10 Wedding Videography Tips for Brides

Every bride dreams about a perfect wedding video with all the important and touching moments captured and carefully edited to get an incredible masterpiece. However, most couples have no idea that the main secret of a great wedding video is their natural emotions. Namely, just by enjoying being together, admiring each other and forgetting about the videographer filming, you’ll be able to relax. Let the whole thing go and the result will definitely surprise you.

Tip 1: Be Prepared For the Unexpected (Prepare for the Unexpected)

It’s obvious that any wedding is actually a huge and complex event. That’s why it’s quite predictable that something may go wrong, even if you’ve checked it several times. So, don’t try to control everything and everybody. Accepting the fact that anything could happen will help you lessen the tension and pressure  put on you by all these thoughts. All your vendors and especially the wedding videographers are aware of their work and as professionals know how to react and act if something unpredictable happens. They have witnessed lots of unexpected situations and are experienced in turning all the awkward moments into funny memories that you’ll laugh at every time watching the wedding video.

Tip 2: Don’t Surprise Your Videographer

This tip is derived from the previous one, and it points out the number of unexpected moments that you can easily lower. So, in case you learn that something important will happen during the wedding reception or you plan a surprise for your guests, you should inform your videographer about it to let him/her fully capture your whole wedding day. Keep in mind that apart from filming the main happenings during the wedding, the videographer does his/her best to capture spontaneous actions that are worth a lot.

Tip 3: Lighting is a Key Element (Lighting is Important)

During the wedding day, you’ll for sure pay attention to the way your videographer deals with the light. In the morning, the videographer will look for the best angles while filming the bride and groom preparations with the natural and soft daylight. Then, the main goal and often a challenge will be to shoot aesthetically the wedding ceremony and reception, because the lighting doesn't always contribute to the nice looking shots. While indoor and outdoor venues require different approaches, the amount of light is always a priority. As for the outdoor receptions, it’s advisable to use strings of lights, various lanterns and flickering lights to create a beautiful and romantic ambience. Frankly speaking, all the light you can use will noticeably improve the view. The variety of candles, crystal chandeliers and overhead lighting are the perfect choice for any indoor event. Not only do they add the special atmosphere, but they also make all your guests look stunning in the photos.

Tip 4: Uplighting Creates a Stunning Atmosphere

Uplighting is a modern lighting technology of creating an incredible ambience of the wedding space. The task is to place lighting beams discreetly on the ground pointing them up. Such directed upward lights are usually situated around the reception venue or close to the wedding ceremony to draw attention to these locations. If set around the perimeter of an indoor wedding hall, the walls will magically glow and it will produce a great effect. Talking about colors, amber and purple are the most flattering, though for your dance floor feel free to use red, blue or magenta.

Tip 5: Share Your Preferences With Your Videographer

To define the style you prefer, try to watch many videos of different weddings both to get inspired and also to narrow down the number of styles you actually like. Focus on the things which you always notice, and which you yourself would like to bring to life. Anyway, send your wedding videographer those clips that catch your attention and share your thoughts. Thus, the videographer can offer you to lean either to a cinematic aesthetic with staged posing, or to a more documentary, intimate and sentimental type.

Tip 6: The Golden Hour

The favorite moment of each videographer to shoot is an hour before sunset. During this short period of time, the natural light is just perfect, very soft, with no shadows on the face. This golden hour gives excellent opportunities to achieve the best results. However, don’t forget to include it in your wedding timeline, so as not to interrupt somebody’s speech or have an important moment that prevents you from leaving.

Tip 7: Discuss the Wedding Timeline With the Videographer

To send your videographer the wedding timeline a day before the celebration is not a good idea because there are many details that are to be clarified. Moreover, the videographer may give you useful tips on how to organize the event in a more effective way. You should definitely highlight the list of locations you’ve chosen for the shooting and discuss them with the videographer. Minding the previous experience, the videographer will provide you with the feedback and the recommendations. So, try to specify everything beforehand to reduce the level of your stress and tension on the wedding day.

Tip 8: Build Time Buffers

A wonderful tip you should definitely take into consideration is planning for delays and double the amount of time for the steps you expect might need it. Quite often the very first stage, that is the bride’s preparations with the hairstyle and makeup can be considerably prolonged. This makes the whole wedding timeline move as well as reduces the time you could spend on the video shooting. Also, it’ll be wise to double book time slots you’ve chosen for the wedding shooting to feel confident that you’ll have enough time to get the best result.

Tip 9: Don’t Rush Into Your Actions

Though it seems like the whole wedding day passes in the blink of an eye, try to slow down yourself while performing all the crucial processes of the wedding ceremony and reception. While walking down the aisle, exchanging rings or giving kisses, please don’t rush and allow the videographer to take many beautiful and memorable shots.

Tip 10: Good Video Takes Time to Create

To get the best wedding video ever, the videographer needs a lot of good materials which take time to collect. Just imagine: the videographer will ask for at least 1-2 hours for a bride’s preparation and 1 hour for the groom’s morning with his friends. Then, 2 more hours will be taken for the bride and groom being together and additionally some time for the wedding party. It’s really important to organize the timeline effectively to have enough time for every stage. A nice option will be to bring your close friend and family members an hour before the ceremony to take wonderful shots all together. So, discuss with your videographer all the doubting moments while specifying the wedding timeline. Make sure the videographer has enough time to film everything from wedding preparation to cake cutting, demonstrating the environment and vibe of the wedding day.