Say it with a video at your wedding

Titled The Singing Bride a fourminute video uploaded by The Wedding Filmer last week has raked in over 1 lakh views and more than 200 comments most admitting that it gave them goose bumps and mushy feels In the video bridetobe Hemna Kesaria croons an original Hindi composition Ilitija in a recording studio setup and then performs its acapella version at her sangeet ceremony held in February against the backdrop of magnificently litup Mehrangarh Fort in JodhpurHemna Kesaria performs an original composition Ilitija at her sangeet ceremony at Jodhpurrsquos Mehrangarh fort below she recorded it at a Mumbai studioComposed specially for the couple itrsquos also the theme song in their wedding film Using current hits is trendy but after a few years they become dated An original composition is timeless observes filmmaker Vishal Punjabi about the latest trend doing the rounds in the wedding film business Some time back Punjabi who heads the citybased wedding videography firm recorded a contemporary version of the Folk song Din Shagna Da It spawned a whole bunch of covers and itrsquos now become every bridersquos goto song he says The cost for a recording shindig could go upto R20 lakh but couples are game Jewellery and expensive clothes can be designed and stitched at any stage in life but you can only capture your memories once when it happens says PunjabiAnd he isnrsquot the only one Last year citybased photographer and cinematographer Harpreet Bachher of The Wedding Story which has filmed celebrity shaadis of Ahaana Deol and Bipasha Basu brought in local folk artists from Jodhpur to record a version of Kesariya Balma for a wedding film which starred a Marwari coupleTobe bride Riya Kuwelkar collaborated with The Wedding Story to send out animated savethedate evitesThe latest trend is customising the film according to couplersquos personality traits and their story says Bachher For his current client Riya Kuwelkar who owns an animation studio in Nariman Point he will make a partanimation partlive action wedding film trailer The tobe bride will add the effects to the reels herself capturing her upcoming November wedding in Thailand We are in the process of creating storyboards and have planned a few shots too For instance wersquoll shoot friends jumping into the pool and add a water splash effect says the excited 30yearold who earlier sent out an animated savethedate video as an evite It included a mix of animation and a video game play my fianceacutersquos passion along with our video game caricatures Itrsquos a beautiful memory she addsShow it liveIn the last few years professional DOPs and filmmakers have nudged out local videowallahs to make wedding films that would give most Bollywood producers a run for their money Apart from upping the scale with use of the aerial shots and drone cameras they are now focussing on Live Edits too Including the service in the wedding package allows guests to watch a fourminute reel which gives a glimpse of the ceremonies on the last day of the celebrationsItrsquos challenging as we need two laptops an editor and an assistant on location to make the live edit However itrsquos amazing to see the reactions from the families who get a sense of the fun and emotional joyride that the wedding has been This year wersquore covering four destination weddings in Dubai Phuket Goa and Pune and all the couples have asked for a live edit says Monisha Ajgaonkar of The Photo Diary a Mumbaibased wedding film and photo studio Some of their other innovations include setting up onlocation video booths to get candid bytes and a stopmotion animation prewedding film We shot with the couple for a day and then hired an animation studio in the city for the postproduction informs Rahul Lalchandani who freelanced as codirector on the project