Lights, Camera,
Marriage
!
Your wedding day is a memorable occasion filled with love and cherished moments, and filming the event allows you to relive the magic for years to come. Here, Annie Slevison uncovers the unique ways couples can inject personality into their wedding video.
Image Credit: Euro Photography
Creating a wedding video allows you to reminisce about your special day for many years to come. Whether you are looking to make an exceptional piece of cinematography or a homemade slideshow, there are many ways you can bring your video to life.
Save The Date
Letting your guests know which date on their calendars to draw a big red heart around is always exciting. What better way to get the message out there that you and your partner are getting married than with a save-the-date video? Creating a digital version is faster and cheaper than a paper invite, and it gives you and your partner complete control over what you want to say.
With the opportunity to be funny or emotional, relaxed or well-rehearsed, your save-the-date video will allow you to set the tone for your wedding day before you send out invitations. However, it is important to remember that the video needs to be short and sweet. Most save-the-date cards are the size of a postcard, so be sure to mirror that brevity in your digital version.
The Complete Story
Your love story is one of a kind, so a perfect way to inject personality into your wedding video is to actually show your personalities! From capturing the day you met, right up until your vows, creating a video about your relationship is a beautiful way to take a trip down memory lane. Consider including re-enactments shot on location or interviews with one another about special moments throughout your time together. Whether it’s your first kiss or proposal, watching the love of your life talk about your shared journey is a truly stunning testament.
A Blockbuster Of Love
Giving your wedding video a theme is a fun way to showcase your personal interests and
differentiate you as a couple. Incorporating a more in-depth cinematic experience will allow you and your partner to play the lead roles in your own lifetime movie. Whether you want to produce a documentary-style film, a romantic comedy or a non-stop action film, the options for making a home grown hit are endless. Get creative, rent costumes, draft a script, and have fun playing the role you were destined to play – yourself!
Mixed Media
Further to creating a true cinematic experience, another great way to add spark to your wedding video is by using different filming and editing techniques. If you can’t decide what type of approach to take, then using mixed media is the ideal option. This technique allows you to create a video that is entertaining and personal, especially if you’re savvy with a camera and computer.
Mixed-media techniques range from Super 8 footage and high-definition film to stop-motion technology, and animation. However, if media is not your forte, be sure to enlist a professional videographer and editor for this type of wedding video, because – depending on the level of quality you are looking for – the technicalities can be complex.
Same-Day Video
When enlisting a professional videographer, another great option is to create a wedding video to be filmed and edited on the same day and shown at the reception. This may include behind-the-scenes footage captured on the morning of the wedding, or your friends busting a few moves on the dance floor. The videographer can then edit a few snippets together to present mid-way through the reception. A same-day video is also a great way to pay tribute to your guests and reflect on the day, even before it ends.
The Guest List
A surefire way to make your wedding video unique is to include your guests. Not only is this guaranteed to inspire both laughter and tears, but it will be a great way to acknowledge the people who make your lives so special.
Get your family and friends to participate in interviews or recorded messages, either before the wedding or throughout the day. They can send well wishes, tell a funny story or let you know how much they are enjoying the wedding. Recording your loved ones’ kind words will give you the opportunity to celebrate in shared memories any time you want, and is an ideal way to add a personal touch to your wedding video.
Perfect Harmony
Whether you choose a simple picture presentation or strive for new cinematic heights, another way to create a personalised wedding video is to incorporate a professional soundtrack. You can enlist a pianist or band, or even use a sound mixer to create a tracklist of you and your partner’s favourite tunes. By including a mix of songs into your wedding video, you’re sure to add another layer of personality to the visuals.
Teaser Trailer
As wedding videos are typically quite lengthy, a final option to ensure your wedding day is memorable is to produce a short trailer for your guests to keep. Have your videographer reduce the extended footage into a two- or three-minute teaser trailer that shows the highlights of the day and send it off to your family and friends as a thank you for attending.
Injecting personality into your wedding video is only a matter of conveying the love shared between you and your partner, so, go forth and fill the space between the lenses with happy memories.