Make It Easier For Your Videographer To Film Your Toast Speeches

Video Transcript

Hi, my name’s Dalton Young, a Destination Wedding videographer and photographer. And I’m going to give you two of the best toast tips you’ve ever heard for your video. Okay. First of all, and I say toast, I’m talking about people on the mic during your reception, telling their story about whatever, telling their story about you, the couple, just sharing their experience and these aren’t tips on what you should say. Obviously, you should probably keep it clean because it’s getting videoed, right You probably don’t want to expose the bride and groom too much, because it can make certain people feel uncomfortable, but what I would recommend is two things. And this is for the video. First of all, make sure that the bride and groom are either sitting down during the toast speeches or if they’re standing up, they need to be standing up and staying in the same spot for most of the time.

Because for example, when we film toast speeches, we have multiple cameras running and the more you move around, the harder it is. Okay? So having the bride and groom in one spot and also having the person giving the toast in one spot makes it extremely helpful for your final wedding film. The best way to do this typically is having the mic on a mic stand and having the bride and groom sit down in chairs. But if you want to stand up, that’s cool. It really helps if you stay in the same spot, you can go give a hug, but as long as you come back to the same spot, you’re good. That way we can keep from having to pick up all the cameras and move them around and it produces the best image aesthetically for the video.

Also whoever’s given the toast, you want to make sure that they’re not walking around. If a lot of people have to pick up the mic and walk around the floor back and forth, but if you have a camera on a tripod, trying to track them back and forth, and man, like we’re running three cameras usually during toe speeches and trying to get all that moving in the right direction, and sometimes four cameras, it can be chaotic, right? So if we can have all the people giving the toast need to stand in one spot and face the crowd, they don’t need to face the bride and groom, right? You don’t want them facing sideways, because we’re going to stand where the crowd is, because y’all need to be facing the crowd so that people can see you.

So the bride and groom should be facing the crowd. The person giving the toast speech should be facing the crowd. And then if everybody’s facing the crowd, then we can see you. And you can still be angled and talk to each other. You don’t want to be talking to each other like this, because then all you see is the side of people’s faces. You just want to be angled outwards facing towards us or however this looks to you, whatever, but we want to be able to see you and we want you standing in one spot or not moving a lot. Okay? That’s the biggest thing. That’s the biggest tip number one that will transform your wedding video and your toast speeches. Especially if you’re getting a toast edit, being able to see your face is a big piece of it and see your reactions, right?

And also not have you move around. So we don’t have to follow you around the place the whole time. The second biggest wedding tip is, do not have an open mic. Designate who’s going to give your toast speeches, and let your vendors know that. Don’t do the whole impromptu thing. Let your DJ know. Hey, there’s there’s two toast speeches. Best man and maid of honor. And they knock out those two toast speeches and then the mic gets cut because what happens is a lot of times, someone goes, “Ooh, I want to give a toast speech.” And it’s not a bad thing, but usually if one happens more than that’s going to happen, right? If you have one person give, “Hey, I want to give a toast speech.” Then maybe it’s the mother of someone, right?

And then the other parents want to give a toast speech. Then the best friend from middle school wants to give a toast speech. So then at that point, you have all these different people giving your toast speeches and you have no clue what’s going to get said. And then all those will end up in your wedding film. You may not want some of those people in your wedding film. So just important to think about. Preplan your toast speeches, make sure everybody knows whether they’re going to give a toast speech or not, and go with that plan because that’s going to produce the best result and also share the right information and the right storyline that you want your guests to hear, because some of those guests may not need to know. Your best friend from high school may share a lot of things you may not want someone on the new side of the family to necessarily know and you control that.

That’s not the photographer and videographer, that’s you, and that’s not the DJ. That’s you, the bride. The bride is in control of that entire situation. So whatever you say is what goes. So actually coming up with a game plan, and having specific people that are going to say things will give you the best experience. So those are the two tips. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me. I’m happy to help where no matter where you’re at in the planning process, I know what it’s like to plan from afar and just need help. Maybe it’s your first wedding. Maybe you’re not planning in a market you’re not familiar with. So any questions at all, feel free to reach out, happy to help however I can. Whether you’re going to book with us or not. And my name’s Dalton Young and I look forward to talking to you soon.

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Photography/VideographyDalton Young Weddings