Wedding Day Overview: Part 5 - Reception

Here we are at the final part of the day. Now (hopefully!), you can truly relax and enjoy the rest of your wedding night. Likely this will include a delicious dinner for you and your guests to enjoy. After or during dinner, there will be some speeches that may be emotional, funny, or maybe even a little awkward as you realize someone scribbled their speeches on a napkin seconds before heading up to the microphone (maybe even more so if their speech is filled with inside jokes only the bride or groom understand - but hopefully not!). Following the speeches, we get one of the best parts of the day – the dancing. The first dance, the father-daughter dance, and the party dancing will all be a celebration and testament to your new life together as a couple.
For the last time in this series, let me go over what I’m up to during the reception and my process for making all these moments last forever on video. Let’s start with the speeches.

Speeches

My process for the speeches is simple. I’ll have two or three cameras running, one/two stationary cameras pointed in the direction of the podium, and one roaming camera that I will use. I may try to get reaction shots of you, your family, or your wedding party. Other than that, I’ll get different/tighter angles of the speaker. Having the safety of the stationary camera(s) allows me to try out a bunch of different shots that make for a more compelling edit when I put it all together. If I have a second shooter at my disposal, this is where I can use one stationary camera and two roaming cameras. This allows me to get tons of quality footage of the speaker combined with lots of reaction shots.  This is an option with one videographer; however, with two videographers, it can lead to a more dynamic multi-camera edit when it comes to the speeches. 

Slow Dances

When it comes to these kinds of “special” dances, I try to split my time between capturing more sweeping cinematic shots with a wide-angle lens on a gimbal camera stabilizer and getting those up-close and personal shots with a tight-angle lens. This gives me a lot of options when it comes to the highlight reel. If I’m trying to capture an emotional moment - I will go in with a closer angle of the couple, or if I am trying to make the film just a bit more cinematic, I will use wide-angle shots with movement. The main advantage of using two shooters is that my time isn’t split.  I’ll stay with my wide-angle lens while my second shooter will stay tight, which allows me to get the best of both worlds. What is also crucially important to me during this time is respecting your space. I may come close once or twice or do a circle around the couple with my camera. Still, for 90% of these dances, I keep my distance so you can enjoy these truly once-in-a-lifetime moments of having your first dance as a married couple without worrying about your videographer getting in the way.

Party Dancing

Now comes the time in the night when everyone is a bit looser and ready to go out and celebrate your tying the knot. Expect to see Uncle Jerry out on the dance floor, breaking out the old dancing shoes and giving everyone second-hand embarrassment with his “dance” moves. Of course, for the most part, this is some wonderful second-hand embarrassment - the best kind. Guess what, though? You may likely see me out on the floor with him. I like to get right on the floor for fast dancing with my camera in hand and get in on the action. Because for great dancing footage, it helps to feel like you’re right there on the floor. There is always a strong disconnect, in my opinion, when this type of footage is taken off to the side of the dance floor. You feel distant from the action instead of feeling like you’re right there in the mix, and it shows in your footage. To avoid this, either myself or both of us (if there’s a second shooter) will head onto the dance floor with a wide and tight lens and capture all kinds of footage of everyone getting their groove on.

Should there be a send-off, we may stick around for that and get footage of this as well—as this could be a lovely end to your wedding film. That’s my process with the reception. Thanks for reading the series. Please feel free to contact me with any questions or if you need more detail on anything throughout the day. Until next time!