5 Unique Alternatives to Typical Wedding Videos

A wedding video of your celebration is one of the best ways to commemorate a special day that often goes by in a blur. It allows you to revisit your nuptials every year on your anniversary and remember just how magical the time was. However, if you’re working with a small budget or need to find a way to cut costs to make room for other parts of your wedding planning, videography may be the first area to look for creative alternatives.

Fortunately, there are several unique wedding videography ideas that may be more affordable and give you a different perspective than a typical wedding video. Exploring other options is a good way to find something that will fit with your wedding style and how you want to capture your ceremony. We’ve gathered five of our favorite types of wedding videography to inspire you to skip what’s typical in favor of something a little unexpected.

#1: Drone Footage for Aerial Shots

Technology has brought us a long way, especially in terms of photography and videography. Who knew that the day would come where taking imagery overhead would be user-friendly. Drone footage has become an increasingly popular choice over the years, and it introduces stunning views that you wouldn’t otherwise have access to with a typical wedding video.

While drone wedding videography means there aren’t up-close shots, it gives you the opportunity to span down a coastline for a beach wedding or around a sweeping estate if you’re getting married at a winery, castle, or other unique venue. Plus, it gives a whole new perspective of your wedding day from up above. Check with your venue to ensure that drones are allowed because there are limitations for use, but it’s an interesting idea if you want a bird’s eye view and know someone who has the equipment and experience to make it happen.

#2: Ask Your Guests to Film

Rarely a wedding goes by without pictures being uploaded to Instagram or other social media channels, complete with clever hashtags and well-placed filters. The same can be said with video. With the technology of smartphones upping the ante of the quality of videos, this is a free way to get special moments of your big day from the perspective of your guests.

This alternative produces candid moments well and will show the celebration through the eyes of those closest to you. If you want to see the exchange of vows or first dance, ask a family member or someone in the wedding party to film these moments specifically. Although it won’t be at a professional level, when the sound and image quality are clear, it’ll still be a video you’ll cherish.

#3: Capture the Day With WeddingMix

An app called the WeddingMix allows anyone to become a videographer for the day in a simplified way. With packages starting at $99, it’s an affordable way to take and temporarily store your wedding footage. Another $100 gives you a two- to three-minute highlight video, which WeddingMix edits for you.

It works by downloading the free app and having all guests take a video of the events leading up to and the day of your wedding. Everything is stored together in one gallery, which can then be turned into videos. The app also offers hashtag ideas through its online generator to have one special to your day.

Higher-tiered packages offer to edit video taken from GoPros and personal cameras, too, or you have the option of renting video cameras and selfie sticks. The highest tier will likely still cost several hundred dollars less than hiring a wedding videographer.

#4: Rent a Video Booth

Photo booths have been a long-standing favorite at wedding celebrations—now you can have one that offers video, too. This is a way to gather well wishes from your guests and allow everyone to kick back and have fun at the reception in an unfiltered way. A video booth stamps your names and wedding date on the videos to make it customized.

Even though you’ll be celebrating with guests throughout the day, looking back on these impromptu, heartfelt, and sometimes silly personal messages will mean a lot after you’ve come down from the excitement of the special day and are settling into married life. It’ll allow the celebration to feel like it’s continuing on a little bit longer.

#5: Set Up a Tripod

Before everything went mobile, brides and grooms relied on setting up a video camera on a tripod to record their vows. Although not a modern method, it still gets the job done. This alternative method from the typical wedding video goes back to the basics of the simplicity of setting up a camera, having someone hit record, and calling it a day.

The important thing is to find the right positioning for the setup at the ceremony and reception. An updated version of this idea is to place GoPros around your venue to get a look from different angles. Looking through the footage together, you can use free editing software to put together your own video, or you can hire someone for editing services only. The result is a less-polished, yet highly authentic version of your wedding day.

Benefits of Alternative Wedding Videos

Couples have options for how to best commemorate their wedding day celebration. In addition to these five alternative ideas, there are several other apps and programs that are easy to use, cost less, and let couples put their own unique touch on their wedding video.

The benefits of trying one of these alternative ideas are that they help you keep within your budget, provide a playful aspect to the day, and give you video footage from the perspective of those you love most.

Better for the Budget

Between filming, editing, and everything in between, the cost of hiring a wedding videographer can easily start in the high hundreds and spill over into thousands of dollars for a picture-perfect video package. If this is one of the main priorities of your wedding day, then the cost is well worth it, but if the idea of a wedding video is a nice-to-have, some of the cheapest wedding videographers can produce a high-quality wedding video that is still able to commemorate your special day.

Prioritizing what matters most for your celebration will give you an insight into where you can compromise or shift around the budget to make all of your dreams come true. With these alternatives to wedding videographer pricing, you can still have a record of your big day, but without a hefty price tag.

Engages Guests in a Fun Way

With everyone already in a joyous mood and more than happy to make your day as special as can be, it’ll thrill guests to feel closely involved in your celebration. By having them film their own home videos or share their sentiments through a video booth, it keeps everything lighthearted and fun. Often, it’s the candid, unpolished moments that make the best memories. Between all the laughing and cheering, you’ll want to remember this time of love and celebration for you as a newly married couple.

Also, if you decide to task someone with setting up a camera or filming your first dance or cake cutting, it gives that person a sense of importance in such a special time in your life. Though the task is small, the meaning of it is big and will be one you’ll cherish for the rest of your life. It’ll give you the kind of video that’s perfectly imperfect and uniquely you.

Shares Various Perspectives All in One Place

Gathering everyone’s shared videos and photos through one app allows you to put all perspectives together to create a wedding video all your own. It allows you to see how the day unfolds through their eyes. Since you are center stage, you may miss smaller details and moments happening among your guests.

Unique wedding videography embraces all of the emotions of your wedding day, from serious to humorous, and sentimental to silly. You’ll see it all unfold through how your guests choose to film it. Due to the angle, proximity, and knowledge of capturing the moments that they know you’ll like best, sometimes guests can get just as good, if not better, than someone you hire professionally.

Considering the Idea of Alternative Wedding Videos

Maybe the typical wedding video doesn’t speak to your personality as a couple. Maybe it’s beyond what your budget calls for. Or, maybe you just want to know what your alternatives are as you explore everything available when it comes to wedding videography.

Whatever the reason is, consider alternative wedding videos before making a final decision on how you want to capture your celebration. There’s no need to go the traditional route if you want to take another direction that speaks more closely to you. You’ll be able to carry the memories with you for a lifetime, but it’s always nice to see it play out on film, too.