The Ultimate Guide to Producing Wedding Video

Learn about the business of wedding videos. Know the questions you need to ask couples beforehand, and download free templates to create business promos and contracts. Own the wedding day by preparing your gear and knowing every shot you need to capture. Finally, find the right soundtrack and download free assets to edit the epic wedding video your clients desire.

The wedding industry is one of the largest and most competitive trades. To stand out from the competition, you must run a business that not only produces great wedding films — but you must have excellent skills managing contracts, invoicing, and marketing too.
Building a successful wedding business requires plenty of preparation and the ability to respond to clients promptly. To make an immediate impression, aim to have a wedding packet ready to send couples as soon as you receive an inquiry. The wedding packet should begin with a brief bio and history, your company philosophy, as well as your contact information. Next, lay out all of the packages you have available — be sure to include the starting price. Finally, you should have a page requesting information from the couple. You need their names, contact information, wedding date and locations.
If you don’t already have a wedding packet ready, be sure to download our PremiumBeat Wedding Packet Template. You will also want to save a copy of your packet online, so you can easily email it from your iCloud or Google Drive when out of the office.
The wedding packet isn’t just a marketing tool, but it’s designed to be incredibly helpful. By knowing the location of the ceremony and reception, you can start estimating the cost of travel. You can add that to the package starting price and build an accurate quote instantly.
After you meet with the couple, you can draft up the contract and have everything finalized. Be sure to include the final price and set a delivery date, and have the couple sign the contract and pay their deposit before moving forward. If you don’t have a contract already, we have created the Wedding Contract Template that will help you outline your agreement.

The wedding day is bound to wear you out, just as any all-day shoot would. Be fully prepared ahead of time by having everything organized and planned out. With a shot list and schedule prepared, you will be free to focus on capturing the best footage.
Preparing for a shoot well in advance will make any wedding much more manageable. Prepare your gear for the wedding by using a checklist to track everything you need. Once the wedding day arrives, have your shot list prepared with all the traditional wedding shots you need, as well as any special requests from the bride and groom.
A gear checklist should list every piece of gear you own, as well as any potential pieces you may need to rent. Be sure to leave yourself plenty of time to work through the checklist. Start at least a full day before the shoot. First cross off any gear you won’t need for the wedding day. Then go inspect and prep your gear piece by piece. When you check off the camera, that doesn’t just mean that you have a camera. It means that the camera has been cleaned, inspected, and properly packed. Be sure to list the amount of batteries and memory cards you have as well. Don’t check them off the list until they have been charged and formatted first. The same goes for support gear. Inspect all tripods and stabilizers. Once your gear checklist is complete, you’re guaranteed to be ready for the wedding.
On the day of the wedding, one of the best resources available is a traditional shot list. Whether it be printed or listed on your phone, be sure to have a shot list to remind you of everything you need captured. No matter how many weddings you shoot, a shot list will always keep you focused. If the shoot ever becomes overwhelming, you’ll have a guide to recall everything you need to capture. A wedding shot list should include all the traditional shots; get footage of rings, floral arrangements, jewelry, shoes, cufflinks, and the wedding dress. You should also have talked to the couple about any special requests they may have. If the bride is wearing her great-grandmother’s veil, that’s an intimate detail you’ll want to capture.

With a hard drive full of footage from the wedding day, it’s time to start syncing audio and cutting together an epic cinematic wedding video. Add more production value by choosing the perfect soundtrack and using some overlays and beautifully crafted graphics.
The edit can make or break your wedding video. Even if you have great footage, you still need to put an excellent effort into the editing process to get a cinematic final product. Start by organizing footage into separate folders. All footage from the ceremony should go into one bin and reception into another.
The more organized you are in the beginning, the easier the editing process will be. Next you will want to sync all your footage. Dump all of your footage and audio into the timeline. You can manually sync, use your NLE, or use a program like PluralEyes to sync up all the different angles with the audio track.
After you’re all synced up, it’s going to come down to editing for the best story, finding music, adding transitions and overlays, color grading, and adding some graphics or badges. The music may be the most important element, as a great track can really set the mood. As a professional videographer, you must be sure to license all the music tracks you use in editing. Otherwise you risk fines and takedowns for copyright infringement. You can find great wedding tracks right here on PremiumBeat, with playlists customized for traditional edits and modern storytelling videos. With the right track, you can then start cutting your story — and even make some edits to the tune of the song.
To help you in the edit, we’ve put together a free overlay pack that includes 16 light leaks. Light leaks are great for transitioning footage together in a cinematic way. If you need a guide to working with light leaks, check out this great tutorial. We’re also including some free wedding badges which allow you to customize the names of the couple and have an instant animated element in your edit.