Why Do I Need Two Wedding Cinematographers?

By now, you’ve probably heard from a hundred people just how busy your wedding day is going to be.

What you may not have heard yet is that many of the most important moments of your day may be happening simultaneously in two different places! That’s why we always recommend hiring at least two wedding cinematographers.

Lauren and Neil had a colorful Bronx Zoo wedding complete with a red wedding dress and textured purple, red and black flower arrangements. We’re going to use their cinematic-style wedding video as an example of where the two cinematographers will be and what they’ll be capturing at the same exact moments throughout your wedding day.

If you only have one cinematographer, your wedding videographer will have to decide which parts of your day are most important to film.

12:00 pm  ||  Bride’s hotel or groom’s apartment?

Since the bride and groom will be getting ready at the same time, the cinematographer will only be able to capture one.

Most likely the wedding cinematographer will be capturing the bridal party’s mimosa-filled hair and makeup session, which means the groom’s morning hangout time with his groomsmen won’t be filmed if you only hire one cinematographer.

2:00 pm  ||  First look or ceremony location?

The first look is a beautiful moment for a wedding film, but capturing the ceremony location in all its glory before it’s filled with your guests is essential. Not only does it set the scene for your entire wedding film, getting to the ceremony early is important so the wedding cinematographer can prepare to capture the best possible audio of your ceremony.

That means either your first look won’t be covered or you’ll be sacrificing the guarantee of clear audio when you watch your wedding film.

4:00 pm  ||  Bride’s entrance or groom’s reaction?

This is one of the biggest moments during your wedding day. It’s amazing to watch the groom’s face in anticipation as he goes from nervousness, to excitement, to pure joy and everything else in between.

However, when the bride enters the room, all eyes are on her. It’s your first glimpse of the amazing dress, peony bouquet and the walk she’s been waiting for all of her life. You’ll also see guests along the aisle light up with joy.

Having both is essential to a well-rounded film.

6:00 pm  ||  Photo session or reception location?

One cinematographer will be with you while you’re out in the garden taking formal pictures with your best friends and family members. These gorgeous shots are essential to our wedding films because they allow us to capture you perfectly posed in bright lighting while you interact with your most important people.

We insert these gorgeous shots throughout your artistic wedding film to bring it to life, connecting speeches about the groom with a shot of him getting silly with his best man and meaningful audio clips from the ceremony with the two of you gazing into each others’ eyes.

Inside your reception venue, all of the beautiful details you chose are being set up. See your wedding planning vision become a reality.  The perfectly placed intricate china, chiavari chairs and red centerpieces are all in place before the guests come in and crowd the room.

8:00 pm  ||  Toast giver or the crowd’s reaction?

Speeches are one of the best traditions of weddings! We love to film them because they help us tell the story of each wedding with a unique piece of audio that truly encapsulates the essence of our couples.

During the speeches, it’s great to see the speech giver. His delivery, unspoken gestures and sincerity in his eyes suck you into his every word.

On the other hand, what is a great joke if you don’t see the audience’s reaction? Whether it’s an embarrassing story from the best man or a tear-jerking tale from the mother of the bride, seeing the couple and other key members in the crowd rounds out the wedding film and gives it the feeling of a real hollywood movie.

The bottom line of why we recommend two wedding cinematographers:

One videographer can only do so much and they definitely can’t be in two places at once.

Sometimes more is more. Watch Lauren and Neil’s Bronx Zoo wedding film to see what we mean:

Make sure you don’t miss a moment of your wedding day. Click here to get wedding cinematography packages for your big day and find out if a two cinematographer package makes sense in your wedding budget.