If you can only have one, get the highlight film. It tells your whole day in a few minutes, and it’s the film you’ll share and rewatch. A documentary edit keeps a whole part of the day in real time, like your full ceremony or your reception, and it means more to you the longer you have it.
How their value changes
On a call in May, a couple told me the highlight film would be the one they’d watch, and that they’d rarely sit through a two-hour edit. For the first few years, they’re right.
I was against full films for years. After nine years of doing this, I understand them better. Right after the wedding, the long edits are worth a little less than the highlight film. You open them with family and friends and laugh at what everyone was doing on the dance floor. Then you won’t watch them for a couple of years. Give it ten or fifteen years, and they become the most valuable thing we made you. Your kids may want to see the whole wedding, and a documentary edit is the closest thing to being there.
What each one is
The highlight film is the main film of your wedding, built around what was actually said: the vows, the toasts and the moments in between. It’s edited like a short film, with its own music and pacing. Both of our options include one, with a 60-second teaser that arrives with it.
A documentary edit keeps a whole part of the day with very little cut. We make two. The full ceremony edit runs from the first person down the aisle to your exit, with the audio taken straight off the church mixer. The reception edit has the entrances, every dance, the speeches, the cake and the private last dance, with the dinner lull trimmed out. When I film your wedding myself, the full ceremony edit is included, and with I Do Films Teams it’s an add-on. The reception edit is an add-on with either option.
Depending on the day, a documentary edit runs from about an hour to three hours. For one couple I showed on a call, the full ceremony ran an hour and the reception edit ran 2 hours and 20 minutes.
What goes in which
Short things, like putting on earrings, the suit jacket or a look across the room, are moments, and they go in the highlight film. Things that play out over minutes, like the first look, the ceremony, the toasts, the zaffa and the dance floor, can go in a documentary edit, where you watch them happen in real time.
In a documentary edit we add almost none of our own creative choices. It’s there to document the day.
Plan on two filmmakers for the long edits
A documentary edit shows whole events from more than one angle, like your faces and your family’s reactions at the same time. One filmmaker can only stand in one place, so if you want the ceremony and reception edits, plan on two. A second filmmaker comes with me to every wedding I film myself, and with I Do Films Teams, a second filmmaker is an add-on.
Which do you need?
- If you’ll share it and rewatch it, the highlight film. Both options include it.
- If the ceremony matters most to your families, add the full ceremony edit. For a church wedding with long readings and hymns, it’s the only film that keeps every word. The Coptic Orthodox ceremony guide walks through what it keeps.
- If your family’s night is the party, the entrances, the zaffa and the speeches, add the reception edit.
- If the budget is tight, start with the highlight film. We still film the whole day either way, and we keep your raw footage forever, so a longer edit is possible later.
The glossary explains every film we make. For how the whole day looks on film, see the Nashville wedding videography guide, and for planning your hours, how many hours of wedding videography you need. Our Nashville wedding videography page covers the full day.
Save this for the call where you decide what to include.
Bebo
