The most viewed Wedding Video of all time? |Felix (Pewdiepie) and Marzia's Wedding | Kew Gardens
Felix and Marzia contacted me earlier in the year and told me they had been searching for a long time for the perfect wedding videographer to capture, what was to be, a very intimate and family-orientated wedding- they didn't want a big production, but a low-key set up, something unobtrusive. However they still, ultimately, wanted a final product that was cinematic and unique, something they could share with their 100s of millions of YouTube/Instagram and Twitter followers, but also something they could treasure for themselves in the years to come, and I was delighted (and a little daunted!) that they felt I was the right person for the job.
Their special day took place at the stunning Kew Gardens in South-West London, home to beautiful Victorian architecture and nature in all its glory. The couples wedding ceremony and afternoon reception took place in the elegant Nash Conservatory, with the wedding breakfast and evening reception in the breath-taking Temperate House, which is filled with a stunning collection of tropical plants. The expansive glasshouse had been decorated beautifully by the "Isle of You" design company, so I knew I had to make sure a few shots of the set up made it into the film.Felix gave a very heartfelt speech to his new bride at the beginning of the meal, and his parents also had some lovely words for the newleyweds, all of which made it into the film. Speeches and readings are an important part of a wedding day for me, as they are key to helping drive the narrative of the film.
Marzia and Felix's day was very much split into two- an elegant and stylish day filled with laughter, catching up with friends and family and good food, and, once the sun had set, an energetic party, which culminated in a spectacular sparkler send off, so I decided to split the film in two to represent this, with a gear change in the music at the end of the first dance.My wedding videography style is very much about recording unposed moments, capturing events naturally, as they happen in front of my lens, and building a story out of these moments- Felix and Marzia and their guests gave me plenty of beautiful and fun moments to work with, allowing me to build a film I am very pleased with.
I have also been trying to get my head around some of the numbers since the video was published on Felix's YouTube channel here - the video has been watched over 38 Million times and is currently the 8th most liked non-music video of all time on YouTube. It's strange to imagine so many people having watched a piece of work you have produced and humbling to read (some!) of the 500,000 comments, which appear overwhelmingly positive. Fans of the couple seem pleased the video is low-key and intimate, not over produced (as they may have imagined the wedding video of such a big star to be) and this is probably the biggest compliment I could ask for, as I pride myself on creating very personal and heartfelt pieces of work, avoiding stylistic trends and gimmicks (which I feel ultimately date a film).
I am adament a wedding film should not only be a true representation of the couples day, but also a timeless piece of work, something they can look back on in 10/20/30 years time and still re-live, as if it took place yesterday and, in my opinion, the best way to do this is to use tried and tested filmmaking techniques, to focus on story over spectacle, on people over production values and only use editing and music and equipment to help enhance this story, not to manipulate it to fit some stylistic trend. As an avid cinemagoer I have come to realise the difference between a good film and a bad film isn't the production values, as these are nearly always spot on (when did you last watch a film and say "I liked it, but the lighting/sound wasn't very good") it is the story- if you believe in the story, if you are enraptured and enthralled by it nothing else matters.Anyway, enough of my pontification, let the film speak for itself!