Videography
Nate Taylor
The Hunt For Wedding Highlight Music
The Hunt For Wedding Highlight Music
Videography
Nate Taylor
YouTube Customer Testimonial Video for KT Homes

We recently helped KT Homes create a customer testimonial video for their YouTube page, featuring a customer answer some questions they had prepared.

YouTube Customer Testimonial Video for KT Homes
Videography
Nate Taylor
WEDDING VIDEOGRAPHY
WEDDING VIDEOGRAPHY
Boast Post, Videography
Nate Taylor
Videography Interview for the Las Cruces ...
Videography Interview for the Las Cruces Bulletin's Perfect Southwest Weddings

Las Cruces Wedding at the Blue Door Venue

Sejal and Nat’s August wedding was a tight knit family celebration of their love, with guests and family coming together from all over the world. The Blue Door Venue in Las Cruces provided a picture perfect backdrop for their personal vows. Sejal and her bridal entourage spent their time before the ceremony in the Blue Door’s bridal loft, an ideal space for getting ready as it is full of natural light. The talented make-up artist Elyse Simons gave Sejal a natural and beautiful bridal look and Jenna Emerick from Salon de Mesilla did Sejal’s hair. Their ceremony was held in the Blue Door’s courtyard. 

Isn’t Sejal’s saree gorgeous?! The perfect outfit for twirling! Sejal carried an exquisitely designed bouquet from Desert Modern Florals that complemented her look perfectly.

Sight and Sound Entertainment provided all the right tunes to keep the evening spirited and helped lead fun games like the classic shoe game and a rowdy scavenger hunt/musical chair mash up for the guests. 

My favorite thing about Sejal and Nat’s wedding was how they both savored being with their families. I love the tender glances between Sejal and her parents, and Nat and his siblings. I hope they are able to look back on their wedding photos and feel those same feelings of gratitude and love many years from now!

The Hunt For Wedding Highlight Music

I know how powerful music is and while I would prefer to use a couple’s song, most of the time it is impossible for me to legally use it. It makes perfect sense to me that musicians want to be compensated for their work, however, most of the time for a small project like a wedding video most artists don’t want the hassle. This makes it difficult for businesses like ours that don’t want to steal music, and at the same time need music for our final product.  

When I first started making wedding highlight videos a decade ago, Taylor Swift’s lawyers were on a rampage suing people left and right for using her music without permission. Even getting personal wedding videos pulled down from Youtube. So I knew, I needed to obtain permission from artists to use their music. I used to ask couples what their favorite love songs were. I would attempt to contact bands, even emailing their managers, who wouldn’t respond to me. One time I got a response, and for $75 I was able to purchase a one-time use license from a band to use on a newborn video. This was a time consuming process that led to only one successful outcome. 

Fortunately, businesses found this gap in the market and created intermediary services. Most offer unpopular music from obscure artists I have never heard of, which I have even used on some of our videos. But ultimately, I needed music that was recognized and relevant to our clients. I have only been able to find one intermediary service that offers one time use licenses on popular music. However, the songs they offer seem random, for example they might have one song from an artist available that isn’t a love song, and none of the love songs by that same artist. So the likelihood of finding a couple’s song even through this service is very low. This isn’t ideal, I wish the situation was better, but there is little I can do about it. 

So, Elise and I listen to music on that platform and choose songs that we think would work best for the couple’s video. I wish a couple could just choose their music for their wedding video. Every couple has a handful of songs they really relate too. And most of the time, I choose a song I can relate to when I am choosing a song for a video.

Long story short, we (Taylor’d Photography) use the website Fyrfly for the music in your highlight video. If you would prefer to choose the music yourself, you can by browsing their collection on their website and emailing us the song name and artist. The search functionality is clunky, so I recommend not only searching for the song title, but the artist as well, separately. Their playlists haven’t been updated since 2023, and seem to be driven towards the commercial business space. Also keep in mind, if you have arranged for any voice recording audio to be included in your video, I recommend an instrumental song over one with vocals. That said, I will be more than happy to find music I feel is appropriate to match the flow of your highlight video. You don’t need to find your own music. If you want to be semi-involved, I can let you know the songs I am considering before I cut your highlights to them. Don’t get me wrong, I am grateful Fyrfly exists, it is just difficult to find specific songs even through their service.

For example, mine and Elise’s song when we were married, was “Stolen” by Dashboard Confessional. Looking on the FyrFly website today (availability of songs changes from time to time), that song is not available. They do have three Dashboard Confessional songs available: “Be Alright” which is about chasing your dreams, “Heart Beat Here” is more appropriate for an anniversary video, and “Belong” which wouldn’t be bad for high school sweethearts, but doesn’t really fit my love story with Elise. Music is so personal, that for me, it has become the most stressful part of making a wedding video. If there was an easy way to contact customer service at Firefly I could let them know some blatantly obvious connections a wedding videographer like myself can make when looking for music. An anniversary song from a band that is less than fifty years old isn’t going to appeal to my golden anniversary clients. Most country music isn’t going to work on a wedding highlight video, maybe include the country songs that are more hopeful rather than resentful. Apparently, wedding videographers who have dealt with this frustration should be consulted or even hired to help with their song curation, or at least to make relevant playlists. Since they are not, I can only imagine we are not their primary target market. Hence this rant. I digress, my point is…  

Marriage is like Scotch, it gains depth with age. I can relate to other music now that I couldn’t when I was young and in love. My love for my wife now has many more layers than it did back then. I am not saying my love now is more important, love has to start somewhere and I am grateful it did. My love for my wife and family we have created affects the photos and videos we create. As they are a much larger lens that every photographer shoots through. Ultimately, we want to help our couples fight the good fight called marriage, as love is the most important cause worth fighting for. 


Bottom line, I care. I want the music on your wedding video to enhance the powerful feelings you get every time you watch your video back. I hope this clears up any confusion over the music rights challenges videographers have to work with in order to bring your video to life. I am open to suggestions, so if you have any please send them my way. 


View and listen to some of the Wedding Highlight Videos we have made for our clients.

Our Favorite Wedding Venues of 2024

We know that choosing a venue is a difficult task and most likely the largest ticket item in the wedding budget. It influences nearly every aspect of your wedding day. From the overall feel to logistical challenges, and most importantly (according to these biased photographers) provide the backdrop for every photograph. Choosing our favorite venues of 2024 is easy, more difficult is deciding which venues to leave off the list. So, we came up with seven in no particular order and provided bullet points of the features that push these venues over the top. In 2024 there wasn’t a single wedding venue we didn’t appreciate, but these made our favorites. If you are getting married soon, and are shopping for a venue, we have included the corresponding websites, just keep in mind the location.

Blue Door Venue, Mesilla, New Mexico (https://bluedoorvenue.com/)

• Roxanne from Livingston Bridal is the manager

• Indoor/Outdoor availability

• Amazing Bridal suite for getting ready and outfit changes

The Meadows, Fabens (El Paso), Texas (https://www.themeadowstx.com/)

• Sprawling countryside views, fields, mountains, sunsets (appropriately named)

• Farm vibes

• Large capacity

• Outdoor

Epic Railyard, El Paso, Texas (https://www.epicrailyard.com/)

• Industrial vintage atmosphere

• Indoor/Outdoor availability

• Rooftop views of borderland

• Eleven Sixteen Beauty Salon on site

Hotel Encanto, Las Cruces, New Mexico (https://www.hotelencanto.com/)

• Desert Oasis Garden Pool area with foliage, tall palm trees, and Spanish Colonial pillars

• Large capacity Ball Room

• Décor by Jessie Lopez

Hotel Paso del Norte, El Paso, Texas (https://www.hotelpdn.com/)

• Boutique luxurious atmosphere, architecture with traditional elements and multicultural nods

• Rooftop views of downtown El Paso

• Unique dome ceiling bar

• Historic, renovated, elegant

Hotel Paisano, Marfa, Texas (https://hotelpaisano.com/)

• Retro Cowboy aesthetic

• Artsy hipster small town destination

• Historic indoor/outdoor

Fulford Barn, Brownfield, Texas

• Private forest oasis in the middle of the West Texas Desert

• Outdoor naturally shaded grassy field suitable for large capacity weddings

• Coy pond with waterfall feature, trail through bamboo forest

• Whimsical lighting after dark











Country Chic Summer Wedding at Secluded Venue Outside Ruidoso New Mexico

Bride and Groom in Ruidoso New Mexico

Alexa and Jordan’s June wedding might be my favorite wedding of the summer season this year. But I seem to say that about every wedding I attend! I especially loved shooting at Walnut Grove Ranch. It is a historic ranch home and spacious property located in Lincoln, New Mexico, just a short drive from Ruidoso, New Mexico. You can see how gorgeous the grounds were in the summer months in these photos. I bet it’s breathtaking in every season!

Alexa and Jordan met playing a friendly match of sand volleyball with their mutual friends. Here’s their proposal story from Alexa’s perspective.

“We went to Las Vegas, Nevada and the night he proposed I was looking out the window at the Bellagio and when I turned around he was down on one knee holding the ring! I was freaking out and didn’t hear much of what he said haha, but we were both super excited!”

When I asked what they were most excited for in anticipation of their wedding day, they said, “We are most looking forward to having our family and friends there for our special day and to see us commit to each other and celebrate our relationship.”

Mission accomplished!!