Steph and Rob: A story like no other
How do we produce a film, and create an experience, that can be enjoyed by someone with no sight as much as those with sight?
Well that’s exactly what was asked of us by James Day Photography almost a year ago when he asked us to tell Steph and Rob’s story.
Steph has Cone Rod Dystrophy which is an inherited eye disorder that completely took away her eyesight shortly before she met Rob. They got married in November and it was by far the most emotionally overwhelming wedding for us to have been a part of.
In the lead up to their wedding James Day and ourselves realised that their wedding was only a small part of Steph and Rob’s much bigger story that needed telling. So in March 2018 Shaun flew down to Melbourne to accompany Steph and her mum Linda (who is also blind) as they felt their way through wedding dresses to find the perfect fit for Steph. Afterwards he spent some time with them as well as Rob, Steph’s father Warren and brother Callum to get to know this incredibly inspiring family. When he returned home and told me about them we shed the first of MANY tears together as we realised just how many adversities Steph and Rob had overcome to get to where they are today.
Fast-forward a few months and Rob and Steph (and James) visited us in our Gold Coast home so we could hear their FULL story. Prior to that interview we already knew that Steph had an inspiring story but we hadn’t really realised until that point that Rob had his own story to tell and again, as we sat on our bed listening to Rob, tears streamed down our faces and we quickly became lifelong friends in the process.
We spoke to them about their plans for their wedding too and suggested that they blindfold their guests when speaking their vows so that everyone could experience that moment as Steph would. They also had organised that an owl act as ring-bearer so that Steph had another sensory experience to her wedding day. James had plans too but these were under wraps for now.
Sunday 25th November, Steph and Rob’s big day at Weddings at Tiffanys in Maleny. We were nervous, excited and emotional. That question was repeating over and over in our heads, “How do we produce a film, and create an experience, that can be enjoyed by someone with no sight as much as those with sight?”
We’ve always had a strong belief that audio is just as important as visuals in a great film. But in this case, audio was MORE important than the visuals so we set out to capture as much of a narrative as possible so that Steph and Linda would be able to relive the wedding day in its entirety. And on the day itself, James and ourselves would describe, as much as possible, every little detail to Steph from the direction of the sun, to the landscape, expressions on loved ones faces, how beautiful Steph looked in her dress… and every time we described a scene to Steph we were reminded just how lucky we are to be able to see those details with our own eyes, how we take our vision for granted every day as we look into our lover’s eyes, watch our children grow, ocean waves roll and the sun rise and set each day.
James, with the help of Steph’s brother Callum, surprised Steph and Linda with his incredible sensory idea that would become yet another way for them to fully remember each moment of this incredible day… he presented Steph with 10 pieces of fabric throughout the day each infused with a different essential oil. The feel of those fabrics and the scent of those oils would bring Steph and Linda immediately back to those moments of the day. Unbelievably, later that night, Linda was actually smelling and touching those fabrics and could already recall every single scent and the moment of the day it correlated to.
We created a short clip the day after Steph and Rob’s wedding which showed everyone wearing the blindfolds whilst listening to their vows… I suppose you could say it “went viral” as our film and James’ photos were shown all over the world:
https://www.mamamia.com.au/blind-bride-wedding-james-day-photography/
… and so many more.
Just over a month later though is when we got to really surprise Steph and Rob. Sony paid for us all to fly to Sydney and we waited until an hour before to tell them where to meet us… at the Private Sony Cinema who offered their facility to screen their film for the first time. Greeting them with popcorn and champagne, James and ourselves were nervous, excited and again… darn emotional. This was it… the moment we’d been working on for close to a year.
First we guided them to their seats and played their film. It isn’t just a ‘wedding film’… it’s so much more than that. It tells their incredible story; their stories as individuals and their story since becoming a couple.
We’ve spoken a lot about the immense challenge that Steph has had to overcome and continues to overcome every day but our film also tells of Rob’s story which is just as inspiring in its own right, having shown equal measures of strength and resilience whilst acting as first responder to the 2017 Bourke Street terror attack. The support he had to outwardly provide on that day whilst his own heart broke on the inside is unfathomable and he uses that same strength to support Steph.
If we hadn’t cried enough already throughout this experience, here we were, all in tears again.
It’s 20 minutes long but we really hope you can find 20 minutes to watch it in its entirety because nothing I write here could adequately do it justice… maybe even close your eyes to experience it just audibly as Steph and Linda did.
After their film, and a little interview we captured for ‘The Today Show’, James finally, after a year of working on this project, got to present his gifts to them. First, textured prints by Vision Australia allowed Steph and Linda to run their hands over the prints and feel the raised outlines and shaded areas so that they could truly envision the scenes presented in the images. Though they couldn’t see the colours, they could imagine them as they touched the raised arc of the rainbow that appeared on the wedding day.
The second of James’ gifts was courtesy of Vision Art who created an album like no other. Priscilla and Kyle of Vision Art had flown over to Sydney all the way from the USA to hand deliver them an album they (along with their team) had spent months building which catered to almost all the senses… smell, touch, sound and sight. Inlaid in the album were the 10 pieces of fabric which had been handed to them on their wedding day, along with 10 crystal bottles containing the corresponding essential oils, James’ photos that matched each scene and audio snippets we captured during those moments of the day too… so that they were literally transported back to their day in every possible way. Needless to say, they were absolutely overcome with emotion.
Words that will always stand out in my mind personally, as a mother myself to a 3-year-old who already talks of princesses marrying their prince in beautiful white dresses – “mummy when I grow up can I wear your dress?” is something she often says – were spoken by Linda, Steph’s mother. Linda told us of how heartbroken she and Warren, Steph’s father, were when their only daughter had given up on the idea of ever having the “fairytale wedding she’d dreamt of since she was a little girl” because without sight she wouldn’t be able to “fully experience it”. It was incredibly difficult to compose myself hearing those words as I imagined my own darling girl grown up.
Though we can’t give Steph back her sight, she’s absolutely opened our own eyes and made us see more clearly just how lucky we are.
