Mani & Mojgan

Santorini light moves fast. Harsh white by midday, gold within the hour. Timing the ceremony coverage meant working with the sun rather than against it. Mani and Mojgan married on a clifftop above the caldera, whitewashed walls on one side, the Aegean dropping away on the other, and the whole day took its shape from that view. We kept the ceremony filming simple, wide shots for the scale of it, tighter frames for the vows, nothing competing with what was already in front of the lens.

Destination weddings run on a different clock. Guests arrive over several days instead of one evening, so there's more time beforehand to catch the quieter things, a dress being steamed on a balcony, family arriving by boat. The reception ran into the blue hour, and Santorini sunsets don't need much help from a camera operator, just patience and the right position. Cutting the film afterward, the hard part wasn't finding beautiful footage. It was leaving enough of it out that the couple stayed at the centre of their own film instead of the island around them.