Frame The Day

The bitter-sweet expression on your father’s face when he walks you down the aisle, your spouse’s first gasp when he sees you walk towards the mandap or the alter, your sister’s best dance moves to brighten up your special day, are all priceless. But what’s the point if you cannot reminisce and relive these perfect moments?

Documentary photography and film companies such as Reels and Frames, The Wedding Filmer and Memories make sure that you do not miss out on these exquisite miniature moments. They capture every detail of your special day in a peppy and quirky way, clubbed with sheer extravagance. From the most outlandish demands to the basic clichés, they fulfill all your wedding fantasies.

For Rs. 650,000 to Rs. 1 million per day for both video and photography, you could get the team that filmed Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor’s wedding. Reels and Frames provides a number of customisations and a wide array of innovative services such as a 360 degree virtual reality wedding video, formal portraits, weddings films, automated photo booths, GIF booths and super slow motion cinematography. The pricing differs on the basis of requirements, number of guests and scope of work.

Their team has done everything from an underwater shoot and funny stop motions to shooting under the Milky Way in Ladakh at 3 am. Wedding photography is an extremely difficult profession and only filmmakers or videographers understand how important it is to get the story line or the setting right. One of the quirkiest films they shot had a couple narrating their big day to their future kids in their own version of How I Met Your Mother.

To get the optimum end product, the shoots have to be candid. “We focus on raw emotions of everyone involved in the wedding. And we do that by developing good chemistry with them,” says Dhiraj Sanil, operations manager, Reels and Frames.

Their team meets the couple and their respective families over dinner or coffee a couple of times to make sure they get to know all of them well. “We constantly talk to the bride and groom as things move ahead. We keep a track of their Pinterest boards to figure out their bucket list pictures and mood board to get an in-depth knowledge about their taste and requirements,” Sanil adds.

But if you want to get the guys who pioneered innovative wedding cinematography in India over a decade ago, you can call The Wedding Filmer (TWF). It is also the team that shot the opening titles for the Zoya Akhtar directorial series Made in Heaven. Naturally, their films don’t come cheap at Rs. 3 million for a complete film package. But, their customers vouch for the fact that it is totally worth it. “The budgeting varies taking into consideration a lot of factors including your story, personality and how much of the wedding you want to remember. Whether you're having a Bollywood style grand production or an intimate backyard wedding, we'd like to treat it with the poignancy and grandeur it deserves,” according to TWF’s website.

Memories by Rahul Tilokani is another service you could opt for. By spending up to Rs.600,000 per day, you could treasure precious memories from your wedding days. Tilokani is a film school graduate who ensures that his team brings in a huge pool of creativity, and blends it with their passion to capture the most mesmerising moments. They consist of a professional team of more than 27 skilled editors, creative designers, photographers and cinematographers.

Marriages are made in heaven, they say! But on earth, there are these messiahs who make it worth every penny you spend on the lavish décor, the Sabyasachi lehenga or the Shiamak Dawar choreography.