The Reception – Party Time!

This is it. The moment you’ve been waiting for. All the planning and preparations, the colours and fabrics, the food and flowers, it all comes down to this… It’s party time!

Here are some fantastic tips to make your reception video a smashing success – from our ultimate guide to filming speeches, to getting down and dirty on the dancefloor.

As much as we love surprises, our number one tip for the wedding reception is: ‘don’t surprise us!’ Unlike the ceremony or location shoot, where we can fairly easily predict the order of events, wedding parties can get quite chaotic quite quickly. As long as we know what’s going to happen before it happens, we’ll be there to film it the way it should be filmed.

Most couples like to make a BIG entrance, and rightly so. It’s your party after all! In fact, some cultures insist on it, so if you’re planning big drums or fabulous folk dancing, we want to be right at the heart of it. Like most other big moments, we only get one shot at filming it right. So make sure your MC or party organiser is well aware of what you’re planning. We’ll do the rest and get everything we need from them.

When the entrance is done and the guests are seated, it’s usually time for speeches. Love them or hate them, speeches are a crucial part of your day, and we’ve been at many weddings where the speeches were so amazing they became the stuff of legend. No matter what you want to say or who you choose to say it, try arrange a microphone stand in a convenient part of the room where the speeches take place. By keeping it to one place, we can make sure the sound and lighting is optimal.

It’s always useful to pause between these big moment events, not only to let us take our places for the next one, but also to let you relax, mingle and enjoy the celebrations. The same goes for dining, when you and your guests naturally take a break.

If I can offer one suggestion here: feed your film crew and photographers first. The reception meal is often the first time we get to take a break, and since most of the guests will be preparing to eat, it’s also a good time to put the cameras down. If we eat first we also finish first, which means we’re ready to start shooting as soon as the fun starts again. It’s also best to seat us inside the reception hall so we can keep an eye on events and be ready to go in a flash if we’re needed.

The rest of the night is yours to do with as you please, but let us know if you’ve planned any other formalities, like cake cutting or bouquet throwing, or are planning an elaborate farewell, just so we know where to be and when.

Finally, it’s time to get the real party started. You may want a traditional bridal waltz, or just jump straight to the DJ, but whatever you choose, this is the time to forget about us and just have fun, fun, fun!

If you enjoyed this video we have loads more hints and tips to share with you. Click on our other videos on this website, or better yet, drop by the studio and chat to us in person.

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