Notes on the light
The Athenaeum is a private clubhouse in Pasadena, Spanish-colonial in style, with an arched loggia and colonnade that gives a wedding real architectural grandeur without needing much additional styling. It is one of the most striking indoor-outdoor properties we film in the San Gabriel Valley, equally dramatic in daylight and lit up after dark.
The spaces, and how they film
The Colonnade. Corinthian columns and a covered arched walkway anchor the ceremony space, old olive trees standing just beyond it. It needs almost nothing added to look completely finished on camera.
The Evening Reception. The same colonnade carries a reception beautifully after dark, warm light catching the carved capitals overhead in a way that reads as genuinely grand rather than staged.
The film, so far
We have made one film here so far: Chloe & Francis, a ceremony beneath the colonnade followed by a reception that carried on late under the same arches, lit up for the night.
Filming here
Because the colonnade is covered, weather is rarely a concern here, and we plan coverage to take advantage of the space both in daylight and after dark, since the architecture reads dramatically different, and equally well, in both.