Five Unique Ideas for your Wedding Film
Documentary Style Wedding Films
Pictures tell a unique story. Moving pictures show a unique story; something even more memorable. If you’ve decided to have your wedding day filmed, congratulations - you’ve made what I believe to be one of the best decisions. I believe that wedding films can be so much more than just a moving version your wedding photos.
Its not everyday that you hire a personal filmmaker to capture your own story, and when you are willing to collaborate with your filmmaker, I believe we can create more than just a quick recap video, but rather an heirloom that documents the beginning of your new family together.
A wedding day in and of itself does not tell the full story of your love and journey as a couple. It may capture a quick clip of the way you look at one another, or your grandparents cheering you on as you walk down the aisle, but if you want to take a more documentary approach to documenting this life changing decision, I have a few ideas for you.
Here are 5 ideas to help develop your wedding video into something more than just moving pictures.
Make it stand out
Adding “home videos”
You know those 501 video clips sitting on your phone right now? The ones that you hope to make into a fun little video one day ? Yes, we all have them, and they probably date back to the first few days of your relationship. While home movies on crappy little recorders are a thing of the past, we all still take home videos on our phones. When artfully weaved through your wedding or story film, these can invoke feelings from your past and bring back all those happy tears and silly giggles revealing how you’ve grown to the present.
2. Writing letters to one another
We don’t do it enough in today’s society, but writing letters to each other and then reading them before walking down the aisle is a gentle and honest way to share how you are feeling with one another before you say ‘I do.’ Many couples choose to do this regardless of having a wedding filmmaker, but having the audio from these recorded is not something you can get back with pictures alone.
3. Including an adventure/story session
Do you have a particular activity that you and your partner love to do together? For example, rock climbing, hiking, skiing — or a super normal activity like making cookies in your apartment together. Capturing you in your most natural habitat can infuse your personality in your film in a way that will give you a glimpse back into your season of life when you watch your film back in 30 years.
They sky is the limit of what you can do when it comes to story or adventure sessions, and you also won’t regret an opportunity to get to know your filmmaker in a more natural setting before your wedding day.
Here, you’ll see that Sydney and Aaron’s wedding film also featured footage from their rock climbing session — an activity they love to do together. Don’t worry, if you happen to need a filmmaker that will climb, ski, backpacking, or paddle board with you to get the footage, I happen to know a perfect fit.
4. Audio from family or friends
Here’s a little secret: audio is a crucial part of any wedding video that aims to tell your story well. In the most basic way, audio helps propel your love story along with the pictures you see. The best part is you can use this to your advantage when crafting your wedding video. One wedding video idea that’s often overlooked is using a close family member or friend’s voice to talk about you in your film.
It may seem a bit cheesy, but there’s something special, and specific, about someone else who shares a close bond with you expressing how they see you and your new spouse together. This may simply be using their speech audio in your film (something you’d chat with your videographer about prior to your wedding), or maybe you go the route of a digital guest book. You can use tools like After The Tone to really capture the essence of your wedding day, allowing you to go back in time. Applying this to your wedding film is just icing on the cake; your cake, of course.
5. Tell your love story
No matter how you met, everyone has a unique story and course of events that led them to where they are now. Think about how cool it would be for your grandkids to get to hear you tell your love story as you are now, while they watch a video of your wedding day. I believe that the love you share with your person is powerful and meant to be shared.
Sitting down, in an informal way, to just talk about how you met and how you got to where you are now can also provide a space to reflect on this unique season of life and marriage you are about to enter.
Your wedding film should feel like you
I want to stress that while all these wedding film ideas are noteworthy ways to transform your wedding film into something more, the essence of your story should remain intact. The goal in wedding filmmaking should always be to capture whatever you want to be captured, documenting it for you and your loved ones. You are making a life-altering decision in deciding to marry your person and that decision deserves to be celebrated and captured.
Creating videos for you that one day have the potential to become a family heirloom is at the heart of what motivates my work. If you want to learn more about this process, or see my pricing/packages reach out below! I’d love to help bring your love story to life.
Make it stand out
