All about Wedding Video Montages from Mackenzie Maeder Photo and Video

I remember when I first got Megan’s message about loving the videos I create and share on Facebook and wondering if that was something I could create for her wedding. For awhile there, I was making videos for every trip or two videos to break up the summer so I had not only photos to remember these moments by but also these awesome highlight reels set to fun music. I would share these on Facebook as soon as they were done.

I had told Megan this wasn’t something I had done for a wedding before but was happy to try out for her if she was willing to be my first wedding video! She was and because of her believing in me, it has opened up my business in ways I never imagined. I have gotten so many clients from her and because of that video. Megan, you ROCK and I so appreciate you and your continued support over the years. Because of this need to have both photo and video combo collections, I got to bring my brother on the team as well as teach my husband! It has been so much fun working along side these 2.

So what are video montages exactly and how do they work? I will say that 90% of my clients book us for both photo and video. We treat our videos like we do our photography in that we focus on moments, movement, and documentation of your day as it is versus stiff awkward posing. I want you to watch your video and relive it in a way that sometimes photos can’t. While I absolutely LOVE photography, there is something so special about seeing your loved one move, laugh, cry, and dance on a video.

When you book us for video, that means you are getting a 1 to 2 song montage of your day set to music. The music is licensed through Musicbed so that you can share the video on social media without breaking any licensing rules. This means that your songs won’t necessarily be mainstream but they will be fun and romantic and reflect your day!

Now you can totally choose your own music from the site but oftentimes couples will come back asking me to do it since it can be overwhelming to narrow it down. Trust me. I totally get and feel that! I could sit for hours sifting through songs to find the perfect match. But I work really hard to choose a song that reflects you two and your day.

Once I have your song, its all about creating a a beautiful story of your day in video form. Zach, Lex and I typically all have a hand in working on this video. Zach and Lex are typically the videographers the day of. One then usually starts it for me and I take over, adding effects, moving clips around if needed, and color grading the video. Then we go back and forth watching, rewatching, and tweaking until it is right. We make sure to do your day justice in your videos :) Which is why it often times take longer to get your videos back!

How does video on a wedding day work? So unless you have asked ahead of time for us to shoot the ceremony and speeches in full we are shooting in little clips. There is lots of movement and we may redo the same shot a few times to get a variety of takes. We shoot with a gimbal and monopod to make sure the video is stable and to do panning walking shots so your video has a “cinematic” feel to it. Our videos feel very “homey” though. I like to think that when you look back on them, its like watching a home video: cozy, intimate, and colorful.

Still not sure what a video like this would look like? See for yourself! Click on any of the videos below to get a feel for what your montage might look like. I also offer a variety of add ons for video if you need a little more footage: like full ceremony and speeches in separate videos or an instagram teaser you can get within 2 weeks of your wedding while you wait for the final video to be done.

And make sure to check out all the videos on my Vimeo page!