It’s time to talk about the huge industry in video editing — weddings. Events where you can find interesting projects, celebrities, and gain some kind of popularity. And also, where the big money is. I can even call it the “film industry of a smaller caliber”. Wedding films that are shown in closed screenings in cinemas, a kind of wedding trailer, and there is also wedding SDE! And many other genres in which you can work.
The studio’s good reputation guarantees demand among clients. You will be shown off in front of friends and relatives, and the video you create will decorate all your clients’ social networks. High demand is always good money.
I remember my first job interview. A lot of ambitions and plans, and in the mind “everything, but not editing weddings”. How disappointed I was, if only you could know. All because friends said: “Working at weddings is the worst thing that can happen to you”. Let’s take a closer look at why this stereotype is completely wrong!
You can argue a lot about this topic, and find pros and cons. Someone likes to create romance. Someone may be a fan of action movies or comedies, so editing a beautiful wedding film could seem boring to them. A few of my friends considered weddings the bottom of a career and a failure in life. Now I could argue with them, but at the start of my career, I was still very young and inexpert.
Wedding films and clips can become a special kind of art that will bring pleasure not only to customers (brides) but also to everyone who will watch. Professional wedding film editors stand out by their great empathy and ability to convey feelings on video. And, to be honest, sometimes better than any famous editor of romantic melodrama.
For 7 years of video editing, I have not missed a wedding either. I remember the first time — it was very exciting. At the start, I was not very happy that I had to do this, but I had no choice. I needed to earn money and develop skills. Now I have more than 150 wedding films to my credit and I believe that I can and should share my thoughts and experiences.
Why you should edit a weddings
If you are engaged in editing at the amateur or professional level, then I recommend trying to make at least 3-4 wedding films. Believe me, you will discover many new things for yourself. Weddings are different: some are more romantic, calm, events take place slowly; others are dynamic and fun, with lots of events, and lots of people. Some may say that wedding video editing is boring because all weddings are the same. You can confidently laugh in the face of such people and walk away without giving them an answer.
Difficulties cannot be avoided at the beginning. You will have to understand a little about the events that will take place at the wedding (for example, a wedding in a church or certain wedding traditions in different cultures), but preparation is an integral part for every editor. Everything impacts the result: people, locations, weather, time of day, words and emotions, and staff who work at the wedding.
The prospects in the wedding industry
Let’s think a little about the issue of diversity at weddings. If we didʼt answer that person (from the previous paragraph), then we will answer to ourselves. If there is no diversity, then there can be no prospects. This is a fact. Because routine kills all desire and inspiration to work. Editing has a lot of routine, no matter how interesting the project is. If you can’t handle the work routine, it doesn’t matter if you are editing a wedding or other project. So it’s not about weddings. But is there diversity in weddings? The answer is “Of course yes”!
Weddings are different in every country and nation. Even in a family, they can differ. They can be smaller and soulful, or large-scale and glamorous. More traditional, or have another theme. Prospects in this field are increasing every year. The level of organizing weddings is growing, so the opportunities to do something really exciting are also increasing every year.
Is there career growth in the wedding industry?
So, the wedding. A wonderful once-in-a-lifetime event. A celebration of love and sincere feelings. And this is also a celebration where your future clients can be. A lot of customers. From experience, I can say that they are always there. And whether they will become your customers depends on the result. A good result attracts new clients. As the number of customers increases, the price of your services also go up! And so on until you get bored or the customers run out of money.
The wedding industry is huge and competition is fierce in every country in the world. This is especially noticeable in Italy, America, Germany, Ukraine, and Poland. There you will learn about the most popular studios that create wedding films at such a high level that you will have to try hard to compete with them. And this is the main motivation for most — to become better than everyone else! That customers themselves come to you. That you are considered the invited star for the celebration of love! That your clients show you off in front of their friends and relatives. That you make weddings for stars, respectable people and the first people of the country. Here’s what career growth can be found in editing weddings.
How much can you earn editing weddings
The question of first interest. And here I can say “As much as you want”. And it is true! The main thing – convince by your work that you deserve to be paid as much as you want. And here, you need to evaluate your work objectively, especially if you already feel like a star. Because at some point, you might produce work that is quite mediocre but still believe it’s worth millions of dollars. I’ve seen this with my own eyes.
Researching the market is not difficult. You can find service prices on Instagram or Facebook page. Services are different, so the prices can be many. Customers can receive a wedding movie and a wedding short video with the best moments. It can also be a wedding SDE, which will be shown on the wedding day. All this is worth the money. And quite decent money.
Since a wedding is a once-in-a-lifetime event (or should be), people are ready to pay a lot of money to make sure everything goes well. They want the best restaurant, the best ceremony arch, the best photo booths and decorations, and the best fresh flowers and live music. Celebrities and show ballets are invited too. They (clients) order famous photographers. And they also order people who will shoot and edit their best memories from the happiest day.
How do you edit a wedding video?
Like any other editing project, there are several stages:
- receiving and sorting materials (prepare materials);
- synchronization;
- review and selection of materials;
- creating the plot of the wedding film;
- editing the wedding film;
- editing the wedding short video.
Each of the stages (except the last two) should be familiar to everyone who has already mounted any commercial project.
Difficulties in editing a wedding film
A wedding is always a lot of materials. Synchronization can take all day and you need to follow everything carefully to get all the frames in place. I recommend breaking all events into parts and synchronizing each part separately. This will make it easier to keep track of everything. I also recommend making a backup of all synchronized sequences. Believe me, it will help more than once.
Another difficulty will be sound editing. There is a lot of it, many people speak at different volumes and distances from the microphone. And there’s background music, live music, a background recorder that records everything at once, and more. Each of these varieties must be edited separately with the appropriate settings. I recommend setting aside a day or two for this, so as not to be distracted by other processes. Always make a copy of the track on the timeline first before editing. If something goes wrong, you can always delete the copy and try again. Of course, make a new copy before that!
It can be difficult at the stage of editing. To do this, you need to review everything several times and draw up at least a conditional scenario of what will happen. You can write it out separately and keep it on a visible note so as not to forget or miss any important part of the wedding. I often use a title layer over footage. There I write everything I want to add or how it should be done. I do this when I start putting together the conditional scenario of the future film. This is a good way not to forget anything.
A wedding is a large number of materials. Filming can take place in different locations, indoors or outdoors, with good or bad lighting and weather. And all this then needs to be colored. Therefore, color correction for wedding film is also a rather difficult process, because the film must look complete and beautiful.
But whatever the difficulties, they always disappear with experience. It is no longer difficult for me to do all this. With experience, I was able to structure all the work so that it was comfortable to work, and the result always excited the customers. And if it worked for me, why shouldn’t it work for you? You just have to try.