pop off as the newly weds exited the church.

The group shots were brilliant! Sally T did a great job (as usual) of making sure everything looked *just right*. Remember Beyoncé's sister, Solange's wedding photos?? It looks so chic that I think this technique should be continued after we see the back of this pandemic!

The incredibly talented Hyde Park Brass band turned up after the ceremony as surprise! With their immense energy & perfectly curated set list they created an instant party. They are currently doing a tour of the country - I'm not going to do the concept justice here, but it's called 'To Your Street Tour' you should definitely check it out (https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/hyde-park-brass-to-your-street-tour )

Everyone was able to dance safely in the car park outside the church - the perfect chance to let off some steam and celebrate with Sophie & Matt, dancing to some absolute TUNES by the band.

We know the guidelines have changed since then, but this is brilliant example of how to think outside of the box given the rules that are in place. All it needs is a little creativity! It doesn't have to be a brass band in a car park, just something that fills you with joy. The plans for this wedding changed a lot and were still changing the week before the big day, but because Sophie & Matt rolled with the punches and found a way of celebrating & following the guidelines at the time it meant that they could relax and really concentrate on what mattered the most.

The whole of the celebrations had a relaxed, back to basics vibe - the simplicity of everything felt beautifully innocent, pared back & kind of what I imagine it was like in the olden days - a gorgeous village wedding. There were no distractions from the fact that two people who are in love sharing that with their very closest ones.

Thank you, Sophie & Matt!

Charlotte x

https://www.hellotherefilms.com/

https://www.sallytphoto.com/

https://hydeparkbrass.com/

What Have We Been Missing? | a short series created during lockdown in the UK

Before we moved house we were busy with a small community project that we dubbed 'what are we missing'. It was actually part of one of our 'Surviving Social Distancing' episodes a while back.

Basically, at the height of lockdown, we felt at a bit of a loss not being able to shoot people and places and hear people's stories. A Facebook group for our street had been formed and there was people making PPE and masks and scrubs for the NHS, all sorts. We felt a little useless and had a think about what we could use with the tools that we had available to us.

We asked our neighbours on our street if they wanted to tell us about what they've been missing during lockdown. Trivial things; Craig had missed going to the barbers, sitting in a beer garden open til close, Charlotte had missed going to the Grainger Market and looking at all of the food, but inevitably always choosing a Turkish wrap.

It became quite apparent at the first house we went to, that people had other ideas about what they wanted to say. What we thought would be some trivial things, and kind of hoping people might give us something emotional at some point, even just a little bit - every house we went to we got the most wonderful, emotionally charged, genuine and beautiful responses. Kids got involved, there were tears and laughs, and it was such a wonderful way to get talking to our neighbours and hear people's stories about how they were getting on and how they were coping during lockdown.

We did a couple of episodes with people on our street (shown below) and as placers started to reopen we had been talking to the wonderful folk at Pink Lane Bakery (https://www.instagram.com/pinklanebakery) in Gosforth and they wanted to get involved too.

We changed up our edit slightly, dropped the music completely and made the videos more about the people in them. We were blown away by how open and honest and wonderful the things we got to hear. We are so thankful we were able to give the platform to hear the responses we did. We think that because lockdown was such a claustrophobic experience for so many, the fact that a stranger was asking them what they have been missing may have prompted something or triggered something in their minds to open up somewhat.

We don't know really, we tried to pinpoint it and the only thing we could come up with was when you've had something on your mind for so long, and you've spoken to your friends about every tiny detail and they know the inside out, but when someone who hasn't heard the qualm and it's a fresh set of ears, sometimes you feel better talking it through with a stranger, if that makes sense? Apologies if it doesn't but that's the best we can come up wit at present!

After Pink Lane Bakery we also did videos with the Brandling Villa (https://www.brandlingvilla.com/), Nicholson's Butchers (https://www.nicholsonsbutchers.co.uk/) Epernay Bridal (https://www.epernaybridal.co.uk/) and Studio 28 Patisserie (https://www.studio28patisserie.co.uk/), all of which have close places in our hearts, we use them for deliverables and are lovely folk!

Anyways, before I ramble on too much, here are the said short films together in one place!

This was such a rewarding project to work on. We had a few tears when watching them if we're honest. A massive thank you to anyone who got involved!

Enjoy :)

Craig x

Surviving Social Distancing | EPISODE 11 | our final SSD episode (probably)

Hello everyone! It’s been a while!

What have we been up to?

We know it’s been a while since we’ve done one of these episodes but we thought we’d let you all know kind of what we’ve been up to, because a lot has changed in the last couple of months!

After our last 'Surviving Social Distancing' episode episode we’ve done a couple of online wedding fairs, which were great and have definitely fun to be a part of. One of the biggest challenges during this whole pandemic is to adapt and how to still go about your business life in a different way. We made a ‘what we do’ video for one of the fairs and did a presentation for another. We wish we could edit live presentations because there were a lot more emmms and umms than we would have liked!

We also did a small community project named ‘what are we missing?’ which we absolutely loved doing - it really brought out some amazing answers from people and they seemed to appreciate to have the platform and talk about these things that might have been somewhat suppressed, it brought some tears and some laughs and it was a great way to talk to people in our neighbourhood. Talking to people is one of the things we've personally miss most about filming weddings so that helped in that aspect!

From there we did a few episodes with some local businesses which was great! It got us used to filming in a mask, and at a distance - something which will be crucial in the coming months. This also led to some work which wasn’t wedding related, so we could pay some bills!

We’ve taken part in a few styled shoots, one up at a forest behind Barn On The Bay, one in the grounds of Shotton Grange and in Kielder, and one just over a week ago at Ellingham Hall. It’s been wonderful to work with suppliers again, and get creative on these days. They’re by no means a replacement for a wedding day, rather different in fact - however it’s meant we’ve still been creating and getting to try new things out and making things can only be a good thing. It keeps the practice in and the knives sharp for when we get back to shooting weddings really soon!

We’ve also recently moved house! Moving house is always a stressful time, not least because of a pandemic going on! But, we’re in now and feeling a lot more settled so you’ll notice a different backdrop to normal. We’ll inevitably shoot some stuff in our outdoor area at some point, we’ve ate more meals outside than in so far. Fingers crossed for more hot weather in the coming months!

That’s about it I reckon. We’ve taken some wonderful bookings recently and are now really almost full for next year. We’re shooting a couple of small socially distant weddings in August, which we’re really excited about. It’s a strange time we’re in but we’re really looking forward to capturing them and taking that snapshot in time moment. It’s really a huge point in history we’re all facing, I think everyone needs to pat themselves on the back for adapting so quickly to a new normal.

Everything’s changing so fast at the minute, but we feel prepared, we’re all gonna get through it and we cannot *wait* to get back shooting again.

Charlotte & Craig

Hello There Films x