Months of preparation and excitement goes into a wedding, but you ultimately live it only once. Thanks to those professional wedding video editors that capture almost every moment of a wedding. Wedding video editing service providers will edit wedding footage neatly that will bring back the excitement every time you watch it. After all, a wedding is a day to remember and a story to narrate. 

It is normal to discuss with your videographer the length of the wedding video. However, it is totally your decision to make the wedding video as short or as long as you want. How long a wedding video is, usually, depends on the ‘type of wedding videography’. There are multiple styles available, some of which are:

Types of Wedding Videography: 

Highlights: Highlights are usually covered in 3-5 minutes. This kind of video includes only the best moments from the ceremony. Video editors add magic to highlights by adding filters, music, and voice-over narration, just to enhance the excitement amongst the audience. 

Short Film: Short films are typically covered in 7-10 minutes. It’s a candid representation of the wedding day that includes all the beautiful facets. Short films are mostly designed to share it over social media channels. 

Documentary Style: Documentary style wedding videos are longer, anywhere between 60 to 90 minutes. This style might include short interviews of friends and family people narrating the couple’s story and more. Of course, it covers other moments of the couple leading to the celebration and more. 

Cinematic Style: Cinematic style wedding video includes all dramatic elements. Aerial views, slow-motion, narration, and dialogues just like any featured film have. It could go up to 60 to 120 minutes. You must only hire the best wedding video editor if you want an impactful cinematic style video.  

Pre-Shoot Video: Pre-shoot is a short photo or video session that is released about 2-3 months before the wedding. These videos are usually made as part of an invitation that is sent across to guests. It typically includes romantic photos and videos along with “save the date” requests. 

Wedding videos let you see stuff that you might have missed in the process. Possibly that is why wedding videography is the best way to capture a special event. So, it’s a great idea to have a clear conversation with your wedding videographer and editors about your preferences. Ask them the following questions:

  • Ask for the availability of the dates
  • Their experience in filming wedding videos 
  • Videography style they have been filming
  • What they usually cover at a wedding
  • How many people will accompany the videographer?
  • Will video editing service be included in the package?
  • Do they have all the required types of equipment?
  • How long they will take to edit the video
  • Pricing

Other things that should be considered when deciding the length of the wedding video includes:

Things to focus on: You would like to tell the person that is going to shoot on what is the most vital part of your ceremony. Often you have multiple events at the wedding. As much as all of them are required, there could be times that are more important to you than others. Also, even with details on how to cover it and what and who you want to provide coverage to. Be it vow recitals, first kiss, the tying of the thali, the saath phere, the sangeet, and more. All of these are important events at your wedding and need to be covered. 

Different places to share it: With the different kinds of changes in how you share your videos you will need to ensure that your video person knows how to create and edit it. This means that if you need a video that can work on different platforms and where you want to share it. This will help prepare the right kind of recording. This will determine the right kind of shorts and preplanning of what kind of angles the videographer should use. Be it the couple getting prepped for the big event, the altar, the program, the conversation, and more. What you want to cover is what you should record, however, where you want to display it also matters.  

The number of days: There are many rituals that every wedding goes through. However, you would need the videographer to focus on events based on multiple factors including the budget and the length. If your wedding is for a few days, the less the number of hours of the video there will be to edit. Alternately, if your wedding is for more days, the filming and video editing will take longer. 

 Types of edits: Your personal videographer will certainly be an important aspect of your video editing. How long your speech is will also determine the length of the wedding. Personally written wedding vows can be inspiring to revisit as a couple. Often people include poems in their wedding vows to make it even more special. The editor should know to cover it in the right manner. The angles of the couple responses, the guests’ responses to the vows are required to be captured and edited accordingly.

Editing your video: Editing a wedding video is one of the important aspects of deciding how long your wedding video should be. A video that is edited by a good editor makes for a good film to watch and share. To remove background noises, add important conversations, recording speeches correctly, getting the right short, replacing the murmurs with good music, all help make the video more interesting. One can think of a wedding video like a movie. If it is interestingly edited, you would want to come back to it to see it over and over again. 

The power of video at a wedding cannot be denied. Videos and photographs give you a whole new way to cherish those moments. So, do take the time to consider the kind of video you want for a special event. Also, make sure you are comfortable with the wedding video editor so that you are part of the entire process. Always remember the length of the video is not so important as much as it is to cover the special moments. So, do your research and outsource video editing service providers that are experienced in the field.

Also read,

Why Do Wedding Studios Consider the Outsource Wedding Video Editing Path?

Top 5 Reasons to Outsource Video Editing

What is the average cost of a wedding videographer in the US?