How I Keep Your Memories Safe

As a wedding filmmaker, my job is to capture your precious moments. My product is your memories. In a recent enquiry call I had for this stunning venue, the bride-to-be asked me about how I preserve the footage and audio files I capture to create my wedding films. I walked her through my process, from before the wedding day to after, giving her the full insight into how I go about it. After the call, it really got me thinking. Backing up all these important files is something couples who are enquiring with wedding filmmakers should ask, as things can, unfortunately, go wrong. A few days later, I was delighted to see an email in my inbox from her following up telling me she wanted to book me and that talking her through how I protect the memories I capture on the wedding was one of the reasons for choosing me as her wedding filmmaker. Yay!

I figured this topic would make for a great blog post to write, walking through the steps I take to ensure your wedding will be preserved forever.

On the Day

Most of the time, I shoot weddings solo, which means it’s usually just me and one camera for much of the day. However, for the really important moments – the ceremony and speeches – I use three cameras simultaneously. This has two key benefits: first, it provides different angles to cut between, which makes for a more engaging final film. Second, and most importantly, it acts as a safeguard.

Technology isn’t perfect; things go wrong. Memory cards can corrupt, cameras can freeze – and I need to be prepared for that. Having multiple angles ensures that even if one camera fails, I still have backups. Fortunately, because I always use three cameras, I’ve never lost any footage.

The Importance of Audio

A lot of people don’t realise just how important good-quality audio is in a wedding film. It’s one of the key things that separates a professional video from a guest recording on their iPhone. Sidenote, check out this blog post I wrote where I talk about why you should really consider an unplugged ceremony.

Capturing crystal-clear sound is just as essential as getting the visuals right.

During a typical ceremony, I always ensure that at least one of you has a discreet microphone, and I’ll usually mic up the person conducting the service too (if they allow it). This is usually enough to capture clear audio, but I don’t stop there – I also place a backup recorder in the flowers or somewhere nearby, just in case. If there are readings, I mic up the speakers as well. And if, for some reason, every single one of those fails, my three cameras are also recording audio. That means I have at least five backup recordings of your vows.

The same approach applies to the speeches. I mic up each speaker individually, and if the venue provides a handheld microphone, I attach a recorder to that for an extra layer of security. I’ll also place additional recorders on the top table just in case. And once again, if all else fails, my three cameras are capturing sound too.

What About the Rest of the Day?

So I’ve talked about the triple-camera setup for the key moments, but what about everything else? What if something happens to my main camera? Well, that camera records onto two memory cards simultaneously, so if one card corrupts, the other still has everything on it. And in the extremely rare case that both cards fail, there’s still a good chance a specialist could recover the files.

Backing Up – Because I Like to Sleep at Night

Okay, so the wedding is over. I’ve captured everything. The day went smoothly, and I have backups of backups. But my job isn’t done yet. Before I even think about going to bed, I back everything up.

Ah, those “what ifs.” What if there’s a fire in the night? A flood? A break-in? What if my memory cards just spontaneously combust? (Unlikely, but still.) No, it’s much easier for my peace of mind if I just back everything up straight away.

So, before I sleep, I ensure your wedding footage is stored in two places: on the original devices (cameras, recorders, etc.) and on an external hard drive. The next day, I copy everything from that hard drive onto a second hard drive. But my paranoia doesn’t stop there. To protect against fire, flood, or any other disasters, I create a third backup and store it off-site. Only once that’s done do I delete the footage from my cameras and recorders.

Also, as I'm travelling a fair bit more than in previous years, I'm also looking at introducing cloud backups to my workflow.

A Final Word

Do I really need three copies of everything? Probably not. Does it help me sleep at night? Absolutely. Like I said, as a wedding filmmaker, I’m in the business of saving memories – and that goes far beyond the films I deliver.