Tag: College Station Wedding

When I think Truluck’s Seafood, Steak, and Crab House, I used to think of the obvious:  Seafood, Steak, and Crab. But when Catherine and Stan think about that fine dining restaurant, they think of things like true love, years of memories, and maybe an eyepatch. See, a few years back a new cocktail waitress in training (aka Catherine) caught the eye of the head bartender (aka Stan), even though she was wearing an eyepatch at the time. If you ask Catherine about it, you’ll hear her exclaim, “Why would he be interested in a girl with a patch over her eye?”, but if you ask Stan he’ll say, “Not even an eyepatch could stop me.”

Barely one month later and they were completely attached to each other, and here we are four years later at their wedding. Love came easy to them. 

They both knew they wanted something laid back for their wedding day. A simple white tent in her dad’s backyard, with shotguns for the guys to shoot in the morning, mimosas at a bed and breakfast for the girls, and a wedding ceremony under the Oak trees in the family pasture. Handwritten notes, and handwritten vows, vows which Stan threw away during the ceremony and “just winged it.” A reception full of laughter, Margaritas, and a rousing song by a groomsman that didn’t quite sound like a singer. This was Catherine and Stan’s ideal wedding, which fit them (and me) perfectly.

The sunset was just about perfect…

Now when I think about Truluck’s, I still think about Seafood, Steak, and Crab, but I also think about eyepatches and Catherine and Stan. Not a bad thought. 🙂

Interested in having us film your wedding? Please get in touch!

I struggled for a while with a title for this film. Oftentimes it is easy to come up with a name once I get to know the couple, but for Richard and Carissa things have been a bit different. Should I reference Richard’s Scottish heritage and smooth accent? Does their meeting in high-school qualify? Or maybe I should speak about their engagement in Australia? They’re such an interesting couple! How am I supposed to distill them, their wedding, and their entire history into a simple title? 

East meets west. Scotland meets Texas. Richard meets Carissa. There, that should be simple and yet complex enough.

“But more about them Matt! Tell me more about them!,” you say. I’ve filmed weddings at a wide assortment of locations around the world. Churches, chapels, open fields, and redwood forests, all beautiful in their own way. Without fail, these venues are all chosen because of a special meaning they share with the bride and groom. So when I was asked to film Richard and Carissa’s wedding film, down a little dirt road, behind the house she grew up in, I knew their wedding would be just about perfect. Perfection was achieved soon-after when they told me that Richard and his groomsmen would be wearing traditional Scottish Kilts.

Seen: An amazing moment. Unseen: Richard's stellar kilt.

Seen: An amazing moment. Unseen: Richard’s stellar kilt.

On the day of the ceremony, under a blue sky with only a hint of clouds, in front of a handmade arbor of luggage, window panes, and burlap, Carissa and Richard were married. An evening of revelry commenced, that saw the fusion of Texas charm, with Scottish heritage. Traditional two-stepping gave way to Scottish stomping, with a fireworks show to cap-off the festivities. 

This wedding was the joining of two cultures, two families, two people, and it was truly a perfect day.

Interested in having my wife and I film your wedding? Please get in touch!

In the years after graduating from Texas A&M, I still found myself returning to College Station every few months to film a wedding, film for the University, or to pass through and see friends (and often film something with them). As time has passed though, that list of friends that call College Station their home has gradually dwindled. That’s the nature of a college town, over half the residents are transitory and will only live their for four or five – or in my case EIGHT years, before moving on to bigger cities.

This doesn’t make my visits back to College Station necessarily lonely, but it does make my time spent with friends that still live there more special. One of the people that has made those visits great has been my friend Josh. For the past few years he has been consistent in not only finding out when I am headed back to College Station, but also what my schedule will be, and when we can hangout while I am there.  This usually results in us staying up incredibly late filming timelapses of various landmarks around the Texas A&M campus while discussing the finer points of light pollution and whether Sony is better than Nikon which is definitely better than Canon.

One of those nights two years ago turned to a discussion about a girl that Josh was pursuing. One that he met at church, was instantly friend-zoned by, and then managed to invite on a date for coffee. He told me she was a girl worth pursuing, and more importantly she pushed him to love Jesus more.

Sunset + Pasture = Gorgeous

Sunset + Pasture = Gorgeous

Fast forward one year and I was back in College Station, filming more timelapses with Josh, but this time he brought the girl, Jennifer. A few months back he had proposed under the Century Tree on campus, and at this point I already knew I would film their wedding, but it was nice to finally put a face with the name of a girl that Josh had spoken of so fondly.

Finally, six months later after all the buildup, I filmed Josh and Jennifer’s wedding on a beautiful day in March. The clouds rolling through in the morning gave way to the piercing sun that cut the ceremony in half diagonally. Afterwards, we all marveled as the sunset cast its rays across the pasture. Throughout the day, I was constantly reminded of their love for each other, and Jesus love for them. Their notes? All about each other and Jesus. Their vows? All about each other and Jesus. The toasts by their friends? All about how they met, fell in love, and cared about each other and Jesus. Between those moments and the amazing weather, 12th man towel waving, and constant whoops throughout the day, I knew their wedding film was going to be fun to create.

Interested in having me film your wedding? Get in touch!

I’m going to start this off by saying that the Roberts family is one of the coolest families I’ve ever met. Their children are musicians, pastors, IT experts, and barbers – and that’s just the boys! If you’ve followed my blog, you may have already heard some of their music. Christopher and his brothers Ben and Terrence are in a Christian Rap group called T.I.C. – Troops In Combat and their mixtape is a free download on my blog.

Now that I got my plug for my site out of the way, let’s talk more about family. Oftentimes when I’m filming and editing a wedding I keep my focus on the couple because it’s their day (duh) and they are the most important characters in their story. But with Christopher and Ivy it was different. Christopher’s family is so connected that pretty much any event is a family affair. I remember visiting their church after being invited by Christopher’s brother Terrence. As I came in I met his dad and grandfather, both of whom were ministers at the church, his brothers, sister, various girlfriends and boyfriends, cousins, second cousins, aunts, uncles, pretty much every possible relative that could be there was there. Some churches claim to be a “family”, but this one really was one made up of a couple hundred people that were mostly related in one way or another.

Terrence and I were good friends, and without fail when we would hangout one or all of his brothers would come too. It always made things fun, and I really began feeling like part of the family. This family-minded atmosphere translated so well into their wedding film. Of course every wedding I film has family and friends present to watch the couple be married, but this one was different. Christopher’s dad was the minister, his brothers were the groomsmen, Ivy’s sisters were her bridesmaids, much like at their church all people present were either related or about to be related. Everyone already knew each other so well, and it was incredibly clear that this was a joining of two families, not just two people.

This all made for an intimate wedding film that I believe sums up Christopher and Ivy so well.

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Cameras

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Equipment

It is a big help to me when you use any of the above product links to Adorama, Amazon, and B&H and when you get anything. It costs you nothing, and helps me keep my site running. I have bought from all of these websites and I highly recommend them for their service, quality, and shipping speed.  I recommend them all personally.

Interested in having me film your wedding?  Please contact me!

When I talked to Anna on the phone and she told me that the place she was getting married didn’t actually have an address, I knew I was in for a fun wedding. Much like my own wedding last year, I found myself saving GPS coordinates so I could drive to the ceremony site. After a lot of searching using Google Street view I was able to actually find the tiny chapel on the side of the road where they would say their vows. This is the kind of wedding I dream about when I’m not having nightmares about forgetting my gear or not wearing pants.

Anna has four important people (and one important dog) in her life. Derek, her daughter, his son, his daughter, and her dog. This wedding wasn’t just the joining of two people, but the union of four. It all made for an incredibly emotional day that culminated in the wedding ceremony. The daughters started crying, making Derek cry, which led to his son and Anna crying too. If I wasn’t such a tough, manly, wedding cinematographer I would have started crying with them.

After the ceremony it was time to drive. This wasn’t the farthest reception I’ve ever driven to from the ceremony site, but it was close. We stopped at a little bed and breakfast called The White House On The Hill. This place was so pretty, I may have to bring my wife there someday. The Bluebonnets were out and the sunset was painting beautiful colors in the sky. It was one of those moments that really makes filming weddings so much fun for me.

Once we had footage at the beautiful bed and breakfast, it was time to head to the reception. And boy, this was my kind of reception! No air conditioning, a twangy country band, and fried chicken with mashed potatoes for dinner! Everything happened at the La Bahia Turn Verein, an old meeting hall built in 1902 by German settlers to the area. My favorite part was when Anna and Derek danced with their kids. It was the perfect ending to a perfect wedding day.

Special thanks to Taylor Stanley for helping film this wedding. And thanks to The Music Bed and Marmoset Music for the tunes.

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Cameras

Lenses

Equipment

It is a big help to me when you use any of the above product links to Adorama, Amazon, and B&H and when you get anything. It costs you nothing, and helps me keep my site running. I have bought from all of these websites and I highly recommend them for their service, quality, and shipping speed.  I recommend them all personally.
 

Interested in having me film your wedding?  Please contact me!