Maddie + Ben

As wedding videographers, we love a good New Year’s wedding and are really excited that they are becoming a more popular time to get married. We hardly ever actually make NYE plans that live up to the expectations we have for December 31st, and an amazingly fun and glamorous party like this one is definitely where we’d rather be. Maddie and Ben wanted to create an epic party for their closest friends and family to celebrate the start of 2016 and their new life together, and they definitely nailed it! It started on New Year’s Eve with a rehearsal dinner at Pinstripes in Edina where everybody rang in the new year over bowling, bocce and a good brew or two. Maddie & Ben’s fun spirit really came alive around their friends and family, and everybody had an awesome night!

The celebration continued on January 2nd at Aria Minneapolis. This day brought together some of our favorite vendors in the Twin Cities including Style-Architects who continues to blow us away each time we get to work with them. The ceremony and reception, which were both at Aria, looked absolutely killer! The whole place sparkled, literally shining with all the candlelight on the sequin linens. The ceremony was not only incredibly beautiful, but it felt intimate, heartfelt and warm. After the couple skipped down the aisle (literally skipped, it was pretty cute) we ran a time-lapse video of the whole team flipping the room to prepare for the reception while all the guests enjoyed happy hour. Aria is an incredible space for something like this. It’s absolutely transformable and when all of these teams come together to create something, it’s very special. The amount of teamwork it took to pull off the room flip and all the décor was really amazing. You can check out the quick room flip video here.

The Johnny Holm Band kicked off the reception and added an extra five shots of energy to the party. Johnny has been a Minnesota establishment for over four decades. He was once quoted in the Star Tribune as saying, “What I’m about is engaging an audience and involving myself with them and them with me.” That’s exactly what he and his band do best, really engaging the crowd with anything from the limbo, to River Dance or a classic Spice Girls sing-along. Everybody had a blast and the event was definitely up there on the list of most kickass parties we’ve shot so far. We might stay for the party a bit longer than a typical videographer…for us it’s aaaall about the dance footage. The pressure is off at that time of the night, and we can relax and capture some really smooth dance moves. It’s also the most fun part to look through and edit later; it’s hard not to smile watching a group of friends get weird and laughing together. This party did not disappoint.

Simply put, I can’t imagine a better way to kick off 2016. It’s going to be a great year. Cheers to Maddie & Ben!