With Shaun's family Sunshine Coast QLD based and ALL of TJ's over in the UK we knew, when planning our own wedding, that this was going to be the only time they would all be in the same place together. Not the first time. The ONLY time.
That changed the way we thought of our wedding, suddenly it wasn't just about the playlist, the styling or writing our vows... It was about creating time for our favourite people, who'd only ever heard each other's names, a chance to tell stories and make memories together.
So we planned a 5-day destination wedding-holiday... In fact, we actually kept the destination a surprise and managed to get everyone on a plane to Airlie Beach without them even knowing where they were flying to!
The wedding day itself was absolutely perfect, of course, but even with our planning a holiday for everyone, we hadn't truly expected just how much the other days would matter. The slow mornings, snorkelling adventures, long lunches and the evenings full of laughter where nobody quite wanted to be the first to call it a night.
By the time we actually said our vows, our people weren't two separate families sitting politely on either side of the aisle. They were one single group of friends who had already got the 'small talk' out of the way and now had conversations of depth and shared jokes. It was beautiful.
The best part? All these years later, they still message each other, comment on each other's photos from opposite sides of the planet, remember birthdays across time zones. I can talk about my family (TJ's) to Shaun's and they know exactly who I mean, how my mum would've said a particular thing in that particular anecdote and vice versa.
This is all a long way of saying that when a couple tells us they're planning something longer, whether that's a welcome dinner the night before, a recovery day by the pool or a whole week somewhere beautiful, we get genuinely excited, because we know from our own experience what those extra days can give you.
The lovely thing about a longer celebration is that the story has room to breathe; there's the nervous energy of the first evening, the way people gradually loosen up, and that moment when two families stop being careful with each other and start being familiar. Those are the things we want in a film, because they're exactly the things you'll want to come back to in twenty years, when half the people in it are scattered across the world again.
It isn't for everyone, and we'd never pretend otherwise. A longer wedding takes more organising, more patience, and a fair bit of trust that your guests will make the most of the time you've given them. But if you've got people travelling a long way to be with you, people who might not get another chance to be in the same place, it's worth at least wondering what a few more days could do.
If that's where your plans are heading, we'd love to hear about it, whether it's two days or five or a week somewhere we've never been. Tell us who's coming and where you're dreaming of, and we'll tell you what we'd love to film.
Shaun and TJ x
Twelve years filming the same conference. Here’s what actually gets used.
Anyone can make a room look busy for ninety seconds. Stage lights. A keynote. Hands in the air. Cut to
