Both living in Los Angeles, Saira and Tom met in Las Vegas, so their wedding was set in Vegas. The JW Marriott in Summerlin was the venue for the very intimate event. A lot of beautiful people…wonderful smiles. Our previous post showed the beautiful couple’s “raw dance footage”, now here’s the highlights of their wedding.
It’s been a long, busy, but a definitely satisfying week. After spending Monday through Thursday in San Francisco for Re-Frame, I had to fly back on a two-hour delayed flight to OC’s John Wayne Airport to get home for two hours to pack our equipments and drive for four hours to Las Vegas for the wedding of LA based Philippine actress Saira Velasco (aka Bunny Paras) and Tom Greenway. We didn’t get there to check-in to our hotel until 1:30am on the morning of the wedding day.
At the wedding, Zara and I just went on as how we would do at any other wedding..always looking to capture those special moments, special extraordinary moments. It was a great wedding, all the emotions, the tears, and laughter where all there. But all day and through the night I was waiting for the extraordinary, I was looking for the MONEY SHOT!
Then came the time to leave. After a nine hour shoot, we packed our stuff and me and Manila-based international photographer John Mateos Ong said our goodbyes to our lovely couple. Just as we were about to head on out the door, I heard the emcee announcing that the party was over and then she said, “Now our couple will do one final dance and I would like to invite you all to join them on the dance floor.” That rang a beautiful bell in my ears and I immediately did exactly what she said…joined them on the dance floor. Grabbing the only camera I had ready to shoot, which happened to be our new Canon 7D with only a 50mm 1.8 attached to it and no time to adjust the settings, we had captured one of the most touching wedding dance I have witnessed.. Though shot with no lighting, hand held and relying only on our camera’s lcd screen for focus, it was definitely our day’s MONEY SHOT!
We watched the footage in our hotel room at the JWMarriott, venue for the wedding ceremony and reception, with a big smile on our face. Since the couple did not have a Same Day Edit, we decided to post it for them, “RAW” and “UNEDITED” for everyone to see and experience it how we did. Sorry for the brief cut in the middle. Something got in my eye (not tears..) and I accidentally hit the stop button. My bad.
To Saira and Tom, here’s your special dance..as we saw it.
This is why we love filming weddings. There’s nothing like seeing two people having the time of their lives on their wedding day. So, let us cut the words to a minimum and just say the perfect words to describe Nga and Jay. “Brighter Than Sunshine.”
The ceremony was held at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Irvine and the reception followed at the Marriott in Newport Beach. The photo shoot in Balboa Island was choreographed by their wedding photographer Tauran Woo. Make-up by Vivian Tran (All Made Up Team). Song by Aqualung.
A beautiful celebration at St.Luke’s Greek Orthodox Church. The ancient ceremony was full of symbolism and was a great experience for someone who has not attended a Greek Orthodox wedding service. That goes for me and my second cinematographer, Robert “Beebo” Benitez. It was rather unique from most weddings we have witnessed because there was no exchange of vows. In their faith, the couple’s presence in church is taken to signify that they are serious about their intentions.
An elegant reception followed at the Turnip Rose Grand Newport Plaza with live guitarists at cocktail hour and belly dancers later in the evening. Dance music was provided by the groom’s cousin DJ Tarak and flowers by Sheila Tuason of Designer Blooms.
The evening was also culminated by the celebration of the Mother of the Bride’s birthday making for an even more sentimental evening.
Photography was provided by the amazing Wai Reyes of Wai Reyes Photography and her wonderful second shooter Amanda Patrice.
