Our wild meadow wedding film

I would never have asked her to make us a film for our wedding. She and Suzi and their daughter Olive were coming as important guests and I wanted them to be able to fully participate in the day. I met Sarah and Suzi over a decade ago when they were coming to the end of their wedding photographer years. The travel, the stress, the backing up of drives at midnight o'clock and the huge responsibility to capture the day and all its moments was all taking its toll and they were considering calling it a day. This was back when we shared an office/studio and I’d see all the hard work that went into each event, before and after. I’d also see them getting the Prosecco out to greet happy couples when they came in to view their photos and I’d hear the laughter and the tears drifting down the hallway. They were very good at being wedding photographers and created a lot of magical pictures for everyone but they were yearning to make room for other things. Sarah wanted to learn to make film. And they wanted to start a family.

I admire Sarah’s passion and drive. It’s a bit like mine. That’s why we get along. At times we have to look after each other when we’ve ‘driven’ too far and we’ve burned ourselves out a bit. Big creativity can be a lot of energy to contain at times and it’s important to have friends who understand that. I admire the way she listens to her own longings and makes room for them. She starts at the beginning, she learns, she plays, she hones her craft and then suddenly she is doing it! And doing it so beautifully in a way that only she can. We all notice different things in our own unique way. No-one else sees the light in her way. Or the shadows. Or the humanness. Or the love.

When Sarah said she wanted to make us a film as a wedding present you can imagine how excited we felt. And incredibly blessed. My daughter Ffion had offered to take photos for us too (you can read about how beautifully she did that here), so we knew that the day was in the absolute best hands. Between them they would have it covered. We could relax and enjoy the day, well as much as you can relax when you’re getting MARRIED!

So off we all went to Wild Meadow, a special place we had all been to together many times to let the special day unfold.

We didn’t know that Sarah got up and out at 5am in the dewy grass, recording the song thrush and wood pigeons belting out their morning song in anticipation of the big day. We didn’t know she’d go to my Mum and Dads house afterwards to include them in the video because they sadly couldn’t make it, we didn’t know she’d asked Ffion and Euan to record the beautiful song that they sang as we walked up the grassy aisle…

We did know that Sarah was in her element on the day. Everywhere you went she was there with her camera and a big grin on her face. She was filming pretty much all the time but she was also fully there, chatting to everyone, enjoying the meadow and the people and all the wonders of the day. She was loving it, every minute. We all were.

There were so many surprises and tears when we gathered to watch it for the first time. I don’t think I’ll ever not cry when I see it. It is an absolutely stunning bit of film of an incredibly wonderful day and there are bits of it, particularly the portraits (you’ll see what I mean) that floor me. As I said in the blog post I wrote back in July, life will always be better because this day was in it. Sarah has helped us relive it and she will do, time and time again.

The joy. The joy. The joy.

I wondered if it was weird to share our wedding video publicly. I mean the people will be strangers to most. Is it voyeuristic to watch it? Well these may be our family and our friends, but in the words of our dear wedding celebrant Sian,

All that matters in the world is in this film.

The love and joy that you will see here is universal and it belongs to us all so I invite you to come and enjoy this beautiful midsummer’s day, in a meadow with us. Let’s all celebrate together.

Click below to watch in Vimeo.

Hannah & Dean’s Wild Meadow Wedding - a film by Sarah Mason

I’m glad Sarah followed her heart, aren’t you? You can see her website and other films here (she made this one called THE DREAM for me and my business a few years back) and please do follow her new Substack Stories from the Fireside. Next week she’ll be sharing about her experiences of creating our film so you can hear it from her point of view. And shhhhhh! It might have brought her out of wedding retirement. If the right wedding was to come along, you never know…

And one last word. I’m glad they made an Olive too. She was the belle of the meadow that day and she chatted to everyone and got stuck in with everything that was going on. She drew us this picture and popped it in our wedding post box. Note the grassy embroidery on my dress and Dean's curly red hair and green suit (She notices the good stuff too) AND the fact that she is in the middle.

She will always be in the middle of the memories of our day. x

Here are all the details of our wondrous wild meadow wedding day - the dress, the embroidery, the tent, the buffet etc etc etc.