documentary or highlight film?
Nostalgic, home movie vibes or a cinematic story of your day?
Maybe both?
Highlight Film
A highlight film is a condensed, story-driven edit of the day. Think a mini “Netflix Episode”.
We focus on emotion, pacing, and narrative rather than chronology. Audio from vows, speeches, and other key moments is often layered and restructured to create a cohesive story. Music plays a significant role in emphasizing the emotion taking place. Maybe it’s comedic, maybe its impactful, nostalgic, or really tries pull those happy tears out.
Footage is selectively chosen and heavily edited. Shots are trimmed, reordered, and refined to emphasize feeling over completeness. The goal is not to show every single moment, but to represent the day in a way that feels intentional and authentic to you.
These films are typically 3–12 minutes long, depending on the structure of the wedding day and how much dialog is available.
Documentary edit
A documentary edit is a long-form, chronological record of the day. Think 2026 home movie.
It prioritizes those raw moments over storytelling. Events are shown largely as they happened, with minimal restructuring. Editing is focused on authentic clean cuts, quality audio both of the dialogue and the ambience.
Moments are allowed to play out in full. This includes extended segments of the day that might have been condensed in the highlight film. For example a first look can take 5 minutes or longer. We’ll pull out that emotional part for a highlight film, but in the documentary you’ll see the line up, the positioning, the first look, the entire moment unfold, and every second until you wrap up. It’s a different approach to capturing something so special.
The tone is more observational and natural. I hate to refer to it as a “home movie” because I think of the worst quality VCR tape, but it has that warm nostalgic feel… just with 21st century 4k footage.
Documentary edits are typically 1–2 hours long, depending on the length of the wedding day.
