When Ayla first got in touch with us and told us about her plans for her big day, it instantly got us hooked. She mentioned family is the most important thing for her, that they had booked a luxury villa in Kumeu and that they wanted a weekend away backyard boho wedding vibe to their wedding. They wanted a wedding videographer who would not pose them too much, had a more documentary style of filming and used a lot of narrative audio in the wedding video. This is exactly who we were. This is the style in which we capture and edit our films. It sounded great and as you read along, you'll find out why!
Ayla is from Bulls and lives in Auckland and met Sammy, from Egypt but moved to Auckland when he was young. They organised a barbecue the night before and we decided to stop by to capture some light footage. Kids were playing in the vast backyard offered by the property while the adults swam in the pool and Ayla and Sammy went through the final details with their celebrant, who was also Ayla's best friend. The weather gods decided that they might send some heavy rainfall across the Auckland region in the middle of summer but this didn't faze Ayla and Sam. They organised an outdoor marquee company to set one up last minute for the ceremony area and with a few helping hands, they had it done by 2am in the morning.
As mentioned earlier, Ayla wanted a non-traditional wedding and true to her word, she had no bridesmaids but had six flower girls and two ring bearers. This supporting cast was made up of their nieces and nephews along with girls Ayla used to nanny. As the guests started arriving for the wedding ceremony, Ayla was getting into her beautifully designed custom dress while Sammy was being treated to a couple of glasses of single malt while their MC Danny, also a family friend, blasted some traditional Egyptians classics!
Ayla had mentioned a few times how close she was to her dad and we put forth the idea if she would be keen to do a big reveal for him. She was game and warned us that there will be tears. It's beautiful to watch a father-daughter dynamic - there was no scripting or direction. We just asked Ayla's dad to enter the room from the back and he burst into tears when he saw his beautiful daughter ready to take one of the biggest steps in her life.
The tension was now building up to the moment everyone was waiting for. And yes, the rains that arrived in the morning disappeared right before the wedding ceremony! Sammy waited patiently as the music started playing and the tiny flower girls and the ring bearers made their way up the aisle. Ayla made her grand entrance hand in hand with her dad with Sammy's eyes welling up. It was a beautiful ceremony and after the papers were signed, the party began.
Staying true to a weekend away vibe, they hired some caricature artists who were a big hit, a bouncy castle for the kids to go wild in and an Israeli Barbecue catering company - offering some delicious middle eastern canapés and pitas. As the light started to fade, MC Danny huddled everyone together under the marquee and demonstrated a few simple dance steps for people to follow. What followed was a series of amazing Egyptian music tracks with people holding hands and moving in a circle trying hard to remember their dance moves!
As New Zealand wedding videographers, we are lucky to get to experience so many different cultures due to Auckland being such a massive cultural melting pot and this was no different.
"It was a last minute decision to have our wedding documented with a video and we are so glad we did! I was struggling to find a company that offered a high quality unique wedding video. Our final video captures our special day perfectly. Valo Photo & Cinema went above and beyond for us, they came to the wedding venue the day before to capture behind the scenes footage too which was a nice touch. Highly recommended!"
If you are reading this and want your own barn wedding video or rustic boho wedding video, please get in touch with us and we can discuss things further.