I have just done my last wedding with guest interviews. Actually, I shouldn't say interviews; they are actually short clips where guests extend their best wishes to the newlyweds. There are two reasons that I made this decision. The first is the PITA factor. It's a serious distraction from the primary task of shooting the event. That's true even with two shooters. It's hopeless with one. If you are preoccupied with shooting interviews, the quality of your shooting otherwise will suffer because of the preoccupation and distraction with the interviews. If there is an event coordinator, they can be a HUGE pain with their constant interruptions with -"Film him, film her" throughout the event.

The second, and the straw that broke the camel's back, is the 'drunk' factor. It's a real problem shooting guests that have had too much to drink. They sometimes make a babbling fool of themselves. I am so tired of some slobbering drunk admonishing the couple about how their married life is going to be tough but to hang in there. I don't know why that's the drunk's favorite thing to say. There's no doubt that they won't want to be forever remember on the couple's wedding film that way. The drunk 'filter' in my NLE is called 'delete'. If someone is obviously in bad shape, I just don't use their clip.

But then there is this problem - I just finished editing a wedding video where the bride's father was three sheets to the wind and made a real fool of himself. That did it. I don't want to be put in that spot again. It can potentially be a problem either way you handle it. Which question do you want to answer. 1.) Why didn't you film my father. 2.) Why did you film my father drunk? I chose to not use the clip because "I had a camera problem." That way she was just upset. If I had included her father's drunken performance, she would have been outraged. I figured upset was better than outraged.

I would be interested in other opinions on this.

I'm not a big fan of interviews during the reception. I find that people are either 1) drunk like you said 2) don't know what to say and look like a fool.

Now if someone pulls me aside to say something, I'll film it, but in general I tell brides we don't do interviews.

In answer to your question. I would just not include the father. I don't think she would be too upset. If she asks specifically for the footage from her father...give it to her. I'm guessing though that there is so much going on she won't have a check list to see who did/didn't get interviewed.

I agree. NO WELL WISHES! (picture a big sign with a big red circle and a line thru the DRUNK holding a mic)

I too used to do them but only with the parents and maybe the bridal party but after too many people not only making complete asses out of themselves and not just being embarressing but downright insulting I stopped. Well that plus being away from the real purpose of my being there and having been called out by a few people I decided enough was enough.

Some people seem to think that a wedding is the time to make complete and total jerks out of themselves and try to make themselves feel good by belittling and in some cases threatening the vendors. Since I don't play that game with anyone I decided to take one area of abuse out of play. No more interviews/well wishes.
Done done done dooooooonnnnnne! (hummed to the tune of Dragnet)

If you do interviews do them early on in the reception. For most people 1 or 2 drinks is fine - 3 or 4 drinks not so good. Its the same whether they are dancing, giving speeches or being interviewed.

Hi Guys

To be completely different my guest interviews are my package trademark..brides will often chose me simply because I do the interviews!!!

What I do is attend the first half of the photoshoot and then leave the couple with the photog and grab the guests during pre-dinner drinks. They are all usually on their first drink anyway so there is no chance of them being drunk and my comments and well wishes are always meaningful and the brides love 'em!!!!

I have never had any bad comments from guests as they have just been to the ceremony and are in a great mood. Some are tough to coax into saying something but I never force them to be on camera. If they don't want to do it then I just move on!!! Most are quick and the edit is more like a "vox pops" with the short clips all strung together so the bride basically gets a lot of greetings, happy thoughts and even marriage advice in a very short time.

Jim, you must have done yours well into the evening to have drunks staggering around ??? Doing them later also means very high ambient noise levels which isn't good...I normally grab the guests as soon as they are relaxed and as more and more arrive I wind up the comments when the room noise level becomes excessive.

Chris

I'm with Chris on doing these right after the ceremony while the post-ceremony photo sessions are going on. Except that I do not call these things "interviews." I tell the guests that I'm assembling a "video reception line." That seems to contain the chances that I'll get a rant or worse. In 16 years, I've never had a drunk and have had only 5 or 6 guests who were genuine jerks or idiots. Editing got rid of them.

No interviews.

We try to do interviews with as many close family members as possible, especially with Grandma and Grandpa. This section, according to my past brides, have been one of the most valuable pieces of video for obvious reasons.

Perhaps the way to do this is to do it without mentioning it beforehand. I agree that it can be nice to have interviews with close friends and family members. But when too much is made of it beforehand, that's when it can become problematic. At one wedding, the wedding event planner thought she was also the DP for the interviews. It was a major distraction all day and evening with constant interruptions - "interview him, interview her" with a strongly implied, "right now." I politely said something to her but it had no effect at all. Apparently she wanted to make it clear that she thought she was the big boss. She didn't hire me; the couple did but that didn't matter to her. Generally speaking, the well established event planners are a pleasure to work with and are very helpful. It's the upstarts that can sometimes be a problem. In their zeal to establish themselves, they can be really pushy. Since they are new, they are as nervous as the bride (or even more so) which can make them very testy.

Ideally I just set-up in an area where everyone can see what is going on. Invite over a couple of the more outgoing members of the wedding party. Everyone sees them having a relaxed fun time in front of the camera - and the main job is done.

As a couple of others have mentioned interviews done well can be the most valued part of the film, especially after a time has gone by. In five years time no-one is going to drool over slow pans of the flower beds.

The other big advantage is those intimate vignettes can be used to finesse the pacing of the finished piece.

True - they can be tricky to pull off, and sometimes (due to space/time/noise considerations) impossible. But it's worth spending the time creating something that no photographer can come close to emulating.

A few reason's why I don't do guest interviews.
1.Just think how many guests are there with boyfriends or girlfriends that might break up.
2. Now picture the couple watching the video a few years later and saying who was that guy/girl?
3. I've noticed that most guests don't like to be put on the spot to say something clever or heartwarming.
4. Pulls you away from the action or can potentially make you miss great moment.

The only interview I like do is with the couple that just got married.

On behalf of myself and those who also do thoughtful, intelligent, sober interviews I'm delighted that so many others think they're worthless or worse - because they leave the competitive field open for us. These interviews are, as Warren wrote, the most valued parts of the programme - if not at first (when other elements might compete for that description) then certainly in the long term.

In my view, the important elements are that the interviews are professional (ie not embarrassing), thoughtful (ie considered or structured so that they encourage the interviewee to think about their answer) and memory-jogging (ie so they have a secondary value also), and draw from the interviewee views and comment of worth (ie worth remembering and being remembered for). I've yet to meet any couple who don't think that drunken thank yous or vulgarity, innane "did you enjoy it?" type of questions and even worse are a waste of time and rightly condemned. If they didn't think so before the wedding when the video producer was proposing them, then certainly afterwards when the programme is finished.

Of course, such language and content isn't confined to interviews; I recently had a Best Man who wished the couple a wonderful honeymoon in North Wales. Now for the benefit of readers elsewhere, North Wales in late November is hardly an ideal honeymoon destination. The Best Man confessed that he too was puzzled by the choice but assured the audience that the groom had vowed that he was going to Bangor (a university town in N. Wales) for the whole week. For an adult audience it was a neat play on words and got a deserved laugh. But in 10 or 15 years time how will the couple handle the embarrassment of their son or daughter as they watch their parents' wedding video?

Maybe I'm over-sensitive but I always ask clients if they want such remarks to remain in their programmes. If I was younger I might not ask but view it as re-edit potential for the future!

A few reason's why I don't do guest interviews.
1.Just think how many guests are there with boyfriends or girlfriends that might break up.
2. Now picture the couple watching the video a few years later and saying who was that guy/girl?
3. I've noticed that most guests don't like to be put on the spot to say something clever or heartwarming.
4. Pulls you away from the action or can potentially make you miss great moment.

The only interview I like do is with the couple that just got married.

I do guest interviews/ (or whatever they want to call it) because :
1. It is a footage you can add to your final product. Specially for feature film or highlights.
2.It is valuable to the couple, most wedding couple I have asked about says that wedding is all about family.

Ian,
----interviews (or whatever it is called) doesn't have to be heartwarming or clever, it could be anything. It might not mean a thing to us, but for the couple, it does.
----we usually do interviews when everyone is dancing or while they are dancing, or most of the key events is over, that way you don't miss a great moment. by doing this, we are putting them into their comfort zones, not isolating them. I myself would not even put myself into a quite place and talk, a lot of people have the guts to do it but a lot of more people cant.

Again, guest interviews doesn't have to be heartwarming or something the will make everyone cry. That is actually what most people see, but hey you cant put a twist on these things and make it fun.

In this clip, there are couple of guest interviews but good enough to show my point. just my two cents.
Tony + Linda :: Wedding Trailer // All I Do Is WIN on Vimeo

It's a fine line. Either do them right away, before the couple is introduced, or at the end, when it's purely the dance floor going on. That elimates the fear of missing something much more important. However, I get what you're saying about later on, and them being drunk. I also find it tough not being sure who's truly important. It could be their Mom's coworker, who the bride hardly even knows, in there wishing her well.


Overall though, I do think couples enjoy it, and it's worth keeping in. I usually fade to black at the end, then fade up and add in the couple minutes of well wishes. So it's seems like a little something extra.

Hey, Jim, here are a few of my thoughts for you on this.

First, we used to offer 'interviews' but we called them 'personal messages'. We offered them as an add-on and it appealed to about 40-50% of our couples. The other couples would always sort of make a face at the idea of having personal messages. They were not at all 'down with it'.

Over time we sort of phased out our personal messages add-on. There were multiple reasons for this. The first stemmed from the timing for recording the messages. Between the ceremony and reception we were always in 4th gear with relocating our equipment, setting up for the reception, and getting reception beauty shots. Once the reception started, the only ideal time was during dinner, when the guests were all in one location and it was easy to track who you had gotten on camera, and the music was also generally a bit lower. Once the events started rolling and the open dancing started, it was generally impossible to get what we wanted (not to mention the drinking that had been going on). But the problem with doing them during dinner was it felt really intrusive to interrupt a table of guests during their meal. In addition, by the time dinner rolls around we generally haven't eaten anything for 6, 7 or 8 hours and missing dinner to record messages was killing us later in the evening.

Another big reason was getting put off by guests. Having guests ask you to come back later when they've had a bit of time to think .. or drink .. was making our job infinitely harder because we were having to then remember those guests and try and find sometime later in the action-packed evening to get back to them. This problem was even worse when close friends or family were asking us to do this, because then there was even more pressure to make sure we remembered. Given our intense cinematic shooting style the shooting of messages was just really starting to kill our creative flow for the events of the evening.

On top of that, you will always end up with messages that leave you wondering if they should be included or not. Whether it's someone who has had too much to drink, or someone who doesn't understand how to give a good message, or someone who just was nervous and messed up a lot, or someone who happened to be the bride's ex-boyfriend and you don't know it .. or .. whatever. The time we were spending in post-production on messages was frustrating and so we started jacking up the price for the add-on for the time and hassle on the wedding day and afterwards.

So at this point we don't offer personal messages, although we would probably do it if a client specifically requested it and was willing to pay us decently to do it. We've only done personal messages maybe 3 times in the past two years, and we're loving it. Best of all, our couples could care less because they are looking forward to their short form more than anything else.


Now, regarding your situation with the intoxicated father, I would simply tell the bride and let her decide. She may take your advice or you may need to put the segment online (password protected) so she can see for herself. The last thing I would do is lie and tell her you had a camera issue. Mostly because I'm just a really honest guy but also because I don't want to place blame on myself for something that wasn't my fault. Don't take the fall for dad being drunk. Let her decide if she wants it or not.

Good luck. And also, to those of you who love doing personal messages or interviews, more power to you!

You make some good points Travis. I know what you mean about being busy between the ceremony and the reception. The thing that nags at me when filming guests' best wishes is the concern that I'm missing a lot of good shots. I work hard at weddings. I'm constantly on the lookout for things that I want to capture. It makes a big difference in what you wind up with.

The name of your company, Serendipity, says it pretty well with respect to interviews. In the course of shot coverage, if an opportunity to "interview" someone that adds something presents itself, then grab the opportunity. That way you are adding worthwhile elements to your production. But IMHO if you are so preoccupied with the "interviews", the quality of your production is likely to go down a few notches because of all the missed shots while you are doing the interviews.

If I should have a client in the future who particularly wants guest interviews, I would be inclined to charge enough to cover it and hire a dedicated shooter for it.

At every wedding, there is always a guestbook and folks are asked to sign it. We look at the video messages as a video guestbook, and have had the bride and groom and the dj/band ask folks to 'sign' the video guestbook as well if the couple wants us to get messages/interviews.

We generally have three camera people.. one of them is usually tasked with the video messages. We find some place relatively quiet but still nearby and just set up a few chairs and the camera. Generally works fairly well, but there is always some disappointment initially with the bride and groom when they see them.. they always think more people would have done it. But as time goes by, they truly appreciate the messages from the folks who leave them.. some messages are heartfelt, some offer great advice, and yes, some are drunken ones.. but as long as they aren't too crazy the drunken ones tend to stay in.

We usually do not chase people down to get a message, unless there are special people the bride and groom really want.. generally grandparents who are more than willing to do so. We tend to ask the members of the bridal party to do it, and they are generally amicable about it. Other guests we don't push.. though if they walk by the area we are running them, we will ask if they want to leave a short message for the happy couple.

We usually catch the requested people at one of two times.. before the wedding or during the 'cocktail' hour while the bridal party are getting photos done.

Finally, we tend to not intersperse the interviews in the wedding film.. we offer it to the bride and groom as a separate dvd or as a chapter on their personal copy of the dvd. The messages are for them after all, no need to let everyone see it unless the bride and groom wish to share it with them. We also let everyone who is leaving a message know that.. which has lead to some truly touching and emotional messages that are simply priceless. There are even times when we simply turn the camera on and leave the person there to give the message alone. By putting them on their own, there isn't a lot of editing time done on them, and thus it ends up being relatively simple in the scheme of things.

In the end, I think it is like a lot of the 'add-ons' beyond capturing the ceremony itself. Some couples will absolutely have to have them.. others couldn't care less. Just another option to add to a package like a SDE, love story, etc..

If I should have a client in the future who particularly wants guest interviews, I would be inclined to charge enough to cover it and hire a dedicated shooter for it.

Exactly, Jim.

I'm sure sure if USA weddings run to a different format but here the guests have pre-dinner drinks at around 5:30pm and the wedding party has been left at the photoshoot venue with the photog and I have already finished my video photoshoot segment. Apart from the guests arriving at the reception and having their usual cocktails before the bridal party makes a grand entrance between 6 and 6:30pm there is nothing I can miss so it's a perfect time to do interviews for me. If I didn't it would mean sitting around waiting for the bride to arrive at the venue.

I know that Philip doesn't go with the photog and he does his interviews during that "slack time" as well. Guests can hardly get "3 sheets to the wind" at 5:30pm and they usually are on a patio or outside so the ambient noise level is fairly low and ideal for interviews.

We all have our different "styles" and as Philip says...there is less competition to contend with if the brides are looking for videography that includes interviews. All my brides absolutely love them because it's a part of the reception that they never see!!! For me it's always a good selling point but then again I shoot all my weddings in documentary style so they probably fit in better.

Chris

A bride asks - "Does your service include coverage of the photoshoot and cocktail hour?" and you reply "yes". The bride responds "I would prefer that instead you do some interviews". You say "That will cost extra". The bride asks "Why?"

what do you reply?

Peter, I think the silence your question attracted says it all.

Peter, although I dont have a strong policy regarding interviews I dont advertise that I do them, nor if asked do I say that I do. If a couple asked me to do a guest interviews section I would charge an extra fee and when asked why I would tell them that it interferes with the other shots I would be getting which would make it easier to edit to my particular style, thus resulting in longer editing time. It also would mean I need to add a guest interviews section or find a way to incorporate them into the main edit, thus making edit time longer. That is why the extra fee.

I had a recent meeting with a bride whos wedding is coming up who mentioned that her family would probably try to give speeches to the camera at various times throughout the night and just to humour them, I can chose to pretend to roll on them or I can roll and use the footage or not use the footage as I see fit. Of course I'll roll on the interviewees that approach me but I certainly will not go looking for guests to interview and whatever I get will be added as a special feature or easter egg on the dvd. This I wouldnt charge extra for as it would just be something that may or may not happen and Its up to me whether or not to use it or go along with it.

I'll do very few "well-wishes" from guests. The alcohol can make for some uncomfortable situations. The short well-wishes I do record are always before the reception.

I always capture two "surprise" interviews, though. Before the ceremony, I'll get the bride and groom at separate times to answer questions regarding their first meeting, when they knew they were right for each other, how they're feeling today, etc. I ask them the same questions and like to put the interviews in the ceremony footage before the vows are exchanged. My voice is removed and replaced with graphics showing the question. Until they see the video, they have no idea what the other person answered.

I've had many compliments from couples regarding these interviews. I've actually been present for two first screenings, and the reaction from the newleyweds was priceless.

From my early connections with those (crazy) news guys. Never approach anyone for an interview while carrying a camera or mic or recording device, even a notepad .. your chances will likely be zip.

Have someone else do it and carefully engage them in small talk first .. also helps decide if they're worth the effort and saves valuable time. At a wedding you could enlist the help of a groomsman rotating with a bridesmaid.

Cheers.

A bride asks - "Does your service include coverage of the photoshoot and cocktail hour?" and you reply "yes". The bride responds "I would prefer that instead you do some interviews". You say "That will cost extra". The bride asks "Why?"

what do you reply?

Very simple. It requires more work/effort/coordination to shoot the interviews.

The interview part is the reason many brides hire our service. Not only I'm just doing the boring best wishes interviews, I also ask guests (if they are a couple) to share their marriage secret, demostrate a passionate kiss .. and more. Then I got lots of funny footage in the bloopers.

Check out some of these funny interview bloopers I have

YouTube - Let's Play Bingo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZrBSemCuio)
YouTube - ahhhh...errrr...ahhhh...hmmm... annnnnd.... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpXS0J_E3Fs)
YouTube - Actor (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQrHbsBZbhE)
YouTube - Randy kisses two guys at Tony and Frances wedding (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsBstDCpv88)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPAvXPy2uTY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzQbtg0Ay98

What if someone going on and on? I'm not sure if he's drunk.. but make sure you TURN ON YouTube Close Captioning feature for this piece. The little read CC icon on the right of the play seek bar.

YouTube - Uncle Speech at Wedding with Closed Captioning (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np6ykJO0PbE)

I do audio only interviews, usually during the gettng ready activities. I set up a quiet room with my zoom recorder and ask family members, bridal party or anyone willing to record a message. I also leave them alone when they do this. They are much less self concious this way. Some of the messages are gems. I figured out a trick too - I delegate a family member to "recruit" candidates. I show them how to turn the recorder on and off then let them run with it. They seem to have fun with it and It frees me up to keep shooting.

I DO NOT do well wishing interviews I used to like alot of people when I started, but I always hated them They always felt forced, they never made alot of sense for the edit, and I can't ever see them being valuable. I have also a good many brides tell me to make sure NOT to interview people. Now that being said, I took a couple of ours back to their reception venue and did a post wedding interview a few weeks after the wedding, and we are basing our short film on that. I think that will turn out very cool... so, it has a place...
Bill

Every time I think about skipping the interviews when I'm planning out the video beforehand with the couple I think back to the time when I did an interview with the bride's grandma..

And then a month after delivery the client writes:

"I'm not sure if you planned it this way, but thank you for placing my grandmother's special message at the end. It was very lovely and brought her back to me, if only for a short moment. Thinking about it brings me to tears (good tears though, calm down)"

So yeah, make sure you know the risks of NOT doing interviews at weddings. Sometimes a few drunks are worth something timeless.

Excellent point Matt - I'm presuming the older family members are not getting snockered, they are the ones that may not be around, and those interviews will be absolutely PRICELESS to the family. I'll put up with a few "off color" clips I can laugh at and toss into a hidden easter egg on the disc for those moments...

THAT is part of the magic of video, even over photography - to be able to see and hear the voice of a loved one, at a special time and moment. THOSE clips will be treasured and are worth capturing, IMO.

Interestingly, these opportunistic interviews that can add so much are shots you are more likely to see and get if you aren't nailed down trying to "interview" a large number of people. I really dislike doing interviews en masse. It's a 'great' way to be preoccupied and miss a lot of good shots including 'special' interviews. It's a whole different thing to selectively "interview" guests opportunistically as you move about looking for good shooting opportunities. That is what I was referring to in my opening comment. My opinion remains the same; if you are going to offer guest interviews of a substantial number of guests, you WILL miss a lot of good shots while you are bogged down with that. I believe a separate shooter who is dedicated to shooting the interviews is very important in this situation. If you try to do both, that is a large number of guest interviews as well as the overall coverage of everything that is going on, the quality of your coverage shots will be much less. That's the point that I am trying to make. My point does not conflict with including special interviews that you have the opportunity to include. In fact, my point supports being able to identify and shoot them because you don't have both feet nailed down while you are playing the video equivalent of photo booth.

I just did interviews for the first time in about 3 yrs. But, I did it differently...
Andria & Graham Preview on Vimeo