Fort Worth’s Historic Thistle Hill Hosts Wedding with African Roots in Wedding Videography Dallas

Juliette and Umaru – African Traditions at the Historic Thistle Hill in Fort Worth

Umaru and Juliette’s wedding day was ten years in the making.  They met at graduation ceremony of one of Juliette’s nieces and over time, the casual introduction grew into love.  Juliette and Umaru were married at Thistle Hill, a beautiful historic home in Fort Worth.

Thistle Hill is a fitting venue for a wedding, because the lovely edifice was built as a wedding gift back in the early 1900’s.  The gorgeous home features a large stairwell in the front entry hall which served as the site of the wedding.  As guests entered the hall they were greeted by a tasty buffet of candies and offered seats in the entry hall.  The ceremony took place on the stairwell’s landing, in front of a colorful stained glass window.  The bride and groom with their attendants standing on the steps below them made a dramatic tableau.

Juliette was a lovely bride.  She wore a white satin ball gown with a strapless corset-style bodice.  The tulle overskirt was gathered into pick-ups.  A crystal tiara with matching necklace and earrings added sparkle to her look, along with very high heeled sandals covered in glitter.    She finished her ensemble with lace-covered fingerless gloves and carried a bouquet of white roses.  Her most beautiful accoutrement, by far, was her dazzling smile.

Juliette’s tulle veil with wide lace trim was worn over her face for the ceremony.  During the her vows, the bride kept her eyes demurely cast downwards until the last few promises. Then she looked at Umaru and the love in her eyes shown through the sheer fabric. To symbolize the joining of their lives the couple lit a unity candle.  After exchanging rings the officiant asked Umaru to kiss his bride’s hand, which he did very elegantly.  When he was able to lift the veil, he offered a more enthusiastic sign of his affection.

A lively reception with a buffet dinner was held on the lawn.  The couple danced into the gathering and onto the dance floor where guest showered them with money.  Many of the guests were wearing cultural costumes with elaborate turbans and colorful dresses.  The wedding cake was made to look like a white castle with turrets and was decorated with red and black emblems.  The groom’s cake resembled a soccer ball.  At the end of the evening the couple thanked everyone for sharing their day.

Behind the Scenes with LeniCam Video Productions

This video features some beautiful close-ups of Juliette during her vows.  Because the ceremony took place on the tight stairwell, we had to use all kinds of ingenuity to get the shots.   Though we have a huge inventory of equipment to help us capture events, in this situation, technology wasn’t the answer.  Only our many years of experience allowed us to create this video.

First we carefully filmed through the banister as the couple moved from the bottom of the stairs to the top.  Then back in the studio we took extra care with our editing and mixing.  The result is a video which gives the viewer a better view of the ceremony than anyone attending the wedding enjoyed.

We Sweat the Small Stuff So You Don’t Have To

LeniCam Video Productions – Wedding Videography Dallas

Brooke and Brian

Brooke and Brian at Park Cities Baptist Church and Belo Mansion

Chimes announced the beginning of the ceremony.  Then everyone stood as the familiar notes of “Here Comes the Bride” pealed out from the magnificent pipe organ.  During the ceremony, a gospel choir sang the traditional hymn “Holy, Holy, Holy”, with an old spiritual twist, and then as the newly married couple recessed down the aisle, the choir sang, “Oh Happy Day.” Brooke and Brian’s musical wedding was performed in the beautiful sanctuary of Park Cities Baptist Church in Dallas.

Before the nuptials, the groom sent his bride a sweet hand-written note which very obviously touched her heart as she read it.  Then he touched her heart again with another surprise after the ceremony.  She’d hoped for a diamond band for each side of her engagement ring and she’d checked the ring box, just the day before, to see if she would be getting them.   There was only one ring in the box and during the vows, Brian gave her that band.  He wasn’t through, however.  Anticipating her surreptitious peek, he’d hidden the second band away, so he could surprise her with it after the ceremony.

For her wedding, Brooke chose a strapless gown with a deep square décolleté, peeking from behind a crumb-catcher of sheer ruffles.  The fitted gown spread out at the knees into a cascade of ruffles.  The ruffles followed her down the aisle in the gown’s train.  The bride’s coiffure was a simple up-do covered by a two-tiered cathedral-length veil.  She wore the first waist-length tier in front, as she came down the aisle.  Her demure demeanor did not hint at the electric blue high-heeled pumps with peek-a-boo toes she wore beneath the gown.

From Park Cities Baptist Church the guests moved to the elegant Belo Mansion in the Downtown Dallas Arts District where a delicious buffet meal was served, featuring a carving station with scrumptious-looking prime rib.  The bride’s cake was a seven-tiered wonder, with each tier decorated in a different style, and the whole cake festooned with real flowers.  The groom’s cake, speaking to his love of the sea, was a large anchor.  When the festivities were over, Brooke and Brian were whisked away in a white vintage car.

Behind the Scenes with Lenicam Video Productions – Dallas Wedding Videographers

A photographer can capture both posed and candid shots with his camera.  With a professional-grade, high -definition videocamera and microphones, our videographers capture the sound and the movement of your special day, along with its sights.  In this video you can hear the chimes as the mothers are seated, the timbre of the pipe organ as the bride walks down the aisle and when the choir breaks into “Holy, Holy, Holy” you can watch them sway as you listen to their music.

A photograph can show a groom’s smile.  Our videographer caught Brian’s smile lighting up his eyes, before it moved to his lips, just as the doors opened revealing his lovely bride.  Our cameras recorded the full range of the Brooke’s emotions as she reads his letter.  Then as the couple enjoyed their first dance, you can hear them sharing their thoughts about the day, because the groom was wearing a microphone on his lapel.

We promise brides we’ll be everywhere, all the time, on their special day, but we always do our best to be invisible also.  Many times our couples confess they don’t know how we got some of our shots, since they never saw us.  When we leave an event our job has just begun, because we will spend many hours in the studio, mixing and editing everything we’ve recorded, so that when you receive your  video, you’re wedding will look just like you dreamed it would.

We Sweat the Small Stuff So You Don’t Have To

Jackie and Joey

Jackie and Joey at Christ the King Catholic Church and Belo Mansion

Jackie looked more beautiful  on her wedding day than any celebrity bride gracing the pages of a gossip magazine.  The radiant bride’s lace off-the-shoulder gown and cathedral length lace veil would have been the highlight of any starlet’s movie wardrobe.  Waiting for her at the altar was her leading man in the distinctive Marine dress uniform.  Jackie married Joey in an elegant ceremony at the ornate Christ the King Catholic Church in Dallas captured by videographer Dallas Wedding.

Many brides want to surprise their groom with their attire on their wedding day, but Joey, who was supposed to wear a tux, got the drop on Jackie at this wedding.  She was thrilled with his wardrobe surprise.  As the couple stood together before the priest you could almost see the electricity pass between them.  They did not seem to be able to get enough of the sight of each other.

Christ the King is a gorgeous church and on this wedding day it looked even more dazzling.  The pews were hung with floral decorations draped in lace.  Lace also covered the altar.  Flowers and lace were everywhere.

The handsome couple’s ceremony included music from a trumpet and pipe organ, as well as a splendid vocal solo.  They participated in lighting a unity candle and in a lassoing with crystal rosaries and lace.  Joey offered a gift of coins to symbolize his dedication to providing for his home and family.  Jackie accepted the coins with the promise that she would use what he provided with care.

When the priest declared them man and wife, one embrace was not enough for Joey.  After the ceremony the couple climbed into a vintage car and joined their guests at the Belo Mansion in Dallas’s Arts District.  For the reception Joey changed into the tuxedo Jackie thought he would be wearing for the ceremony.  The couple was stunning regardless of the wardrobe choices.

Jackie and Joey’s wedding not only looked like part of a Hollywood movie; the tribute her father made to the groom would be perfect for any script.  “He’s the kind of guy you always wish your daughter would marry.”  Other details of the day were also Hollywood-worthy, but what was most evident throughout the day was that this marriage was deeply rooted in a tradition of close family ties and the couple intended to carry the tradition into the future.

The bride and groom serenaded one another in perfect pitch during their first dance.  The bride’s cake looked as if it were draped in jeweled satin bows.  The groom’s cake was a tribute to the Marines.  During the cutting of the bride’s cake, Joey behaved perfectly, but with a twinkle of his eye, after Jackie fed him a bite of the chocolate groom’s cake, he fed himself another bite.

A live band entertained the guests after the delicious dinner and the floor was constantly packed with energetic dancers keeping time with the throbbing beat.  The groom and some of his pals snuck out on the balcony for celebratory cigars.  Everyone was having a grand old time.

At the end of the evening, the couple climbed down the imposing stairs of the luxurious mansion and into a waiting Cinderalla carriage.  As they rode away into the night there’s a sense that this was a marriage made in heaven.

Behind the Scene with LeniCam Video Productions

Jackie and Joey had a lot happening on their wedding day.  It took two cameramen and a wide variety of equipment to capture it all.  We were particularly glad to have two videocameras in the gorgeous sanctuary of Christ the King Church.  One camera with a nine foot tripod was in the back to record the overall glory of the venue.  Up front we hid in an alcove to get close-ups of the couple as they gazed eagerly into one another’s eyes, without having to have a cameraman at the altar with them.

We arrived an hour and a half before the ceremony to set up our cameras.  Churches like Christ the King, which are popular with brides, often have strict rules about where we can put our vidoegraphers and our cameras.   Our proprietary camera allows us to get shots we’d miss otherwise, because the camera can be hidden more easily than a cameraman.  We also hooked up to the sound system and placed microphones in strategic points to capture the sounds of the day, like the Scripture readings and musical solos.  The most important microphone was a wireless mic on the groom’s lapel.  Without we were able to clearly capture the couple’s vows and their serenade to one another during the first dance.

We Sweat the Small Stuff So You Don’t Have To    

LeniCam Video Productions – Dallas Wedding Videographer