VII | The Fernandos

LOOK UP COUPLE GOALS IN THE DICTIONARY AND YOU’LL FIND THE FERNANDOS.

This duo is a match made in heaven and it was an honour to celebrate their 7th year of marriage by creating this lifestyle film. They deserve major props for braving the cold in what felt like -20 degree Celsius weather! It’s hard to tell but they couldn’t feel their hands for most of the shoot. And funny enough, all you could feel is the warmth of love they have for each other while watching the video. At the end of the film they reveal some exciting news.

They’re having a baby!

To further tell the story of their marriage, I had the idea of incorporating symbolism and meaningful imagery that would reference specific milestones and events throughout their seven years together. I put together a relationship questionnaire that I had Tammy and Sheldon fill out and pulled inspiration from their answers.

Here’s what we came up with. There are seven symbols; fitting for celebrating seven years. I’ve listed them below in no particular order.

Feel free to watch the film again and see how these intentional momentos help bring their seven years all together to climax at their next big milestone, their pregnancy.

Tammy’s Necklace

Tammy’s necklace represents their son Leo that they lost at the age of 34 weeks. It was gifted to her from her brother in law after Tammy and Sheldon had Leo.

The necklace has a big lion and a smaller lion on it. “The bigger lion representing God the Father and the smaller lion representing Leo.”

Light

The concept of light represents their faith and how God has always been a huge part of their relationship. I wanted the light to be obvious throughout the film. Depicted through the golden sunlight during the day and the fairy bulbs at night. Even when the sun set, light was still present as is God in the darker parts of life.

Fairy Bulbs and Moon

If you’re a stickler for the details, you’ll notice that there are intentionally seven bulbs hung on the trees. Each bulb represents a years of marriage they’ve reached.

The other dominant light source in this scene is the moon. The film ends with a tilt up to the moon foreshadowing their next year of marriage being out of this world!

Throw Blanket

This specific throw blanket is from the Attwell bookstore which is where they first met.

It was also very fitting for the low temperature that day!

Bench

Before Sheldon asked Tammy to marry him they had a favourite bench at a park where they would have life chats at.

We hauled a bench to this scene to represent the beginning stages of their relationship.

DANCE

Tammy and Sheldon’s “epic wedding dance party” was listed in their top 10 moments of their marriage. To reference this fun memory, we had dance breaks throughout the film.

ORCHESTRA MUSIC

For their first date, Sheldon took Tammy to see the Toronto Symphony Orchestra Charity Event with Steve Bell. To tie that into the film, I made sure the background audio track had hints of instruments you’d typically hear in an orchestra (specifically violins and cellos).