Humboldt Park wedding videographer Carlos Cedeno won $20,000 for his small business from The Knot, the online wedding platform announced Thursday.
Cedeno is the sole winner in Illinois among 26 small businesses nationwide, who were awarded a total of $500,000 from The Knot Worldwide’s inaugural small business grant program.
Other winners selected from more than 1,100 applications included wedding planners, photographers, florists and venues in 15 states.
The standout feature of Cedeno’s work are his documentary-style wedding videos modeled after reality TV shows.
“I’m obsessed with storytelling. I’m a story junkie,” he said.
Cedeno is self-taught and learned how to shoot and produce video in his 20s. Then someone asked him to shoot their wedding.
“I mic’d up almost the entire wedding party. I’m looking for moments that are unforgettable: Tears, the grandmother whispering how proud she is. After that, I caught the bug,” he said.
In 2019, he started his company Carlos C. Media. Since then, he has made about 100 wedding videos for clients mostly in the Chicago area. He has 36 weddings booked from this month through December, though summer is the busiest time.
Cedeno’s videos are 20 to 45 minutes and trailers are about a minute. He works across communities and ethnicities in English and Spanish. Clients find him on social media and word of mouth. His rates range from $4,000 to $10,000.
Making documentary-style wedding videos is labor-intensive. He learned the craft by analyzing reality TV shows and learning about audio and video equipment on YouTube.
For his videos, Cedeno interviews wedding party members several times before the big day.
“I know what challenges they face, what makes them strong. Before the wedding, I already have an idea of what I want to shoot,” Cedeno said. “I’m kind of nosy. That’s why I’m good at what I do.”
He records grooms preparing for the wedding and interviews bridesmaids, groomsmen and relatives. The result is personal and immersive videos. “People want authenticity,” he said.
Cedeno recalled one bride saying her military father wouldn’t want to talk to him. But “when I asked him about his baby girl, that guy was bawling. He was a big teddy bear,” he said.
Business has been steady, though it is slower these days, Cedeno said. Many small businesses are struggling with higher costs, economic uncertainty and weak consumer confidence. Cedeno knows of two wedding photo and video studios in Chicago that have closed recently.
“It’s almost like a race to the cheapest vendor. Overall, everyone has taken a hit,” he said. “In this industry, you have to stand out.”
Cedeno will use his $20,000 grant to pay for his co-working space at 2112, a film, music and tech incubator near Old Irving Park. He’s a sole proprietor but has five contractors and is training more people in his unique style.
The grant will help Cedeno also buy additional audio gear.
“The more people I get to mic up, the more stories I get to record,” he said. His clients “always want more.”
This year, The Knot’s WeddingPro Grant Program awarded one grand prize winner $50,000; five winners $20,000 each; 10 winners $10,000 each; and 10 winners received advertising grants on The Knot and WeddingWire.
There are 900,000 small businesses on The Knot’s global platform. “We consistently hear from our wedding professionals that access to capital is a barrier to getting started in the industry,” Raina Moskowitz, CEO of The Knot Worldwide, said in a news release.
The awards also include advertising support and mentorship. They give “access to both capital and critical support services such as mentorship and education that will enable small business owners to further grow and scale,” Moskowitz said.
More than half of small businesses in the wedding industry have fewer than 10 employees, according to The Knot.
The company is evaluating the grant program to decide whether to offer it again. Applications were open to all U.S. wedding professionals who run small businesses, have been in business for at least six months, generate revenue and earn at least 50% of sales from weddings.