"Who even are you?!"

We're Steve & Yvonne, we are Cherry Tree Films, no "crew", no second shooters, just the two of us.

Ironically we're pretty reserved, and prefer to be behind the camera rather than in front of it, so if you wonder why you don't see us doing stories in Insta telling you about our daily struggles and just how many bookings we're taking each day, it's because it really isn't our thing. We're confident in our films and don't feel the need to tell everyone how busy we are.

On that note actually, we only take a strictly limited number of wedding commissions each year. One because we value our free time, and two because we did the 'crazy-time' a good decade ago and realised all it does is affect the level of time spent in the edit, and we never want to compromise that. A Cherry Tree edit takes as long as it takes, and as such we have plenty of time available to spend on every film with no self-imposed deadlines. (see our previous post about Customer Service)

Another thing you don't see us doing is the whole 'behind the scenes' thing on a wedding day. There's one very simple reason for this. We're commissioned to film a wedding, so it's not all about us, we want to concentrate 100% on you, and telling your story. We don't need the distractions of trying to get BTS shots, or photos for Insta, we took the decision right back at the start of Instagram to fully focus on the wedding and leave all that alone. Maybe to the detriment of our marketing strategy, but definitely to the benefit of our films and our couples.

That's just us though, as we said, we're more comfortable behind the lens.

So, Steve & Yvonne

You might be surprised to know that we're both Biology graduates, Steve has a BSc (Hons) in Biological Sciences (Microbiology) from the University of Birmingham, and Yvonne a BSc (Hons) in Biological Sciences from Napier University in Edinburgh.

We spent the first years of our working career in the pharmaceutical industry, which is where we met, and married in 1996. Yep a fair while ago, but hey rest-assured we're obviously pretty good at working together 😉

After a few years of corporate life a rather hefty pivot saw Yvonne first start her own Wedding Planning business, and not long after realised the state of "wedding video" back then was not very impressive at all. Steve's comment was "I can do better than that", and off we went. We started a wedding videography company with a terrible name, and then re-branded some years later to become Cherry Tree Films as Yvonne started filming too. The rest is, of course, history.

What are we like?

Steve has a dry sense of humour, sometimes too dry, Yvonne knows the 'tell' of the tiny smirk, but sometimes it gets him into trouble (briefly until the smile makes sense). He's also a hopeless romantic, cries at anything, and loves watching movies (annoyingly commenting on shots, angles, lighting or continuity errors!). He's also (a little embarrassed to say at his age) a gamer, and has been since the age of 12 (ZX Spectrum). All flavours of console and PC, and he'll challenge any groom to a game of Fifa/EAFC. [Side note: check out the video below of Casie & Anthony's Wedding - Anthony is an incredible enviromental artist for Naughty Dog - Steve fanboyed very hard that day - The Last of Us is one of his all-time fave video games!].
Steve loves a huge range of music, from 80's to metal, from Billy Joel to Bring Me The Horizon, and loves going to gigs although the front row is out of bounds nowadays.

He loves weddings because of the challenge of starting with 12 hours of footage and a blank timeline, and many many days later having created a film that is to be treasured. It's truly meaningful. To create something that will stay with a couple for their lifetime, and just as importantly the generations to come. It's hugely special. That's why the word "Timeless" appears a lot in our ramblings.

Fads fade, timeless remains.

Yvonne is the nice one. She's warm and friendly, she's supremely organised and everything would fall apart without her. She's funny too and loves slapstick humour, at least when it happens to Steve. Our garden is her pride and joy, from a blank canvas to a mature beautifully planned garden is no mean feat. (We moved recently so gets to do it all over again!). She's sociable and enjoys a good night out with her friends. She quite likes champagne (ahem).

To Yvonne the importance of the day isn't lost on her. Being part of a couples special day, soaking up all the wonderful and different emotions - excitement, nervousness, love and humour - it's such a beautiful thing to be part of. Working hard to capture these emotions gives her a real buzz and is the ultimate reward for the hard work, planning and time that goes into filming a wedding. Using her attention to detail skills to look for all the little details that really mean something to the couple, all of these things play their part in creating a truly special film that stays with them forever.

We're genuinely a chilled couple, we try not to take things too seriously and love a good laugh, we're hard-working, educated, and do absolutely everything we can for every single client. It's really personal for us, it's getting to know what's important to you and making sure your film is perfect for you. The whole experience for our couples matters. Before the day, on the day and well after the film has been delivered. We can say that the reputation we've built up over the years is a testament to all of that.

So we'll work hard and we'll dedicate as much of our time as is needed, giving you a cracking film you'll be proud to share to family and friends. A timeless keepsake for the generations to come.

If we sound like your kind of people, then please do get in touch about your day sooner rather than later. Remember, our diary is limited.

Speak soon.

Steve & Yvonne x