We were lucky to catch up with Jessica Butler recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jessica, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

My husband & I are members of Abundant Life Church where the vision statement is “To be living proof of a loving God to a watching world.” To be honest, I didn’t know that Living Proof Productions would grow to be my passion & career so when I decided on the name at the time. I knew I wanted my vision to be the same, fostering a space for others to feel loved & cared for, but over time, the meaning of the name has grown to mean even more to me. I ended up stumbling upon clips from my parent’s wedding film on VHS last year, just a few clips of their ceremony & reception, but enough for me to see, hear & feel the emotions as my parents & family that is no longer with us was moving, laughing, & living. The living proof of the wedding day that future generations & 30+ years of marriage can experience again. Not only am I creating a film for my couples right now, but for in the future. In a time where nearly 50% of marriages end in divorce, I wanted Living Proof to serve as a foundational truth for the couples I get to serve. Even when the couple may face trying times (unfortunately it seems inevitable) I always hope that they’ll be brought back to their wedding film where they are sent back to their best moments, hear the promises made & remember why they fell in love. A wedding film is a living memory, footage that only grows in value as time goes on. Experiencing firsthand what future generations would encounter as they watch back a wedding film back that I get to create, helped me really solidify my mission to create films that are timeless & true so that their story can live on forever.

Jessica, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Hey there, I’m Jess! I grew up with a GoPro & Polaroid in hand, capturing a family vacation or just little moments that made my heart happy so that I could reminisce on these memories once they’ve passed. My husband upgraded my GoPro to a DSLR camera for Christmas one year so I could make more quality videos of our travels and a few months later, I was able to film a video for a friend’s wedding. At the time, I was in school to become a school counselor, but I kept getting asked to film more wedding days. My husband and I met in high school when we formed a mental health awareness group that served as a platform for others to share their stories, so ultimately, I knew I wanted to provide others with a space to be heard and fully known, but little did I know I would fall in love with weaving stories into art that can cherish for generations to come. I began to experience firsthand how I could bless the couples I got to serve with a gift of remembrance through a film that would feel genuine to them and their love. Looking back now, it’s no surprise that my deep desire for authentic moments & detailed stories meshed together to form Living Proof Productions. In early 2022, after a full year of filming weddings, I decided to go all in full time. Though I have paused my schooling, for now, I still plan to become a school counselor in the future. Still, you’ll find me substitute teaching and serving at our youth group during the week and capturing beautiful love stories on the weekends. I’m excited about the future, but I’m thankful to feel like I’m right where God has me in this season of life. We provide couples with a 5-10 minute film highlighting the best parts of their day and telling the story of their love and wedding day. Our goal is to create a timeless and true wedding film so that by the end of the film, the audience will feel like they truly know the couple and what they felt on the day they said ‘I do.’ With this, we know that no two couples nor wedding films are the same, so I love to get to know my couples so that every detail of a film matches everything they embody. Not every day is someone followed by a camera crew, so we strive to make the couple feel most comfortable and present on their wedding day by becoming a friend and biggest supporter well before the wedding day. It’s my goal to notice the little moments the couple may not notice going on around them so that when they watch their film, they gain even more sweet memories after it’s all passed. This attention to detail is something we think sets us apart.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

After my first few wedding films, I noticed that though every wedding film ends up with a predictable ending (the bride & groom now married), no two couples & their stories are the same. At surface level, it may seem like a routine process of culling footage, adding audio & overlaying B-roll, but without attention to story & detail, it can be easy to create a film that is ingenuine or forced. The last thing I want is to create a film that will feel cheesy or make the bride & groom cringe when they watch back in the future. Trends are by no means bad, & I think that everything we create is a combination of the inspiration around us. I am inspired by other wedding filmmakers, music videos, poetry, movies, & books. Now, before going into every wedding day & before adding a single clip to a timeline, I purposely listen & observe what is going on around me so that I can create with intention, remembering that no two couples are the same, so their wedding film shouldn’t be either.

How do you keep in touch with clients and foster brand loyalty?

Though I offer photography outside of wedding days that has a more obvious brand loyalty with all the different events I could photograph, wedding films are something I only end up filming once for each couple. The last thing I want is to feel like a stranger to my couples because, realistically, I’m going to be spending more time with them on their wedding day than their friends or family. The ability to tell a story & build off of emotion can only happen with genuine connection. Thus, I get to know my couples a lot before the wedding day so that I can understand what makes them, them. Creating this space that allows them to be comfortable with me as they are with each other has led to many life-long friendships. As much as I am there to support couples in their season of engagement, I want to also be their biggest cheerleader in their marriage as well.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://livingproof.productions/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/livingproofproduction/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/livingproofproduction
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@livingproofproductions