Music is an important and powerful tool used in most wedding ceremonies; its ability to enhance atmosphere and evoke an emotive response from the listener make it possible for memories to be formed that will be remembered for a life time. It is just as important for the newly married couple to place time, effort and thought into the selection of appropriate music to be played throughout the wedding video. Taking this time will ensure the video produced to help you and your loved ones relive your wedding day will complement your vision and hopefully recreate the atmosphere and ambiance of the day.
When selecting the music for your wedding video it is important to think about the different events that have occurred throughout the day and then selecting the music that reflects the significance of that moment. Outlined below are some of the various parts of a wedding ceremony, including the preparation, where music can enhance the wedding video.
- Pre wedding ceremony.
- Many people ask a close family friend or employ a videographer to come and video their preparation times at both the bride’s and groom’s respective houses. For this time on the wedding day think about fun and joy filled music. Things to build the anticipation for what is about to occur later on that day. You could also think of a song which has significant meeting to both the bride and groom.
- Processional Hymn / Ceremony Parts.
- A great option for your wedding video is to record the live music at a high enough quality to be able to be used. Unfortunately, a lot of microphones on video cameras when coupled with acoustics in buildings (or outside venues) are not powerful or good enough quality to record a clear and crisp sound without all of the background noise. If the audio recording is not of a high quality, try to find recordings of the songs that you used through the ceremony, this would help to recreate the entire wedding experience.
- Exchanging of the Vows.
- Usually on a wedding video people opt to have no music playing at all behind the exchanging of the vows. The reasoning behind this is to not have anything detract from the words being professed between the bride and the groom. One suggestion to enhance this moment would be to use some quite, romantic orchestral music (violins, flutes etc), and have it slowly build in dynamic (volume) and intensity with the climax being at the kiss at the end of the exchanging of vows.
It is becoming increasingly common for people to hire a professional videographer or video editor to compile and create the final wedding video. Some people request that the entire video be a compilation of the most significant parts rather than a video of the entire day. It is important that whether it is a compilation or a complete video of the day’s proceedings that the bride and groom continuously give the editor creative input into what they want in their video. To ensure the success of the video make sure that you request prior to signing a contract with them to be able to see an edited draft for you to give comments, specific deadlines to ensure you are not waiting for long periods of times for your video and that the all final decisions on the selection of music and parts included are for the bride and groom to make.