Phyllis Court Club Wedding Fayre
Yesterday I braved heavy rain, floods, potholes and sacrificed watching Spurs beat Everton to attend the Phyllis Court Club wedding fayre at Henley-on-Thames where I am the recommended videographer. If you don't know the venue it's an elegant building with expansive lawns fronting the river. Phyllis Court has a distinguished history which can be traced back to 1301, when the building known as Fillets Court was the Manor of Henley-on-Thames. The Club itself was formed in 1906 and still flourishes. The staff are very attentive at weddings and I'm sure that is due to the club background. They came to the rescue by managing to find a spare connecting lead for my Blu-ray player which I'd somehow managed to leave at home, doh!
I was surprised to see Rebecca & Sean who have already booked me to film their wedding at Phyllis Court in August. They assured me they were only looking at cakes and stationary and were not looking to change their videographer, much to my relief. Besides meeting prospective brides fayres are good for networking with other suppliers. It was nice to see Nicky the tiara lady at The Bay Tree who I already recommend and good to meet a very pleasant lady photographer on the next display stand called Lily Glover who I hope to work with sometime in the future.
Sarah & Ben – Blenheim Palace Orangery
I hadn't met Sarah & Ben before the wedding but they were really nice, managing to make me feel like one of the family besides attending to everyone else. We had lots of fun on a buggy ride photo-shoot along with bridesmaid Emma, her partner and my photographer pal Stefan Zabel. Despite the freezing conditions everyone was in a great mood.
And wow - what a great venue. The Orangery at Blenheim Palace is palacial with its own private terrace overlooking the beautiful Italian Garden of the Duke of Marlborough. Having filmed several weddings there I'm pleased to say that BW Videofilms is now on their recommended supplier's list.
Has that video camera got sound on it?
You’d be surprised how often I am asked this question at weddings. I have to stifle what comes to mind and answer “Yes I hope so” as politely as possible. I mean to say doesn’t everybody know that camcorders record sound and vision? Even my very first clockwork video camera had a rudimentary microphone. Now I love weddings and love meeting people but sometimes I have to use my imaginary sniper rifle (with silencer of course) to stay sane.
But nothing is guaranteed to get my trigger finger itching so much as when someone shouts “Oh look, we’re on Candid Camera” just as I’m filming a really good group who are all relaxed and unaware of my presence. This is still quite common despite the fact that Candid Camera was last on black and white BBC TV in the 1960s (so I’m told). As usual I stifle what comes to mind and pretend I’ve never heard anything so witty, before shooting off a few blasts from my imaginary sub-machine gun in the general direction of the perpetrator.
Sarah & Paul at Windsor Guildhall & The Christopher Wren Hotel
Who cares if it rains, it's all about having a great time with your family and friends. Sarah & Paul tied the knot at the magnificent Windsor Guildhall recently and partied at Sir Christopher Wren's House Hotel. Only 25 guests but it seemed like 50! It was a chance to work again with photographer Mark Seymour and friendly toastmaster John Grosse who seems to be at every other wedding I film, that's good because he's always very helpful.
I hitched a lift with the newlyweds back to the hotel, filming them and the sights of Windsor on the way though they seemed more interested in each other. I must mention The Palatine String Quartet playing at the the hotel, they not only played beautifully but were very easy on the eye too!
“When I grow up, I still want to be a director.” – Steven Spielberg
OK so SS is in a different league to BW but hey, could he film and edit a wedding any better than I could make Jaws? Would his reaction be the same as mine when asked by extras if his camera had sound on it? For answers to these burning issues and all the latest news from the world according to BW read on!