"How many minutes should the wedding video be?" depends on who it's for and where they'll watch it. The version for friends and the version for your parents aren't the same length. Here are the three common versions; you can make one, or combine them.
Highlight: three to five minutes
The most common version. One or two pieces of music carry the key moments of the day: the preparations, the ceremony, the vows, the toasts, the send-off. Good for sending to family and friends and posting online, and it's the version people rewatch most years later. Vows and speeches usually keep their live audio; the rest runs to music.
Full-length: as long as the ceremony
The ceremony, the speeches and the toasts kept in full, with only basic cuts between angles, subtitles and audio clean-up. Anywhere from twenty minutes to over an hour. This version is usually for parents and family, and it's the way to keep a complete record of the day. No music needed; the live sound is the point.
Vertical short: under a minute
A vertical cut taken from the highlight, for Instagram Reels, TikTok or LINE. Faster paced than the highlight, with a strong shot in the first three seconds. Subtitles need to stay clear of the areas covered by app interfaces; our Chinese guide on caption safe zones explains where, and we handle this for you.
How to combine them
- Just one video: the highlight.
- A full record plus something to share: highlight plus full-length.
- Something for social media: highlight plus vertical short. The short is derived from the highlight, so commissioning both together is easier than adding the short later.
Growth videos and opening videos played at the reception are separate pieces. See how to prepare a wedding growth video.
Commissioning several versions at once
- Say which versions you want from the start. We lock the highlight first, then derive the others, so revisions can be handled in one pass.
- Vertical and horizontal framing differ; some shots that look great horizontally get cropped vertically, so we pick shots separately.
- The revision scope follows the quote; each version includes one round of minor revisions.
Frequently asked questions
We don't have enough footage for three minutes. What then?
Make it shorter. One to two minutes works fine. Stretching thin footage only makes it repetitive. We'll suggest a length after seeing the material.
Does the full-length version need subtitles?
We recommend them for the speeches and vows, for rewatching and for older relatives. Other parts can go without.
Can we do the highlight now and add the vertical short later?
Yes, as long as the footage still exists. Keep a backup of the original files.
