Wedding Videography Tips

by Chris Lin

Wedding videography presents a unique opportunity for filmmakers. Getting paid to tell a love story with creativity and artistry, all while connecting with couples and being a part of their families for a single day, is a unique and rewarding experience.

But with the excitement comes a set of challenges for both beginners and seasoned professionals. To help you overcome these challenges, here are 5 Wedding Videography Tips.

Hi, I’m Chris, a photographer out of Los Angeles with a passion for online education, photojournalism, travel photography and wedding videography and the co-founder of SLR Lounge and Lin & Jirsa Photography.

1. Ask the Right Questions Before (and after) The Wedding

The most important aspect of wedding videography, and any business for that matter, is making your clients happy. To do so, be sure to ask the right questions before and after the wedding.

In our wedding videography studio at Lin and Jirsa, we always ask the following questions:

Imagine that you are watching your wedding video in 10 years, surrounded by your future kids. What would you want to see? What moments would be important for you to relive? What kind of vibe or mood would you want to feel?

Phrasing the questions like this helps your clients envision a future scenario and makes it easier for them to communicate their desires and preferences.

2. Be Consistent in Shooting and Editing

Consistency in shooting and editing is critical to great wedding videography. This means syncing up white balance, frame rate, and other settings while shooting, but also using the same color grading in post processing.

If you’re including still images, make sure they are consistent in color and tones as well by using tools like the Visual Flow Presets.

3. Stay Light with Your Gear

Wedding Videography gear is heavy and expensive. The 8-10 hour days can take a toll on your body, so it’s essential that you pack light.

This keeps you nimble and gives you a better chance at being in the right place at the right time.

Lastly, this minimizes the financial impact of gear damage, loss or theft. For gear recommendations, see the Camera and Lens Reviews on SLR Lounge.

4. Find the Perfect Music Track

The right music track can amplify storytelling and emotion, while the wrong one can completely ruin a perfectly good video.

Spend sufficient time exploring your options, make extensive, well-organized lists of your favorite songs, and take your clients styles and preferences into consideration.

Make sure the music and can be legally used in commercial wedding videography or paid freelance work and your clients can share the videos on YouTube and social media without racking up copyright claims.

Explore TunePocket’s wedding music collection for inspiration or check out 15 best wedding video soundtracks handpicked by our editor:

See more music for wedding videos.

5. Don’t Overuse a Single Technique

One of the most common mistakes we see in wedding videography is the overuse of a single technique.

The filmmaker may have just picked up a new toy like a slider or drone. Or sometimes they just haven’t developed and mastered a diverse set of techniques. Regardless, make sure you’re not over-utilizing a single technique.

Yes, a focus pull is an eye catching technique, but it probably shouldn’t be used more than one time in a video.

Aerial drone footage is always visual candy for wedding videography, but should only be used a couple times per video as well.

Keep your techniques diverse and less predictable, and the result will be a more unique and interesting video.

Bonus tip – Have Fun!

As a bonus tip, be sure to enjoy yourself. We’ve worked with too many wedding filmmakers who get hardened and bitter over years of catering to brides and falling into creative ruts.

As long as you keep learning, understand and appreciate the privilege of love stories, and continue connecting with your clients, you’ll likely remain beyond satisfied with the art of wedding videography.

Visit Lin & Jirsa Web site to see more of our wedding videography work.