August 28, 2019 Dreamcraft

Your Questions Answered // How Long Should A Wedding Video Be

“Where should the wedding video be shot?”
“Are there several references that can be followed?”
“How much time is there to do everything?”
“What should the theme of the wedding video be?”
Whether you’re a wedding videographer trying to polish their craft, or a couple trying to get everything right, you should know that you’ll have to answer a lot of questions when putting a wedding video together. Like any other creative project, wedding videos are all about the details that go into putting them together. All of those details interact in one way or another to follow one goal: encapsulating priceless memories.
Choosing to have a memento of your wedding day is a decision that can go in different directions, but one aspect of wedding videos that you should think about is their length. In order to understand the concept of length better, let’s look at the different factors that go into the length of a wedding video:
1. Number of parts to be featured
Generally speaking, the length of a wedding video depends on how much of your big day you want to capture on camera. Do you want to cover the whole thing or just the ceremony? Or do you want the video to focus solely on the reception instead? Furthermore, professional wedding videographers can make multiple cuts and versions, significantly expanding your list of available options.
2. Your budget
You need a bigger budget to feature more scenes, which means a longer wedding video would cost so much more than a shorter one. Aside from clips of the actual ceremony and reception, a bigger budget can also fetch you a few extra perks in your video. If you pay a professional wedding videographer extra, you can have stock videos and interviews inserted into the final cut, which of course will make the video longer.
3. The type of wedding video
Of all the different factors that can affect the total length of a wedding video, the one that has the greatest impact is the type of video that you want. Most people are actually unaware that there are different types of wedding videos, but during the production process, they are told what their options are. Here’s a chart featuring every type of wedding video and its expected length:
Type of Wedding Video Average Length
Wedding Day Edit (SDE) Three to five Minutes
Next-Day Edit (NDE) Three to five Minutes
Love Story / Feature Wedding Video 10 to 20 Minutes
Documentary Style Video 1 to 2 Hours
Cinematic Style Video 1 to 2 Hours
1. Wedding Day Edits (WDE or Same-Day Edits)
A wedding day edit is what most married couples go for. Not only do they come at a low price, but they can be ready in time for the reception. WDEs are usually your run-of-the-mill highlight reel that compresses the entire ceremony into a three-to-five minute video.
2. Next-Day Edits (NDEs)
Just like wedding day edits, next-day edits are typically three to five minutes in length but are often more comprehensive and higher in quality because videographers have more time to work on them.
3. Love Story or Feature Wedding Videos
Spanning from around 10 to 20 minutes, a love story or feature wedding video captures more of the entire wedding in greater detail, making it possible for its storytelling aspect to be enhanced. However, in contrast to WDEs and NDEs, love story wedding videos take longer to make. This is because the production process of a love story or feature wedding video has more steps.
4. Documentary Wedding Videos
Often referred to as a journalist edit, documentary wedding videos are the longest option of the bunch because they feature footage from the entire ceremony and reception. A documentary wedding video follows a chronological sequence, which allows viewers who weren’t able to attend or visitors who want to relive the whole thing to do so in detail.
5. Cinematic wedding videos
Contrary to documentary wedding videos, cinematic wedding videos are more stylistic in nature because they use different techniques and tricks that are normally used to shoot movies. Aside from the length of the final output, cinematic style wedding videos are the most expensive option because of the technical skill that goes into making them.
If you’re looking for a professional videographer in Melbourne to capture your special day, get in
touch with us today for a free consultation!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

CREATIVE DESIGN FROM MELBOURNE

We welcome you to contact us for more information
about any of our services.