Gar and William at The MCA

Video Document: marriage ceremony of Gar and William at the Museum of
Contemporary Art. I was the lead videographer for this ceremony and
reception at the MCA. Gar and William had flown in from New York a
few days before and we met at the W Hotel to plan the coverage. With
this meeting I finally, fully absorbed that Gar was indeed a woman’s
name and not short for Garfield or Garabaldi. William (and his
attending relatives) were natives of the U.K. and spoke with precise
British diction and it was difficult to not embarrass myself by
imitating their infectious dialect.
The initial plan was to have the ceremony on the back terrace of the
MCA. However, torrential rains forced a relocation to the 4th floor
balcony of the interior. The Fig DJ crew (Hafeez, James, and Emily)
set up audio support (music playback, microphone and speaker) for the
ceremony.
This was a very cramped space in which to document a wedding. Very
difficult to get clean lines of site. Fig intern Chris Weiher operated
a tripod mounted camera to get a “full frontal” shot while I operated
in hand-held, stealth mode to get to close-ups of the couple.
Working in tandem with photographer Belen Aquino (from Orange 2) we
were able to navigate into a small gap between the line of groomsman
and a floral display to get a clear vantage point of Gar delivering her
vows. The ceremony was roughly 10 minutes long. Probably the
shortest ceremony I’ve ever documented.
Prior to the ceremony, while waiting for the Justice of the Peace to
arrive (rain delay?) the bride tucked herself away in one of the
exhibit rooms. I was able to get some great shots of Gar, clad in
white, standing amongst room full of black, steel industrial barrels
full of water.
Later in the evening (after toasts and some dancing) the photo crew
(Belen, Chris, and myself) wandered over to Michigan avenue to get some
shots of Gar and William frolicking on Michigan avenue, and meandering
around the Water Tower, illuminated by street lights and passing
vehicles.
Returning to the MCA we found the party in full swing. The dance
floor was jumping until the place shut down at midnight. Bizarre Love
Triangle was enthusiastically selected by the crowd as the last song.
Got some great footage of Gar and William dancing and lip-syncing to
BLT: low angle shots, with the vast space of the MCA stretching out
above, as they locked eyes and shimmied.
At the end of the night William conveyed to me how impressed he was
with the enthusiasm and energy of the video crew, which was even better
than a gratuity. However, we later received a gratuity as well.
Great night. Then I went home to get myself in gear to do it all again
on Sunday: Video Document in Joliet.


Carl Wiedemann: Lead Videographer

Equipment:
PD170 camera, Samson wireless mics

Video assistant: Chris Weiher, Fig intern

Fig DJs: James Gustin, Hafeez Surami, Emily

Photography: Belen Aquino with Orange 2