Our Wedding in Film, Part 1: Sharing Tissues

Rather than hire a professional videographer to capture our wedding day, we opted to instead splurge on our photography and have a family member videotape the key moments of our day (for a generous fee of $0.00). Although I drool along with everyone else over the stunning footage from the likes of StillMotion (Mrs. Milkshake's amazing epic wedding film, anyone?), for us it truly meant the world to have our day captured by someone who knows and loves us, and we cannot stop watching the beautiful video that was carefully and lovingly edited and delivered to us less than 48 hours after we returned home from our honeymoon.

My mom's cousin, Bobby, was our fabulous videographer (I think that makes him my second cousin.... or is he my first cousin, once removed? Hmm...), and I want to share with you a few snippets from our day that he captured. First up: my oldest friend in the world, Jill, singing during our ceremony (Jill and I grew up across the street from each other and have essentially been friends since birth). She sang Randy Newman's "Feels Like Home," which was popularized by Chantal Kreviazuk when her rendition was included on the Dawson's Creek soundtrack way-back-when. Mr. Cupcake and I share a few tender and heartwarming moments during the song around the time when the first chorus is beginning (and please have a listen — you won't believe the pipes on this girl!).



There is a lot of nodding going on on my part; I don't really remember what we talked about up there, but I think a lot of it was Mr. Cupcake asking "Are you okay? Do you need a tissue? Are you sure?" And you can also see him compliment me on my bracelet at one point :-) I surprisingly held it together really well during my walk down the aisle, but something about hearing that beautiful song combined with my dear old friend singing it for us, combined with sharing that moment with Mr. Cupcake.... well, it just got the best of both of us. I thought I was crying a lot more than you can tell by the video, which I guess is a good thing (so our guests didn't think I was a complete blubbering idiot!).

When I eventually took Mr. Cupcake up on his offer to use a tissue (and I tried really hard to dab my nose gracefully, even though I felt like it was dripping with snot), I didn't realize he'd use the same tissue to blow his own nose when I gave it back to him (it's not like I had anywhere to put it, so I had to give it back!). Apparently, our guests thought this was quite amusing and touching, and it made for a most memorable moment. (I hope no one thought it was really gross!) I really love hearing the laughter of my family in the video when this all happened, as it was filmed from the pew where my cousin sat as a guest. I felt bad that people laughed during Jill's song, but she told me later that she was so focused on the song that she barely noticed.

I have a few more video moments that I will share with you throughout the coming weeks, but until then, tell us: what funny moments occurred during your ceremony that made it unique? Did you opt to hire a professional videographer, or did you also go the family route, like us?