What do you do with the vows
 

Ok, each persons vows are about 7 minutes long. I like to keep the finished video around 20-30 minutes so it is watchable so.

What do you all prefer? Do you cut downt the vows for the main video then keep the whole ceremony as a menu item? Or am I asking for trouble by cutting up the vows. The couple is not very religeous but they did write their vows.

It seems if I keep them whole they go on way too long.

Thanks

Mike

Sounds to me that their vows are important to them, or they would not be that long. How about starting the vows with the camera on them and then leave the audio on the vows and cut in and out of the other footage. That way the 14 or 15 minutes of the vows would contain footage of the parents, guests, etc. You can cut back to them during what seems like important parts of the vows. Light background music, vows, and varing footage-sounds pretty good to me.

Best of luck,

Mike

Its one of the beauties of a DVD. You can give them both worlds. An artfully edited version and a full version. They have both and think you are the greatest.

I do this also. I give them full ceremony edited reception long version and I try to whittle the entire day pictures, ceremny, and reception down to about 15 min with a music underlay. In a case with such long vows I would probably add them in with the music (voice over style) and have them go through the whole day montage.

I keep the vows exactly as they are - the only editing I might do is if there's a long gap. I give the B & G all raw footage on DVD(s) along with their edit, so if they really want the entire ceremony start/finish as it went down, it's there for them to watch.

I would never cut out any vows...there are so many other areas of the ceremony that can be compressed. Plus the self-written vows are a gold-mine when producing emotional video. I've yet to have a couple that have written their own vows. Every time I've ever seen them in other videos either one or both of the couple become very emotional. Using them as voice-overs during a highlights piece is incredibly moving.

You can't cut the vows. They may need that as court evidence later on.

Hmmm, lots of good input here (with the possible exception of the legal argument.....) I am still struggling with it.

Both the B&G were a bit wooden (they are young) during the vows so those WOW moments Glen refers to are not there like I have seen in others. It was also blowing about 20 miles an hour and despite Rycote lav covers on each mic there is some wind noise. This makes the audio useable but not as enjoyable.

I am going to try it both ways and see. Again, thank you all for your input. It is quite valuable to me and I do not take it for granted.

Cheers

Mike

If it sounds rushed and the audio isn't clean I wouldn't use it in a highlights piece then. However, I'd still leave it in it's entirity in the ceremony part of the program.

Thanks again for all the input folks. I tried it both ways and I will leave the vows whole.

After much audio work I was able to mask some of the noise. I also picked a livelier soundtrack to play underneath to mask more of the noise. I was even able to pick off a couple of bits for the highlights. That came out nice, thanks for the suggestion.

Cheers all!

Mike

I did a piece recently that may help. On the DVD main menu, I have the ceremony, rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, and reception. Click on the ceremony icon and it takes you to a submenu. The submenu has icons for Play All or for each individual chapter within that title. I insert chapter markers in the important parts of the ceremony, like guest arrival, processional, vows, ring exchange, unity candle, presentation of B&G, and recessional as appropriate. That way, if anyone wants to go directly to skip to the next part of the ceremony then it's just a click away. Keep a copy of the program for use in post. It should also have the names of the wedding party for credits. Just my 2 cents worth. Good luck!

Tim