Engagements Short Films

Gina and Matt have been together for the last 4 years. Having met at Nichols College in Massachusetts, the two fell in love over the next few years. Gina is a cousin to the
owner of Country Girl Collections Wedding Planning Anna Mattoon’s husband Matthew. Anna and Matt, our groom had been collaborating for the past year or so on the idea of a secret proposal to Gina once Matt finished his degree. Gina has talked about getting married but Matt insisted they wait until school was finished. Fast forward to spring of 2015, with Matt graduating, Anna and Matt planned on a “Styled Shoot” that Anna would direct. Having Gina and Matt model for the images to be submitted, Matt planned on proposing to Gina during the so-called styled shoot with out Gina knowing it was coming. With this concept now in full swing, Anna brought in Kelly Hart of That Girl… hair & makeup to style up our “bride”. Anna was going to photograph this History in the Making moment and Kelly thought they needed to have video brought in. In comes Matt Van Ness of MV Films. Between Anna, Kelly, Matt our groom, and Matt Van Ness, we all made sure we were on the same page and on Sunday May 24th, 2015 in the later afternoon, located in the English Garden of Wickham Park, the so called secret proposal styled shoot commenced. Kelly started on makeup with Gina while Anna setup the decorations and Matt began filming. Once Gina was ready, we toured the grounds around the English Garden making a few stops around some beautiful scenery. As we were capturing moments with Gina and Matt, we made sure Matt our groom was ready as we ventured closer to the “proposal” location. As the big moment came about, we had Kelly freshen up Gina while Anna, Matt our groom and Matt on video collaborated one last time before he got down on one knee. With Gina still unaware of what was about to happen, we had her step up underneath a park feature that was all decorated by Anna facing us while we filmed and photographed. Matt our groom stepped up to the top step and got down on one knee. With Gina still facing Matt on film, Matt instructed Gina to continue facing the camera while he slowly had her turn to her left where in that moment, Matt on video said “Gina, turn around.” Once she did, Matt was down on one knee with the ring in hand, tears showing asking Gina to marry him. Gina’s reaction was an amazing once in a life time moment that we are so thankful to have been able to capture. Gina said yes in tears and the two of them embraced. With Kelly and Anna’s husband Matt in the background on looking, everyone cheered for the happy couple. History in the Making.

Soundtrack: “History in the Making” by Darius Rucker
For promotional purposes only. No copyright infringement intended.

Fall for us has been popular for filming and creating engagement films. For this, we ventured down to Harkness State Park located in Waterford, CT for our couple, Marie and Markel. Such a fantastic couple that when you watch and see how they react to one another, they truly are meant for each other. We believe that this short film really truly shows how well they compliment each other and how awesome this day was. We started off mid day meeting down at the park and had begun filming closest to the Eolia Mansion. With three outfit changes on hand, we decided to split up the multiple locations of the park with the three different outfits to which you will see. Filming at some of the key well known areas of the park, we also wandered over to some of the spots that we have never filmed at before. With the weather being actually decent, a tad windy, this all worked out well. The sun shining, we had great light and, well see for yourself on how the day unfolded.

Key Players:
Hair: Melanie from Larissa Lake Makeup Artist
Makeup: Laura from Larissa Lake Makeup Artist
Location: Harkness State Park | Waterford, CT

With a perfect Sunday afternoon in sunny downtown New Haven, we couldn’t asked for more. We started off with Josh Guiles and myself meeting up with our couple Nicole (Nikki) and Chris at Bar in downtown New Haven to discuss our engagement session location game plan and to catch up with each other. With the weather being awesome, a little windy but awesome, we walked on down a few blocks to a bar called Firehouse 12 located on Crown St. The front doors to this establishment were very artistic and interesting to film. Firehouse 12 also happens to be a favorite spot for our couple.

From here, we ventured over to Woolsey Hall, a part of Yale University’s campus. With a lot of intricate architecture and design, we thought it was a great spot. Going into the courtyard of Woolsey Hall, we found some awesome spots to pose our couple and with the sun light changing and fading on us, we decided after we finished that we would head on over to Lighthouse Point and capture the sun setting on the beach with our couple. We arrived just in time as the sun was setting over West Haven and it was the perfect way to end our session. Check this film out!

Important Players:
Hair: Melanie from Larissa Lake Makeup Artist
Makeup: Melanie from Larissa Lake Makeup Artist
Photography: Josh Guiles of J Guiles Photography

This by far has been a different style engagement film. How many can say that they had the opportunity to film on an air force base, go inside a C-5 plane and walk the tarmac of a well known base! For one, we had to have a background check done on us via the F.B.I. before entering Westover Air Force Base located in Chicopee, MA. Daniel our groom is stationed here and to him, these planes are normal for him to see…but for us, it was a little intimidating. Both Nicole + Dan rocked this session and our time with them was awesome! During the filming process, Daniel gave us a tour of the hanger facilities and inside and out of the C-5 plane. It was pretty fantastic to see all of this up close, in person. Check out their evening engagement and what we think is to be one of our more EPIC engagement films.

Big shout out to Airen Miller of Airen Miller Photography for recommending us to Nicole + Daniel and working with us on this shoot! Check Airen out at www.amillerphoto.com. You will love his work!

Locals of Meriden, Claudia and Michael wanted to do things a bit different and have their engagement film take place on down in Mystic, CT and then over to Watch Hill in Westerly, RI. We were totally in for doing this and so glad we made this happen! Bravo Bravo, a restaurant located in Mystic was the location of where Mike proposed to Claudia with family and friends surround them one winter evening. Such a great idea to go back to where it all started! With both of them being fans of Watch Hill, and its location being so close, why not finish up the evening over at the beach and at this shoreline front town! With their 2015 wedding, this was so great to be able to get to know them more and to have a little fun a few Sundays ago!

These two are so much fun to work with! We had a blast shooting and capturing their engagement session which was held up at Wickham Park in Manchester, CT a few weeks back. As you watch them, you can truly see their love for each other as well as how both react to one another. With an amazing Sunday afternoon planned, we shot in various locations around Wickham Park and ended with an awesome sun set overlooking downtown Hartford. Their 2015 wedding can’t get here any sooner! Check it out.