Well Hello,

For those of you who have found you’re way here, welcome, you’ve found the right place! You have lots of questions, and we’re thrilled to help guide you to find the perfect answers.

Growing up and even today we are mesmerized by the concept of documenting your life. In what other format can you time travel to a moment where you are a younger version of yourself, your family members are a younger version of themselves and you can relieve moments in time that you were never even a part of?

One of our favorite pastimes is watching videos from our childhood and even years ago, nothing beats sitting down and putting on a video from when your mom or dad was in their younger years and you were either nonexistent or just a baby doing baby things. The power of looking back at a moment in time when something emotional, cool, funny, or sweet happened is just indescribable. One thing that separates the old ways of documenting to now is the level of detail, level of audio, and sophistication that you can have today.

When thinking about a wedding video you often have to think or project, “What will I want to see in the future that I can’t see now”. It’s an out-of-body experience to forecast what the future will look like and who you will want to share these memories with. It may be a co-worker, friend, loved one, child, or child’s friend. You never know what impact showing others these memories may have on their life or what kind of inspiration and influence these will have. Additionally consider that during weddings it’s one of the biggest days of your life, where you are surrounded by all of your cherished and loved ones. Once this day passes, there likely won’t be another time in your and your partner’s life when everyone comes together to celebrate just the two of you. The best way to relive all of these moments is to hire a video team.

So you may be asking yourself I know I want to document and capture moments from my wedding day in video format, but how or what do I ask my video team to do so that I ensure I can share this day in all its entirety to loved ones in the future?

We’ll break down the general flow of a wedding day to cover the essential components to make sure you have an incredible wedding video and wedding day experience.

The Recipe to an Incredible Wedding Video:

First and Foremost

Don’t be afraid of the Camera

We highly encourage our couples to embrace your photo and video team. This is one of the biggest days of your life, where you are surrounded by all of your loved ones and we want to capture every single moment. Now and then we’ll get a guest who will walk the other way because they feel like they're not allowed to be on camera or will get in the way, however, we want them and every single guest to know that we want them on camera, we want them captured, and they know that you know that you want them to be remembered. So in encouraging our couples to embrace the photo and video team, it’s always a good thing to send a reminder to the bridal party, family, and guests that they have full unrestricted permission to be on camera, come up to us, and say or do anything they want you to remember.

Example: During the Wedding of Hannah and David the wedding party and guests were encouraged to be their true selves and express their happiness and joy for Hannah and David as they celebrate on their wedding day. You can feel the energy and notion of embracing the photo and video vendors.

Really? Yes Really!

The Best Stuff Happens at the Rehearsal Dinner

In the spirit of not being afraid of the camera a good exercise is to have your photo and video team at the Rehearsal Dinner. This exercise will allow the more intimate guests to become more familiar with your photo and video team, we may even get on a first-name basis with your loved ones. Typically if you opt for Rehersal Dinner Coverage you can also opt for a Rehersal Dinner Coverage video will would be a standable video of all of the speeches which could last up to an hour. In addition to breaking down some barriers, because having this many vendors is an anomaly for most people, having your photo video team at the rehearsal dinner will allow them to capture those more intimate moments and interactions that may not have the opportunity to occur and be captured on the wedding day due to there being more guests and events on the actual wedding day. Another note is that oftentimes couples will choose to do toasts or speeches from particular loved ones, having your photo and video team, particularly your video team document these speeches and audio bites will enhance your wedding video by wholly encompassing your story in your wedding video. Unfortunately, there’s only a certain amount of time that can be allotted to speeches on the actual wedding day, so this is another point to include the video/photo team at rehearsal dinners. However, if you’re unable to bring your video team to the Rehearsal Dinner be sure to set aside time for speeches from a few key individuals. Though we would love the entire bridal party and then some speeches to be included, due to time constraints, flow of events, and guest attention span we see these typically being 4 to 6 individuals (Parents, Newlywed Couple, and Best Man/Woman/Matrons of Honor. )

Example: During the Wedding of Stephanie and Hillary, Hillary’s father gives a warm welcome and tender-hearted speech which sets the tone for the video. The speech gives a little more insight into their relationship with their family and looks forward to the following day when Stephanie and Hillary will celebrate their love with all of their friends and family.

Thirdly and Most Importantly

Dig Deep

Whether it’s in a personal vow, speech/toast, letter to each other, special dance, or other; we always encourage our couples and guests to include personal touches and anecdotes or stories from their relationship. Let’s break down those walls, and get deep and personal on your wedding day. We want to harness the full depth of who you two are as individuals, where you’ve come from, and where you’re going. To further develop that story we suggest mentioning or asking close individuals who played a part in your relationship to share a few stories or anecdotes about you as individuals and as a couple. Even the smallest sentence or phrase can add so much additional meaning and depth to your wedding day video. Getting a parent, friend, and grandparent’s voice captured is so precious.

Example: On our wedding day two things were incredible important to us, which was the writing of our personal vows and our officiant Tom to introduce us and give a little back story to his experience and role in each of our lives.

Best of All

Get Lost in Time

Over the course of a wedding day, you will have planned time frames for different events. This is naturally a part of planning the day, booking all of the vendors of your wedding day as well as letting your guests know when to arrive, what to do during that time frame, and how the day will unfold. During those time frames, however, we always encourage couples to not feel like they are limited on having a moment or taking a few extra minutes to do this or that. In our experience, there’s always a little give and take throughout the day so you can be at ease knowing that it’s okay to hug a little longer, cry a little louder, and slow down while you take it all it.

Example: During Abood and Saresh’s special day, Abood and Saresh took time to be with each other. While getting lost in the moment, when we reviewed the schedule we noticed that we were over an hour behind on reception events. Despite being an hour behind Abood and Saresh will never regret taking the time to slow down and be together during their first look and bride and groom portraits. After getting all of their important things during daylight accomplished we were able to get back on track for the reception events and became ahead of schedule. Sometimes you’ll find that you didn’t need some time where you needed it. In additional to getting caught up in the moment we were able to dig deep and get some incredible interviews from guests.

To begin, again

No Detail is Too Small

After it’s all said and done the only thing that will stand the test of time from your wedding day are the deliverables from your photo and video team. The cake will disappear, the florals may wilt, and the memory may fade, but the photos, videos, and your love will last forever. In thinking about what you should include in your details prioritize things that are meaningful to you. Take a look back on any family traditions, customized decor, or things that hold sentimental value. When you look back on your wedding video you’ll laugh, cry, or be able to continue the story that this was included and occurred on your wedding day. Even if something happens or is captured that doesn't make the final cut it's important to keep in mind that it's better to have captured than not to have captured. You can also edit and fine-tune things but you can't make or do something that didn't occur or get captured in the first place.

Example: On Kaitlyn and Patrick’s wedding Day, Patrick who was the groom decided to write a letter to Kaitlyn, which encompassed a personalized poem, and video from their early dates. Patrick who makes candles also included a personalized candle to Kaitlyn. Even the smallest gestures with context elevated their wedding day video and this moment is sealed is time for years to come and share with their loved ones.

Are you ready?

LETS CONNECT.

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How to Have an Incredible Wedding Video