Friend is Editing Wedding Video

denyse1005

Hi there!

One of my husband's groomsmen is editing our wedding video as a present to us. He is a film editor and we have full trust in him that he will do a great job. However, he thinks that a half hour video is enough for our entire wedding. I don't agree. We had coverage all day long including me getting ready. What is the norm for wedding videos? Should we ask him to do a trailer with music for us, and consider getting the full video edited by someone with experience with wedding videos? I am very appreciative that he wants to do this, but don't want to miss out on having a full video of the wedding. I mean the speeches at the reception were almost a half hour. 

Thanks for your help!

photokitty

I think you are in tough spot bc he is giving you it as a gift. If you wanted something other than what he is offer you should be paying someone to do it. Personally I think a 30 min highlight reel is very substantial. My video has a 4 min music video with highlights of the day. Then the full ceremony. Then highlights of the reception with was mostly the entrance, speeches, portions of the spotlight dances (not the full dance), gated/ bouquet toss and then a few mins of dancing and guests. There is less than 2 mins of me getting ready on the whole thing. Do you really want to watch yourself getting your hair done? Someone else will edit it for you, charging by the hour. It takes a long time to put together 30 mins worth of footage (I know I'm in the busy, non wedding, too), so he's being generous with his gift. If you want more than when he offers you should hire someone. But first I'd let him do his thing - he's a pro and you might be surprised at how happy you are wight eh final product. I would ask him if it is possible to get the ceremony in it's entirety in addition tot he 30 min highlight reel. It shouldn't be too difficult depending on the number of cameras you had. GL!

JoanE2012

denyse1005 said:

Hi there!

One of my husband's groomsmen is editing our wedding video as a present to us. He is a film editor and we have full trust in him that he will do a great job. However, he thinks that a half hour video is enough for our entire wedding. I don't agree. We had coverage all day long including me getting ready. What is the norm for wedding videos? Should we ask him to do a trailer with music for us, and consider getting the full video edited by someone with experience with wedding videos? I am very appreciative that he wants to do this, but don't want to miss out on having a full video of the wedding. I mean the speeches at the reception were almost a half hour. 

Thanks for your help!

Seriously?  We always tell brides here to keep it to a minimum number of people for a couple min. each.  After about 5-8 minutes of speeches, I start losing interest and it becomes really boring.  That said, what's done is done.  30 minutes edited sounds perfect!  How many times are you going to really sit down and watch your 10 hour wedding day in full?  I pretty much guarantee you no one you know will ever want to watch the entire day again.  If you want, just keep the raw video too.