
Hey there. Welcome to my blog! Writing has been in my bones for my entire life; from journaling every day, writing songs, half-written books, and all the notes in my phone that are my random thoughts but have nowhere to permanently live yet, this is for you. This is the space where you can live. An outlet for all my unspoken thoughts to be shared, related with, and enjoyed.
I have filmed numerous weddings over the last 5 years since I opened my doors in 2018 and after each year of weddings I find myself feeling like I can't remember actually filming a single one. I've been feeling like I need closure for each wedding because of the amount of time, energy and effort I put into being at each wedding I take (unless I had to go on maternity leave) and being the sole editor of each film produced by my brand consumes so much of me and then sending it off often just feels like I am checking a box and not fully reveling in the beauty of what I just created and the love story that was told. So, for quite some time I have been wanting to write about at least one wedding per month, just for a place to start. I figured that before I jump into that, a bit of my story needs to be told. I'd love to share with you how I got from there to here. Let's jump in.
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN.
In 2017 I married my best friend of 10 years. We met in 8th grade, he was my first kiss, and only guy I have ever kissed, and we dated for 9 years before we finally said "I do". I had planned our entire wedding and found myself really loving the process more than I thought I would since I am not super girly at heart. We wrote our own vows and shared them during the ceremony and I could not wait to see how my videographers were going to tell our story through our film. 6 months later, we got our film back and not a single ounce of audio was used in our film from our wedding, it was only music. I didn't shed a tear when I watched it and I felt so sad. I was sad that it felt like our story hadn't been told. (Stay tuned for when I finally sit down and re-work our film one day, btw). Anyways, they wouldn't re-edit it so I was stuck with it the way it was: storyless. So this got my wheels turning.
I have had a camera in my hands in so many different ways throughout my life. Directing home videos with my siblings, yearbook, church videos, sports events, etc. Somehow, that camera kept landing back in my palms throughout my years. I went to college and got a degree in Special Education because I have always had a heart for kids, and I taught SPED for 4 wonderful years. I am sure someday I will go back. But during those 4 years, I also built the business you are reading about today. In 2018, my sister in law got married and although I was in her wedding as a bridesmaid, she was kind enough to let me carry around a camera and attempt to make a film for them. This is some REAL vulnerability here, but linked below is their film. My very FIRST wedding film. I share this not only to show you how much I have grown and learned, but also for those of you who are just starting to be a filmmaker, nowhere is too far from the bottom. You can do it!
Anyways, after this wedding I was HOOKED. I basically started to film for free for anyone who would let me. I joined the Full Time Filmmaker course by Jake Weisler and Parker Walbeck and they pretty much taught me all the logistical stuff I clearly had no clue about...see above video for reference.
Here's a quick breakdown of the years following:
In 2018, I proceeded to film a total of 4 weddings, including my sister in laws.
In 2019, I filmed 17 weddings.
In 2020, I filmed 40 weddings.
In 2021, I filmed 41 weddings (and had a baby and went full time as a filmmaker).
In 2022, I filmed 52 weddings.
In 2023, I will film 35 weddings (cutting it back because I died at 52).
Instead typing out the way I evolved in my filmmaking, I decided I'd just show you through my past work. Here is my a film from late 2019, when I was still full time teaching and filming on the side:
Here is my a film from late 2020, again still full time teaching, and also COVID, when my business really took off:
Here is a film from late 2021, when I had gone full time into filmmaking:
Here is a film from late 2022, where I had finally found my love for Vintage Super 8 and incorporated adventure sessions for all of my couples:
And finally, my first full Super 8 Wedding film from 2023:
Man. Just going through and remembering all the couples that I have had the absolute most fun capturing over the years makes me so grateful for your trust. From the bottom of my heart to all my past couples, thank you. Thank you for allowing me to not only tell your story, but to be able to evolve, learn, and grow with each wedding I have filmed. I am forever grateful for each couple I have met along the way, and for every vendor that has encouraged me and pushed me to greater heights that I ever could have achieved on my own. Y'all rock.
Anyways, moving on to how photos got involved. At first, I actually named my business Bri Poehler Film and Foto because I thought I might want to offer both someday. After I second shot a wedding with a photographer in 2020 (maybe? I don't remember) I found myself feeling so overwhelmed and was like, uhh nope. I am just gonna stay in my lane and do my video thing. That is, until in 2022 I decided to start snapping just a quick photo or two on wedding days to use for social media / vimeo when I post. If you look back at the screen covers from the 2019-2021 films, you can see a huge difference between the quality of just doing a screen grab from 1080p or 4K, verses the 2022-2023 which are actual jpeg files. BIG difference, right? It's nuts. But as I started snapping pics at weddings, those 1-2 pictures grew into 8-10, sometimes 20-30 if I was really feeling it, but I just couldn't get enough! I could turn my camera vertical and was AMAZED at what my horizontal limitations on video were missing.
I ended up shooting a few family sessions for some friends at my church, a few senior sessions, and finally photographed my first wedding in July of 2023. Here are a few photos from that wedding:
I have also been thinking about creating family films too. I know how much I cherish the videos of my little one and even loved watching videos of myself and our family growing up as kids. I think that adding sweet little family films to family photo sessions should totally be a thing. I also think that maternity/newborn video / vintage film photo sessions should also be a thing too and I am working on a few examples of those for ya to cast some vision, but I am excited to see that part of my field of work grow. HINT to past couples to let me capture your sweet growing families too :)
All in all, these are the reasons for my rebrand this year: a desire to incorporate photos for weddings and jump into the family realm of sessions. If you've made it this far, whether you actually read or just scrolled, thanks for letting my words reach ya. Let me be the first to welcome you to the new future of Bri Poehler Films:
Welcome to Bri Poehler Media. Life is beautiful; let's capture it.

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