Christina and Andy's Surprise Wedding in Chicago

Christina and Andy pulled off the surprise of a lifetime when they secretly got married and announced it to their family and friends later that night at their supposed engagement party. Let's dive in to all of the details!

I think it makes sense to start all the way at the beginning. In early 2025, Christina texted me with a crazy idea: she and Andy wanted to get married on Saturday, April 5th surrounded by a small group of family and friends, and then later that day surprise about 200 people with the news at their "engagement" party. She got the idea from a TikTok and sent that video to me, asking if we could make it happen. In the video, you saw a couple showing a video to a large group of people at their engagement party, and in the video you saw the couple getting married earlier that day. Immediately I was on board and knew we could execute this vision (and do it even better than the TikTok, if I'm being honest!).

As the day got closer, Christina gave us an overview of the wedding day schedule. She would get ready in the morning, do a first look with Andy, and then they would drive together to the ceremony location. Afterward, they'd take photos with friends and family. Then, they'd head to Club Lucky for dinner and speeches. Finally, they would end the evening at Village Tap where they would show their wedding video to about 200 people.

Leading up to the wedding day, Charlie and I knew we had to do some prep to ensure we could edit the surprise video as quickly as possible that day. Christina and Andy envisioned the video starting as if they were showing everyone a slideshow of the two of them throughout the years. They thought it would be cool if the slideshow abruptly stopped, maybe with static or a blue "no signal" screen, so people would think something was wrong with the video. Once we had people hooked, we could cut to footage from earlier that day. Charlie and I loved that idea and created the slideshow ahead of time - Christina and Andy loved it - and we chose the music for the rest of the video ahead of time, too. Finding music can be the most time-consuming part of editing a video!

Once that work was done, we started thinking about how we would execute the shooting and editing on the wedding day. We would obviously be busy filming for most of the day, until the dinner at Club Lucky. It was clear to us that we would have to edit the video during that time, which would give us up to two hours. But how would we edit? We have a laptop that would be mobile and pretty low-key, but Charlie was worried about the laptop handling the editing software and footage. It could be slow and potentially crash, which would leave us in bad situation. At home, we edit on a Mac Studio, but that's obviously just not as mobile. We decided to bring both along that day, which meant loading up a laptop and its charger, along with our Mac Studio, monitor, keyboard, mouse, and everything else needed to make that computer usable.

The day of the wedding couldn't have gone better. Christina rented space at the Flat Iron building on Milwaukee to get ready, and it was such a cool, urban space, with really big windows. There were different backdrops in there, almost like if you were using the space to take portraits. We ended up using a red one for some shots of Christina and I absolutely love how those turned out.

Christina did a first look with her Dad and with Andy, both of which were so sweet! Then we were off to the ceremony, which was in the chapel at Mount Carmel High School. After the ceremony, Christina and Andy took photos with family and friends and did portraits.

When we got to Club Lucky, we immediately scoped out the space to see where we could edit. The staff were so generous and kind and gave us a high-top table near the bar where we were able to set up our Mac Studio. Once that was set-up, Charlie was off to the races! He edited the video in record time and showed it to Andy (Christina wanted to be surprised and see it at Village Tap!). Watching Andy's reactions as he watched the video was a highlight of the year for me. We usually don't get to see people enjoy our work, so when we do, it's really special.

After dinner, it was time to head to Village Tap. We brought our laptop to connect to the TVs in the bar to play the surprise video. Before anyone got there, we hooked up the laptop and tested the connection. We were all set up and ready to go!

When people started to arrive, we got b-roll of everyone mingling, eating, and drinking. And then around 7:45 it was time for the surprise. Christina's Dad gathered everyone around and made a quick speech and said that he put together a slideshow for them to watch. When the video began, everyone was all smiles as they saw photos of little Christina and Andy. You heard lots of "aw"'s! When the blue "no signal" screen popped up, there was an audible "no!" and some laughter, but once Christina and Andy from earlier in the day popped on screen, everyone was shocked and so excited! I think a few people maybe knew something was up, a couple of people even suspected they were already married, but I don't think anyone expected this beautifully packaged video. Charlie recorded Christina and Andy watching it and I recorded the whole crowd. I particularly love watching Christina and Andy because, again, it's just so precious to see people enjoy your work. They both had the biggest smiles on their faces and it was so gratifying.

After the surprise, we continued to get b-roll and even grabbed some interviews with family and friends for the highlight video we were also going to edit for them.

At the end of the day, we felt so accomplished and creatively fulfilled. It was a beautiful day and so much fun to be a part of. Christina and Andy, thank you for trusting us with your vision!