Jeeho + Richie

Time to take the plunge… What better way to start off the day then a poolside hang-out at the ACE Hotel in Palm Springs? Richie & Jeeho had a super cool style so we wanted to began their film with a little something outside the box. Filming underwater is always a matter of happy accidents and unexpected moments, which pretty much sums up what a wedding day is and should always be…

“THANK YOU SO MUCH! Is it embarassing to admit that by 7am this morning we had already watched this a gajllion times? We love it! Thanks for capturing all the moments and the emotions of the day. It’s also so awesome to be able to see everybody again – take me back to palm springs please!” – Jeeho

PALM SPRINGS WEDDING INFO:

Groom’s Hotel: The ACE Hotel
Bride’s Hotel & Reception Venue: The Parker
Coordinator: Pink Cloud 9
Photographer: Dylan + Jeni
Florist: Gilly Flowers
DJ: Chris Paul

Bobby + Claire

2012 was a great year here at Modern 8 Films. 30 weddings, 30 first kisses, 30 nervous grooms, 30 beautiful brides… We started in Santa Barbara and made our way to San Francisco, Yosemite, Mexico, Georgia, up and down California and ended our travels with Bobby & Claire in Alabama. We could not have finished 2012 on a better note (or couple:) Birmingham surprised us with it’s beauty, culture, and warm hearted people. It was a captivating city to film and we enjoyed every minute of it, despite the rain! We thank Bobby, Claire, and the many other wonderful couples that inspired us to new heights, made us laugh, made us cry, but most importantly, left us with 30 inspiring stories to tell. Bobby & Claire, this one is for you:)

Behind The Scenes:
The wall of ribbons at this wedding was one of our favorite ceremony details of the year. Handmade by the bride and her mom, not only was it beautiful in person but it also looked amazing as a backdrop on camera. Another favorite at this wedding was the little lapel heart stickers passed out to each guest as they entered the room. Such a sweet personal touch that brought everyone together.

“Thank you so much!! We love the film!! So perfect. Every shot was great and we could not have imagined a better finished product. You captured all the details we knew were there plus ones we didn’t even know about. For some reason, the shots of guests coming in and putting on those stickers is one of my favorites. Just something about their happiness to be a part of it. Those kinds of shots are why we wanted you guys so much. And thanks for making bham look great! You guys are incredible!” – Claire & Bobby

BIRMINGHAM ALABAMA WEDDING INFO:

Venue: Avondale Brewery
Coordinator: Becky’s Brides
Photographer: Spindle Photography

June + Daniel

“To be loved by June…” as this film is affectionately called, is a montage of super 8 film and HD video. Throw in a couple of zebras and a sleepy white tiger and you have a pretty awesome wedding day that no guest would soon forget. Filmed at Rancho Las Lomas in Orange County, this wedding venue completely transfers you to another world. We absolutely love it! And don’t worry, the lions are a safe distance from the ceremony site.

Behind The Scenes: Filming tigers is not as easy as it looks… For one: It’s a tiger, and we don’t care what you say it’s STILL intimidating behind a fence. Two: It took about 30mins of boring tiger footage before he decided to yawn really big for us. Totally worth it:) Zebras are much easier.

“THANK YOU. We absolutely love it — I am shaking of excitement.  We have watched it three times already, completely speechless, the biggest smiles on our faces, and forwarded it to everyone we know.  You are incredibly, amazingly, talented and we are beyond thankful for the hours and hours of hard work you put into this. I can’t believe how beautiful and perfect it is and the comments are flowing in by the minute. We love, love, love the music choice and the HD/Super 8 combination and just everything about it. We can’t wait to see the rest and really cannot thank you enough! You have allowed us to remember and relive our day in a way no one else could and we are thrilled.” – June & Daniel

RANCHO LAS LOMAS WEDDING INFO:

Venue: Rancho Las Lomas, Orange County CA
Coordinator: Sweet Emilia Jane
Photographer: Elan Klein

Alex + Becky

A Georgia wedding on Super 8 Film: As Hurricane Sandy made her way up the Atlantic on October 27th, the Soja & Vonsiatsky familes were busy preparing for Alex & Becky’s big day. Anxious guests kept a close eye on the weather channel that weekend, but nothing could dampen the happiness of this little group:) Not the wind, rain, flood warnings, or the last minute party changes from outdoors to in. The day proved to be filled with so much warmth and love that not even a hurricane could steal the show. This was a weekend we will treasure for a long time. We met the Soja & Vonsiatsky families as strangers on Friday afternoon, and left on Sunday feeling like part of the family.

Behind The Scenes: As it would turn out, Hurricane Sandy swung out to sea and passed Georgia by on the east. And we breathed a sigh of relief knowing our cameras would stay dry:) The opening scene is a shot of the outside edges of the storm as it passed us by.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa we are LOVING it! Wooooooaaaaaaah! We listened to my mom and dad watch it over the phone, they were hysterically crying. This is so beautiful, you guys are amazing. Def so so so glad we were united with you guys. We don’t have anything thoughtful to say but holy moly this is so beautiful – thank you! We will watch all night and forever!” – Xoxoxo Becky & Alex

“BRAVO! I just saw the video and I’m just blown away! You did an incredible job…. Pure magic! The emotion that your videos bring to one’s heart leaves me speechless! I can’t thank you enough for peering through your lens and capturing all the love and joy our families felt on that day. I can’t stop watching it! Thank you again.” – Vikki Soja, Mother of the Bride

SEA ISLAND GEORGIA WEDDING INFO:

Venue: The Cloister Beach Club, Sea Island GA
Photographer: Scott Hopkins

Ben + Ashley

This past October we drove up north to Santa Lucia Preserve for Ben & Ashley’s wedding. There were so many things to love about this event; the raw northern california beauty, a redwood grove turned ceremony site, a barn glowing with pink light under the starry night sky, but one of our favorite moments was when Ben’s good friend Oliver read a quote from “The Little Prince” during the ceremony. We decided to kick their super 8 film off with this excerpt.

Behind the Scenes:
The Santa Lucia Preserve is hundreds of acres of hills, valleys, and wildlife. While exploring we found a lot of deer that were not camera shy. They seemed to find the clicking of the super 8 film cameras quit interesting. We also happened upon a bobcat and spent about 15mins waiting for it to come out of the shadows for a cameo but he was smarter then us:) Maybe next time…

SANTA LUCIA PRESERVE WEDDING INFO:

Venue: Santa Lucia Preserve
Photographer: Larissa Cleveland
Wedding Coordinator: Allison Weddings

Scott + Megan

We are often asked which format we like to work with better: super 8 film or HD video. The truth is, we love them both for different reasons. So a few years back we started offering “mixed format” packages for couples that also love the look of both. Scott and Megan selected this style of shooting and it was really fun to see the final story that came across the scenes of their day. It was a reminder of why we love weaving these two mediums together. HD video is a crisp, clear, modern choice that defines moments in a very real and literal way. While super 8 film prefers the subtleties of the surreal and dreamlike. Mixing super 8 in with HD video creates a story that shouts (and sometimes whispers:) to match the varying emotions of your day. Don’t miss the golden retriever in this one! He stole the show.

PALM SPRINGS WEDDING INFO:

Venue: Private Residence, Rancho Mirage CA
Photographer: Joielala
Wedding Coordinator: Bustle Events

A Boy Catching Frogs In The Woods

There were so many things we fell in love with at Zach and Lindsay’s wooded wedding weekend at Evergreen Lodge in Yosemite. First, you can’t beat the location: cozy cabins in the middle of the forest and (in case that isn’t beautiful enough) throw in the most picturesque meadow EVER. Then there were the super cool and super unique groomsmen’s boutineers which were a variety of dinosaurs, bears, and other fun green creatures, only to be upstaged by Lindsay’s dress… elegant, timeless, and perfect. Golden deer cake toppers, amazing personalized stationary, the list goes on and on! But perhaps our most favorite moment of the day was Zach, standing at the end of the isle, waiting for his soon-to-be wife. At first we were slightly concerned that he would not look up as Lindsay started across the meadow. She came closer and closer and he continued to avert his eyes. Then suddenly, as she reached the back of the isle, …it happened. We hope this film captures the magic of that moment and the story of their day.

Behind the Scenes:
In order to film a time lapse of the sunset and stars over Half Dome and Yosemite Valley we hiked to the top of nearby Sentinel Dome (during the day). It was an amazing vantage point and after the stars came out it was time to head back down the trail. But a small problem filming in Yosemite at night: the pitch black forest and “every tree is a bear” syndrome. Although we may not recommend this adventure to every filmmaker the outcome was certainly worth the peril and thankfully we made it back in one piece:)

From the bride: “We just watched the video and are absolutely in love!  I am completely blown away! Thank you so so so much!  It was 20 gazillion times better than I ever expected and I can’t wait to share it with everyone!  I can’t believe all the gorgeous sun-soaked shots you got and the video just affirms my decision to get married in Yosemite!  We were definitely the luckiest couple ever to have you both, Ben and DJ Quantum as our dream team!  Thank you again times 50 gazillion! -Lindsey + Zach”

YOSEMITE WEDDING INFO:

Venue: Evergreen Lodge
Photographer: Ben of Weddings By Two (LOVE this guy!)

Freddy + Jill

Cabo Azul Mexico: When these two snowbirds got engaged they knew they wanted to swap out the cold of the northeast for the warm Latin sunshine. They decided to return to Cabo Azul, San Jose Del Cabo. A place that already held so many memories would be the setting for their wedding day. We absolutely love destination weddings. They bring together family and friends from all sides of the globe to converge on one weekend to celebrate love and life. And these people like to celebrate! We arrived for this Cabo Azul wedding on Thursday and it was a party from the get go, despite a tropical depression that rained for 4 days straight. We first met up with photographer Spencer Combs (can we put him in our camera bag and bring him to every wedding?) Amazing talent, electric personality… enough said (just hire him!!) Then off to find Freddy & Jill! They were of course by the pool, in the rain, enjoying margaritas and fish tacos with their friends. From the moment we met them we fell in love with them and their whole family! Their love for life and excitement over being at Cabo Azul was contagious. The next 3 days was a whirlwind of activity and nothing could dampen their happiness. Not the rain, sun, humidity (Cabo in August anyone?) or heat… Not only were we honored to film this group as they celebrated Jill & Freddy’s wedding in Cabo, we also brought home many warm memories that will stay with us and continue to inspire us in our journey.

From the bride & groom: “OMG – WE LOVE IT SOOOOO MUCH!!!!! This is sooo incredible – Our family and friends just adored it – they haven’t seen anything like it:) It was so fun, fresh and genuine – we can’t express how much we love it! Having you guys be a part of it was one of the best decisions we made. We can’t thank you enough for helping us relive that day in such a beautiful way. It’s parts like seeing my dad dance right after our ceremony that brings a smile to our faces. And great song choice! WE LOOOOOVE IT! Thank you guys – this is just amazing!! Brought tears to our eyes!”-Jill & Freddy

Cabo Azul Wedding Info

Venue: Cabo Azul Weddings
Photographer: Spencer Combs

Steven + Gabbie

When we first met with Steven & Gabbie they told us they wanted a classic but fun wedding that reflected the vibrant city of San Diego. Hotel Palomar sits in the heart of downtown San Diego so we were able to shoot a serious of timelapse images of the city from various balconies of the hotel giving the intro of their film the fun, vibrant feeling they felt on their wedding day.

From the bride & groom: “We are absolutely speechless! We’ve watched the highlight three times now and cannot stop smiling! This is absolutely perfect and so much more than we could have asked for. We cannot thank you enough for your hard work and amazing attention to detail! We are super excited to share this with our family and friends! Thank you so much!!!” – Gabbie and Steven

Melissa + Nick

Montage Laguna Beach Wedding: A chance meeting in a London bar brought Nick & Melissa together. Through the years though they were sometimes separated by thousands of miles & apart for many years their love survived and brought Nick to the conclusion that they were “meant to be.”

From the Bride: “Thank you guys so much for the absolutely beautiful video—it’s amazing! You did an incredible job, and we’re already getting rave reviews.” – Melissa

Montage Laguna Beach Wedding Info

Venue: Montage Laguna Beach
Wedding Coordinator: Brooke Keegan Weddings & Events
Photographer: Braedon Flynn