When should a wedding videographer arrive?The most-asked question, answered honestly.

Arrive early, and not to start filming

I get to a wedding about 3 to 4 hours before the ceremony, depending on the schedule, usually 2 to 3 hours before you’re getting into your dress. And a lot of that early time isn’t filming at all, on purpose. Nobody wants someone to just turn up and stick a lens in their face. So I come in, introduce myself to everyone, and let the room get used to me before the camera really starts. If you start flashing away the second you walk in, the morning instantly becomes a “video shoot”, and half the time you don’t even know who’s who yet.

The morning vibe decides the whole day

Get the morning right and the rest follows. Once you’ve got a good, calm, relaxed vibe in the morning, the whole wedding day is a vibe, and that’s genuinely what I’m protecting with an early, low-key arrival. It’s the thing I care most about at DS Media Moments: your people comfortable, you relaxed, and the camera almost forgotten. That’s when the natural, emotional stuff actually happens in front of it.

The venue recon you never see

The other reason I get there early is to walk the venue. Sometimes it’s my first time there, so I need to find the best spots for your couple session, the good light, the exterior shots, the quiet corners. I do a lot of research online beforehand, but the people who work in that building every single day hold the real knowledge, so I’ll ask the venue and hotel staff where photographers usually take couples. I’ll also check in with your photographer early, so we stay out of each other’s way and it never feels like two crews fighting over you, especially if we haven’t worked together before.

When the prep filming actually ramps up

Once I’ve settled in and scouted, the real detail filming times to when your hair and makeup finish, not to a number on a schedule. There’s no point pointing a camera at a half-done morning; I want you in the dress, the room looking like a wedding, and the details, the rings, the shoes, your mam doing the buttons up, at their best.

When we wrap

I wrap about half an hour after your first dance, and that’s deliberate. The first dance is the emotional high; the film should end there, not on the bit where, by nine o’clock, everyone’s a few drinks in and you don’t actually want the evidence. You keep the budget for coverage that ends up on screen, and the film keeps its shape.

The rule that makes all of this work

Whatever time you need to be ready, tell your hair and makeup team an hour earlier than that. They will run late, they nearly always do, and the half hour they borrow comes straight out of your calm morning and your best light. Build the buffer in and the whole day films better.

Ceremony-only vs a full day

Not every couple needs the full morning. Here’s what each covers:

• Ceremony-only (from £800): I arrive shortly before the ceremony and cover the vows, the confetti and the immediate celebration. Right for smaller or registry-office weddings.
• Full day / The Highlight (from £1,500): the early arrival and morning prep through to half an hour after the first dance, the standard, and what most couples want.
• The Cinematic (£2,200): the full day with the longest edit and the most storytelling. Every price is published up front, no “enquire for a quote”.

So what should you actually do?

Send your videographer your real running order as early as you have it, and be honest about the bits that always slip (makeup, transport, the group photos). A good one will tell you exactly when they’ll arrive and leave, in writing, before the day, and will want that early window to settle everyone in. If you’re in the North East and want it mapped out for your venue, check your date with me, questions now are always better than questions on the day.