Wedding Photography and Videography Forum

Go pro in lieu of video?

We aren't big sappy wedding video people but we do want to capture moments so we can look back on them in the future. Our brother and sister in law have and use two go pros all the time. My parents have one and we have one as well. We were thinking of just letting these circulate throughout the day to get the most authentic feel without all the forced moments. Any thoughts?

Re: Go pro in lieu of video?

  • This sounds like a great idea. I'm not sure about what will you do so the video doesn't look warped plus editing sounds like a lot of work to me.
  • If you want a wedding video I would hire a professional. My wedding video isn't sappy, it's the full ceremony so I can see and hear our vows. The ceremony went by so quickly and it was such a blur, that's why I wanted a wedding video. There are no forced moments or interviews of guests. It is an accurate account of the day, just like my photos, but with sound. Sound, editing and shake are all join to issues with using GoPros. 

    IMHO, I think the GoPros will sit on the table at the reception, mostly untouched. People want to interact and have fun, not be unpaid workers. Your brother might be willing to use his GoPro and get some footage for you since he enjoys using his. Otherwise I don't think you'll end up with much usable footage. Video is one of those things were you either have to go all in or it really isn't worth it.

    GL! :)
    :kiss: ~xoxo~ :kiss:

  • I like this idea and would like to hear from someone who has done it. I was thinking about attaching a GoPro to my wedding arch to get video of the ceremony and then having a video message station where guests can video themselves leaving messages (maybe put it by the guest book?). If anyone has used a GoPro instead of professional videography services, let us know if it worked well or not. Thanks!
  • I didn't use a GoPro, but I did use a professional videographer and I WISH I had just used a GoPro or set up an iPad on the side on a tripod. We spent $2k on a wedding video and it is HORRIBLE. So. So. Freaking. Horrible. Hiring a professional doesn't ensure you'll get a worthwhile video, sadly. We would have gotten a much better video if we had just done it ourselves. 
  • As a counter point... We hate videographers because we find them intrusive, so we decided to use Wedit. It's a service that mails you 5 iPod Touch cameras and you distribute them to the guests so they can capture the weekend. You get the cameras like the Tuesday before the wedding and send them back the Tuesday after, or something like that. I thought it would be a great idea because people would be looser on camera and we could get footage from my bachelorette party, the rehearsal dinner, the goodbye brunch... All kinds of things! 

    WELL it turned out HORRIBLE. Almost as soon as we got to S. Fla things started to go horribly awry. In all the chaos, my parents, who had received the iPods at their address, forgot to pass them out and I forgot to bring one to my bachelorette party. In fact, no one remembered we even had them until after the ceremony. At that point my mom attempted to circulate them but only one guest used it, and the footage isn't great because we didn't tell anyone how to use them. (So all the footage is taken with the iPod held vertically instead of horizontally.) THEN we lost them for several days because they're small and cleaning up post-wedding was done in a boozey haze. I'm asking a friend to try to edit what we have together with some guest video, but we don't have ANY of the ceremony, none of the parents' speeches or my MoH's speech, none of us getting ready... It's a straight up disaster. Thankfully the photography came out great.  

    Bottom line: If you're very confident that people will take video and do it correctly, then go ahead and risk it, but my experience with Wedit was not favorable. 
  • Oh, I saw a video where the bride had the GoPro camera in her bouquet.  Gave a really interesting view of the entire day!

    Not sure that I would do this but it sounds like a fun idea! I'm not having a videographer.
This discussion has been closed.
Choose Another Board
Search Boards