While searching TikTok for ideas for her April 22, 2023 wedding, Mila Tweel found several videos of ex-brides discussing what they would have done differently. Many regretted not hiring someone to capture behind-the-scenes videos and photos of their wedding day.
This led Ms. Tweel, 29, a senior wholesale account executive at Mint Showroom in Hoboken, New Jersey, to consider hiring a wedding content creator for her celebration in Malibu, California. “I wanted moments that my boyfriend and I couldn't.” Being part of ourselves captured,” she said, “like the arrival of our guests and everyone's interaction at cocktail hour.”
Ms. Tweel hired Kaitlyn Cabrera, owner and lead content creator of Gifts for the Girls, based in Laguna Beach, California, after seeing her work on TikTok and Instagram. Tweel's wedding planner, Alesha De La Cruz of De La Planning, also in Laguna Beach, had also recommended Cabrera.
“One of the best experiences my husband and I had after our wedding was waking up the next morning to 800 photos and videos that Kaitlyn sent us to review,” said Tweel, who posted more than a dozen recaps on TikTok and Instagram . A couple of days after the wedding. “We've been watching the videos and photos almost every day since the wedding.”
Wedding content creators typically post hundreds of photos and videos to share within 24 hours of the wedding. By contrast, traditional wedding photographers provide couples with preview images a week after their event, and they will have to wait up to six weeks for their full photo gallery and up to four months to view the video.
While traditional photography and videography remain a top priority, more and more couples want to document, through social media, the in-between moments that typically go uncaptured.
A 2023 Instagram survey of more than 2,600 brides and grooms conducted by Joy, a digital wedding planning platform, found that 94 percent of couples said social media played an important role in their wedding planning. Sixty-two percent felt pressured to throw an extravagant event and showcase it because of what they had seen shared on Instagram, TikTok and Pinterest.
“My husband and I spent a lot of time and effort planning our wedding and we wanted to see it all,” Ms. Tweel said. “I didn't expect to value the videos and photos Kaitlyn took as much as I do my wedding photo album, but we got so many amazing videos of our guests dancing and eating, as well as some special moments that we had no idea. were happening at that time.”
Content creators use a smartphone to capture candid, behind-the-scenes, or BTS moments, then edit the photos and short videos and set them with trending audio or the couple's favorite songs. They post the finished product on the couple's preferred social media platforms. Couples can also choose to receive raw content that they can edit and publish themselves.
Publications can also be made in real time during the celebration. “One of my most popular services is Instagram takeover,” said Lauren Ladouceur, a New York-based wedding content creator and founder of Plan With Laur. “I put myself in the couple's shoes and live post behind-the-scenes moments from their wedding day with authentic captions on their Instagram account.”
Costs typically range from $1,000 to $3,800, plus travel expenses. Pricing will often depend on the time the content creator spends on the site, typically starting from six hours and up to three days of coverage, and the amount of content delivered. This includes edited reels, featured videos, and hundreds of raw photos and short videos sent via Dropbox or Google Drive.
Toni Norton, a fitness trainer in Charlotte, North Carolina, and owner of Fine Fit Fitness, hired a wedding content creator for her three-day wedding celebration in May 2023 because she felt it would be “the best way to enjoy truly every moment. “
“We didn't just want clips of our family and friends smiling and laughing with voiceovers congratulating us,” said Norton, 33. “We wanted to hear the emotion as the moments happened over the weekend.”
While perusing TikTok, he came across Ms. Ladouceur. “We asked Lauren to film our guests, not us,” she said. “We knew our photographer and videographer would get those special shots. “It was important to us that our family and friends feel part of our wedding.”
For around $3,000, Ladouceur captured the BTS of Norton's entire wedding weekend, including their rehearsal dinner, pre-wedding family bowling night, wedding day, and post-wedding brunch. And since Ms. Norton is a social media influencer and had been making daily videos on TikTok Live for the past three years, including posts about her bodybuilding competition, she decided to broadcast her wedding ceremony in time. real.
“Some of my followers who knew I was getting married asked me if I could share my wedding on TikTok Live. I thought it was a great idea,” Norton said. “In addition to recording content during my ceremony, Lauren also livestreamed from another mobile phone. We had over a quarter of a million viewers and over a million likes during the 20-minute ceremony.”
Lauren Jaffe-Laidlaw, an insurance broker at Jaffe Insurance Agency in Los Angeles, had thought about asking a friend to capture some short BTS videos for her June 10, 2023 wedding. “But anyone I asked wanted appear in those videos,” Jaffe-Laidlaw, 26, said. “I wanted my friends and family to enjoy the day and not feel pressured to take on such a time-consuming responsibility. “
She hired Stacey Moran, founder and lead content creator of BTS Bride in San Diego, who captured some of Ms. Jaffe-Laidlaw's favorite moments from the day. This included “just before the wedding officially began, when everyone in the bridal party held a glass of champagne and danced together to ward off any pre-ceremony jitters,” she said.
While some videos were shared on social media, most remained private. “I didn't post many of the videos because my goal wasn't to create content for my followers,” Jaffe-Laidlaw said. “I can see them and be transported to the feeling of being surrounded and celebrated by the people I love most.”
Jaffe-Laidlaw plans to use the 300 short video clips she received from Moran to create compilations and montages for their future wedding anniversaries. “All the behind-the-scenes videos Stacey captured are a treasure trove of potential social media content,” he said.
Wedding content creators will offer guidance on the best type of content to shoot and select, and most are up to date on the latest publishing trends. “A seasoned content creator has the ability to adapt to the ever-evolving landscape of social media,” said Persephone Maglaya, founder and CEO of Media Socialites in Dallas, “such as before and after and editing techniques. such as specific times and cuts.”
As a full-time content creator, Kristina Rodulfo wanted someone who understood her vision and the style of videos she likes to create. She hired Ms. Moran after learning of her professional experience managing social media for beauty brands such as Shani Darden Skin Care and Briogeo, which aligns with her own work as a beauty brand consultant.
“I didn't have to explain specific TikTok trends, types of detailed shots, or what angles to capture because she intuitively knew what to do,” said Rodulfo, 31, who lives in New York. He was also pleased that Ms Moran used the right equipment, such as a smartphone stabilizer and an additional microphone, to ensure the content she recorded was of high quality.
Traditional videographers, working with professional equipment and equipment, can create high-quality short videos that could eventually be used on social media. But the final product can take a while to complete, and they typically don't post for couples or have access to certain apps and posting options found on mobile devices.
Some wedding planners may offer content creation as an add-on service with different rates; others, like Dee Lee, owner of Dee Lee Designs in Los Angeles, have it as part of their service.
“Our team created BTS from what happened during the wedding day because we wanted to capture the things that couples don't normally see, such as the preparations and excitement for the wedding party,” Ms Lee said. “We wanted them to be able to summarize their day by seeing all the moments when they had time to sit down and take it all in.”
Diane Kolanovic-Solaja, owner and creative director of Dee Kay Events in Howell, New Jersey, also offers content creation, albeit on an extra basis. “As we tell our clients, we are not only wedding planners and designers, but also storytellers,” said Ms. Kolanovic-Solaja, adding: “It was only a matter of time before we saw the wedding business grow. wedding content creators. “It’s a brilliant concept that highlights the natural progression of this generation of brides and grooms.”
