Wedding budgets are often tight, but “compromise” isn’t a popular word with such events. Here are 5 tips for how to create the perfect DIY wedding video on a budget!

Having the wedding footage covered is up there on the list with the cake and the flashy transport. It’s understandable that you want to remember moments from the big day in the best way possible. Gone are the days of grainy, shaky camcorder footage shared around on a VHS. The production values that go into some wedding videography these days can rival the expense of the bride’s dress. Couples want their dream wedding to be represented cinematically, just like the big screen fairytale they see in their heads.

But, what happens if the funds are running a little dry? Shooting a DIY wedding video doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t capture that cinematic, big budget feel. With a bit of planning, creativity and help from friends, you can absolutely get the wedding video you want. Here’s how!

Set a Brief

So, you’re at the helm of the wedding video mission. Nothing says scary like riding blind in the dark on your nearest and dearest’s wedding day. Now is not the time to wing it and hope for the best!

If you’ve been enlisted as head of operation wedding video, do ask for an inclination of what the bride and groom are hoping for. Naturally, they’re going to want high quality footage, but there may be key moments they are particularly set on having well documented.

Furthermore, (depending on how confident you’re feeling), you could find out what sort of style and aesthetic they would prefer. Would they like a fast-paced, action-packed feeling video, or would they prefer a more serene and graceful display, filled with scenic and static shots?

Once you’ve got your brief and overall goals, you can begin to dig down into finer details.

Start At The Beginning

Unlike when you hire a videographer for a wedding, when it’s a DIY you can capture so much more than just the day itself. Weddings are more than a ceremony and party afterwards. There’s the dress shopping, stag and hen parties, rehearsals, setting up decorations, and the morning preparations on the actual day.

These are all fantastic opportunities to gain great content for a DIY wedding video, whilst capturing as many memories as possible.

Enlist Friends

Generally, weddings are fairly large affairs. If you are not a professional wedding videographer, it can be difficult to capture every aspect of a wedding as a one-person operation. This is where some delegation and possibly friendly bribery can help out.

Presumably, there will be plenty of friends in attendance. If there’s no free bar (we’re not all made of money), offer to buy some pals a drink in exchange for some footage. Having multiple people on the tasks enables you to capture different moments throughout the wedding day simultaneously. This makes for a richer, more natural wedding video.

Of course, recording equipment doesn’t come cheap. However, even phone cameras are advanced enough these days that it’s possible to shoot a high quality DIY wedding video on them. Your friends need only whip out their phones, and (hopefully their hands will still be relatively steady come the evening celebrations) they can begin capturing the wedding dance floor antics.

The Tripod Is Your Friend

Weddings are often filled with dancing, mingling, and plenty of running around keeping things ticking over nicely. However, there are also many moments where sitting still for periods of time is required. The ceremony being the obvious example, but also the speeches afterwards.

In order to avoid achy arms and footage that’s a bit all over the place, make use of a trusty tripod. Any professional videographer would do the same, especially as some speeches can go on for a good half an hour! Investing in a tripod means beautifully smooth and steady video, and enables you to sweep around the room, capturing guests’ reactions.

Try not to set up the tripod too far from the speaker, though, as you will need to capture the audio clearly. Ensuring you set up in position ahead of time means you can also capture guests filtering into the venue.

Edit to Perfection

You can have all the highlights captured, and the highest quality wedding footage, but it still needs to be pieced together. Never underestimate the importance of the edit!

If you’re feeling a little inexperienced when it comes to video editing, there are plenty of free online video editing tips. However, you can go into more depth by taking some video editing lessons on Skillshare, should you feel like getting a bit more advanced.

You’ll need some editing software as well, but fear not! This doesn’t always have to be a huge expense. If you’re looking to simply splice footage together and potentially refine the visuals, a free video editing software will do the trick.

Finding some suitably wonderful music for a wedding video will ensure the finished article, although DIY, appears professional and flawless.

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