Have you ever wondered: what does it ACTUALLY look like to be a Wedding Day Content Creator? (Or maybe, you’re a bride or groom considering hiring a Wedding Content Creator and you’re curious as to what the behind the scenes of that job looks like?)
Well, allow me to pull back the curtain and give you a little sneak peek of what happens behind the scenes of being a Wedding Content Creator!
What Is A Wedding Content Creator?
Let’s start at the top so we’re all on the same page to move forward:
A Wedding Day Content Creator is someone who comes in on a wedding day with the sole purpose of capturing the celebration as it unfolds, in all it’s real, raw, unhinged, perfectly-imperfect ways.
A Wedding Day Content Creator captures all of their footage on an iPhone and is not so much looking for posed moments, but the behind-the-scenes magic.
A Wedding Day Content Creator is NOT an official photographer or videographer (most notably due to the equipment they work with), but will still produce photos and videos of the day.
A Wedding Day Content Creator delivers all of the footage they capture to the bride and groom the very next day and gives the couple permission to use it in any way they’d like! To create reels, TikToks, full blown videos – the sky is the limit.
A Wedding Day Content Creator typically also creates a pre-determined number of fully edited videos for the couple that they can instantly post to social media – whether this is a highlight overview of the day, trends, videos with transitions, or specific audio.
Okay, so now that we’re all on the same page about what a Wedding Content Creator is, let’s get into what their job looks like.
Pre-Wedding Prep
It might seem like: “Oh, your job is to just show up on a wedding day and walk around with your phone all day – that’s easy.” But in reality, there is quite a lot of prep that goes into capturing a wedding day fully and in the best way possible.
•About 10 weeks before a wedding, I send my bride & groom a short questionnaire that hits all the major points of their day. This way, I can have a high-level overview and start to put my plans together. I ask questions about locations, times, details, and what vendors I’ll be working closely with. This information sets the stage for an amazing day.
•In the last 30 days before a wedding, I will hop on a consultation call with my bride and groom. This not only gives us a chance to connect and learn more about each other, but allows us to go over the key details of the day. I’ll confirm all of the locations (where is the bride & groom getting ready? where is the ceremony? portrait location? where is the reception?) and all of the important times (what time is the ceremony? what time is the reception?). From there, we’ll decide what timeframe I should be at the wedding, according to the package the couple has booked (I typically very closely mirror the photographer and videographer’s hours). And then we’ll round out the call by talking through any unique events or elements that the couple has planned that I need to be aware of to capture and any specific trends or TikTok videos I’ll be specifically creating. This phone call gives me all the information I need to prep for a fabulous day.
•After that phone call with my couple, I will reach out to the wedding coordinator/planner, the photographer, and videographer – just to say hi and introduce myself! I give an overview of what I’ll be doing and ask if they have any questions. If a vendor has not worked with a Wedding Content Creator in the past, they usually do have some questions that I’m always happy to answer! Overall, I’ve found that touching base with the vendors I’ll be working most closely with on the wedding day always works better than simply showing up on a wedding day and “surprising” anyone.
•In the last few days leading up to a wedding – I go into full-blown prep mode. I clear space on all of my iPhones (both my main iPhone and my backup). I charge all of my power banks, my gimbal, my LED lights, and my wireless mics. I gather and categorize all of the cables I need and organize everything into my “big” bag and my fanny pack. I print out the “Event Guide” that I create for each wedding (this includes an overview of the day, including location addresses, phone numbers, my notes on the day, footage I’ve said I’ll capture, etc.) And I gather any additional gear I’ll be taking (depending on the wedding day that might include a variety of tripods, sound equipment, special lights, etc.)
The Wedding Day
•As I wake up the morning of a wedding, I am double-checking everything I’ve prepped in the days previous. I check current maps and traffic. I pack myself lots of water, snacks, and (typically) a high-protein lunch to eat while I’m on my way to the wedding.
•Upon arrival, I immediately check in with the wedding coordinator/planner to introduce myself (in person) and see how the day is going. Sometimes, minor things have already changed – so chatting with the coordinator/planner sets me on track with the rest of the vendor team. I then typically introduce myself to the photographer and videographer – and then it’s time to find the bride and get to work!
•I know my place on the wedding day. I am not the official photographer or official videographer, but I still have an important job to do. I do my best to not get in their way and to work alongside them as best as I can. Throughout the whole day, I will coordinator with them to set a game-plan in place so that we can work together to create beautiful memories and footage for our couple.
After all, our main objective is the same: to do our best to capture the wedding celebration for the bride and groom to look back on and enjoy!
The Night Of The Wedding
•As soon as I walk in the door of my house after a wedding, I instantly plug my iPhone into my computer to begin downloading the footage I took. This can take anywhere from 1-2 hours, depending on how much footage I captured.
•When that initial download is complete, I begin the process of backing up those files to an external harddrive. At the same time, my computer begins backing up those files to the cloud. By the end of the night, I will have four distinct copies of the footage I captured: the files still on my iPhone, the files on my desktop, the files on my harddrive, and the files in the cloud.
•After I’ve backed everything up, I begin sorting through the footage. I make sure that all of the files are in order by time captured and I re-name all of the files so they are cohesive. Then, instead of delivering hundreds of files in one giant “clump”, I like to organize the footage a bit. I will separate the photos from the videos, I will pull out any files I specifically took for videos that I’m going to edit, and I will even break down the day by “pre-ceremony”, “ceremony”, “portraits”, and “reception” – so that my couple can sift through their files more easily.
•When all of that organization is done, I drop everything into Dropbox to upload. This upload can take anywhere from 3-4 hours (and if I’m on hotel wifi, it can take 8-10 hours!) So, at that point, with everything uploading, I head to bed!
The Day After The Wedding
•When I wake up the next day, I head straight to my computer to make sure that everything uploaded correctly. I scroll through all of the footage and make sure that the number of files uploaded mirrors the files I have on my desktop. I make sure everything is organized and clean and personalized within Dropbox, I set up the Dropbox so that all of the proper options to download and share are turned on, and then I can officially send that Dropbox link off to my couple! Most of the time, I can send it to them before they are even awake the next morning.
•From there, I move into editing mode. I pull all of the footage I’ve said that I would edit for the couple into my video editing software and I get to work! Depending on the trends I’m replicating or the videos I’m creating, this can take anywhere from 3-4 hours to complete (sometimes longer if I’m making more than 3 videos!)
•Once those videos are complete, I render them, and then upload them to Dropbox. I send another note to my couple letting them know that those edited pieces of content are now available for them and let them know that I’m happy to help in any way if they ever run into any snags with downloading their footage.
I then highly recommend my couple follows the steps I outline in the blogpost I wrote called “How to Organize and Store Everything Your Wedding Content Creator Sends You”.
•From there, I typically give my couples a few days to enjoy their footage themselves! After all, there is nothing more magical than re-living the most precious and magical moments of your wedding day the very next day. My couples typically will post the videos I create for them within a few days and will begin creating their own social media posts to announce their marriage using the footage I deliver to them (which is always the best and most rewarding part of my job! I love to see the creativity my couples come up with – it’s awesome!)
•Once I know my couple has had some time to enjoy the footage I created for them, I will then share the footage with the wedding coordinator/planner, photographer, and videographer (because more than likely, I captured some awesome behind-the-scenes clips of them working and I always want them to be able to use that footage to promote their own businesses!) Most wedding coordinators/planners, photographers, and videographers have ZERO footage of them actually hustling on a wedding day, so this footage is golden and I love to share it!
Why Does Wedding Content Creation Matter?
You might find yourself thinking: why should I even hire a Wedding Day Content Creator? If I have a photographer and videographer, isn’t that enough?
+Your professional wedding videographer will capture the cinematic video and crystal clear audio that you’ll watch with tears in your eyes for decades to come. They will be shooting horizontal footage, on high-quality video cameras, with professional mics, sound equipment, and lighting. Their end product will be optimized to watch on your TV.
+Your professional wedding photographer will capture the photos you hang on your wall, fill a beautiful album with, and give as gifts to your Grandma. They will be shooting on high-quality digital cameras, with interchangeable lenses, and off-camera flashes. Their end product is optimized to be printed and displayed for generations to come.
+Your Wedding Day Content Creator will capture the behind the scenes, raw, and unfiltered moments of your wedding day. I deliver your footage (a mix of both videos and photos) to you the very next day, allowing you to share your newly married status with the world! I shoot vertical footage, on an iPhone, with a gimbal and low-key lighting. My end product is optimized to share on social media and I encourage you to edit the footage I deliver to you in any way you like. (Definitely don’t try to edit the footage from your photographer or videographer – they most definitely will not appreciate that!)
So, there you go! From careful prep to seamless collaboration and lightning-fast delivery, my goal is to help couples re-live (and share) their wedding day almost as quickly as it happened. It’s fast-paced, detail-heavy, and wildly rewarding.
If you’re a couple considering hiring a Wedding Content Creator, or just someone curious about what the job really entails, I hope this behind-the-scenes look has given you a deeper appreciation for all that goes into capturing the magic, mess, and meaning of a wedding day – unedited and unforgettable. Wedding Day Content Creation is uniquely valuable and intentionally designed for today’s world of instant connection and real-time storytelling.
