The camera never lies!
Friday 2nd January 2009
Snuggling up on the settee next to my husband, Dean, I could hardly contain my excitement as he pressed 'play' on the DVD remote.
'Here we go!' I giggled, as the screen flickered to life. This wasn't just any film, you see. We were about to watch the DVD of our wedding for the first time. I couldn't wait.
I'd spent nine long months planning our wedding for 3 May this year, but the day had flown by. Which is why having a DVD to remember it by was so important. We'd paid £300 for Ian Steventon from Russell Studios in Chesterfield to do the filming. Now, my stomach churned as the title appeared on the telly.
The wedding of Dean and Sara
'Great,' I tutted. 'He's spelled my name wrong. He's missed off the h.'
But I soon forgot about that as the footage of our ceremony started rolling.
'I felt so amazing in my dress,' I sighed, watching myself walk down the aisle. 'And the diamanté bodice really sparkled, didn't it?'
Dean, 37, nodded as we watched ourselves saying our vows at the Sitwell Arms Hotel
in Renishaw, Derbyshire.
'I look like a right soft git,' he laughed, as the camera zoomed in on his face.
'At least you're not crying,' I smiled, looking at the tears glistening on my cheeks.
The ceremony was filmed so beautifully. And then it cut to disco lights.
'Oh,' I said, confused. 'He's missed out what was happening while we were having our photos done.'
After the disco lights, we got a few seconds of our bridesmaids, my cousins, Ellie, 9, and Louie and Alicia, both 2, as well as Dean's nieces Jodie, 16, Jade, 14 and Jessica, 6. Then, there was a bit of Dean and I chatting to guests, followed by our first dance to a slow version of Heaven by DJ Sammy.
After that, the camera focused on five women dancing. They weren't close friends, just the wives and girlfriends of some of Dean's mates. To be honest, I didn't even know their names.
So I sat there waiting for the camera to move onto someone else. One minute passed, then
another… The camera was still focused on the same five women dancing around.
'Do you think he fancied one of them?' I frowned.
Dean raised an eyebrow.
'Where's the bride?' I muttered.
Just then, I spotted myself at the corner of the screen. I expected the camera to be on me, I was the bride after all. But it stayed on the women. I watched them wiggling around and, as the minutes ticked by, I felt myself getting angrier and angrier. Occasionally, the film cut to another guest, but it always came back to these women straight away. Ten minutes passed… then 20…
'This takes the mick,' I seethed, as 25 minutes of dancing went by. 'The DVD's only an hour long, and they take up most of it.'
Ian had managed to catch a quick glimpse of my mates, Caroline Moody, and Louise Wright, both 19, and my mum, Lorraine, 55, dancing to Elvis. Then a flash of Dean's mum, Janice, 62. But there was so much missing. The vintage Bentley my aunt Julie and uncle Terry had hired as a surprise. My mum and dad dancing together. Even Dean's sons, Adam, 16, and Jamie, 14.
'Perhaps he didn't know who was in the wedding party,' Dean said.
'Yeah right,' I scoffed. 'The men all had suits on, so it was pretty obvious.'
By the time the final credits rolled, I felt well and truly deflated.
'It wasn't great,' Dean agreed.
We weren't the only ones who thought so either. My dad, Paul, 56, thought it was awful, too.
'You should phone the bloke who took it,' he said.
Trying to stay calm, I called Ian.
'We're really disappointed with the video,' I explained.
'You never asked me to film during your photoshoot,' he said.
'I did,' I insisted. 'And £50 of the fee was specifically for that. Have you actually watched the video?'
'Of course I've watched it,' Ian said. 'I spent 20 hours editing it.'
'Editing,' I spluttered. 'Well in that case, can I see the rest of the footage?'
Three weeks later, the master copy arrived. When I watched it, I was amazed.
'There's me arriving in the wedding car,' I gasped. 'And he's got people at the dinner tables.'
'Why on didn't he put any of this on the DVD?' Dean asked.
'Because he had his eye on those women,' I said.
There were extra shots of Dean's brother, Darren, 40, who'd been best man, his sister, Deborah, 42, and Adam and Jamie, too.
'This isn't too bad,' I said. 'Goodness only knows why it didn't make the final cut.'
Since then, Ian's agreed to re-edit the video in January. Until then, I'm stuck with five dancing ladies and a load of disco lights. Not how I imagined our big day. In fact, I reckon it makes it look like a wedding don't rather than a wedding do!
Ian Steventon from Russell Studios said: 'I'm sorry that Dean and Sarah are unhappy with their DVD and I understand why. I don't like just filming the same group of people, as I understand it's boring. But I could only film what was going on. There weren't a lot of people on the dancefloor, so I had no choice. I have offered to re-edit it in January.'