Wedding Videography Trends of 2024

Discover the Wedding Videography Trends of 2024

Videographers walk a tightrope, balancing innovative new ways of capturing a wedding while maintaining the bride and groom's expectations with more traditional approaches.

With the rapid technological advances, many couples expect a unique and creative approach to their wedding video, whilst wanting their wedding videographer to keep a low profile on the day.

When we set out to record your wedding day, we know that we're expected to capture all of the moments that will make your wedding truly beautiful and memorable. From the bridal preparations in the morning through the ceremony and late into the night, me and my second camera-person are working hard, gathering the shots that make for beautiful wedding videography.

But as technology advances, so too do the expectations of couples. We also need to think outside the box and create something that will stand out from other wedding videos.

Personally, I’m constantly trying to refresh how I record your day, and there are also shots you need to include in your wedding video. I often brainstorm with commercial videographers and take advice from production specialists for ideas on how to stay ahead of the curve with shooting, editing and delivering top-quality wedding videos.

As part of a wider topic of my essential guide to wedding videographers, read on for my list of growing trends in wedding videography that will be vital in 2024 to stand out from the crowd.

Wedding day drones

With drones now a common sight at weddings, it's expected that videographers will also use them to capture stunning aerial shots and show off their couple's venue in a new way.

The expectation isn't that drones will be used for the wedding video but to capture certain key moments or frames that can help tell a bigger story. For me, they are a great way to capture shorts that bracket the ends of my films with the beautiful Northern Ireland scenery surrounding our wonderful locations.

I was an early adopter to drones and completed my CAA assessments, going to DJI for my drones as I feel they’re the best entry level pieces of kit that have never let me down.

Unfortunately, drones aren’t always capable of dealing with Irish weather, so they sometimes stay in my camera bag for the whole day! If this is the case then I’ll sometimes head to the wedding venue on a nice day and get some great aerial shots to compliment the footage that I recorded on your day.

Smooth camera movements

More and more videographers are investing in cinematic camera gear, including gimbals, sliders, jibs and even drones with mounted HD cameras. This allows us to capture stunning shots and smooth tracking movements, adding Hollywood-style production value to wedding videos.

Allowing more motion of the camera means that your videographer can get away from traditional static shots and instead concentrate on creating beautiful wedding videography.

You wont’ see me too far away from my DJI gimbal, and there’s always a new gimbal being released that offers improved results. Yes, I shoot a lot of my footage in slow-motion so that I can slow it down to be more cinematic, but the smoother a shot can be, often the better.

There are always times when I don’t want steady shots, such as when people are dancing, or at times during bridal preparation. The reason for this is that an unsteady style of video clip gives the viewer more of a perspective that they were there - up-close to the action. During bridal prep it can give that ‘fly on the wall’ perspective, and during dancing it can make you feel like you’re in the middle of the dancefloor.

Time-lapse videography

Time-lapse photography is here to stay, allowing us to create amazing sequences that condense a day into just a few minutes. It's increasingly common to see a camera set up on-site and left all day.

The results are stunning, as your venue passes through the morning, midday and beyond sunset while you party, all played back to you over a few seconds. These clips often work well towards the end of a wedding video, as the setting sun suggests the closing moments of the day. Who wouldn't appreciate a time-lapse video of the sun setting over Belfast Castle as part of their day?

 It’s not easy to capture time-lapse videography and I’ll often do this after I’ve thrown dinner down my neck as quickly as possible, so that I don’t miss anything important.

Yet again it’s these small efforts that provide my wedding couples with the best possible film to re-live their day.

Creating sharable short wedding films

You may repeatedly watch your full wedding video over the years, but not everyone wants to see the whole thing.

That's why many couples choose to have a shorter, more shareable wedding film created for them - something that captures the highlights of their day and is easy to share on social media without taking too much time.

I often include a couple of ‘Instagram reels’ as part of my edit that are framed better for social media. It’s just a nice 30s reminder of just how awesome your wedding was to everyone who attended!

Take a look at my Instagram page for more of my highlight films and reels.

Outtakes

In the same manner that the short highlight film is immensely sharable, so too are outtakes. Outtakes are not generally bad - instead, they are often little moments of chaos and hilarity that can add a great deal of character and comedy to your wedding results.

They also provide an opportunity for fun moments to be shown that would otherwise be left on the cutting room floor.

From the bride and groom laughing in the background while they take pictures to spontaneous reactions during the ceremony, outtakes are sure to give your wedding day an added edge of fun and a candid perspective of what happened on your day.

Storytelling

In distant memory (okay, anything before 2020), the trend of wedding videos was to capture them in a documentary style, which is to say, from afar with minimal interference to the couple on the day.

However, things have changed, and many couples expect videos that capture more of a story. That could be through interviews, vox pops with guests, scene-setting shots around the venue and even narrative-driven sequences that tell your wedding story in a new way.

I work audio overlays into my wedding films so that the viewer can hear exactly what makes my wedding couples tick. It’s my chance to record personal vows (check out my post here as to how personal vows improve your wedding video).

 Adam and Nicola wrote love letters to each other and read them for the first time on the morning of their wedding day. It gave the start of the day something incredibly powerful and intimate that told more of the story of this amazing couple.

Gimmicks

If you're a fan of apps like Tiktok, you'll be familiar with gimmicky trends that everyone is doing for a week. These can be very amusing, and there is no doubt that some couples will want to incorporate a few of them in their wedding video.

These kinds of videos are some of the most amusing parts of your film and allow you to showcase each of your unique personalities. Just be aware that, like on Tiktok, trends come and go and having them in your video may quickly make it look dated - I'd recommend keeping a separate short video sequence for such things and keeping the more special memories of your big day in the highlight film. 

Same-day video editing

This is one trend I can't get behind, but it may determine who you choose to be your wedding videographer. Some video creators are producing wedding videos that are shot, edited and delivered on the wedding day.

While this might seem a great idea at first glance, if you want a properly edited and crafted film, you can't get this from a drag-and-drop template-made film. Your special day deserves the best, so, unfortunately, this means waiting a few weeks for the results.

Wedding videographer Belfast

I'm proud to say that I'm privileged to have access to many great locations here in Northern Ireland. A great wedding videographer should capture the beauty of the surroundings, so I'm constantly looking for new ways to capture the beauty of the locations where wedding day memories are made.

Whether you are looking for something simple or are dreaming of a grand cinematic production, I'm here to help you make your dreams come true. Contact me today, and let's start planning your wedding video.

From the beautiful grounds of Belfast Castle to the stunning views from Cave Hill, to Ballygally Castle and everything in between, Belfast and the whole of Ireland is full of amazing opportunities for couples to capture their special day.

Check out my article on the best wedding venues in Belfast for wedding videography and my post on the top 5 wedding venues in Northern Ireland for more information.

Conclusion

Your videographer should be one of the first people you speak to when planning your wedding.

The videographer him/herself will naturally determine the style of your wedding film.

I personally look at the colours of lighting in the venue, how I can use natural light and small details like where people will stand when they are making speeches.

Couples are expecting more than just the traditional wedding videos they've seen in the past.

Knowing what's on-trend will help ensure that your video captures all the key moments and trends you want from your day, ensuring your wedding film is truly unique.

Thanks for reading!

For more information about my style of videography just check out my films here. 

I cover weddings across Northern Ireland, Ireland and destination weddings across the globe. For more information just get in touch today. I look forward to hearing from you. 

Thanks,

Adam White 

Wedding Cinematographer