chiara cinema

Thank you to James and Shanna for having us at your beautiful wedding in San Marcos. Your wedding showed us the importance of a sense of community among family and friends. :)

A perfect day in Westlake Village led to an even more perfect wedding from beginning to end. Thank you to Jaclyn and Blake for having us experience this amazing day with you. We’re very happy with how this couple’s personality jumps off the screen due to their radiance and excitement for great things to come. :)

samira and steven jolly can best be described as a “nice” couple, as that’s the word samira used to describe steven throughout the day. it was an amazingly warm day in poway (san diego county), which was fitting for such a warm couple, especially during the ceremony as rays of light flooded the whole venue at the perfect hour.

leading up to the ceremony, most of the morning was spent with steven and his family, as well as with samira + bridesmaids at a bridal room with an amazing window view. steven’s family came in front out of town and it was apparent how tight knit they were as they assembled mood lights for the reception hall. with how well they worked together, you wouldn’t have guessed they’d never done this before ;)

what stood out the most during the day though, was samira finalizing her vows hours before the ceremony. it was amazing to hear how different those words sounded as she read them prior to the big moment compared to when she was standing up there saying them in front of steven. it’s those unexpected moments that make it so worth capturing.

what I loved about michele and david’s wedding was that no one expected it to be so emotional… not even michele or david. in the stressful weeks leading up to the wedding, i asked the couple what they thought their favorite part of the wedding was going to be. the answer? when it’s over. this isn’t an uncommon answer, as sometimes it’s so easy to forget what the day is capable of when there are so many details to figure out.

though the morning was even more hectic than usual (for a wedding), time did stand still when the ceremony began and all of the background noise found a way to filter itself away. it really was a magical moment that i’ve never experienced at any wedding before. being mere inches away from david and michele as they got married made for an extremely personal and emotional experience which i tried to translate into their film. when watching it, hopefully you’ll get a sense of how even though a wedding may be filled with hundreds of people, it can still feel like as if there are only two people there.

thanks to hong-an and hamilton for making us part of your day! never have we seen such an emphasis on family during a wedding day. here’s to two great families becoming one.