Our Wedding Told by Film
from the archives
In honor of my husband and I’s wedding anniversary, I thought I’d share some snippets of film from our wedding weekend.
If you were to ask me why I love film, it’s because it was the first medium I felt truly connected to. My mom recently told me that I would steal her film camera as a curious 5 year old, which eventually led her to buying me disposable cameras. I vaguely recall going to Walmart to drop off my film to get it developed. I’m not sure what happened, but I lost my connection to film photography in my teens.
When I look back at the iPhone pictures I took in college, a lot of them are of things I love photographing today: flowers, landscapes, interiors, portraits, etc. It wasn’t until the summer of 2022 that I bought a film camera and reconnected with this forgotten passion of mine. Being able to photograph a few moments during our venue visit and wedding day was a dream.
Our Wedding Venue
Anytime I think back to the first time we stepped into our venue, I think of these decorative clay masks. As soon as you walk in, you see these on the wall, inconspicuous, waiting to be seen. Once I set my eyes on them, it was hard to move on. So much so I photographed this spot twice without realizing it.
Before stepping inside you’re greeted with lavender bushes. They remind me of the French lavender my mother in law brought me back from France when my husband and I first started dating. I was also transported back to the first time I went to France to visit my husband’s family. It felt like a piece of France was integrating into our wedding in Mexico.
My husband walking down one of the long hallways that would seat half our guests and ultimately fulfill my vision of a continuous long table.
While wandering these halls, I recalled how this wedding venue seemed like a far fetched dream. We hadn’t started wedding planning yet, but I remember showing my husband a video of it and thinking how cool it’d be to get married here. Fast forward a year and a half and we were doing our venue walk through at that exact place.
Looking into the courtyard that would be transformed into a dance floor during our wedding reception.
Welcome Party
Our wedding weekend was officially beginning and I was getting ready to slip into my welcome party dress. I remember pausing for a moment, looking up and catching a glimpse of my dress. Grabbing my camera, I snapped a picture. The way the colors are captured here is one of the main reasons shooting on film brings me so much joy.
Wedding Day
I remember our wedding morning vividly. I ate breakfast with my fiancé and our two families that would quickly become one larger family later that afternoon. I changed into my getting ready outfit and I made gift baskets for my friends and family. Throughout the blur of the morning, I got a few chances to pick up my film camera.
I had just gotten my makeup done and I saw my welcome party dress and my reception dress in the corner. I quickly grabbed my camera and snapped a picture. At the time I had wished this was more in focus, but I’ve come to enjoy the softness of how it turned out.
The last picture I took that day was of my veil. My friends had helped me hang up my veil and dress and I knew I wanted to capture the details of it. I had dreamed of this embroidery for almost two years and there I was hours away from wearing it down the aisle.
Disposables
We had a mix of black and white + color disposables. We handed them out after the ceremony and let our friends and family run wild. 99% of them are pictures of our loved ones. Below are a handful of the tablescape and a few of us.
I changed out of my gown into a reception dress and I added a floral headband. My husband donned the light up cowboy hats and heart sunglasses we bought as dance floor props. We spent the rest of the night on the dance floor with our loved ones.
Post Wedding
The morning after our wedding, I woke up during sunrise and stepped outside of our room. I looked to my left and replayed memories of the wedding ceremony. Just 16 hours prior, our loved ones had been seated in front of this bougainvillea and witnessed a union 5 years in the making. This image will forever be engrained in my memory.
I turned to my right and looked to the cypress trees in the distance. I had observed this scene before in the days leading up to the wedding but that morning it stopped me in my tracks.
I went back inside and took a picture of my wedding bouquet. This is my type of bouquet preservation.
Sadly, I didn’t take any film the rest of our time at the venue. The exhaustion kicked in quickly after all the festivities had ended and all I wanted to do was rest, relax and enjoy the last few moments of our wedding weekend. We look forward to going back to this venue and enjoying a future anniversary reliving the memories of that magical weekend.
If you want to see more film and learn more about our visit to San Miguel de Allende, you can read more about it here.
I’m obviously biased, but all pictures from our wedding weekend will be my favorite. Thank you for letting me share it with you! Let me know below if you enjoyed this look back on film and if you’d like to see more of it.
xx Ofelia
I wish I was there!
Beautiful venue and even more beautiful photos! So many special moments in each one