We have a real treat for you lovely peeps today. A new film, but not our usual highlights. This time we want to share with you something quit special, one of our full films. We also have something new, an interview with the couple about their own story in their own words.
If you haven’t seen it yet we recommend you click here and have a watch their highlights first to get yourself ready.
Andy & Jess had quite a few unique aspects about their day. They had custom vows, involved Andys daughters Avery and Riley into their day but also had Jessica’s own brother, Jason, preside over the marriage ceremony (they talk more about this later).
We wanted to show everyone what one of our full films looks like because it’s often hard to explain how we tell the story of a wedding day in 20 minutes (or in this case an entire wedding week!) when a wedding video is typically several hours long. It’s not because we cut anything out, we just make better use of what we have. For example when you hear your officiant welcoming everyone to this day we never show them saying this but instead you hear them but let you watch something with a little more gravitas, such as the guests arriving and taking their seats. We do this numerous times throughout the film and the end result is something shorter, with a greater impact but still missing nothing.
Grab yourself a mug of tea and a slice of cake, sit back and for the next 20 minutes enjoy the story of Andrew & Jessica.
LET’S START AT THE BEGINNING OF YOUR STORY. HOW DID YOU GUYS MEET?
Andy and I met at work. I absolutely despised him the first 2 years I worked there. My maid of honor Tessam, also worked for the same company and she recalls me nearly quitting because I couldn’t stand him. The feeling was somewhat mutual for him too! After a couple of years, he had gone through a divorce and I had left a pretty bad relationship, we both became somewhat humbled (especially him). We started communicating on a personal level and it just kind of grew from there.
TELL US ABOUT THE PROPOSAL
On Thanksgiving day 2009, Andy, myself, Riley and Avery went to a brunch with my mom. Unbeknownst to me, he had already planned on proposing to me the next day and had talked to the girls about his plans. Prior to buying the ring he had actually sat the girls down to get their approval and they were over the moon excited about it. On Thanksgiving he had conspired with the girls to have them keep me busy at the buffet food stations so he could ask my mom’s permission to marry me (he had already called my dad who was living in New York). Now that I look back the girls’ kept asking me to go with them to get bacon, then prime rib, then dessert and I thought it was weird because they normally would go on their own. When we got back to the table Avery whispered in Andy’s ear, unbeknownst to me she was asking if he had talked to my mom yet. I got very angry with her as we have a rule that “secrets don’t make friends” and it is very rude to whisper to someone while other people are there. Little did I know….
The following day, Andy and I had to travel to Chicago for a radiology conference. We checked into the Westin Hotel and were very pleased to find out we had been upgraded to their large suite. As we got off the elevator and to the door of the room, he put the key card in but had me walk through the door first. I looked at the floor and there were rose petals all over the place. I instantly began to cry and kept saying “this isn’t happening, oh my God, oh my God” over and over again. He decides to trick me and say “what, what’s the big deal I just got you some flowers??”. I got very embarrassed and covered by saying “Oh I know I just think it was really sweet”. He begins to laugh and tells me to just walk in. I walk in and the entire room is covered in rose petals. We walk into the next room, more flowers, and champagne and chocolates and on the bed there were rose petals in the shape of a heart. He sits me down on the bed and gets down on one knee and proceeds to tell my how important I am and what I mean to him and the girls. You know Andy, we are both crying, him more so than me 
, and asks me if I will do the honor of marrying him. Of course I said yes. We instantly call the girls on speaker phone. The girls don’t even say hello. Instead they scream “Dad, dad, did you do it…did you do it???? What did she say????” I decide to trick them and say “Girls, what are you talking about, what did dad do?” They froze like a deer caught in headlights. Dead silence. I laughed and said “Of course I said yes”. They started screaming and cheering so loud. Then we all shed a few more tears, Of joy of course.
WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE ON A DESTINATION WEDDING?
We live on the West Coast and all of our family lives on the East Coast. We knew that many of our family and friends were going to have to travel regardless of where we had the wedding. We also knew that we wanted everyone to get to know each other leading up to our wedding day so that people would be comfortable with each other. Most importantly, we understood in this economic climate it is a lot to ask out of people to spend their hard earned money to travel for a wedding. By picking such a beautiful location, many people turned our wedding into their summer vacation as well.
WHY ST. MAARTEN?
My cousin Jennifer has lived on the island for almost 30 years. I have traveled there before and fell in love with it. The people are so friendly. The food is to die for (The French infusion mixed with Carribean flair is unique to the island itself. And the beaches are pristine. My cousin rents out many of the villas on the island of St. Maarten and through her connections we planned our whole wedding with her help.
ALL WEEK YOU HAD ACTIVITIES PLANNED FOR THE 2 FAMILIES AND FRIENDS LIKE THE BOAT TRIP AND A BEACH BBQ. TELL US ABOUT THE THINKING BEHIND THIS
Our number 1 goal was to have everyone be friends by the time our wedding day arrived. We planned a series of events on the days leading up to the big day so people could interact with one another. Mullet Bay Beach is one of the most pristine and beautiful beaches we have been to. We definitely wanted to coordinate a day where everyone could relax, play some volleyball and lay on the beach. The next day was the catamaran trip. This was a GREAT way to lock everyone down on a boat and force them into tight quarters, although the boat itself was over 65 feet long which is not very small. We spent the day traveling to a neighboring island off the coast of Anguilla called Prickly Pear Island. We docked, snorkeled, ate traditional Caribbean food and of course had a few libations. On Friday night it was our unofficial rehearsal dinner at La Bamba Beach Bar. We did not want a stuffy atmosphere where we had to dress up. This place was perfect as it was a little beach restaurant right on the sand. We had more Caribbean food, drinks and the DJ. By this point everyone pretty much knew everyone and were making life-long friends. My cousin used to babysit the owner of La Bamba and he took very good care of us.
YOU HAD ONE OF THE MOST UNIQUE MOMENTS WE HAVE EVER WITNESSED IN A WEDDING. HAVING JESSICA’S OWN BROTHER OFFICATE OVER THE CEREMONY. TELL US ABOUT THIS
We were getting married on the French side of the island which French Law states that if you want to get a marriage license, you must reside there for 30 days. Knowing this was not possible we had decided to formally get married about a month before our actual wedding day. Andy, the girls and I snuck off to Las Vegas and impulsively ran through a shopping mall, bought Andy’s ring, bought a white dress and then we jetted to the Clark County court house to get our license. Then we spontaneously ventured over to the famous Little White Wedding Chapel and got married. It was the cheesiest wedding of all time but also VERY emotional and special for the 4 of us.
As far as the St. Maarten wedding, we knew we needed someone to symbolically officiate over the wedding. We really didn’t want to go with someone who we did not know.
My brother has always had a somewhat challenging life. He has had his series of problems, addictions and other things. And then he found God about 5 years ago and is a totally different person. He has always been an extremely intelligent person but he has become this inspiration to many people. We just knew he would be the right person. He always speaks from truth and from the heart.
You had custom vows which we love and Andys was inspired by a previous Mintyslippers couple. Tell us how why you decided to do your own vows and how you decide what you are going to say.
Andy is Jewish, I am Catholic and Andy has 2 daughters from a previous marriage. There was no way this was going to be a traditional wedding. Our personal opinion is that some of the traditional vows that are out there are outdated and don’t get very personal which is ironic as this is one of the most personal and important day in our lives. There was no question we each wanted to personally dedicate and express our promises and commitment to the other person in our own words.
WHEN WE SPOKE BEFORE YOUR WEDDING WE CHATTED ABOUT PHOTOGRAPHERS. WE RECOMMENDED THE SUPER TALENTED BANDELE ZUBERI FROM HERE IN THE UK. WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE THAT HE WAS THE ONE.
In all honesty, it is very possible we could have found a very credible photographer locally. I don’t want to discredit the local photographers of St. Maarten. Bandele’s work however is in its own league. His ability to capture the right lighting, setting, pose, etc is amazing. It’s more of a piece of art than it is a picture.
WHAT IS YOUR BEST MEMORY FROM THE WHOLE WEDDING EXPERIENCE.
The sense of everyone coming together. This was the most amazing week of our lives because of the people who were there and how well everyone got along. We have had couples tell us it was the most amazing week of their lives and they reconnected with their spouse. We have had families say it was the best week ever because they got to do all of these fun things with all of their immediate family and extended family and also made life-long friends in the process.
SO THE MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION. WHY MINTYSLIPPERS?
Because you are simply the best! We discovered you because of the work you did for Dave and Elizabeth. Your work on their piece moved us to tears. I(Jessica) then started to cyber stalk you and went to your website almost daily hoping you would post new highlights. We weren’t even engaged yet! We just loved the way you were able to tell the story so eloquently of the most important day in a couple’s life. We loved that it was like a movie trailer NOT a documentary. Your ability to film at unique angles (I remember one where the camera is peeking through a window down to the street, or the camera was based on the people’s feet not their faces.) Everything about the way you film is like a piece of art.
JULIE AND I CONSPIRED WITH YOUR BEST MAN TO SURPRISE YOU WITH THE HIGHLIGHTS ONE NIGHT AFTER WE TOLD YOU IT WAS WEEKS AWAY (I know, we’re naughty). WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION TO THEM?
We were shocked with happiness. We cried quite a bit (especially Andy ) with emotional joy. We didn’t think you would be able to capture that whole week in such a short amount of time of a highlights film and do it justice. Boy were we wrong. From the opening scene we had chills down our spine with the screen black and my brother speaking from the wedding to the fast forward of the sun rising, to the catamaran slowing pulling up, to the airplane landing….we could go on and on. The speeches you selected were absolutely perfect. The most emotional part for us what that you guys understood that this was not just a wedding about Andy and I. It was about the 4 of us and the fact you added Riley and Avery’s name at the end, we were hysterically crying. Teary eyed just writing about it!
SO NOW THE HIGHLIGHTS HAD SET A NEW LEVEL OF EXPECTATION. WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE FULL FILM?
Again, shocked with happiness. We expected it to be more of a documentary style. We didn’t expect the music or the creative aspect of hearing a voice over but seeing something completely different on the screen. The music selected could not have been any better. We have come to appreciate how important editing is and you guys did a perfect job of it. We absolutely love how it started with Riley’s speech and ended in Avery’s. Again, you guys clearly understood how important it was that this was a marriage and commitment of 4 people not 2 and we really appreciated that.
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR WHOLE MINTYSLIPPERS EXPERIENCE FROM WHEN YOU WERE LOOKING AT FILM TO WORKING WITH US ON THE DAY ITSELF?
You were hands down the best vendor to work with through our wedding planning process. Not only were you so attentive and made sure to get back to us quickly when we had questions but more importantly, you wanted our feedback. You wanted to know from us, what we wanted. It wasn’t this attitude of you guys being the expert and shooting it the way you wanted. You wanted to know how we felt, what our goals were and we very much appreciated that. We appreciate how serious you take the responsibility of capturing the most important day in a couple’s life. Most importantly, on the day of the wedding there were times when we didn’t even know you were there. You guys didn’t try and stage situations. You simply filmed and documented everything naturally. It was so organic.
We hope you enjoyed the film and the insight into their day. Don’t for get to leave us some comments below and hit the Facebook Like button (if you like it of course) before you go.
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