Photograph by Magnus Ågren Photography - a trusted partner of Marry Me Movies

Your wedding day will be filled with so many precious memories for friends, family and family to come. Wedding photography plays an important part in capturing the story of your day but in order to be able to fully relive your day, you can't go past beautiful wedding cinematography.

Documenting your wedding day with video has come so far from handheld cameras and hours of shaky playback. Professional wedding cinematography is on the rise and with good reason. They are producing big-screen worthy wedding videos that transport couples back to every moment in the day, even showing them moments that they may have missed.

The results are stunning and it is no wonder why more brides want this service. But before you go lock in your wedding cinematographer there are some things you need to know. We chat to Christopher from Marry Me Movies who has been creating #swoonworthy wedding movies for couples since 2013 about things you need to keep in mind when searching for your wedding cinematographer.

Photograph by Thomas Stewart - a trusted partner of Marry Me Movies

MW: What is the difference between wedding 'cinematography'and 'videography'?

CG: Wedding videography can be provided by any Tom, Dick and Harry with a second-rate video camera and hobby-esque editing skills. Whilst videography is certainly the more commonly used term, videography is actually amateur in comparison to cinematography.

Wedding cinematography is captured by professionals, such as Marry Me Movies, who graduated from film school and have extensive experience in the wedding film industry as well as the corporate film industry. Our equipment is state of the art and our editing skills are second to none.

MW: What is 'documentary style' wedding cinematography?

CG: Documentary style wedding cinematography is a reference to a particular style of shooting. It is a method of filming a wedding by capturing and documenting it in a non-intrusive manner, in order to allow the most honest and realistic recount of the wedding. In the wedding industry this style of filming allows us to really highlight the honest chemistry and personalities of our couples making every film we make different and unique in their own special way.

MW: How long are your wedding videos?

CG: We have packages available with wedding videos anywhere between 4 to 15 minutes in length. Essentially, the more hours' coverage you book us for, the longer your Wedding Highlight Film is going to be. A Wedding Highlight Film showcases all of the best moments from your wedding day, edited together beautifully in your very own personalised wedding movie.

MW: How many cinematographers will be at the wedding? Will there be a full production crew with lights, etc? Is it intrusive?

CG: All of our packages come with either 1 or 2 cinematographers. As wedding cinematographers, we know our place. We are there to capture your priceless story, not to orchestrate, interrupt or direct it. We're used to working with couples who are camera shy and we know that having a camera focused on you can be intimidating, that's why we film in a very unobtrusive manner that makes you feel comfortable and relaxed on the day.

MW: Will couples get to choose the song used in the wedding video?

CG: Couples can certainly choose the songs they'd like to hear in their wedding video. 90% of the time however, couples trust us to choose the music for them, so that the music pairs up beautifully with the footage, helping to tell the couples story more naturally on film.

We also prefer to choose songs that are instrumental so that they are less intrusive on the storytelling. For all of the wedding videos on our website, we chose the music and our couples continue to love it as our reviews will attest: https://www.facebook.com/marrymemovies/reviews/

MW: Does the couple get to keep the raw footage?

CG: We provide all of the raw, unedited footage captured by our cinematographers with every package. We refer to this as the Complete Footage in all of our packages and it gives our couples peace of mind, knowing that they have all of their memories on video for the rest of their lives.

MW: What is the main reason why brides should invest in wedding cinematography?

CG: Simply put, photos are just not enough. How will you remember the beautiful words you said to each other? The tone of your voices? The gentle break of a sentence when emotion overcame you?

Imagine your children being able to sit in the front row seats at your ceremony and reception, watching your day unfold and being part of the proceedings; hearing you pledge your love for each other, laughing at the jokes, witnessing the good (or terrible!) dancing. This is the first chapter of your family's story, one they weren't around to witness, but can still be fortunate enough to enjoy.

It's one thing to show your children photographs of your big day, but quite another to let them relive it right alongside you.

Memories created at your wedding are priceless and an artfully crafted film by Marry Me Movies is timeless. Find more inspiration by the Marry Me Movies team on their website and get in touch to find out what they can do for you!

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