And the Winner Is…
It’s the First Annual Reel to Real Video “Best of” awards! We’ve had a lot of fun over the past year shooting weddings and thought we’d share some of our favorites:
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Best Décor
Mary Ann and Rique
Poor Rique put his woodworking skills to use as he painstakingly created the centerpieces and even burned each guest’s name in wood to create the name cards to show his dedication to the wedding. The hard work paid off because the Citizen never looked so good.
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Best First Dance
Dianne and Daniel
Anytime you can work Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together”, Tom Jones’ “It’s Not Unusual” and “C’mon N Ride it (The Train)” into your choreographed first dance, it’s bound to be good. They also had their bridal party join in towards the end and it was a good way to encourage guests to start open dancing.
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Best Speech
Emilie and Justin
The best man gave an 11 minute long roast of the groom – completely off the cuff – that had the audience in stitches.
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Best Change of Plans
Catie and Joe
When you are planning an outdoor wedding in a private backyard in June you don’t think you’ll have to worry about rain, but Catie and Joe had to deal with just that. So two days before the wedding they called an audible and picked a whole new venue for the ceremony and reception.
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Best Personal Vows
Sarah and Tom
We always give kudos to couples who have the guts to write their own vows, but what was especially brave was when Tom recited his personal vows which included what many would consider a roast of his bride. It was hilarious!
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Best Grand Entrance
Sherri and Ryan
We had a few contenders for best grand entrance, but we had to give it to Sherri and Ryan. They had a four song choreographed grand entrance where they zig-zagged through all of the tables greeting their guests along the way, culminating in their first dance.
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Hottest Day
Melissa and Gavin
I don’t think there’s anywhere hotter than Chico on Fourth of July weekend and that’s exactly where we were!
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Most Dress Changes
Stacey and Mike
With Chinese weddings we often see a few gown changes, but Stacey takes this award with her five gowns, one more beautiful than the next!
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Best Musical Performances
Christina and Florin
Romanian wedding ceremonies often feature many musical performances by family members and friends, but what made this one special was the groom also performed and sang a beautiful song to his bride.
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Grace Under Pressure Award
Laina and Sam
Being in the bridal suite I’ve seen my share of bride freak-outs, but I was impressed with the calm and poise shown by Laina during her wardrobe malfunction. She was missing the back panel out of her dress (which she never found) and had to deal with creating a makeshift panel 30 minutes before her wedding.
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Perma-Grin Award – Groom
Melinda and Alfonzo
Some grooms are serious, some grooms are nervous, but none had the perma-grin the whole day that Alfonzo had at his wedding. Even when their ceremony had to be moved inside because of rain, you couldn’t wipe the smile from his face.
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Perma-Grin Award – Bride
Maryam and Rami
All brides are happy on their wedding day, but Maryam was truly beaming the entire day. I suspect it’s part of her personality in general, but you couldn’t help but sharing in her joy because it was written all over her face.
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Best Behind the Scenes Coverage
Katy and Anders
There is a first for everything and having a bride sing karaoke in the limo on the way to the ceremony was definitely something new for us. Katy was definitely calm and relaxed surrounded by her friends!
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Best Theme
Jessica and Mel
I love theme receptions and all the thought put into the elements of the theme. Jessica and Mel had a New York theme for their reception with featured tables named after New York locals that were special to them. They also entered to Jay Z’s song “Empire State of Mind” which definitely pumped up the crowd.
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Best Reception Game
Flavia and Claudiu
They took musical chairs to the next level at their reception. They picked 13 guests and had them search for items (bible, neck tie, $100 bill, etc.) and the last person to bring an item back each time was eliminated. The best part was that the eliminated guest then had to do something special for the bride and groom for each month of the next year (wash their car, buy them dinner, take them to a movie, etc.).
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Sweetest Groom
Courtney and Dirk
We’re a sucker for a sweet groom and Dirk definitely stood out. When we put our microphone on the groom 10 minutes before the ceremony we often hear a lot of jokes and nervousness between the groom and his groomsmen (“it’s not too late there’s a car waiting”) but with Dirk we overheard touching comments about his soon to be wife. That along with his touching personal vows, made him one of the year’s best catches.
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Coldest Day
Jazmin and Gabriel
It’s hard to say what’s worse – a really hot day or a really windy and cold day. Jazmin and Gabriel had to deal with the cold and blustery winds of Stockton. They finished their pictures early at the church and had to wait outside in the cold for their limo to pick them up (the church had already locked their doors). Poor Guys! At least once they got to the reception they warmed up with all of that dancing they did to their live band!
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Craziest Dancing
Carolina and Brian
At their outdoor wedding venue when it gets late the party moves indoors and the low ceilings created some fun as the guests tossed the bride and groom into the air and also through the ceiling. At one point Brian was “walking” on the ceiling with his hands. Too funny!
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Best Accessory
Dorissa and Theron
These had to be the cutest flower girl baskets that we saw all year. They were little purses made of flowers.
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Best Cake
Mary Ann and Rique
Honestly we could award this to 40 weddings this year because they all were beautiful, however, what made Mary Ann and Rique’s stand out was the elements that the couple added themselves. They created their own tree trunk cake stand and their own burnt wood cake topper.
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