Great wedding videography is all about capturing the unique spirit of each couple’s personality and style. Eden and James decided to elope to Iceland (after long planning wedding in UK) to make their vows in a relaxed and intimate way, in a spectacular setting.
After speaking to Eden and James, I decided to use Super8 film for their Iceland wedding, which was then processed manually and scanned to create a digital file that they could keep forever and easily share with their friends and family around the world. Many wedding videos can look staged, but I shot lots of candid scenes of Eden and James enjoying their day, to evoke memories of getting married in Iceland. Analogue videography has a special and timeless quality that doesn’t date. Family heritage or unique piece of memory, I am still looking for the right words to describe it. I think shooting candidly often brings back the sensory memories of how it felt to be ‘in the moment’, rather than remembering being ‘posed for a shot’ which unfortunatelly is trend from Iceland wedding videos. Hm.
EARLY IN THE MORNING: FOSS HOTEL AND SUNRISE AT DIAMOND BEACH
In planning for the wedding shoot, Eden and James arrived ahead of myself and May on the day but we met up with them really early, at six o’clock in the morning, at the beautiful Foss Hotel near Diamond Beach. Diamond Beach is a black sand beach on the south coast of Iceland and is home to gigantic icebergs that have washed up to the shore. The blue-white of the icebergs, set against the black of the sand, makes this a striking setting for an elopement wedding in Iceland and as a videographer, I was in my element shooting this otherworldly landscape.
At the moment of sunrise we went to Diamond Beach, where the ceremony took place and you can see on their faces how much they enjoyed taking their vows and their whole experience in Iceland.
THE STRAWHAT BACKPACKER & TROLL EXPEDITIONS
During the day our great guide Ryan Newburn (aka The Strawhat Backpacker) took us to explore and shoot in several locations. We did a tour (and took some footage) at Skaftafell National Park, which is home to Europe’s largest glacier, Vatnajökull, Iceland’s famous glacier lagoon. Later in the day we visited Fjaðrárgljúfur – highlight of the day; a breathtaking canyon, with bedrock thought to be two million years old (the canyon itself runs for over a mile long).
What I liked most about filming and producing this wedding and being Eden and James’ chosen videographer in Iceland (apart from the epic location) was seeing how happy they were and being able to capture and convey that with my camera.
LOOKING FOR A WEDDING FILMMAKER ON ICELAND?
If you are planning an elopement wedding in Iceland or any location and would like to speak to me about filming for you, then please get in touch and I will be happy to answer any questions you may have.
SUPPLIERS OF THE DAY:
2nd camera: @nikoljeta
photography: @mayvesela
locations: @fosshotel, Diamond Beach, Fjaðrárgljúfur, Vatnajökull, Skaftafell, Jökulsárlón
event planning: @amuletevents
guide: @thestrawhatbackpacker (aka Ryan Newburn)
camera: Canon C100M2 & 514XL + Kodak 200T
developed and scanned by: AndecFilm, Berlin