St. Catharines wedding video a viral hat trick for local firm
Seven- year- old flowergirl’s Frozen tune melts hearts
It was a musical collaboration — a surprise love letter in song for a newlywed couple.
And for St. Catharines video production company Mitchell Reilly Pictures, it anchored its third YouTube viral video.
Melanie Coleman of London, Ont., said she and her daughter Emma, 7, always had a close relationship with Melanie’s cousin, Jennifer York.
It began when Melanie and Emma decided to arrange something special for Jennifer’s marriage to fiance Trevor York at White Oaks resort in Niagara-on the Lake.
“We prepared for a few months to do this,” Melanie said, adding it was Emma’s idea. “When I thought we might do a speech for them, Emma said we should do something more special. A speech wasn’t good enough for cousin Jen.”
The plan was a duet of Love is an Open Door, a song from Disney’s 2013 animated move Frozen. Followup rehearsals were done in secret.
As the two stood before Jennifer and Trevor during the wedding reception, they unexpectedly launched into the tune.
Meanwhile, the wedding itself was captured on video by Mitchell Reilly, with the singers in front of the lens.
“It was a total surprise for everyone,” said Melanie. “I had no idea so many people would end up seeing it online.
“We just thought it was something special we could do for Jen … as long as they enjoyed it, that’s what matters.”
Jennifer said she felt “surprise and shock” when she and Trevor were called to the dance fl oor for what they thought was a speech.
“It was honestly the most heartfelt, touching wedding gift I could have ever imagined,” she said.
“This is huge for Melanie to be able to get the courage to sing in public,” Jennifer added. “And now everyone through the Internet is seeing it happen.”
It ’ s the third blockbuster YouTube video in less than a year for Mitchell Reilly, which posted the video.
“Adorable Flower Girl Performs ‘ Love Is An Open Door’ With Her Mom” has pulled in more than 748,000 views so far.
“Th e Life of the Beard” — about Mitchell Reilly’s aborted attempt at growing a beard — has gathered nearly 317,000 views on YouTube since it was uploaded Sept. 29 and also got a mention in Huffington Post.
A montage of grooms seeing their brides for the fi rst time, posted in January, has racked up 2.3 million hits and also features Jen and Trevor.
“With that ( singing performance) Mark and I just did our best to capture the whole thing,” said Nick Mirka, who co- owns Mitchell Reilly with Mark Rauwerda. “It was phenomenal.”
“When the grooms montage went viral, we were kind of excited for us,” Mirka said. “But when this latest one did, Emma’s mom keeps giving us updates on how excited and blown away she is.”
“Th at for us is what we’re most excited about with this … and that it’s also building up the confidence of a seven- year- old girl.”