Part of what makes wedding videos so special isn’t just the visuals, it’s the audio! My wedding videos include as much emotional audio and dialogue as possible to help tell your story. Without these special sound bites, your wedding film is just a music video. I’ll quickly dive into a few essential parts of your wedding day where capturing this audio will make or break your video.

Exchanging Letters And Gifts During Prep

If you choose to exchange letters, gifts, or cards with each other on the morning of your wedding, this is a great opportunity to capture some meaningful audio. This often involves a bit more of a personal touch since you’re usually by yourselves, so it often adds a lot of depth to your wedding video. I personally like to record the video of you reading the card or letter from your fiance, then separately capture just the audio of what you wrote to them so I can use it as a narration in your video with your own voices. It might sound confusing but trust me, it makes perfect sense in the editing room!

Your First Look

The first look is also a great quick opportunity for audio. Not every wedding has a first look, but hearing the emotion in your voice when you see your fiance for the first time on your day can be something you overlook with everything else that’s going on. The shock in your voice, the crack in your throat trying to hold back your tears, and the “OMG” shock, all add to the emotion of your video. I usually capture this audio with a tiny pen-sized recorder that quickly and easily clips into a breast pocket on a suit, or inside the strap of most dresses.

For this first look, I have a small audio recorder hidden in the groom’s breast pocket that’s covered by his lapel and boutonniere, and I would do something similar for the ceremony.

Your Wedding Ceremony

When it comes to recording audio for your wedding day, the ceremony is by far one of the most important. If you and your fiance are writing your own personal vows to each other, it’s particularly important because it’ll likely be the most meaningful words spoken all day. Your officiant’s audio will also be perfect to take sound bites from to layer throughout your video. I take a lot of precautions in capturing this audio since it’s so essential.

I will likely have a small lav mic to put on either you or your fiance or both, depending on what you’re wearing, I’ll have another lav mic for your officiant, and usually have a direct line out from the microphone and speaker system that either your DJ or venue provides. The reality is that audio recorders and memory cards can fail, so it’s always good to have backups just in case!

For this ceremony, the DJ was kind enough to let me tap into his system so I’m getting a direct feed from the microphone, but I also have a backup lav mic on the officiant’s left shoulder, as well as on the groom.

Your Wedding Reception

Your reception toasts are one of the most important moments of your night. The DJ or band will also be a key part in helping me capture this audio since all the music and microphones go through their system. This is part of the reason I love recommending certain DJs and bands to my couples to get the best possible audio during your reception. It’s very rare that I absolutely cannot get a line out of either the speaker or audio board, but I have worked with DJs who have had bad experiences in the past and refuse to offer videographers a feed to risk interfering with their equipment. I will provide a list of highly recommended vendors below who I’ve worked with over the years and had excellent experiences with that will rock your party!

For receptions, I usually don’t have to put lav mics or little audio recorders on anyone because I’ll have a direct feed out of the microphone that’s being used for toasts and speeches.

-Austin

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Hi, my name is Austin, and a wedding videographer based out of New York City.

Want to learn more? Feel free to check out some of my wedding films here: https://cinemarollfilms.com/

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