Are you getting married on Long Island?
Long Island is a beautiful place to get married. It has so many amazing parks, beaches, golf courses, churches, reception halls, mansions, vineyards and gardens for perfect wedding photos and videos. The famous Oheka Castle with the lush gardens and the Great Gatsby like mansion is located in Huntington, Long Island, a gorgeous backdrop for your once in a lifetime event.
Some other beautiful locations worth mentioning is the luxury Bourne Mansion located in Oakdale, New York, the Old Westbury Gardens with fantastic landscaped grounds, ponds and lakes. NYIT de Seversky Mansion, Mansion at Oyster Bay, Land’s End, Mansion at Timber Point are just a few elegant and romantic venues to mention. Here is a complete Long Island Wedding Venue Guide.
Oheka Castle, Long Island, New York
When the couple reach out to us about their wedding, we sometimes spend and hour to two on the phone talking about all the wedding details and most importantly- the timeline of the day. From start to finish, there are so many moments to talk about so that we are as prepared as possible for the day.
Here is the list of 7 most important moments worth mentioning. Let’s start from the morning hours of your wedding day.
1. The Getting Ready
Your wedding day will most likely start early with getting ready in separate houses for the bride and groom. It can also happen at the same hotel, but different rooms to avoid seeing each other before the first look or the ceremony. This can be the most nerve wrecking time, because there are some many people around, family, bridal party, children, make up and hair artists and, of course, us, the photographers and videographers. Everyone needs some attention and it can get hectic to get everything done in few short hours. We usually start with capturing the details first. This includes the wedding dress, jewerly, invitation, gifts and other accessories.
After the details, we usually capture the final touches of make up. We never capture anyone without make up or in pijamas. A champagne toast with the bridesmaids in their robes is a great moment to capture right before everyone gets in their dresses. Saying things like: “Cheers, congratulations or we love you” will make an amazing sound bite for the video!
We capture precise details of brides “something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue”.
After the bride is fully dressed, it’s very popular to read the letters that bride and groom have written to each other. We can use this audio as voice overs in our wedding films and highlights, which can be emotional and romantic segments of love expressed between the bride and groom.
Here are some samples of reading the letters edited in the final video:
Another emotional moment during the morning is the bride’s first look with her Dad and bridesmaids seeing the bride for the first time. Those tears are sincere and sometimes makes us cry too.
It will take about 2 hours for us to capture the getting ready segment for the bride and about an hour for the groom. Girls always take longer, of course.
The groom is usually getting ready with his family and groomsmen. His Mom is helping him with the tie and cufflinks, his best man pours everyone a shot of whiskey and wishes good luck! Some great laughs and moments are captured between groomsmen and family members.
2. The First look
One of the most exciting moments during the wedding day is the bride and groom seeing each other for the first time and we prepare for it very carefully. Together with photographers, we choose the best background and light for this once in a lifetime moment to capture it perfectly with at least two cameras.
There are many options for the first look, but still the most popular is when the bride comes up to the groom and taps on his shoulders, he turns around and sees her for the first time in her dress. Tears are almost guarantied! We spend about 20-30 min after the first look to take some footage of the couple alone. If we are running late, then the so called romantic photo session can happen after the ceremony.
3.Ceremony
About 50% of the wedding ceremonies happen at the church and the other 50% will take place at the venue, beach, park or another creative location of couple’s choice. If the wedding ceremony is at the church, the couple usually don’t have the first look and the groom sees the bride for the first time when she is walking down the aisle. Our cameras are aimed at both the bride and groom during this important moment.
The main part of the ceremony is saying your wedding vows. If they are personalized by the bride and groom, it makes the ceremony very special for you family, friends and guests. Video gets much more interesting since we can use the audio snippets sparingly throughout the film or highlights. Your promises to each other will remind you of your love for each other and promises given to each other forever. Here is a short video of one of the most beautiful custom wedding vows:
4. Photo session
The hardest part is over! You are married! What a relief! You have your spouse next to you, to hold your hand and celebrate the rest of the day together. Your best friend is right beside you and you can share your thoughts and feelings with each other.
It’s time for all those of photos! Family, bridal party, romantic photos and videos. This will take about 2-3 hours to capture. If we travel to another location, like a beautiful park or a mansion for perfect background, you need to count in the time for travel. Everything takes time during the wedding day and things just don’t happen so fast. Walking on high heels alone is a task these days! :-))
This is the time when we hear a lot of jokes and laughter, bridal party can be a lot of fun and the bride and groom usually feel really good hanging out with them while taking the photos. The photographer plays a big role here, because he/she needs to get everyone organized and get all the different photo combinations of both sides of the family.
If your package includes the drone, this is the time we will fly over the couple and the bridal party for some stunning aerial footage.
Tip! This time is especially tiresome for the grandparents and it’s important to get them photographed first so that they can go back to the venue to relax and enjoy the day.
When it’s time for the romantic photo session of just the bride and groom, we will be directing you slightly to get the perfect shots. Usually the photographer does the main directing and we adjust to their vision, but sometimes we will give you some slight direction to get those epic shots you want to see in your wedding video.
5.Cocktail hour
It’s time to take a break and enjoy some food and a drinks! Hopefully you have some time left to mingle with your wedding guests or perhaps you just want to just rest in your suite and refresh. Both options are popular.
During this time we will be capturing all the little details you have been preparing to decorate the venue- little photo frames, candles, signs, flowers, etc. Your ballroom is looking stunning and we are capturing every detail of it.
Your guests are enjoying the cocktails, talking to each other and sharing some laughs. We will capture some of those great moments as well.
6.Reception
Time to celebrate with all your loved ones! The grand entrance to the ballroom can be a lot of fun and you will never see the fancy dance moves your bridal party have prepared for you unless you see it in your wedding video. You will be coming in the room last basically missing a lot of fun that happened right before.
Your first dance will happen right after the entrance to the room and some fun dancing with your bridal party and immediate family. Either rehearsed or classic, your first dance is a very special moment you will share with your husband/wife.
There are usually 3 toasts during the reception: the father of the bride, maid of honor and best man. We focus our cameras on both- the person speaking and your reaction.
The next very beautiful and emotional segments of the day are the parent dances when the bride dances with her father and the groom dances with his Mom. The couple usually has chosen meaningful songs to dance to and it sure gets everyones attention.
The second videographer usually leaves after the toasts and the rest of the evening is captured with one camera. The dance floor can get crowded and wild and we love to get all those great moments!
Let the fun begin! Dancing, dancing and more dancing until the cake cutting. Cake cutting is usually the last segment we capture before our departure, if you don’t have a sparkler exit or fireworks planned outside. Sparklers make amazing video and ending of your day.
7.Ending
We say good bye to you and head home to upload all of the media to our computers for editing. Together we choose the music for films, highlights and trailer and try to get them to you as soon as possible. Highlights will take about a month to complete, the film 3-4 months, but never longer than that. We limit ourselves to only about 20 bookings a year to give each couple personal attention.
Please reach out to us today!
