Even though a wedding day will pass quickly, you will be rewarded for many years to come by investing your time and effort in careful preparation and planning. As a key part of your wedding plan, inclusion of wedding videos will enable you to memorialize a life-changing moment that includes special family members and friends. Regardless of how often you watch your wedding video, it is a superb way to capture “priceless” moments that you might have missed during the frenetic wedding day. In this article, Video Caddy provides five wedding video tips and ideas for wedding video planning.
#1 – Choose a Professional Videographer
Hiring a professional wedding videographer is a smart strategy for “avoiding disasters” that are all-too-common when you try to cut corners. First and foremost, professionals are guaranteed to show up on your wedding day as scheduled and promised — they aren’t doing this as a favor; this is what they do on a daily basis. They will be contractually obligated to perform the wedding duties that you want and expect to be completed as flawlessly as possible.
In particular, Video Caddy strongly recommends against hiring a “friend or family member” to fill this vital role. Instead, choose a professional videographer after you have done some basic “due diligence” about their credentials and skills.
#2 – Choose a Cohesive Wedding Theme
Your “Wedding Theme” will help to make everything else a little easier by choosing a consensus theme as early in your wedding preparation as possible. For example, wedding ideas for menus, flowers and cakes can fall into place much more quickly with the “foundation” of a cohesive wedding theme — as simple as “classic elegance” or something more complex if that is what will make your wedding perfect.
Your selection of a cohesive wedding theme will definitely impact the appearance of your wedding video. Without a commitment to this cohesiveness, the wedding video can run the risk of looking like two (or more) different weddings. It is always a smart idea to browse through a wide variety of wedding theme candidates to see what feels comfortable — don’t hesitate to come up with your own ideas as well.
#3 – Choose the Right Location
If you have your heart set on an outdoor location for your wedding and reception, remember the practical need to have a “Plan B” location indoors in case Mother Nature has a different idea. The need for a “Plan B” will also involve more work and preparation.
To avoid missing the best shots during a wedding, you should plan on having more than one camera — two or three cameras is a suggested minimum. To ensure consistency, using the same brand and settings for all cameras is strongly recommended.
#4 – Choose the Right Moments
Regardless of how unique each wedding is, there are still many examples of “the right moments” that will be similar from one wedding to the next. Here are some of these traditional moments that must be captured on video and not missed:
- Exterior shots of the wedding location
- Dressing and preparation involving bride and bridesmaids
- Arrival of the wedding party
- Unique touches like unity candle lighting or solo songs
- Reaction shots of family and friends (especially bride and groom’s families)
- Formal posed shots by the photographer
- A continuous shot of the entire ceremony
- Wedding party as they leave
- Bride and groom and the wedding party as they enter the reception
- The first dance as a married couple, Mom’s dance with the groom and Dad’s dance with the bride
- Special ceremonies and dances
- Best man’s toast, cake cutting, garter toss and guest book signings
- Cutaways of presents, cake, flower arrangements, the band or DJ and decorations
- Interviews with guests, bride and groom and guests saying goodbye
The need to capture so many special moments should serve as a final reminder of the importance of choosing a professional wedding videographer to fulfill this vital and complex mission!
#5 – Choose to Be Natural
The wedding videographer should focus on natural and relaxed shots that are not “posed” — in other words, wedding subjects should not appear to be reacting to the presence of a camera. It is up to the wedding party to assist by never turning their back on the camera and knowing whether to look at the videographer or photographer during “traditional” shots. Unless your videographer specifies differently, it is always prudent to look at the photographer.
Don’t Forget Professional Post-Production Editors
Depending on your personal wishes, a wedding video can have the appearance of a reality television series or a music video lasting from three to five minutes. But whatever approach your wedding videographer takes, professional post-production editing can make even the best video a little better. This is where Video Caddy can become indispensable to the final production of your wedding video — we work with your video editor to help create the best possible wedding video.
Please share your wedding video experiences below and then use the social media icons to share with your online circle of friends and family.
Video Caddy wishes you the best of luck and good fortune as you finalize wedding preparation plans.
– VideoCaddy
