Scenic Wedding
Doing what I do you have to know I love a good story, so when I’m given the opportunity to play a role in something extraordinary I find it really difficult to say “No” regardless of circumstances. Of course extraordinary is subjective, so when I told a few friends about my plans to cover this wedding I got mixed reviews. Some thought I was nuts.
My friend Andi had recommended my StoryKeeping services to a family friend of hers out in Sonora, TX, and the mother of the bride ended up sending me an email to discuss doing a wedding. I was pretty much elated when I discovered the wedding was going to be held on a Thursday. Middle of the week work? I can pretend I have a normal schedule?! Awesome! I love my weekends just the same as everyone else.
“Do you drive a truck?”
Interesting question, but yes, yes I do. “The road out to the river is kind of rough.” My grandpa has a ranch and part of the directions are “when you pass up your 5th cattle guard”. I’m well-versed in back road. “Well, it’s 45 minutes from the gate of the ranch to the river house.” OK, this is getting pretty good. That’s a lot of country road I don’t care who you are. I’m a road warrior so I’m not afraid of driving out there. Let me Google Map this deal and see what I come up with. OK, so I’m going to drive … 200 miles and a little under 4 hours to get to the gate. Not bad. What time is the wedding?
“Around 10 in the morning.”
Oh boy. Lemme do that math … OK, so I need to get there a couple hours prior to the start … 8am … 4 hours on paved plus 45 minutes on rock … I need to leave my house at 315am. Cool. That makes for a great story. I click on over to my online calendar to enter in the date and time.
“OK, I have another request. We’re having the wedding on Thursday, but the reception is going to be held in Sonora on Saturday. We’d like to show the video of the ceremony at the reception so everyone can see.”
Oooooooo … that’s good! So I only have two days to get the job done. *calendar pulls up* But wait, what’s this? Oh wow, I didn’t realize I was heading to Houston early Friday morning for a weekend conference. This changes things. Can I overnight the DVD to you Friday so it arrives Saturday?
“Things don’t really get over-nighted to us here in Sonora.”
haha … I suppose not. And I’d rather not leave anything up to chance either. But I can coordinate with a wedding guest passing through San Antonio and they can hand-carry the DVD to the reception. This might just work. OK, you can count me in. Let’s do it.
I get off the phone, sit back in my chair, and think about what I’ve just done. And I smile. I love a great story.
The day before the wedding I’ve got every outlet in the office full of batteries and cameras charging. All my miniDV tapes have been cleared. My external light has new batteries. Why? I dunno. I’m shooting a wedding in the middle of the daylight, outside, but I’m ready for a solar eclipse. I go to bed at 8pm in anticipation of my 245am alarm. I lay staring at the ceiling for 2 hours. Next thing I know I awake and look at my phone. 230am. Those extra 15 minutes aren’t going to matter much anyway so I’m up and at ‘em. I walk out to my truck loaded down with more gear than I’ll likely need, load up, and crank up my tunes and my energy level as I fire up my truck and begin my trek. 315am glows back at me. Perfection.
I ended up driving a total of around 9 hours that day and finished editing and producing the wedding video around 145am. Almost a 24-hour workday. I handed the catering people the finished DVD the following morning on my way out of town, and drove away feeling victorious. Overall an incredible experience. I hope you will enjoy the results:
Pre-wedding Video
Wedding Ceremony
Post-wedding