Videographer question

Hey. I recently booked our videographer and decided on just getting the long video and not the short film. With the long video I am able to have each and every important moment recorded and I can always go back and view those special moments later on. I’m planning to rewatch our video every anniversary. The short film I feel like is more for social media sharing and will show the highlights of the day but not everything. Hope that helps !

I had one and she gave me like a 3 minute recap video and I honestly think that’s fine. I think a 1.5 hour documentary style video sounds long BUT it does also sound kind of cool aha. I feel like my wedding video I watch pretty often but I don’t think I’d watch a 1.5 hour documentary of my wedding that often just cause it’s long

Initially I just wanted the short video because an hour + video seemed soooooo long. But then, once I stopped and thought about it, I changed my mind and decided to get the package that offered both. I had heard so many brides here on WW say one of their favorite things about their video was seeing all the moments the videographer captured that they never would have seen otherwise. Plus, I have some relatives
who are getting up there in age and won’t be with us forever. I really love the idea of having video of them all dressed up, happy, and celebrating.

If I were the one making the decision, it would depend on the cost difference between the two packages, while also considering the end product. Would you watch the 90-120 minute video often enough to make it worth the extra cost? If so, I say go for it! As the previous comment said, you'll capture more moments on camera. It also may be a fun video for you to watch every anniversary. However, if you don't feel you'd really watch it often, or if the cost is outrageous, the 6-10 minute film should cover the highlights. If, to get both, it were a small amount more, I'd probably get both. Another question you could ask them is, if you buy the package with the short video now, can you always come back later (either shortly after your wedding or years down the road) and get the longer film? If so, what would their cost be?

I did a package with two videos. One was a highlight 3-5min and one was 30-40 minutes. Go for both if you can.

Daughter hired her videographers last minute (it didn't originally fit the budget) and tried Thumbtack for the first time. (She was super picky and heavily vetted all her other vendors, but the video was a last minute thing and she needed it to be as inexpensive as possible.) The couple she hired charged $100 per hour (for the two of them) and included ALL the raw footage. She hired them for 7 hours (first look through cake cutting). In addition, she purchased a 6-7 minute highlight film. She got back 6 hours of unedited footage -- basically everything they shot. While only she and I have watched all 6 hours (multiple times... ), she loves it because it includes so much candid detail -- conversations between she and the BMs and her husband and his guys, clowning around when they were all getting ready and taking wedding party photos, all of first look with husband, and then with her dad, interactions between guests before and after the ceremony, and two camera angles on all the critical stuff (both their faces for first look, the processional, vows, etc.). In addition, it includes all the original audio -- including copyrighted music that happened to be playing during the ceremony and reception. On the other hand, the highlight film gives a great, quick, beautifully edited overview of the day (with a background music track w/o copyright issues, and includes things like the vows, speeches, etc.). The short video included full download rights, so she was able to share the link on her social media accounts (some videographers only host the link for a fairly short period of time). Overall, she was SO glad she has both. Her videographers had a great portfolio & references, and the total cost was about $1500. When she had originally interviewed videographers at the start of planning (and not using Thumbtack), they were more in the $**** range and she just wasn't going to pay that! Good luck!

I was adamant about having a cinematic trailer (I love the cinematic style), but my photographer also provides all of the raw footage, so I won't miss anything. I felt like it was the best of both worlds!

We ended up getting a 7-minute highlight video that covers our day start to finish. For my birthday, my husband went back to our videographer and got a cut that includes our ceremony in full and one that includes our speeches / special dances in full. We've only watched the ceremony/speeches videos once but I like having the shorter version to watch whenever.

If I had to choose just one, I would choose the highlight video personally. I like that it captures everything in a consumable format.

We’re getting both. I definitely like the montage/recap video but I also think it’s cool to see everything/everyone on video because that night will be a blur

If the hour or 90 minute version includes the full ceremony and speeches -- think how much content that could be. So I would inquire for clarity.


It depends what type of memory keeper and documenter you are. I wanted to see the image of my FH's face seeing me for the first time on our video. I wanted to see me and the girls popping champagne. I wanted some of the candid parts of the day in our memories. The quirky, fun and real.
We saved in other places to splurge on video and photos.

We are waiting for the full cut, but our professional include a highlight/recap video. I am so glad we budgeted this in : https://vimeo.com/447008005/description

We chose Brodie Ledford Studios in Maryland. We have two separate videos. One is the story of our day and is in a cinematic style. It feels like an actual movie! They also did interviews with us separately and used them In our wedding film which we absolutely loved! ❤️ It was about 7 minutes long which was plenty to tell the story of our day as they said it would. We then also opted for a separate Video of just our ceremony which was edited very nicely and they also put little tiny microphones on my husband and the officiant to get great sound! Both videos just blew us away. We spoke to people who offered different services but what was most important to us was quality and service. Multiple venues and other vendors recommended them to us also. we didn’t want the cheapest nor did we want the 10,000 people but we fell in the middle and are so glad we chose to do video! They also did our photography which was equally as awesome 😃❤️

So What I’m trying to say is that the 4-10 minute movie can be great if you choose the right company and adding a ceremony is a perfect addition. Good luck!

Our videographer is a (former) coworker of mine who is an up-and-coming filmmaker.

She gave us a 5 minute highlight video, plus all the raw footage. So, we have nice, long cuts for the ceremony, toasts, first dances, and such, and then a bunch of fun, short clips of the rest of the party.

We really love this, but it's all about what suits you best.

I was torn too when making a similar decision with my videographer. My sister asked me, "How often will you watch the hour long video?" And that is when I decided to just purchase the 2-3 minute highlight video instead of the documentary style haha. Cause I mean maybe I would watch it once every couple years but since we are live streaming the wedding anyway I don't have a 'need' for the hour long video since I know family and friends wont watch it. Thus, the investment didn't make sense for us.

I have watched 6 minute highlight videos and they seem so long. I think 2-3 minutes is perfect plus you're saving a whole lot of money!

I opted for the video package that has a 45-90 minute video. I wanted a longer video versus just a highlight because I didn't want to regret not being able to look back at certain moments. FH initially didn't understand why we would need video, couldn't we just have someone record important moments like vows and dances on their phone, and I was adamant I wanted good quality lol. Since we decided to splurge for the video, FH then decided he at least wanted all the raw footage so he could look through it all, so we got that as an add-on.

We did a package where we got all of our special moments videoed (letter reading, first look, dances, speeches, etc.), our entire ceremony, and the highlight film. I highly suggest getting it all! Your entire day will go by so quickly, and your ceremony will be a blur! Having all of the videos to look back at has been so great! I absolutely love watching our ceremony video and the highlight film still gives me chills almost a year later!

I hired a videographer that does a 2-3 minute highlight film, and I managed to stike a deal with him, where he gives me ALL the footage he's going to take at our wedding, and release it to me, I'm looking real forward to it, and I was so hyped when agreed to it. Only catch is I'm not allowed to show any unedited footage on social media.

It depends on what you want. A wedding video is a branch of home videos so to speak, done professionally instead of by a family member. So yould get to have the ceremony and see/hear all the friends/relatives (especially older ones) that a highlight doesn't. They are both beneficial in that regard. Even if you don't watch it everyday or every week, some pull out the full video on anniversaries as with any other home video. A highlight reel is typically shared on social media since it's shorter.