Author: Matt

Remember your first love in high school? I had one of those. And by “had”, I mean that I was the one in love; I don’t believe that the object of my affections actually knew I was in love with her. But thankfully this film isn’t about my high school romance, it’s about Will and Stephanie’s.

At this point though, you’re probably wondering what fairy tales have to do with high school. See, one of the oldest types of fairy tales is that of a couple, one of whom is usually a prince or princess of some sort, that meet, fall in love, and live happily ever after. While most prevalent in Disney movies like Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, and Snow White, there are many modern takes on the tale such as Enchanted and even Spider-Man. They all differ in how they tell it, but at the core they all revolve around a boy and girl meeting, falling in love despite all obstacles, and living happily ever after together.

What a modern fairy tale looks like, in case you were wondering.

What a modern fairy tale looks like, in case you were wondering.

As viewers, we identify with many aspects of these stories in our own lives (okay maybe not living under the sea or being bitten by a radioactive spider), we all remember one of our first experiences of love in high school. We envision meeting that perfect someone in class, falling in love, sticking together through college, getting married, and living happily ever after. That vision has become a modern fairy tale, one that we dream about when we are young and realize isn’t true when we walk the stage at graduation.

For me and most of us, I feel like that was okay. I don’t think many of us think back on high school with regret of never finding love. But what if we had? What if we met someone in class our junior year of high school, sixteen years old, daring to dream it could last forever, and it actually did? We would be living a modern fairy tale.

What I have just described is the story of Will and Stephanie. Sixteen years old, finding chemistry with each other in chemistry class of all places, and falling in love that lasts. These two give me hope, not that I will go back to high school and fall in love, I’m quite happy with my current love that I found in college; a hope that fairy tales come true even today. There’s something a bit magical about that, and I am glad that stories like theirs still exist in the world today.

Houston's humidity makes for awesome lens effects.

Houston’s humidity makes for awesome lens effects.

Special thanks to Taylor Stanley and my wife for helping me film this day. Shot with the Sony FS100, Sony FS700, and Canon 7D. Edited in Premiere Pro CC. Colored with Magic Bullet Looks.

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

Vince and RiahI’m sure you’ve heard the expression, “Time flies when you’re having fun.” I think that also applies to spending time with someone we enjoy being around. Hours can seem like seconds when we experience an ache of love in our hearts for the first time. Days turn into months which turn into years so quickly when spent with the object of our affection. Before we know it a decade has passed, full of memories, ups and downs, but above all love.

I’ll admit that this hasn’t happened to me yet. Yes on the love and time passing quickly, but I have yet to hit a decade of love for my wife. We didn’t start dating until 2011, so we aren’t even halfway there yet. But time is flying.

Vince and Mariah on the other hand have my wife and I soundly beat in this area. They met in high school, survived a hardcore phase with long hair and tight jeans, and managed to emerge from college still together, albeit with pink hair and hipster glasses. Ten years and still going strong.

I'll leave it up to you to decide if they look cooler now or back then.

I’ll leave it up to you to decide if they look cooler now or back then.

I learned a lot about love while filming and editing their wedding. God describes love as a lot of things: patient, kind, but the one quality of love that strikes me with Vince and Mariah’s wedding is that it perseveres. Through the good and the bad, over all this time, their love hasn’t faltered. There’s something there that we can all learn from their relationship.

Shot with the Sony FS100 and Canon 7D. Edited using Adobe Premiere Pro CC.

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

I always associated the Texas State Fair with deep fried food and over-sized cowboys on fire. Imagine my surprise when I discovered you can get married there too! Not at the actual fair mind you, although that would be cool and I would assume that instead of cake there would be deep fried Twinkies and dinner would consist of Sriracha Balls (look them up) with a side of obesity.

Hall of StateSue and Jong were married at The Hall of State, which I later learned is a museum of all things Texas and not a dance venue, although it felt like one by the end of the night. While there wasn’t any fried food, their love for each other made for an amazing day, with heartfelt vows, notes, and moments spent together.

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

While others may not think this way, I sometimes find that filming a wedding can be a relaxing end to a weekend. I started off the last Friday and Saturday in April by driving to Brownwood, Texas and filming eleven consecutive interviews of students at Howard Payne University. It was a long day, and by the time I arrived at my parent’s house in New Braunfels, I was ready to relax a bit. Thankfully, my good friends Ricky and Kim were getting married the next day, and they are my kind of people.

Ricky started off the day getting tacos with his groomsmen, so of course I tagged along to “film” (and eat tacos). The we drove all over New Braunfels trying to find a place to swim in the Comal River. Unfortunately, the city blocks off public access to the river on the weekends so we had to hatch an alternative plan involving the Guadalupe River, a dock, and some inner tubes.

Eventually everyone got around to finishing getting ready for the ceremony, and we all booked it out to Camp Lucy in the Hill Country southwest of Austin. I daresay there aren’t many prettier places to get married in Texas. I’m not one to cry while filming usually, but there was a lot of dust in the air at this ceremony. I wouldn’t even call what I do a job, I love it that much.

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

Doug and I have one of those friendships that started entirely on Facebook. There wasn’t a ton of creative people in the small town of College Station, so when I saw someone making cool stuff online I would usually immediately add them and worry about actually meeting in person later.

Doug and Kelsi Proposal

Photo courtesy of A Guy & A Girl Weddings // aguyandagirlweddings.com

We finally did meet, and in 2013 I moved to Dallas and heard that Doug was working at an amazing co-working space called WELD. He gave me a tour and I joined on the spot. It wasn’t just the cool work area, fast internet, or massive studio space, it was mostly about the people. Everyone is incredibly friendly, willing to help, and giving of their time. This makes for a great place to work, and in Doug and Kelsi’s case, fall in love.

Kelsi started working at WELD soon after I did, and while the space’s motto is “Work Here. Sparks Fly.” I don’t think they were exactly talking about the kind of sparks that Kelsi and Doug soon started putting off towards each other. Once they started dating, it was pretty obvious that they were going to get married. This was confirmed when a lot of the members of WELD piled into an RV together and rode out to Yosemite National Park for a few weeks. It was there surrounded by forest and friends that Doug proposed.

Throughout their engagement they continued to work at WELD, which made it incredibly easy to see their mounting excitement for their wedding. I was patient and waited on Doug to ask me to film his wedding, even though I knew it would be amazing. Once again in the outdoors, surrounded by the entire membership of WELD, friends, and family, Doug and Kelsi formed Delsi.

Special thanks to Ashley Hayes of Sun7Studios for helping film, and Charlie Kaye for the sweet aerial video.

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