Motion
A film is not an add-on to photography.
It is a second production running at the same time, with its own crew, its own kit and months of post. We quote it as one, which is why the number is honest and why the film does not end up shot by somebody holding a spare camera.
Decide the length before the wedding, not in the edit
There are two useful films and they are not the same thing. A short film of three to five minutes is the one that gets watched and sent to people. A long-form edit — fifteen, twenty, thirty minutes — is the one that holds the ceremony, the speeches and the parents, and it is the one that matters in a decade when somebody in it is gone.
Couples who do not decide end up with the short one by default, because it is what gets made first. Deciding in advance changes what we shoot on the day, not just what gets cut afterwards.
Audio is half of it
The moments in a wedding film that make people cry are almost always sound: a vow, a father's voice cracking at a reception, a grandmother saying something to the bride that nobody else heard. None of that survives being picked up by a camera microphone from across a hall.
Separate recorded sources on the people who will speak, set up before the event, is the difference between a film with a soundtrack and a film with a voice in it.
What we would rather not sell you
Aerials, usually. A drone is impressive for about eight seconds of a finished film, costs meaningfully more than that, and carries a real chance of being refused on the day at exactly the venues where it would look best. If the same money can buy a second camera on the parents during the ceremony, that is the better film. The rules, plainly.
A wedding film is a separate production from the photography, not an add-on: it needs its own crew, its own kit and months of post-production, which is why Élan quotes it as its own line. The length should be decided before the wedding rather than in the edit — a three to five minute short film is what gets watched and shared, while a long-form edit of fifteen minutes or more holds the ceremony and the speeches. Separately recorded audio on the people who will speak is what makes a wedding film land, and it cannot be recovered afterwards.
Questions couples ask
How long is the wedding film?
That is a decision, not a default, and it should be made before the wedding rather than in the edit. A short film of three to five minutes gets watched and shared; a long-form edit of twenty minutes or more gets watched properly once or twice and then matters enormously in ten years. Many couples want both, and both is a different quote from either.
How long until we get the film?
A teaser within a few weeks and the full film in a few months is the honest shape of it, and we put the specific dates in writing before you book. Any studio promising a finished long-form wedding film in ten days is either not editing it or about to be late.
Do you record the ceremony audio?
Yes, and it matters more than couples expect. Vows, the priest, a father speaking at a reception — recorded properly with a separate source rather than picked up by a camera microphone across a hall. It is frequently the part of a film that people cry at.
EnquireA written answer the same day
Tell us the date. We will tell you if it is free.
The month, the city and roughly how many events. That is enough for a real answer about the date and a coverage plan with a figure on it.
What happens after you send this
- The date, answered first. Free or not free, in writing, usually the same day. If we are not free we say so instead of stalling, and we will say what we would look for in whoever you book instead.
- A coverage plan for your events, not a package number. Which events need two cameras and which need one, where the light runs out, and what that comes to. The figure arrives with the reasoning attached.
- A call before anyone signs anything. Twenty minutes on how you want the day to feel and how much camera you actually want in your face. Some couples want to forget we are there; some want to be directed. The answer changes what we quote.