The Florida Aquarium is the only wedding venue in Tampa where the light source is a 500,000-gallon tank. Labif Filmhouse has filmed there, and that one fact decides almost everything about how the day is shot.
The Aquarium sits in downtown Tampa and offers three event spaces: the Coral Reef Room, the Rooftop Terrace, and the First Floor Lobby. The Coral Reef Room seats 80 for dinner or holds 200 for a cocktail reception, in front of a floor-to-ceiling panoramic window into the Coral Reefs gallery.
How it actually films
That window is beautiful and it is blue. It throws a strong colour cast across everything in front of it, which is a look — but it is a look you have to commit to rather than fight. Skin tones need handling in camera and again in the grade, and a couple standing directly against the glass will read as silhouette unless they are lit from the room side.
The reward is that no other Tampa venue gives you movement in the background. Rays and tarpon crossing behind a first dance do something no drapery or uplighting can imitate, and it holds up on a screen years later.
What to protect in the timeline
- Portraits before guests enter the galleries. The exhibit pathway is the best part of the building and it is only quiet once.
- A non-blue room for getting-ready. The lobby and rooftop give you neutral light. Use one of them so the film is not blue end to end.
- Ceremony position off the glass. A metre or two of separation is the difference between silhouette and faces.
Kelsey + Eric
Filmed at The Florida Aquarium in Tampa in May 2021. Their film is below.
Filmed at Florida Aquarium. See more of our wedding videography in Tampa.