PHOTOGRAPHY & FILM | El Hilo Dorado
El Hilo Dorado, led by photographer Cristina Jul and filmmaker Jorge Ferrer, brings over eleven years of experience in capturing weddings. Their approach combines documentary and editorial styles, ensuring key moments are thoughtfully captured while the rest of the day unfolds naturally. Digital images are edited with their signature timeless tone, and they also offer analog film and Super 8 coverage. Based in Madrid, El Hilo Dorado travel throughout Europe and beyond to capture weddings.
Tell us about your business!
El Hilo Dorado (“the golden thread”) is a wedding photography and film studio based in Madrid, led by photographer Cristina Jul and filmmaker Jorge Ferrer. Cristina has been photographing weddings and fashion for more than eleven years, and Jorge comes from cinematic short films and music videos. We actually met on set, both shooting a music video for the same artist. We bring that background to weddings: we don’t photograph them the way the wedding industry usually does, but the way we’d approach a film or an editorial. Photo and film are made to belong to the same visual world.
What would you like couples to know about you?
Our style is documentary and editorial at the same time. That means beautiful, more considered images at certain moments of the day, like getting ready, the couple’s portrait session, or moments you’ve already planned, such as cutting the cake, even though we don’t step in to direct them. The rest of the day, we let things happen and capture them as they unfold, without intervening. Many couples tell us they barely noticed us, and yet by the end of the day we’d been everywhere.
Where are you based?
Madrid, Spain.
Do you travel for weddings?
We love travelling for weddings, and we’ll go wherever the story takes us. What really matters to us isn’t the place but the people: finding couples who connect with the way we see weddings, and life. We’re always excited to take our cameras somewhere new.
How would you describe your style?
Documentary with an editorial sensibility. Our references come more from fashion, cinema and analogue photography than from traditional wedding photography: strong compositions, grain, movement, flash, the beautiful imperfections that make an image feel alive.
Colour is one of our biggest strengths. Our colour treatment is inspired by analogue film, even in our digital work, and we always choose tones that will last rather than ones that will date. As we like to say: we’re not modern, we’re forever.
What inspires you?
Stories, above all. That’s where our name comes from: El Hilo Dorado, the golden thread, speaks of all the love stories that endure through time. We’ve always loved the myths and legends, found in so many cultures, of threads that bind people together and tie their destinies forever. We’re also inspired by real life. Cristina keeps a visual diary of everything that happens around her, because every moment leaves its own mark, and that’s why we believe the small details matter so much on a wedding day. And of course by fashion, cinema and art, always looking for images that aren’t obvious and that have something worth remembering.
How would you describe your working style?
Close, involved and very prepared. Before the wedding we plan the timing in detail so we can anticipate the key moments: entrances, speeches, family, and anything that matters especially to each couple. That preparation lets us relax on the day, react quickly and stay discreet, leaning more towards documentary than editorial. And we truly enjoy weddings; you’ll almost always see us smiling and living every moment. We get very involved and are always there to lend a hand with whatever our couples need, because we’re not just photographers: our goal is for them to enjoy their day, and if we can help solve any last-minute hiccup, we’ll be there for them.
Do you shoot digitally, on film or both?
Both. We shoot digitally at every wedding, always with a colour treatment inspired by film, and couples can also add analogue photography and Super 8. Film has a colour and texture that is hard to imitate, and it changes the way we shoot: you never know exactly what you’ve captured, so you put more intention into every frame. That’s often where the most unexpected and beautiful moments appear. Super 8 brings that same magic to film, giving the day the texture of a home movie from another era.
Do you have custom packages according to individual needs?
Yes. We have a set of base packages, and from there we tailor everything to each couple, because no two weddings are the same. Many celebrations go beyond the wedding day itself, with a welcome party the night before, a day-after gathering or a farewell, and we can add coverage for all of it, along with any extra services each couple needs.
What is a favourite product or service that you offer and why?
Our analogue and Super 8 coverage. There’s something special about waiting to see the images and having them come back weeks later with all their grain, light and imperfection, like reliving the day all over again. Combined with our digital photos and cinematic film, it gives couples a memory of their wedding told in different textures.
Where would you love to travel to for work?
Anywhere in the world a real wedding takes us. More than a specific destination, what draws us are weddings with true personality. Big or small, we love celebrations that genuinely reflect the couple’s style and emotion, and tell their story rather than following trends. If that’s the wedding, we’ll happily pack our cameras.
Who is your dream client?
Couples who love each other deeply and want their wedding to truly represent them. Our clients are often connected to the worlds of fashion, image, art, architecture or design: people with an eye for beauty who appreciate what we do. But above all, they’re couples who want to have the best time surrounded by their family and closest friends, without artifice or excessive protocol, focusing on what really matters. When that connection is there, everything unfolds naturally.
How do you select music for your films?
It starts long before the wedding. We send each couple a video questionnaire and talk with them about how they want to see their story: their favourite films, scenes and series, the music that means something to them. That helps us choose music and find references we can weave into the way we film their day. With that groundwork done, we can let the day flow naturally and create a film that feels like them and that they’ll want to watch for the rest of their lives.
What is your advice to couples getting married?
Enjoy it, all of it: the planning, the process and, above all, the day itself. You’ll be surrounded by the people you love most, and that’s something that rarely happens in life. Anything that doesn’t go to plan matters far less than living every moment to the fullest.
El Hilo Dorado
Website: elhilodorado.com
Instagram: @elhilodorado_wedding
