Elopement Film Expectations

What Is An Elopement Film? Why Is It Important?

Elopement films are visual and auditory keepsakes from one of the most special days of your lives! They can be a multitude of different styles, lengths, content, etc. But most often, elopement films provide an overview (or a “highlight”) of your elopement day, including all of the main events and important details. Similarly to photos, films allow you to see and remember what you were doing on your wedding day. It’s a great way to keep your memories safe! But unlike photos, elopement films give you the opportunity to see movement and to hear audio from your day. So instead of just seeing a beautiful photo of your first dance together, your elopement film captures the actual dance, along with some of your laughter or sweet comments to each other. 

A film will give you the experience of listening to your vows again! Because let’s be real, most people black out during those moments. It’s kind of like when you get engaged… You’re so excited and joyful that your mind just goes blank! But fear not, we’ll have your audio recorded and included in your film! And depending on what type of film you want, small exchanges throughout the day might be included as well! For example, maybe one of you makes a joke that fits perfectly with the vibe of your day, or you want your first look reactions included! There are endless options for what little moments can be added to your film! 

Check out our home page for our promo video about elopements and adventure weddings!

What To Expect In Your Elopement Film

There are so many different ways that videographers capture elopement days, and there are so many ways that they create films. Some videographers summarize your day into a specific number of minutes, while others use a lot more footage to create long and more “uncut” films (maybe 15 minutes long as opposed to 3-5 minutes). Adam prefers to find a happy medium between these two polar opposites. Here’s what he has to say about how he captures elopement films:

“I prefer the more documentary styles with a mix of slower and dreamy shots included. I like to shoot the day and edit to allow the rawness of the small moments to be felt while watching your film back. My goal is to make sure you remember your day with all the joy you had while actually living it. It’s important to include those raw moments, especially during an adventure elopement, so that you can truly feel like you are reliving those moments again while watching your film months later.” – Adam

So while he likes to give you an estimate of how long your film will be, he also doesn’t limit himself. He lets your day tell the story and will match your vibe with the final film! Your film should capture all the big events and all of the in between moments. It should feel like YOU. 

Types of Elopement Films

There are a variety of styles of elopement films and it’s important that you know what you want! Think about the kind of videos that draw your attention (trailers, documentaries, romanticized clips, etc). Think about the two of you and the relationship that you share… Are you more romantic or goofy? Do you enjoy being serious or silly? This will help you decide what kind of film you want! Some types of elopement films include:

Highlight Reel

Sunrise Mount Rainier Tiny Fall Wedding

Redwoods Forest & Oregon Coast All Day Elopement

Documentary

Mount Fremont Fire Lookout Hiking Elopement

Sunrise Hiking Mt Rainier Elopement

Cinematic Trailer

While those are categories of types of films, Adam often combines them to best tell your day! He loves to use a variety of both raw moments and slower, more romantic moments. 

What Type of Elopement Film Can You Expect From Venture to Elope?

There are 5 main factors that go into creating each film here at Venture to Elope: Audio, music, shooting quality, backups, and final video quality.

Audio: Audio is a key factor in almost all elopement films. While watching an elopement film, you  might hear snippets of the ceremony being played over other shots. This can help set the scene and mood, while also adding narration to events that are happening. It’s a great way to include special parts of your vows or of what your officiant said during your ceremony, so that you can remember them for years to come. Live audio from other parts of the day can also help to show more emotion and the connection that you and your partner share!

Music: It’s important that the music chosen for your day not only fits the type of day you had, but also fits the type of people you are. If you are not a fan of folky/acoustic music, then it is important to know that your videographer knows not to pick that type of song for your final film. We might think that a folk song is perfect for your day, but if that’s not the case we definitely want to know! It’s way more important to have music that YOU like! 

Quality: When shooting your day, I (Adam) use two cameras that both record in 4k quality. Sometimes, I like to add clips from our DJI drone or from a GoPro, whether it’s a time lapse or a clip that shows the scenery. The drone and GoPro do not shoot in 4k, but the quality is still great! 

Backups: Most videographers have at least two places that they back up their footage. The most common being two different external hard drives, or one hard drive and one type of cloud based storage. For me, I prefer to have your footage saved in at least three places. Even before I get home, I am backing up your footage to two SD cards while shooting. This ensures that I have two immediate backups. But once we are done capturing your day, I make sure to back up your footage to two hard drives and a cloud based storage system. I also make sure not to format the SD cards used for your day until your final product has been delivered. That means I actually have four places to recover your footage from!

Final Delivery Quality: All videographers want to make sure you have the highest possible quality film. This is why I ensure to export your film in 4k so that every time you re-watch your film you will have the truest experience available! You will receive your video online, where I recommend that you download and save it to multiple locations.

How To Make The Most of Your Elopement Film 

There are three big factors that will help you make the most of your elopement video! This will ensure that you are IN LOVE with the final product! 

1. Lighting: For video quality (as well as photo quality), you want to find the best lighting.  We always help our couples pick the right time of day for their location, so don’t worry! Lighting can be influenced by so many different factors like the weather, sunrise/sunset times, and even the tree coverage or mountains. 
2. Connectivity: Focusing on each other and enjoying your day is extremely important! When recording footage of your day, I want to make sure to capture the most candid reactions and authentic movement. This is going to be the best representation of your day and how you two interact with each other. Your final film will then be a more honest version of you two!
3. Dialogue: Great dialogue for your vows is super important if you want your vows included in your final film. You want to make sure that everything you’re saying sounds like you! You don’t want to sound too stiff or rehearsed. Try speaking your vows and then writing down what you’re saying out loud! You can also consider doing a vow writing workshop if you need extra help. We have heard good things about the workshops from Tapestry Event Co. and Rooted & Wild.

Elopement Film FAQs

Do we get all of the raw footage from our day?

One of the jobs of being a videographer is sifting through all of your elopement footage to choose the best moments! And the best moments aren’t just the “perfect” ones, it’s also the imperfect ones. So, although you won’t get all of the raw footage, you’ll get a beautiful and comprehesive representation of your relationship and your special day!

Can we choose our own music? 

You can certainly request a specific song of type of music! But due to music licensing, I can’t guarantee that I will be able to use a specific song or genre/artist for your film. It depends on what I can legally obtain. But I do my very best to pick a song that reflects the vibe of your day!

What if we want to keep our vows private?

You can 100% keep your vows private. I can record your vows so that you have a private video of them to remember forever. But then for your final film, we can just use music!