Super 8 Wedding Films at Boone Hall

Real 8mm film under the Avenue of Oaks. Here is Nicki and Matt’s wedding at Boone Hall Plantation & Gardens, shot entirely on Super 8.

Filming Super 8 at Boone Hall

Boone Hall is the one Charleston venue almost everyone has already seen a picture of. The Avenue of Oaks runs most of a mile from the gate to the house, live oaks planted in the 1700s, Spanish moss moving in whatever breeze there is. On Super 8 it looks like it could have been shot fifty years ago, which is exactly the point.

The oaks do a lot of the work. Film loves contrast and movement, and the avenue gives you both: hard sunlight breaking through the canopy, moss drifting, and a long straight line for two people to walk down. The shot I keep coming back to from this day is Nicki and Matt walking the avenue toward the house, and it is one of the reasons couples ask me about Boone Hall specifically.

Worth knowing if you are getting married here: the avenue is bright and dappled through the middle of the day, so I plan the walk and the portraits for the last two hours of light, when the sun comes in low from the side. The reception spaces go dark quickly after sunset, and that is where I switch stocks and let the string lights and the band do the rest. A cartridge runs about three minutes, so the whole day is about choosing moments instead of rolling on everything.

Your film goes to a lab, gets developed, and gets scanned. What comes back is a physical thing that was exposed on your wedding day. Nothing about the look is added later in an app.