Top Tips for a Great Wedding Video
We appreciate you’ll have a lot to think about ahead of your big day and video may not be at the top of the list, however it’s important to make sure you get the best footage from your day - so we’ve created this short guide to help you plan more particulars for your wedding video - and even photography - to make sure you and your videographer are prepared before the big day.
Good Lighting
It sounds simple and should really be a given, however it’s absolutely fundamental when filming that the lighting works, otherwise the footage could look flat or just completely unflattering.
Most wedding venues are set up very well for video and photography content, using subtle and soft lighting, or during lighter months sticking primarily to natural light. Where possible, we will always advise on using natural lighting - this is often why outdoor shots tend to look the strongest. Where this isn’t possible, your videographer should work with you to find the best spots and angle at your chosen venue to not only work aesthetically but contains the best light.
Where it can get tricky is during the evening celebrations when quite often there are an array of flashing and multi-colour lights, however as with our camera gear, videographers should be prepared for this to adjust their equipment settings to adapt to this environment to make sure everything is captured as it should.
Audio & Sound
The second most important element to video is sound and often this is controlled by the videography, however we do require help from the wedding party and guests to make sure we can minimise anything we’d prefer to keep out of the video!
Ceremony & Speeches
If you’ve selected to have any of these recorded separately to the main highlights video, we will make sure to use quality, but discrete microphones when filming. These will record close contact voices, so the person they are attached to and those closely around. We will often ask the groom to wear one during the ceremony, which will well hidden to avoid being in view during photographs.
We use these for when unforeseen sounds take place, such as babies crying, sirens in the distance, or the dreaded phones going off - so we can minimise the effect they have to the overall video. More importantly, you should be able to hear your vows nice and clear when you come back to watch!
To help us minimise these further, we often advise couples to recommend a ‘no phone zone’ during the ceremony to avoid any accidental phone calls or messages coming through. Of course there isn’t much that can be done to prevent babies, traffic or other unforeseen sounds!
Highlights Professional Audio
For your highlights video of the day, we apply a professional backing audio track that we feel suits your wedding look and feel, as well as the personality of the bride and groom. These are custom selected, high quality recordings to make sure your final video has the finished polish.
Take your time
What we know is that wedding days tend to absolutely fly by, particularly after the ceremony, so we often advise to try and savour every moment that you can and enjoy the day. There’s no need to rush, and often best to take your time when walking around the venue particularly during the ceremony - we want to capture the bride’s face as they walk down the aisle!
Large Biodegradable Confetti
More venues are now asking couples to use biodegradable confetti for environmental and cleanup reasons, otherwise there can often by another charge. From a video perspective, we’re also keen to make sure any products or props are as eco friendly as possible, but also larger confetti really comes out of it’s own on film - so the larger the better if possible!
Finer details (sentimental pieces)
Even if you don’t have a themed wedding, there may be lots of sentimental pieces you’d like us to film, such as a piece of jewellery, wedding shoes, photo of a loved one, written vows - you name it and we’ll make sure we get it in the video!
If you didn’t think to have any before, hopefully this has been a prompt to think about objects or items you’d like to have with you on the day. There is nothing silly, we have had an array of requests in for what to include in videos - afterall, this should be personal to the couple, their relationship and wedding day.
Natural, happy faces!
Most importantly, we want to see happy faces! Of course it’s not possible to smile all the time, and we’re not asking for big cheesy grins throughout the video but just a reminder that this is the day you’ve been planning for so make sure to relax as much as you can and enjoy. You’ll be watching the video for many years to come, so make sure you look back on it with font memories!
