Couples spend weeks choosing the venue and almost no time choosing where they get ready. Then I turn up on the morning and the room is a hotel bathroom with no window light, four suitcases on the bed, and a crowd of relatives who all want to be in shot. None of this is anyone’s fault. Nobody tells you that the getting ready location is one of the biggest factors in how your wedding film opens. So here is what I have learned filming those mornings, and what I would ask before you book a room.
Light comes before furniture
The getting ready section of your film is usually all natural light, because I am working around you, not directing you. A room with a big window and pale walls gives me soft, even light that flatters everyone. A room with one small window facing a wall gives me a lamp and shadows. If you are choosing between two rooms, pick the bright one even if it is smaller, because I can work around space but I cannot invent light.
Ask when the light actually arrives. A room that is lovely at midday may be dull at 8am in October, which is when bridal prep usually starts. If you can, visit your prep space at the same time of day as your actual getting ready slot.
Space and clutter
I need about a metre of clear floor to move in, and somewhere to put a bag and a tripod without it being in Auntie’s way. The single biggest improvement costs nothing: clear the beds, the chair backs and the floor before I arrive. Hang the dress somewhere it can be filmed properly, near a window if possible, and keep the room tidy as you go. A tidy room lets me film the quiet details, the rings, the shoes, the perfume, that end up carrying the opening minute of your film.
Small rooms still work. I have filmed lovely prep sequences in caravan kitchens. What kills a prep scene is clutter plus a crowd, because I spend the whole time trying to find a clean angle instead of filming you.
Guests, and the door problem
People wander in and out during bridal prep, and every arrival changes the room. I have no wish to police your morning, so I work around it. What helps is one decision made in advance: where the main prep happens, and where everyone else gathers. If the crowd has their own room with tea, your film gets calm shots of you and your mum instead of twenty people half in frame.
The same goes for the door. If prep happens in a room everyone passes through, I will spend the morning filming around a revolving door. A room off the main flow is worth more than an extra ten square metres.
Hotel, home, or the venue itself
Hotel rooms are the most common choice and the most variable. The honest pros: a bed to dress the room with, power everywhere, and usually decent windows. The honest cons: small rooms, warm light bulbs on at 7am, and a full steam of guests you cannot relocate. If your hotel has a suite or an upgrade available, it is usually the best money you can spend for the film’s sake.
Getting ready at home gives the most personal footage, and the rooms are often the biggest. The trade is travel time: if home is an hour from the venue, your coverage gets eaten by a car journey. If you do prep at home, build the travel time into your timeline, which is exactly the kind of thing we cover in the wedding day timeline guide.
Prepping at the venue itself is my quiet favourite. No travel, no packing, and I can move between partners without losing coverage minutes. If your venue has a getting ready suite, book it early, because they go first.
Two-location mornings
If your partner is getting ready somewhere else, the location choice doubles. I can only be in one place, so the two prep addresses need to be close enough to move between, or the day needs a second shooter. The honest version: prep locations twenty minutes apart work fine, an hour apart means one of you gets a very short prep section. Choose rooms in the same hotel or on the same street if you can, and tell both sides the plan early so nobody is waiting around in a half-empty room wondering where I am.
The other thing worth knowing is sound. Rooms with hard floors and bare walls echo badly, and recorded sound matters more than people expect because the audio from your morning often sits under the opening of the film. A carpet and a closed door do more for your film’s audio than any equipment I carry.
Timing, and the one question to ask your videographer
Ask us this: how much prep do you actually want to film, and when would you arrive? Coverage decisions flow from that answer. If you want the full story from pyjamas to perfume, prep needs a real slot in the day, not the leftovers. If you only care about the dress going on and the final button, an hour is plenty, and I said as much in the piece on how many hours of coverage you need.
Whatever you decide, share the prep address early. I have arrived at the wrong hotel more than once because the address came through the night before. Put the prep address, room name and a contact number in the same message as the venue details, and your morning will start calm.
If you are still working out how the morning fits the rest of the day, have a look at the packages page to see what a typical day of coverage includes, or drop me a line through the contact page and I will happily talk through your plan before you book anything.