Today we’d like to introduce you to Cori Hernandez And Michael Hernandez.
Hi Cori Hernandez and Michael Hernandez, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Cori: Hi! I’m Cori and this is my husband of 10 years, Michael. We are co-owners of our wedding videography business, Fervent Creative. I grew up just south of Los Angeles and had a passion for filmmaking since I was very young. In high school I shot all of the school events, dances, football games and even created mock commercials and music videos for fun. After gaining all those practical skills in high school I decided to go to film school. During my time there I started getting into behind the scenes filmmaking on music video sets and naturally began shooting weddings for friends, both photo and video. Towards the end of college, I ended up starting a career in commercial and music video film production. My first big gig as a PA was a job with Lady Gaga and after a few more lucky breaks the freelance world became my full time gig. With less time to shoot weddings I pushed pause on it until it became a passion of mine again. More on that later.
Michael: I’m from McAllen, TX. Growing up I loved making art, short films and music with friends. I was always at the movies, religiously. After meeting Cori and getting married I moved to Los Angeles and joined her in the film industry. I quickly fell in love with making music videos and being around the process of creating live content and films for artists. I loved learning about cameras, editing, camera formats and how all the different departments worked together to create a singular vision. Covering live events was something I became passionate for. Working as an artist in the film industry inspired me to bring just as much creativity and passion to shooting weddings as one would bring to a film or music video. If you have the right visual team behind you, wedding films can be just as interesting, entertaining and fun to watch as your favorite films.
Cori: Funny enough, when Michael and I got married, we originally cut videography out of our own wedding budget. Luckily a very talented friend offered to film it for us . That video became our favorite way to revisit our wedding day, year after year. We would have deeply regretted not having it. Since then, it became our mission to give couples an affordable and artistic videographer.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Cori – I think it was really easy for us to start shooting weddings together as a team. We knew so many people getting married around the same time as us so it was really natural for us to offer to shoot their weddings for an affordable price. We loved doing it, and were honored they would allow us into their day in such an intimate way. From there it just snowballed into referral after referral. Once we moved to Buda though, finding couples became more challenging. First, we moved during covid, which in itself changed the wedding industry completely. Secondly, it was a brand new city where we knew no one! We had to get creative in putting Fervent out there. We’ve shot some really great couples here, in some fun and unique wedding spaces. That’s what I love about our style of wedding films, they attract really awesome creative and unique couples. They make it really easy for us to create something great.
Michael – For me, practically it’s just dialing in the pressure of everything being live. It’s exciting but nerve-racking. If I can help it I want to capture couples in the moment. I don’t like setting up shots, I want their wedding video to be a true representation of how the day played out.
Cori – We try really hard to go unnoticed. That’s been really good feedback we’ve received from our couples. They are always saying they don’t realize how we are everywhere all the time, but we don’t disturb them. This is their special day! We know how hard they’ve worked to create the biggest party of their life. We want them to be fully present and enjoy it.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Michael – I think what sets us apart now is embracing a more organic and documentary style video. A fly on the wall, listening and seeing everything. I love using live room audio. Getting to hear people screaming in the background as you take a too big bite of wedding cake or a toast that goes a little long and may be a little awkward. Theres so many moments and sounds that the bride and groom never see or hear because the day moves so fast.
I still watch different filmmakers and I’m always incorporating inspiring and interesting choices they make in my own editing and cinematography. I love to make wedding films that collage all the sounds and images into a film that couples can look back on and pick up something new each time they watch it.
I am most proud of getting great feedback after delivering a video. From brides saying “I’ve watched this three times” to ::crying emojis::. It’s a really great feeling.
Cori – I am really proud of Michael, his videos only get better. He loves what he does and it shows in the final product. He has a really unique style. He does really creative things with mixed media formats which I’m always surprised by. It’s different and done really well. It’s always really satisfying to hear from a bride how much they love our work when they first reach out to us. It’s like, we found our people.
Alright so before we go can you talk to us a bit about how people can work with you, collaborate with you or support you?
You can find us on our website www.ferventcreative.com to see our work or reach out to book us! You can also follow us on our instagram @FerventWeddings – we’d love to hear from y’all!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ferventcreative.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ferventweddings/
- Other: https://vimeo.com/852868135?share=copy&fl=sv&fe=ci
