The New Era of Wedding Films: Intimate and Enduring

Let's face it, it will be a while until we'd find families practising for Sangeeth night and capture the on-stage dhamaal, sipping cocktails off an open bar and spotting   waiters some serving those delicious chicken tikkas on toothpicks. 
On our first COVID wedding shoot, can't deny that we had to struggle to capture emotions we usually see at weddings when half the guests were in face-masks and the other half were attending via Zoom call. An hour into the haldi event, and we began getting  restless. This panic had us engaging more with both sides' families, 
seeding ourselves into their conversations, interacting with relatives to capture their nuances, which helped define our documentary approach of covering wedding films. 

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Intimate weddings have mostly been followed by European countries; Rustic spaces, poetry and wine - are all the ingredients that favor minimalism over flamboyance, which inadvertently save the couple a lot of money. And slowly, yet surely- replacing crowded halls with cozy living rooms will soon be adopted in India too.
The game's changed considerably, where we are happy to focus on the heart of the story rather than capture gaudy attires, elaborate hall decor and an over-the-top bridal entrance.
With the vaccine on it's way, the sanitisers and masks are sure to fade away, and leave with it a new norm in shooting weddings. We look forward to the day where cinematographers shall love storytelling more than the fancy cameras they work with.
With that, films shall focus on dialogue more than decor, on revealing personalities more than people, on telling stories more than shooting as is.

Watch our lockdown wedding video here - which premieres on YouTube on 30th October at 9pm! 

Nikhil Mehta
Creative Director at NJM Weddings
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