Mariah & Joey
Married under the trees, with the whole canyon leaning in. Sound on.
Everyone close.
Mariah and Joey were married at Calamigos Ranch, in one of the grove sites where the guests sit near enough to reach the aisle. The ceremony structure was strung with lights and dressed in blush, and the trees closed over the whole thing.
The recessional is the moment the film turns on. Every hand out, petals still coming down, and the two of them walking straight through the middle of it. We shot it from the aisle rather than the back, which is the only way that frame works.
Under the canopy.
The grove sites at Calamigos are the ones people picture when they picture this venue, and they are also the ones that punish a careless camera. Mature trees break the afternoon sun into hard patches that drift through a ceremony, so a face that is perfectly exposed during the vows can be half in shadow by the ring exchange. We expose for skin rather than for the leaves, position so the couple are not standing in a hotspot, and let the background blow out where it wants to. Fighting dappled light almost always looks worse than working with it. We have now filmed four weddings across this ranch, on different sites, and the plan changes with each one. More in our notes on filming at Calamigos Ranch.
