Before wedding films, I spent 11 years working as a videographer in New York, shooting, directing, and editing interview-based work for clients like the Museum of Modern Art. A few years ago I returned to rural Northern California, where I'm from. Ready to start the chapter of life where I get to steward land, build a straw bale house, grow food, and live in a tight-knit community. I've been exploring what it means to make films here, and wedding films feel like the natural meeting place between the work I love and the beauty of this place I call home.
Wedding stories have a special place in my heart because, in a way, my own story began at a wedding. My parents used their wedding to declare their openness to having a child. And I was the next egg to come along. Their wedding video was lost for years, and by the time it resurfaced we no longer owned a VHS player. I watched it for the first time last year. During the ceremony (and before I was even conceived) my parents read a letter addressed to me. It began, "Dear Annelise..."
And from thin air, there I was.
I believe in the power of ceremony. I believe in the power of story. I'd love to make a film that holds onto yours.