What do you include on your wedding DVD?
 

I could really use some guidance from others on what you include on the final DVD. We had been including the following, but doing a highlights version that is SO long is very time-consuming and I'm not sure it's where we should be going with our services. Here is what we are currently including on the DVD:

Highlights of the entire day (10-20 minutes)
Entire ceremony without clipping, just editing for multi-cam, color, sound, etc.
Entire first dance (with groom and father of bride)
Toasts

That's all we include. What do you include and what have you heard from couples they just LOVE? Also, if you do a SDE, do you include that as a separate chapter on the DVD as is and that's the highlights or do you "redo" the SDE to make it better and then include it?

Thanks for your help.

I don't know about anyone else, but I include the whole day:

Bridal prep (to music)
Groom greeting guests, bride arrival
Full ceremony (2 cam)
Crowd mingling outside
Group photos (to music)
Formal location photoshoot (to music)
Guests mingling at reception
Grand Entrance
Speeches and Toasts
Cutting the cake
First Dance or two
Highlights (set to one song - 3-4 mins)

Average DVD would be around 60-80mins. Speeches are the biggest variable - sometimes 10mins, sometimes 2 hours!

I normally made the DVD in two section

Full Coverage:

Bridal prep(with music, a short interview in the middle)
Groom prep at Church (with music and greeting)
Bridal arrival
Full ceremony
Photo outside church (with music)
Location photo(with music)
Guest mingling at reception (with reception cutaway)
Speech
Cake Cutting
First Dance

Special Feature:
Highlight of the day
Trailer
Photo Montage
Love Story

Dvd
 

Ours run like this:

Bride/Groom getting ready
Bridesmaids/Groomsmen photo sessions
The Ceremony (short form/ 4-5 minutes)
Family portrait session
Couple's portrait session
Grand Entrance
First Dance
Toasts
Father Daughter Dance/Mother Son Dance
Dancing/Cake/anything else at the reception

Trailer (2.5-3 mins)
Film (30-40 mins)
Outtakes (1.5-3 mins)
* Any other add-ons that the client paid for *

-short intro (highlight clip) before dvd menu pops up
-full ceremony
-reception (I call it "memories in motion") 30-45 minutes
-photo montage
--*whatever else they paid for (bridal video, best wishes, etc.)

Ha ha.... probably won't want to call it that if doing an Asian wedding.... LOL

Pass Motion | Antimoon Forum

"I tend to PASS MOTION after a meal. "

...yeah I would definitely think about changing the name of it if I did any Asian weddings. :)

Could you help me with more specifics?
 

You all have given me some good information and I appreciate your help. Could you help me with even more specifics so I can get a solid feel for your DVD? I apologize in advance for asking so many questions.

Do you actually include each one of the things you listed as a separate menu item on the DVD and about how much footage do you include? I'll throw out some made up times and DVD menu items, for example:

Highlights/Trailer 2-3 min.
Bride & groom getting ready 4 min.
Family portraits 5 min.
Wedding ceremony (do most of you include the whole thing or a short 5 min or so version?) - full ceremony around 30 min. or short version about 5 min? Or both?
Grand entrance 1-2 min.
Couple's first dance 2-3 min.
First dance with parents 2-3 min.
Toasts - varied timeframe depending on how long they talk
Dancing - 5 min.
Any other items the couple wanted

How long is your finished DVD usually (including trailer/highlights and footage from the day)?

How long do most of you make the highlights/trailer? Seems like most are 2-3 minutes

Also, how much do you edit the footage from the day aside of the highlights/trailer? Can couples just play through the footage from the day (aside from the trailer & full ceremony) all the way through with transitions from one scene to the next? Kind of a 30-45 minute view of the day without much editing (contrary to the highlights/trailer)?

Is most of your work spent on the trailer/highlights? Or where would you say you spend the bulk of your time? We have normally spent a huge amount of time on the highlights because ours is heavily edited with a final run time of around 15 minutes. That seems much longer than most. That alone is probably 30+ hours of work and there's a lot more to do. Then, our other DVD menu items are: full ceremony (multi-cam edited and color corrected), the first dance and the toasts. It seems like couples want more footage of the rest of the day.

Any help or suggestions are appreciated. We take our work very seriously and want to put out products that really wow the couple, family and friends. I have seen some amazing work here and appreciate how everyone is so open.

Standard Package:
-Motion Menu
-3 min "music video" of pre-ceremony preparations
-Full Length Ceremony
-15-20 min reception documentary

If applicable:
-Slideshows
-Highlight edit of the day (5-8 min)

Times look ok. I always include the full service - my reasoning is that if they don't like to sit through the whole thing, they can skip it easily with the remote - but who am I to decide what is remembered forever and what gets cut?

60-90 mins

1 song. (3-4 mins)

It all does have full editing like colour correction, sound tweaking, proper cuts, fades etc.

My average editing time is currently down to 25-30 hours per wedding. Getting faster and better with each one. If they were an awesome couple I spend a lot more time making it extra perfect.

I think I would be shot by the couple if I only had 4-5 minutes of the ceremony on the DVD!

I shoot the bride getting ready with the bridesmaids.
The grrom greeting the guests at church.
Arrival of the bride.
the ceremony in full ( minus a verse or two of All things Bright and beautiful/Jerusalem)
The photographs
leaving for the reception
Greeting of the guests
General shots
The speeches in full
Cutting the cake
First dance
An hour of dance floor action
Loads of interviews with the guests leavig messages of goodwill.

Plus 50-100 candid photos taken during the day for a musical montage at the end of the DVD.

The wedding film lasts anywhere between 1 hour 30 and 2 hours in total.

Amen to that !!!

Funny thing about videoing people singing at weddings, you can tell that they thought it was a good idea when planning the service, but the looks on their faces is often "why the hell are we singing this??"

Our edits go like this:
1. Bridal prep opening (establishing shots, bridal/groom prep, processional though bridal entrance) all to one song.
2. Ceremony (mostly as is, but Catholic masses will be edited down, usually using homily with candle lighting, presentation of gifts, communion all mixed down into one song).
3. Bride Groom kiss, cue music go into recessional, cocktail hour, establishing shots of reception venue, through bridal party intros.
4. Speeches in their entirety
5. All main dances are in their entirety, but often we will mix the cake cutting into the first dance. Or maybe mix the cake cutting, garter/bouquet toss etc. into one montage.
6. Dances and other fun events, are edited down into 3-4 dance montages (1 slow, 3 fast. Depends on the reception)
7. Departure.
8. 3-5 minute highlight recap of the day
9. Bonus footage (cake cutting, garter bouquet etc.), some of the RAW dance sequences not used.

Total runtime of all of my main edits seem to almost exactly 1 hour in length (not including Bonus footage).

We don't sell or give out RAW footage, as I inform the client and show them that it's not necessary.

Many people seem to spend little time editing the main video (documentary style chronological timeline of events), and most of the time on the highlight video.

I see the highlight video a great fun recap of the day that someone can show friends.

We spend much more time editing the main edit than the highlight video.

Our main videos are highly edited, using captured live audio, straight cuts, little to no slow motion, and timeshifting of clips, to ensure that the couple will watch over and over again. Think of the main edit as a 1 hour movie of their wedding day.

I have had 3 brides reently tell me that they have had many viewing parties for their videos. One has had 15 viewing parties.

That makes me feel good!

Bobbi:

A lot of great posts on here to help you. What you are doing sounds great. Every wedding is a little different and there may be different scenes you want to include.

Bottom line, don't over engineer or over do your basic video package. Simpler is always better.

It depends on the package. With my lowest priced offering, I do the ceremony in it's entirety, a short cocktail hour montage, Entrance of the bridal party, first dance, parent dances, toasts and blessing, cake cutting, bouquet and garter, as well as a short (3 to 4 minute) montage of the general dancing. The video ends with recap set to music. Length is typically 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

With the higher priced packages, I do a short form edit (20 to 40 minutes), which includes the bridal prep, ceremony highlights, first dance, shorted versions of the parent dances, highlights of the toasts, and dance montage. While I am not doing heavy "time shifting", the edit has some non-linear elements (i.e. I will use the toast segments as connectors between other reception events, or as a voiceover during the ceremony). In addition to the above, the client also gets the complete ceremony, and main reception events in their entirety as extras on their DVD.

Wedding Films
 

Our Films are Cinematic at the begining and Documentary throughout the reception
We usually include the following:

Getting Ready set to music + Locations(Cinematic)
Shortened Ceremony (processional, Vows, Rings, Kiss, special parts, Recessional,) (Cinematic)
Photos/Guests/Glidecam shots of the locations (Cinematic)

Bridal Party Entrance (Documentary)
1st Dances /Cake / Toasts (Documentary)
Ending music video chapter of dancing/departure.

Separate chapter including entire ceremony (basic editing between cams)
1-3 minute Trailer-Recap included for larger packages

Visit Wedding & Corporate Video, Sacramento, Roseville, Folsom, Auburn
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I'd endorse Jeff's advice and only add, ask the client before the day what they want to see. Press them if they're vague because that'll be the best way to get first time satisfaction.

Our clients complete a fairly lengthy questionnaire before the day and so that their wishes in writing - even though we always amend to suit the clients' comments/wishes, 70% of our programmes are accepted at first edit - thanks to the questionnaire.

I deliver :

* wedding film (15-20 minutes) cinematic
From bridal preparation to reception
* Highlights (3-4 minutes)
* optional package : interviews
* overal snippets of the footage (only color corrected) (1 hour)

But I was wondering.
If you film for a cinematic result, that is really difficult to deliver
those snippets, because most shots are little shots of for example
the candles, etc.
How do you guys solve this ?
I'm thinking now of just setting up 1 fixed camera during the ceremony, record it
in 1 take and give that instead.

Bart, forgive me if I sound harsh but your new idea sounds about as exciting as watching paint dry.

Whilst I'm sure it would have the merit of stability, I think your clients might feel that Uncle Joe's handheld from the front pew had a tad more excitement.

Yeah Philip, I know.
I really hate doing the overal snippets, but most people
expect a wedding video to be 1,5 - 2 hours.

I think if they have a nice video of 15-20 minutes of the day and then
a highlight video of 3-4 minutes, that should be enough.
All the important moments are captured.
But that's just my opinion.

Most of the wedding couple's opion is, the longer the video duration is,
the better it is.

The actual contents on a given DVD vary for us by couple and by package, but this is a pretty typical composition:

cinematic short form (15-20 minutes)

-special features-
highlights video
full ceremony edit
full edits of major reception events (toasts, cake cutting, first dance, etc.)
deleted scenes

It's true I've had some clients who, at the outset, wanted the longest possible programme but even then what they really mean is that they wanted the longest wonderful programme. In my view part of our job is to advise, counsel and persuade people that their programmes should not only be wonderful but watchable. Show them by example of your excellence that audiences for this type of programme have quite a modest a duration tolerance.

In fairness I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt that you really want to make wedding programmes that the clients want. One interpretation might be that you want to make programmes that suit you not the client. For me the excitement is to make programmes that are better than the clients ever imagined. That means resisting any risk of producing formulaic programmes, instead striving to make each programme slightly different to what we've done before.

I'm currently producing a programme shot between Christmas and New Year for a client whose sister's wedding I shot in 2008. Obviously they're going to compare and my dual challenge is to make a programme that knocks the socks off both the brother and the sister but doesn't leave the sister feeling she was short-changed. The second programme has to share many of the characteristic of the first because that's why we were chosen but making it sufficiently different - that's the delightful challenge. It's the creative edge which separates us from mere mechanics or technicians.

Yes, I want to make movies that my clients like. That's the final goal, but it starts by making what I like.
That's the reason why people will hire you to do the job. They have seen previous videos from you and they like that specific style.
And just as what you're saying. Always try to push the boundaries and try to create something better then the clients would have imagined. ;o)

And I know the feeling of doing another video for someone related you already worked for.
It's always tricky. hehe ;o)

It all depends on what the couple hires for.

The Ceremony and Reception are pretty standard.

For the Ceremony we start when the wedding ceremony starts. Anything before that (guests coming in etc) we consider Pre-Ceremony and is an add on deal.

For the Reception, we structure the video as:

- outside
- wide shot of venue
- close up of decorations
- inside
- food
- table decorations
- cakes
- bg arriving
- wedding party intro
- random people shots/greetings
- first dance
- shots of the venue with people eating/mingling
- cake cutting
- b&g toss
- exit

Generally speaking the ceremony video will be about 30 minutes, and then the reception video can be as short as 10 minutes to as long as an hour, all depending on the wedding party size and how interactive they are, and if there are toasts etc.

We do things in more of a docuemntary style and keep it simple in terms of stylized DVD offerings.

If a couple orders our biggest package (which is 15 hours of coverage over 2 days), then the final video is usually about 1 hour and 45 minutes and includes:

Rehearsal
Rehearsal Dinner
Pre-Ceremony
Ceremony
Reception

We always believed that a wedding movie should only really be about an 1 hour max or less...anything over that, the majority will most probably never have the time to watch it again...

Here's how we do it: Each of these are separate chapters on the dvd...

+Prep Highlights for both the B&G set to music = 8-10 minutes
+Ceremony Highlights set to music except during the ring exchange and vows where we include the whole scene with live audio = 15- 20 minutes

+Photoshoot Highlights set to music = 5 minutes
+Reception Highlights set to music except during speeches, first dances, cake cutting and bouquet and garter toss = 20-30 minutes

Kren
Vertical Video Works | Official Site

Hi Guys
I do agree that you need to give the bride what they want not what's easier for you. I don't think that anyone wants to watch 2 hours of wedding video anyway. Mine are 99% documentary but with cinematic parts and the entire DVD runs just over an hour usually.

Bridal Preparation - set to music but also with ambient audio!!
Bridal Arrival - set to music with ambient audio
Ceremony - live audio only- I mic the groom and the lectern for the readings (2 cam shoot)
Congratulations - set to music with ambient audio
Photoshoot - fully cinematic set to music only (I shoot it all on Stedicam)
Pre-dinner drinks - live audio only as these are mini "vox pops" interviews and comments
Bridal Entrance at reception.. live with 2 cams..one on the couple and one on the MC who is wired for sound
Speeches - live audio ( 2 cam shoot) on on the speaker and one for cutaways
Cake cutting and first dance - ambient audio only
Bouquet and Garter toss - ambient audio only
Dancing - Just a couple of songs shot live
Farewell - live audio again and follow the couple to the getaway vehicle!!

My DVD is menu driven and the bride can choose Prep, Ceremony, Reception start, Speeches and Events.

Works pretty well down here and most brides are happy with the format and seldom change it but if they want something different I give it to them!!

It's interesting to see what different areas do!! I have had just ONE full cinematic video request in the last 5 years!!! All seem to prefer an accurate record of the day with creativity during the photoshoot only!!

Chris

How about your DVD/Blu-Ray menus? I have always took extra effort to make advanced motion menus (dating back to using ReelDVD because it was the only app to do this besides Scenarist which is a PITA).
I typically create exciting fly-bys in 3D space in After Effects with fully animated buttons, backgrounds and menu transitions.
The main menu typically consits of three buttons "Play" which plays the beging to end cinematic scenes with documented wedding/reception (both two camera typically unless couple pay for 3 or more cameras) all the way to ending credits (always do a credit roll at the end with everybody in bridal party in credits as well as DJ/Band and Photog)
Then the "Scene Selection" with animating buttons and background.
and finally "Special Features" which is also animated and usually includes:
Photo story
Love Story
"Out takes"
Bride/groom comments or Guest comments
Recap video

I have about 6 different menu designs and they will each be customized for each couple with their own video in the background and drop zones.
Typical wedding video total content is 2+ hours.

I would NEVER hand a couple a DVD/Blu-Ray with a static menu.
The first (and last) impression means the most.