Euridge Manor and The Lost Orangery Wedding | Carl Ikeme and Saba Maddah
CARL AND SABA’S WEDDING VIDEO FEATURE
The Venue
Carl and Saba’s Instagram Teaser Film
Saba and Carl Ikeme (ex goalie for the Wolverhampton Wanderers) were married at the beautiful Euridge Manor near Castle Combe in the Cotswolds. From the stunning Lost Orangery, with its crystal chandeliers and the sort of natural light and foliage you expect to find in Cyprus or Italy, to the beautiful boat house and pergola, Euridge Manor really has it all. I love the crumbling castle walls, the history-rich buildings and immaculate attention to detail- it is possibly one of my favourite wedding venues in the UK and one that looks great on film and very much suits the classic and timeless style of wedding videography I aspire to.
As a wedding videographer who gets to fly all over the world, to some magnificent wedding venues, it’s great to have such a splendid and Mediterranean feeling wedding venue like Euridge Manor just a few hours from home.
Saba and Carl’s Wedding Day Plans
Saba and Carl took full advantage of the venue, having their whole wedding day at Euridge Manor, Saba getting ready in the 17th century cottages, before moving to the boat house for their wedding ceremony, which was a beautiful service conducted by Carl’s cousin (while birds dipped and dived around them, cooling themselves in the boat lake).
It was a scorching June day when the couple got married, so it really did feel like I was filming a wedding video in Italy rather than the Cotswolds, and this definitely comes across in their wedding film. We got to make full use of the Lost Orangery, the pergola, Italianate terrace and the castle arch, as well as in the rowing boat on the boating lake- possibly Euridge Manor’s pièce de rèsistance. After drinks on the terrace in the sunshine, while guests got to enjoy walking around the grounds, their day moved inside the Orangery for dinner and some very heart warming speeches, particular from footballer Carl Ikeme to his wife and two daughters.
While the sun was setting over the venue, the couple and their guests danced and drank the evening away.
Wedding Videography Approach
My main aim as a wedding videographer is to produce cinematic, yet authentic, mementos of a wedding day. I want them to be stylish, filled with all the emotions of the day while being infused with a classic cinema flair, which I always have in the back of my mind when choosing which lens to use in a certain moment, how to frame a shot, the sounds and music I will use to tell that part of the story and thinking always about the edit.
Saba and Carl’s day was a mixture of fun and sunshine but also solemnity and stirring moments, all of which I wanted to make sure came across in their film.
Me filming a wedding in Portugal with my minimalist set up.
I knew on the day I would open their film with the emotional eulogy from Carl’s cousin during the ceremony, which included the story of how Carl overcame a serious illness to be where he is today, and that I would end it with Carl’s heart warming words for his daughters, which were filled with tenderness and love, that they will surely look back on in the future with fondness.
Once I have those story telling elements in place I make sure my films are as cinematic as possible, and what I mean by that is I use every tool and technique at my disposal, from the filming style on the wedding day, to the editing and colour grading techniques afterwards, to create a piece of work that feels like a mini-movie, like a short piece of classic cinema, with a proper beginning middle and end, establishing people, place and story as elegantly as possible, woven together with fitting music I choose carefully for each project.
Most importantly though, I use equipment and a filming style on the day that allows me to capture these moments without leaving a heavy footprint on the day- I use very minimal equipment, similar to a photographer, and avoid stage managing the day in any way because the most important element of making a great film is authentic moments and emotions and the only way to achieve these is allow them to happen naturally, unhindered by over posing/staging and manufacturing the events.
