Where's Wes?

Let's play a little game. It's like Where's Waldo, except it's called Where's Wes (Jones)?


This is the first time I'd met Wes in person. He looks a lot like my brother, which shocked me at first. He greeted me, then he said, "OK, this is the last time we'll talk today -- now ignore me!" It was so funny.




All photos above by Daria Bishop.




Can you find Wes in every picture? Of over 1,800 professional proofs and 400+ non-professional photos, these 6 photos were all I could dig up of Wes in action at our wedding. He prides himself on being unobtrusive, and most of the day I really didn't even know he was there. I think I noticed him twice -- while I was getting dressed and once I saw him over my shoulder at the cocktail hour, but for the most part I was totally unaware of his presence. This is exactly what you want in a videographer!!

One of the most amazing things about Wes Jones is he shoots with a digital camera and a super-8 mm film camera at the SAME time! He doesn't have an assistant, he is a one man show. Mr. Onion and I watched all the digital footage first, then the super-8 footage and found ourselves thinking "What a minute, he got that SAME footage with the digital camera!" That's when we realized that Wes has seriously mad skills!! Worth every penny and we were so glad we're hired him.

Super-8mm wedding video

What is Super-8? Super 8 mm film, also simply called Super 8, is a motion picture film format that was developed in the 1960s and released on the market in 1965 by Eastman Kodak as an improvement of the older 8 mm home movie format, and the Cine 8 Format. *Wikipedia, see entire entry here.


Note: this is raw unedited footage by Wes Jones. For samples of his edited videos check out his website.

We had not budgeted for a videographer for our wedding as we simply couldn't afford it. Our wedding ended up being even smaller than we'd planned and we had some money left over in our budget, so I took a chance. I emailed Wes Jones and asked if he was booked for our wedding two weekends away. I expected for him to say "yes," and I'd move on. But much to my surprise, he happened to have our date free! Hooray, I was so excited. One of the things that led me to his work is that he shoots both digital and with Super-8 mm film.



images from wikipedia.org

This film feels like an old home movie which is why I was so drawn to it stylistically. We watched every clip on his website and really liked what we saw. Because we had limited funds we couldn't afford Wes's entire package which includes a wonderful edited video of your day. Because it was so last minute, he was kind enough to shoot the raw footage and gave us the option to do smaller edited segments when we saved up the money. Again, this was only possible because it was a last minute booking.

The style worked so well with the vibe of our wedding and Mr. Onion and I were blown away when we watched the footage for the first time a few nights ago. Looking back, I'm so glad we were able to come up with the money to do this because video captures things that still photos just can't -- taking a deep breath, my veil being placed by my bridesmaid, hugging my husband so tight, our vows (which isn't included in the super-8 footage because there is no audio) etc. I will be so thrilled to share this with our children some day. I just hope they'll want to see it :)

Wes is a great guy and was really easy to work with. If this style is something you're interested in I'd encourage you to reach out to him. I know he travels - he was shooting a wedding in Maine the weekend before ours. He is based in the New York Metro area.

Videographer regret no more!

So, last week I was starting to regret not having hired a videographer. I went around in circles when we made our budget, knew we couldn't afford it and honestly didn't think I'd miss it that much. Then I thought about how many brides say the day flies by and there is so much that they miss. I didn't want to miss or forget our ceremony. So I shot and email to Wilson Fontaine and Wes Jones on the off chance that one of them was not booked for our wedding (22 days later). I just didn't want to kick myself later, and what did I have to lose, right?

Wilson was booked, but Wes just happened to have our date free (the only open date he had in 3 months)! I couldn't believe it! He was recommended to me by another NY area bride, then I saw that he's also filmed the recent wedding of Miss Snow Pea and the wedding of Mrs. Firefly. I was sold, then I started figuring out how I was going to afford it. We had a number of people decline our invitation to the wedding so there was some "extra" money in our budget. Also my mother decided to take back a very expensive dress we'd gotten for her to wear to the wedding and she said "take it back, get the coffee tables you guys wanted and put the rest toward the wedding." I have worked VERY hard to stay right on target the entire time and because I accounted for everything (tips, tax, delivery fees, etc.) I was able to be very true to my budget. Between my accurate budgeting, the 20+ guests not coming and my mother's extra dress money, this almost did it.

Knowing we were still short Mr. Onion (who I love for so many reasons) said, "If this means I have to wait a few more months to get a laptop, then that's what it will be. We can't go back and get this footage later!" What you have to understand about this offer is Mr. Onion has a desktop that he built himself close to eight years ago now, so it's really slow and old. But he could see in my eyes I really wanted to do this.

Hooray! Any married ladies out there hire a videographer at the last minute? Were you happy with your choice? How did you feel about having them there along with the photographer? Did it feel like you had paparazzi? Was it worth the extra money in addition to your still photographer? Have you actually watched your wedding video more than once post wedding?

To learn more about Wes Jones and to see samples of his work go to www.filmjones.com.

And just because I love him so much and this picture is so freakin' cute -- here is Mr. Onion as a little boy "helping" his dad. Note Mr. Onion's plastic hammer! I L-O-V-E this picture :)

Videographer regret....

Ok, ok, yes, I'm getting married in 24 day, so WHY am I now thinking about a videographer? Because I'm nuts, that's why.

I've never really wanted (nor did I think we could afford) a videographer in addition to our still photographer. BUT, that hasn't stopped me from checking out (ok, well stalking really) this website: www.wilsonfontaine.com. This is the only videographer whose work I've come across that stopped me in my tracks. His vignette style is just stunning -- I don't know if he shoots with a 8mm camera or if it's digital post processes, but either way it's stunning, tasteful and amazing to watch. Click on the "Gallery" on his website and you can see for yourself.



I never even sent him an inquiry because I was afraid I'd want to come up with the money. But today I was thinking "what if he's not booked on our date -- [yeah right] and wants to take us on at a discount?!" So I sent him a last minute email just so I don't kick myself later.

If you're wedding is say MONTHS from now instead of weeks, check out the website and enjoy!