Wedding highlight films

When booking me to photograph your wedding you have the option of adding a highlight film. A wedding highlight film is a highly watchable, cinematic film of the best moments of your day, accompanied by music and natural audio. No extra vendors, no extra contracts or contacts, one cohesive style and vision.

This is not a slideshow. A wedding highlight film is real video, usually about 5 minutes long and beautifully shot in a similar style to your photographs. My background is in professional video and although on wedding days I am very much photo-first, I’m able to shoot ‘hybrid’ ie gather video clips in addition to photos, and create a short film that perfects captures your day - not just what it looked like, but how it felt.

I speak to a lot of couple who’d like ‘a bit of video’ but don’t think they’ll ever watch back the whole ceremony or all of the speeches, or they want minimal impact on their day. If this is also you, a highlight film is perfect.

FAQs

How can you do both at once?

The cameras I use shoot both photo and video at extremely high quality, and I switch between photo and video mode all day. I also record video in slow motion, so a four second clip is potentially eight seconds of footage. So once I’ve got the photos I need, I grab a quick video clip. There are some other tricks and techniques that we can chat about that ensure that we get everything covered is the best way possible!

What are the benefits of booking a hybrid photographer?

1: Simplicity: one vendor, one contract, one invoice, one point of contact.

2: Unobtrusive: less scripted moments, no team of people hovering around you all day, few people in your eyeline.

3: If you like my approach to photography, you’ll probably like my approach to video too: refined, considered, focused on quality imagery and your on-the-day experience.

Does it affect the quality of the photos?

No. The individual quality of the photos is unaffected - it’s the same, high-end photography experience and workflow, and there are no compromises there. I might take slightly fewer photos at times but gallery sizes actually tend to be similar in size and quality. If there’s say a 5% reduction in the number of photos it’s vastly outweighed by the benefits of seeing that beautiful film in years to come.

Do you miss moments?

Well. I can only be in once place at a time, and any photographer who says they don’t miss anything is, well, dreaming. But every wedding day is full of special moments - hundreds - and there are plenty to go around. For those key brief, one-off moments though (eg first kiss, confetti etc) I have my ways to make sure they’re not only captured, but look incredible. I would even argue that booking hybrid rather than a separate videographer means there’s no other vendor to work around.

Can you also film the ceremony and speeches in full?

My focus is on high quality photography and beautiful short clips - filming ceremony and speeches in full takes time and attention away from this. So generally, I don’t. If full, multi-camera ceremony and speeches are something you want I’d usually recommend a dedicated videographer.

My background is in video - in fact my entry point to the wedding industry was filming weddings with an award-winning filmmaker. These days, I am very much ‘photo-first’ but I have learned that it’s possible to create these beautiful films that compliment the photography perfectly.

Have a watch:

More info:

  • Here's me working as a videographer years ago. It doesn't look like this now.

    There are no huge tripods or massive camera rigs when I’m making a highlight film. Just me and my normal cameras, hand held - it just looks like I’m taking a photo. I started out in weddings working for an award-winning wedding film-maker and worked in corporate and music video film for years before that.

  • Recording sound

    I’ll always endeavour to record audio from speeches and the ceremony, and will often edit short snippets of this into the video to help tell the story. I make no promises that I’ll get this sound - there are too many variables and things out of my control - but usually it’s ok.

  • What does a highlight film cost?

    I charge an additional £900 for the highlight video, and it’s only available when you book me for photography. It’s in the higher priced range of hybrid highlight films, and this reflects the quality of the films. It’s not an afterthought, it’s a multi-day edit and a complete video in it’s own right. I use all the best bits so do not offer re-edits.