Think Giant.

Our last wedding video tip is all about integrating your style and story into your wedding video.  I’m sure you don’t want your wedding video to be a copycat of all the others you’ve seen.  After all, this one is about you!  As such, it should reflect your style and personality.  Here are some tips to ensure that your wedding video is unique to you:

1.  Find out your style. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the fairy tale-princess-slow motion wedding, and 10 being the rocker-MTV wedding, where would you rate yourself?  Every bride pictures how they want their wedding to be.  If you can see it clearly in your mind, that will help you know what your style is.

2.  Meet and Communicate with your videographer. Wedding planning can be crazy and busy. In this age of cell phones, email, and the internet, it’s so much easier to plan everything online or over the phone without having to drive all over the place meeting with people.  But there’s no better way to convey your style and personality to your videographer than meeting with them in person.  If we can get a better sense of who you are, then that’s going to come out in the video.  Don’t be afraid to mention specific things you want (or don’t want) in the video.

3. Music. We discussed this in length a couple weeks ago, but we’ll mention it again briefly here.  The music sets the tone for the video.  So once you’ve found out your style, make sure your music selection matches that.

4.  Date/Love Story Film. We love to do the date and love story films.  They’re fun and casual and much more effective at bringing out your style.  They showcase the spark between you two as a couple.  If you’re unsure about which one is right for you, you can read an earlier post here discussing the differences and how to choose between the two.  Below is a great love story we did that captured the couple’s personality:

Tip # 1–How to choose your videographer

Tip # 2–Music Selection

Tip # 3–How to look your best in your wedding video

One of the biggest parts of what makes a wedding video great is music.  Music has a way of connecting with people on many different levels, so it’s so important that the music you pick for your wedding video does that for you as a couple.  Here are some good general rules when trying to choose the perfect wedding soundtrack:

1. Lyrics–Pay attention to the lyrics of the song.  On many occasions, We’ve had couples choose songs that are not appropriate for weddings.   Many songs can have a great sound and beat, but with closer inspection of the lyrics you can find that rather than a song about love, it is a song about breaking up, cheating, or even someone dying. Sometimes the best lyrics are no lyrics at all. A powerful instrumental track can be just as meaningful as a  song with lyrics, and it will allow more of the natural sounds and voices of your wedding day to shine through.

2. Pacing–This is really important in the editing of the video.  I would advise against choosing a song that is really slow all the way through.  Just makes for a really dull video, even if it’s great footage.  Listen for good beats and speed changes.

3. Avoid trendy songs.  These are the songs that you love when  they first come out, but a few months or a year later, you feel like ripping out your ears if you hear it on the radio.  There are songs out there that tend to stand the test of time, so go searching and find one that you connect with.  It may be a classic, or something more current.

4.  Variety. Not every song has to be by Michael Buble.  Change it up with songs from different genres and tempos for different sections of the video.  It makes the video much more enjoyable if there’s a change of pace and mood.

When we ask for music from our clients, we prefer to get at least 10 songs of varying tempos from the couple, and then we’ll choose what works best for each section of the video.  Obviously if you have a particular song that is especially meaningful to you both as couple, and important to the theme of the wedding, be sure to make that known.  We also have a suggestion list that we’ve put together to help out couples that are having a hard time thinking of songs beyond those that they’ve just watched on other wedding videos or heard on the radio.  Feel free to email us if you’d like to take a look at it.

Next week’s topic: Wedding Day tips to make you look good in your wedding video.

Last week’s tip: Top 3 rules for choosing your videographer

We are so excited about the upcoming year! Every year we have a great opportunity to work with fabulous couples and families, and last year was no exception. For those brides looking for a great wedding video to remember their wedding day, we put together this awesome trailer to showcase what Giant Brothers can do for you or someone you know that is getting married. We travel all over Utah and the United States, specializing in LDS Temple films. Feel free to contact us if you would like a full Demo DVD, or have any questions. Thanks!

It was another cold day this past Wednesday, December 30.  My last wedding of this year and this decade, but it was a great one to end on.  Thanks so much to Camille and Aaron for letting me be part of their day.  I had a wonderful time shooting with them, and they seemed to be having a wonderful day as well.  I hope you enjoy their temple film!

UPDATE: check out their photos taken by Shayna of EllaRue Photography. She was great to work with!

It was a cold snowy day in Utah today.  By the looks of it, Ashley and Jesse couldn’t have cared less.  They were thrilled to be married, and they looked gorgeous together.  You can also check out some great photos of Ashley from her bridal session with Sally Photography.  It was great working with them.  And here’s their temple film, my first time shooting at the beautiful Oquirrh Mountain Temple.

UPDATE: check out some more great photos of their wedding day from Alexandra of Sally Photography

It was a beautifully cold day when Veronica and Scott were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple.  I’ve really enjoyed working with the Romney family (this is the third wedding I’ve done with their family) and I also was delighted to work with the Iglesias family for the first time as well.  Getting married is such a special event for all involved and I feel so privileged to capture it.  Veronica and Scott chose Retrospect Studios for their photographer, and it was a lot of fun working with them.  Please leave a comment if you enjoyed the video!

Here’s another beautiful temple film at the Salt Lake Temple.  Sandy and Russ were great to work with, as was their photographer, Michelle Sallay.  I hope you enjoy their temple film!

UPDATE: Michelle Sallay their fantastic photographer just posted some great images of thier wedding on her blog check them out here

We had a lot of fun shooting this date film, it was done on Halloween at Thanksgiving Point.  Veronica and Scott are cute and crazy couple, and I hope you enjoy their fun date film!

It was really wonderful to work with Kyra & Anthony.  Their ceremony took place at Memory Grove, which is always beautiful.  This is the post-ceremony fun I captured.

We don’t have many clients that have such a late temple sealing, but it worked out great for Natalie and Peter’s temple film. Great lighting, great weather, great couple. 3 ingredients for a great temple film. Hope you enjoy it!