About
We are Chapter One Films

Hey friends — we’re Michael and Leyla.
Wedding videographers and husband and wife for 11 years, soulmates for 15 (still wrapping our heads around that). We’re the duo behind Chapter One Films, and before we tell your story, here’s a little bit of ours.
Our history
✨ We almost had a high-school-sweethearts origin story. Almost. For a while, we shared the same graduating class and lived just a few blocks apart — yet somehow never personally met. Fate decided to play the long game and introduced us in our freshman year of college in a different city… on a bus. Yes, really. Michael recognized Leyla’s face, quietly texted a friend to confirm her name, and casually worked that “fun fact” into his introduction. Smooth move.
✨ We’re adventurous homebodies at heart. Every vacation somehow turns into a hiking trip, and we’re on a lifelong mission to visit all U.S. national parks and the world’s most beautiful mountains. At the same time, few things beat a cozy night on the couch with a favorite movie or series.
✨We’re people-loving introverts — happiest spending our weekdays creating and recharging, and our weekends immersed in wedding days that truly fill our hearts. If we’re a little quiet at times, it’s because we’re fully present, observing the moments that matter so we can later transform them into lasting memories.
✨ We’re also among the rare few who genuinely enjoy Wisconsin winters. Growing up in Siberia gives you a certain cold resistance — and an appreciation for a good snowfall.
✨ We’re native Russian speakers and proudly bilingual, deeply shaped by classic Russian literature and its reverence for storytelling, nuance, and emotion.
✨And above all, we love a good story — the kind that pulls you in, makes you forget where you are, and leaves you with a sense of nostalgia long after it ends. That’s the feeling we chase with every wedding film we create. Because your love story deserves to be told in a way that feels timeless, meaningful, and unmistakably yours.

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