Hi, there! My name is Vera D. and I’m a bride blogger planning my 10-10-10 wedding. Every Thursday, I’m going to introduce you to vendors local to the Bay Area that you should consider in your search.  I’ve found these vendors on my own, probably like you have — combing wedding websites, blogs, online review sites, Craigslist, you name it.

In the coming weeks, you’ll be meeting an affordable jeweler with ethereal tastes, the most outgoing hair stylist I’ve ever met to date, and a down-to-earth photographer with a great eye.

On this inaugural post, I’m pleased to introduce you to Aaron Lee, of Aaron Lee Films, based in San Francisco, whom Corina Beczner of Vibrant Events recommended. I’ve enjoyed Aaron’s videos, as seen on his website, and his amiable personality shines through!

Mike and Melissa by Aaron Lee Films

1. Why did you decide to go into video? What are you passionate about?
My father was a network news correspondent, so I think I started off in T.V. as a news cameraman in an effort to follow in his footsteps. At the time of course, I thought I was doing it because I actually enjoyed the process of covering “the news.” There was a lot of excitement, danger, and intense emotion. I was operating as a successful freelance content provider, and selling 100 stories a year to local and network news outlets. I did develop a genuine passion for going after “the story”, but the repeated exposure to tragedy, and long overnight hours were taking their toll on my psyche. Plus my wife and I wanted to start our family, so running around the streets of Oakland all night long, sometimes into the day if a story “broke”, wasn’t conducive to the type of family life we wanted.

Without too much planning about what I was going to do, we got pregnant. Yay! I worked through the first 8 months of the pregnancy, and then basically quit the news business. My wife actually went back to work part-time before I did, and with some help from my Italian mother-in-law I was a stay at home dad. We bled cash for about 8 months, but I wouldn’t give that time back for anything.

After about seven months though, I was ready to get out of the house a bit. I had done the video for a couple of friend’s weddings in the past year, so I went ahead and cut a 90 second demo, and bought an ad on theknot.com. I told my first few customers, “Hey, I’m new to weddings, but here’s what I’ve done so far. Yours will be at least this good.” I was very fortunate to get hired by some really nice people who had planned some fabulous weddings, and I never looked back.

2. How would you describe your style? What do you think sets you apart from other videographers?
If I had to sum it up I’d call it “Cinematic Documentary.” I came up in news, but early on in my wedding journey, I discovered this amazing community of event filmmakers who were focused on artistry and cinematography as well as telling the story. Stillmotion, Bob Nicolas, and Cloud Nine Creative were the first to open my eyes to the new heights that wedding “video” had reached, and continues to climb. I try to capture all the moments, but always with an artistic eye. I’m also a musician, so the highlight montages are what I do best.

What sets me and my colleagues that I admire (because I’m not alone in this) is that I truly care. I’m not churning out content with a formula. Of course there’s a style and structure that I like, but each movie I make is done “from scratch.” I’m not in weddings because I couldn’t do something else. I’m here because I love it.

3. What is your favorite part of a wedding?
Wow, it’s tough to choose one part of the wedding day as my favorite. But I’m going to go with the vows. That’s truly the moment. Up there, in front of everyone, eye to eye with each other, and you make that commitment, you say those words, tears roll, and you cross a threshold in life.

4. How do you know what music to use? Clips?
Music is so important, and the selection process varies from client to client. Some brides give me a list to work from, and others will have me pitch ideas. I always have a list of songs that I want to use, and sometimes ideas present themselves. One time when I was procrastinating and reading Perez (don’t laugh), he had a link to an unreleased acoustic version of “Umbrella.” I’ll admit that I wasn’t that familiar with the original at that time, but this acoustic guitar version was making me well up with tears just listening to it. So I immediately emailed a client and said, “Hey, do you like this?” She loved it, so I made this video.  That video got such a great response. In a way, it put me on the map.

5. What has been your favorite wedding so far? What made it so special?
One of my favorite weddings was Heatherose and James. I think that the couple’s clearly unique style, and intense love for each other and their circle of friends made for such an emotional day. Add in the dramatic setting of the Scottish Rite temple in Oakland, and the pure good luck of working with Ben Chrisman and I can’t think of a wedding that inspired me more. Heatherose and James are fearless people. They take life seriously, and celebrate love.

6. What would be your dream wedding to film?
I want to film a Philippine wedding. Like, “in the Philippines” Philippine. I don’t know if you’re familiar with the weddings there, but I love the culture, the architecture, the family bonds, and the desire of the clients to have amazing videos. It’s a big deal over there. Videographers are hired before the photographers. Imagine that!