RECORDING a wedding on video is a big responsibility. Some of the most treasured moments of at least two lives are being filmed for posterity - and there is only one chance to get it right.

Cal Grimes, of Video Taping Service, has been shouldering that responsibility with relish for many years.

As with any times that families come together, at weddings emotions and sometimes tensions are running high.

Occasionally, Mr. Grimes has filmed incidents at weddings that the happy couple would rather consign to history than keep in their video rack.

"Sometimes there are guests who've had one too many and they may swear," said Mr. Grimes. "People may say they'd like me to take it out, so I either have to play music over it or edit it out.

"Normally, filming a wedding will involve eight hours in the field and from that I will get maybe two-and-three-quarter hours of filming.

"I would edit that down to between 45 and 55 minutes, but I also give them the raw footage including everything like when the guy knocked over the wedding cake."

Mr. Grimes does not confine his work to weddings, though he concedes that they make up his bread and butter. Video Taping Services also offers an insurance inventory service, which allows people to film their valuables as evidence of what they have insured. And he films events as diverse as football matches and sermons - but he has his limits.

"One couple asked me to shoot their honeymoon at the Southampton Princess," said Mr. Grimes. "I told them I could not do that, but I could give them the equipment to do the filming themselves."

Mr. Grimes' fascination with video began 24 years ago, when the technology was much younger and the cameras much bigger than they are now.

"I'd always been interested in how video works and I started out with a Panasonic back in 1979," he said. "Initially, I shot a lot of scenery - beaches, flowers and trees.

"Then I started to record sporting events, especially soccer matches. I used to play for Devonshire Cougars and Dandy Town and I did some filming for them. They used to watch the video on a Tuesday night to see what mistakes they had made and what they could do better.

"I was working at Winter Cookson and John Barritt at the time. The more I did the videography, the more it became part of me. So in 1985, I decided to open up a business. It was called Time Video and the main part of the business was video rentals, though it included the video taping service. The rentals side took off straight away so I was concentrating on importing TVs, movies and videos."

Time Video was on Court Street and did a good trade, but after 11 years Mr. Grimes decided to call it a day.

"In 1995, I turned my life around when I became a Christian and in 1997, I decided to close the rentals business and concentrate on the video taping service," he said.

Mr. Grimes took that decision because some of the movies he rented out included sexually explicit and violent scenes - and that did not tally with his Christian values. Now the 50 year old works as a security guard at the Bank of Butterfield and the majority of his videography work is done at weekends.

Years of recording weddings have given him a considerable degree of expertise.

"My work starts well before the ceremony begins," said Mr. Grimes. "If the wedding's at 5 p.m., I will probably get there for 11 a.m.

"I often start with some footage of the ladies preparing. I film the bride talking about the groom, but the husband doesn't get to see it until after the ceremony. Sometimes they're very happy to talk about they first met and what the person means to them. Other times, they say, 'Let's not go there' and decide they'd rather not do it.

"In the church, I sometimes need two cameras, including one at the back. Then I also like to film a scene somewhere romantic like in a park or on the beach. I don't think there is any better place than Bermuda for doing that.

"I have signals that I use when filming, like a clenched fist means to kiss romantically. I think these videos can really help couples. If they are going through a tough time in their marriage, they can play the video and it could rekindle the old feelings that brought them together."

Not all his weddings are held in churches. He has filmed ceremonies at Ariel Sands, Astwood Park and even Government House, among other venues.

Over nearly quarter of a century of video recording, Mr. Grimes has seen big changes in the technology of his business and hence the equipment.

"In 1979, a video camera could give you 240 lines of resolution and everyone thought the picture quality was amazing," he said.

"Now we have digital video recorders capable of producing pictures of DVD quality, more than 800 lines of resolution. The equipment used to be bigger, heavier and you'd need different parts. Now you get everything in one camcorder."

USING his digital Canon video camera, Mr. Grimes can now make DVDs of weddings as well as the more traditional analogue VHS video cassettes, in both US and UK formats. Mr. Grimes' digital camcorder cost him in the region of $7,000. But as technology has progressed, the cameras have become cheaper and can now be bought for around half that price.

Since 2000, Mr. Grimes has been a member of the Wedding and Event Videographers Association International (WEVA).

The business is very much a family affair, with some of his six children often acting as assistants. In fact, his son Caldon has taken a particular interest and has been away several times as he strives to learn the skills of videography.

Mr. Grimes' churchgoing has limited his opportunities to record fooball matches at weekends, but his main sporting interest now is with junior soccer.

"To me, the under-11 to under-15 level is more exciting than senior soccer to record," he said. "The films of these matches can show how players have grown and developed and when they get to the age of 18 or 25, they can see how they used to play."

As for the future, Mr. Grimes, who currently works from home, is looking for a unit in which he can base his business and possibly restart a limited video rental business, focused on family entertainment.