How to Film A Wedding | Behind The Scenes of Not just in Love, in Joy with each other

How to Film A Wedding | Behind The Scenes of Not just in Love, in Joy with each other

Before you do anything else, go watch the wedding trailer this behind the scenes is about: “Not just in Love, in Joy with each other”. It’s one minute long. Otherwise you’ll spend this whole thing going “wait, what am I looking at?”

Done? Good.

I’ve wanted to make this video for about a year and a half. Back in my very first video blog aimed at wedding filmmakers, a review of the Sony a7S II, I said I wanted to film a behind the scenes of a real wedding so you could watch me work on a real day with real people and understand how I actually do it. So whenever my friend Noah told me he was getting married and asked me to film it, I brought along my friend Paul Bailey to shoot a behind the scenes of Rachel and me shooting the wedding.

And to be clear about scope: this is twenty minutes of behind the scenes covering one minute of trailer. I filmed hours and hours more. You can probably extrapolate how long the full-day version is going to be.

The Gear We Shoot A Wedding With

Wide shot of Matt and an assistant loading gear into an open car trunk in a gravel parking lot

We’re both on the Sony a7S II. This one’s mine, that one’s Rachel’s. We always shoot on the same body. I don’t really know why we do that, that’s just how we do it.

I shoot wider, Rachel shoots tighter. I’m on a 24mm or a 50mm depending on what I need. She’s usually on a 50mm or a 135mm, and she loves that 135.

The lens set is a hodgepodge. A Canon lens, a Sony lens, two Sigma Arts, and adapters to make whatever we need work. Someday I dream of owning one cohesive set. Hasn’t happened yet. We’re not perfect, I’m sorry.

Honestly, if I have a 50 and a 24 I’m good all day. I could shoot the whole wedding on those two and be totally happy. That comes with a caveat though: I have a second shooter getting the tight stuff, so I’m free to be closer in on emotion, faces, hands, rings, the details, without ever getting in the photographer’s way.

What’s Always In The Bags

Rachel carries a lens cleaning cloth and I hand her a variable ND filter, a magnetic one so it fits every lens she’ll touch. She also carries a mirror for trick shots, because she likes them, plus her water and a couple of lenses.

Close-up of Matt holding up a light diffuser prism at the car trunk, assistant with a shoulder bag behind him

My shoulder bag holds whichever lens I’m not currently using, with the caps already off so I can grab it fast, the adapter I’ll need for it, and a sensor air blower, because you never know when you’ll find dust on your sensor mid-day. And I carry Mr. Prism, because a prism is a cheap and effective way to get really pretty reflection shots.

We also carry a buttload of batteries. Twelve Sony NP-FW50s, all charged beforehand. That sounds like overkill until you’re twelve hours into a wedding day with two a7S IIs, and on this day Paul was on one too. So we charged all day long, which is easy enough whenever you’re at one venue: set the chargers up in a room, plug them in, and grab what you need.

Divide And Conquer During The Rehearsal

Nothing important is happening yet, they’re just running the rehearsal, so we split. Rachel goes to grab establishing shots of the grounds and to sit in on the rehearsal, checking whether anything about how people are standing needs tweaking before it counts.

I go fly the drone. Do I need an excuse? The sun isn’t high yet and the light is good, so it’s the right time. It’s also a drone.

Matt kneeling to prep a DJI Phantom 4 drone in a field, an SH-branded trailer and SUV parked behind him

On the Phantom 4 I run PolarPro Cinema Series filters, which have a polarizer built in alongside the ND. I put the ND6 on, because I’m shooting D-Log, which has a fixed ISO of 500, and I’m in bright sunlight.

I never know exactly what I’m getting until I’m up there. I know I want the buildings and the tree, but past that it’s a bit of a crapshoot until you’re in the air looking down going “oh, that’s pretty.” Sometimes a venue gives you something incredible. Sometimes you get a few nice shots of the buildings and you land without going crazy, and that’s fine too.

Every Shot’s Settings, On Screen

Throughout the video the lens, aperture, ISO, resolution, and frame rate are burned into the corner of every shot, so you can see exactly what I was on at each point in the day rather than guessing.

Split screen of Matt filming with a Sigma 24mm lens on a stabilizer, overlay reading f8, ISO 200, 1080p at 60fps
Split screen of Matt shooting a couple with a Sony 135mm lens, overlay reading f2, ISO 200, 1080p at 60fps
Matt talking to camera on a porch with a green field and scattered trees behind him

The Chandelier Problem, Solved Months In Advance

Here’s the piece I’m proudest of, and it happened long before the wedding day.

We’d filmed at this venue about four months earlier, and the chandeliers in the reception hall flicker horrendously. Bad enough that a photographer working that day was getting banding in her stills. That’s how bad.

So I told the bride and groom about it. And because they’re good friends who care about our creativity and about getting a good film, they said sure, we’ll just move everything outside. Toasts outdoors, bouquet and garter outdoors, dancing on the deck. Only the cake cutting and dinner stayed inside.

That’s the lesson. By talking to the couple early and building that relationship, you can make changes to the wedding itself that will make your film better. No amount of gear buys you that.

And Then Everything Went Wrong

So much for my dream of showing you a behind the scenes where everything goes perfectly and I have no problems at all.

Matt talking to camera at dusk with string lights strung through a tree and a thunderstorm rolling in behind him

The forecast that morning said a 10% chance of rain. By evening there was a severe thunderstorm watch on my phone and a wall of weather coming across the field that frankly looked a bit like a tornado.

We weren’t planning to take the couple out for portraits until after dinner, around 6:30. With the storm coming we asked instead: can we borrow you for five minutes right now? Grant took them out into the field, we followed, got some great stuff, and then he and I worked together to shift things and get images we were both excited about.

Then the whole reception moved indoors. Every single thing I’d spent months arranging to happen outside, back under the flickering chandeliers. Toasts inside, so a light had to go up. New angles to figure out. And you just roll with it, because on a wedding day you cannot predict anything.

Confetti bursting over a bride and groom indoors as guests cheer, on-screen caption reading Confetti Cannon Fail!

Dancing, And ISO 16,000

Matt talking to camera at night, string lights glowing green through the trees behind him

That’s a Canon 50mm at f1.8, ISO 16,000, 1080p at 60fps. Which is exactly the argument for this camera: a dance floor at night is where an a7S II stops being a preference and starts being the reason you got the shot at all.

Split screen of guests holding sparklers under an iron arch at night for the couple's sparkler exit

The Rest Of This Series

Shoutout to Grant Daniels Photography for shooting this wedding and giving some great commentary in this video, and to Paul Bailey for filming the behind the scenes.

Gear Used In This Video

Music In This Video

“Anthem: Retrace” by A. Taylor and “On The Mountain By The Sea” by Utah, both licensed through Musicbed.

🎥 I also offer one-on-one filmmaker consulting if you want to talk cameras, lighting, or booking clients. ►► My free guide to booking more wedding clients is here, and ✌ the Learn Wedding Filmmaking Facebook Group is where the rest of us hang out.

Not just in Love, in Joy with each other | Texas countryside wedding trailer

Not just in Love, in Joy with each other | Texas countryside wedding trailer

If you talk to Noah and Mallorie about their journey, they will start with a story of middle-school friendship. A relationship that grew into their parents driving them to dates in the 8th grade, and a handholding session on an airplane that sealed their fates together from that moment on.

I guess you could say that everyone knew this wedding was coming. I knew, Rachel knew, and everyone else kinda expected it. There was very little question of if, only when. The “when” for me turned out to be April of last year when Noah was helping me film a wedding (oh yeah, he’s a videographer too!). He was helping me unload some gear from my car when he casually stated, “When Mal and I get married next year, I want you to film it.” Cue my doubletake followed by a “Yes!”

Close-up of bride and groom foreheads together, both smiling, groom in a gray suit with a blush bow tie
Smiles for days!

So there we all were: Noah, Mallorie, friends, and family, all squeezed under an oak tree south of Dallas, watching an event unfold that we all saw coming. And contrary to what you may think, our knowing this was coming didn’t make it any less special, no, it was even better because this wedding was something we all wanted to happen.

Are you about to get married to your middle-school sweetheart? Rachel and I would love to film it. Please get in touch!

A beautiful thing to behold | Oceanside wedding in Corpus Christi, Texas

A beautiful thing to behold | Oceanside wedding in Corpus Christi, Texas

My wife Rachel has a lot of early college memories that she shared with our friend Zac over the years they spent at Texas A&M. They had a small group of friends that would get Chinese food every Thursday night at the same restaurant. He also played a key role in Rachel’s only speeding ticket, which she received while driving to meet him so he could sign a birthday card.

For me though, I didn’t meet Zac or Rachel until 2010 at a movie and smoothie party. There, I was introduced to them for the first time. Soon after, I joined the same student group they were members of – Aggie Artists. I have many memories of Zac playing the guitar, me filming something, and eventually me filming Zac playing the guitar. 

Couple embracing on a windy coastal dune with lens flare, her hair blowing across his face
These are two of the most loving and compassionate people that we know.

Jump ahead a few years, and Rachel and I were married. Zac and Lindsey wouldn’t meet for a few more years, when at a church event in November of 2015 they were randomly assigned seats next to one another. After their first conversation, everyone knew (except for them) that there was a connection. Their relationship moved fast, but after meeting each others families they knew that somehow they “fit.”A few months of planning later, and we were there as they exchanged vows amid seaside breezes, soaring seagulls, and close friends and family. 

These are two of the most loving and compassionate people that we know. When they invited us to attend their wedding rehearsal dinner, we were treated to hours of kind words spoken about them by their friends and family. The memories we have shared with Zac and now Lindsey, make us very excited for our future friendship with them as man and wife. If you’re getting married too, we would love to talk about filming your wedding.

Cars, Dogs, and Each Other | An intimate Texas wedding teaser

Cars, Dogs, and Each Other | An intimate Texas wedding teaser

Wedding filmmaking is, like all creative endeavors, a process that will never be perfected. Looking back at my work from two years ago, I see how far I have improved, and I am sure that when I look back on my current films in two years, I’ll see more growth as well. With that creative growth has come the desire to tell more intimate stories; stories that go beyond just a single wedding day and that encompass more about who a couple is, how they fell in love, their dreams, desires, and heart. Doing this though, requires couples that will open up, be honest, and share both the highs and the lows of their relationship.

Bride in a flowing gown approaching the groom's back for their first look among wooden ceremony benches under trees
These two are the best. 🙂

Marie and Drew embodied all of those things. A two day wedding, complete with warm sunshine, bright lighting, wicked fast go-karts, peaceful hikes, and a ceremony lit only by the moon and fire, wasn’t just about the fun things they enjoy doing; it was also completely and unabashedly them. Their wedding, on their terms, about their love, told through tearful letters, long glances, and cliff-side vows.

Rachel and I are so thankful that they shared not only their wedding day, but a part of their lives with us. We would love it if you shared a part of your life with us too. If you’re getting married, please get in touch. – Matt

A wedding filmmaker’s review of the DJI Mavic Pro

A wedding filmmaker's review of the DJI Mavic Pro

It’s no secret that I love drones. Ever since I flew my friend Taylor’s Phantom 2 back in early 2014 (back when DJI had no app and video was recorded with a GoPro), I knew that I would be buying a lot of these flying cameras in the years to come.

What started with a Phantom 2 of my own, recently expanded to a Mavic Pro, and now a Phantom 4 Pro. My wife says I may have a problem. I say I may have a fleet. Can I call it a fleet? I like how that sounds: Matt’s fleet of drones.

With the advent of the FAA releasing their Part 107 certification for commercial drone pilots last year, there are thousands of new licensed drone pilots taking the knowledge test and wondering which drone they should invest in. There are also thousands of reviews of the new DJI Mavic Pro out there, but none of them have answered the two primary questions I feel that professional filmmakers are asking: Is the Mavic Pro good enough for commercial filmmaking? And: If I already own a drone such as a Phantom or Inspire, should I invest in a Mavic Pro as well? 

Aerial view down a calm green Texas river lined with cypress trees, a small dock on the left bank
I love this drone. 🙂

So I’m going to spoil the conclusion right now, because I respect your time: yes, the Mavic Pro is a great addition whether you’re buying your first drone or adding it to a fleet you already own. If you want to know why, here’s the whole review written out.

Macro shot of the DJI Mavic Pro drone on a wood table, a hand reaching to unfold one of its propeller arms

It Took Me Three Tries To Get A Working One

I know it’s weird to open a review by talking about the buying experience, but stick with me, because this is genuinely the most useful thing in the whole video. I pre-ordered the Mavic the day after it was announced through a group-buy site to save two hundred bucks, and that turned into end of November, which turned into end of December, which turned into me getting no communication at all by mid-January. So I cancelled and ordered from a retailer that was shipping in five business days instead.

Mavic number one showed up fast, and the entire right hand side of the image was blurry. Not a focus problem. The camera assembly was physically put together wrong. Mavic number two showed up a week later and the gimbal shook so badly that every clip had jello in it no matter how gently I flew. Mavic number three is the one I actually made this review with, and even it has a quirk where the camera shuts off mid-recording after ten or fifteen minutes and does a little calibration dance before it starts again.

People on my Facebook page were telling me I was crazy for not giving up. They weren’t wrong! But here’s the actual lesson, and it’s the reason I told you that whole story: buy this drone from a retailer with a no-hassle return policy. Amazon, B&H, and Newegg will all take it back inside the first two weeks and some of them will even cover return shipping, which means you take it to a store and you’re done. If you buy from somewhere that makes you deal with DJI’s repair service instead, you’re shipping a thousand dollar drone off and hoping it comes back in a month or two. I don’t think it’s crazy to want a thousand dollar thing to work out of the box.

Test it the day it arrives. Fly it, look at the footage, check the corners of the frame, and if anything is off, send it back immediately while you’re still inside the return window.

The Size Is The Whole Point

This thing is so small I can almost hide it behind my beard. You can’t do that with a Phantom, and you definitely can’t do it with an Inspire. Maybe one day the beard will be long enough for that too, but we’re not there yet.

Matt inspecting the folded Mavic Pro drone in his hand, looking down at it with string lights and a whiteboard behind him

Now, a lot of people will tell you a drone this small isn’t good enough for commercial work, that you need something big so your client looks at it and thinks “wow, a professional.” That’s the same logic as bolting a matte box onto a camera with no filters in it. It looks impressive on set and it does nothing. What you actually need most of the time is something small and compact that you can get in the air fast, and that is exactly where the Mavic wins.

It’s also quiet, which matters more than I expected. An Inspire taking off sounds like a weed whacker and everybody within two hundred yards looks up. The Mavic gets to altitude and effectively disappears.

Nobody Noticed Me For Ten Minutes

I was shooting a wedding and needed aerials of the ceremony site, which was a public venue that still had people wandering around it. I walked up with my little Mavic man bag and not one person gave me a second look, and then I launched and flew for a solid ten minutes before anybody noticed. Finally a kid spotted it, and then everybody spotted it, and then somebody yelled “call the FAA,” followed by somebody else yelling “it’s the Russians.” I am not Russian. I promise.

Matt holding up the Mavic Pro's black DJI carrying case by its handle while talking to camera

Compare that to walking up to the same venue carrying a Pelican case, opening the latches, screwing on propellers, and standing there for five minutes assembling something that looks exactly like a commercial operation. You get interrupted. You get asked questions. You get the fifty-fifty coin flip between “that’s so cool, I want one” and “quit spying on me.”

Matt swinging the drone case up onto his shoulder by its strap, motion blur on his arm as he looks back at camera

And it isn’t just the drone. The remote looks more like a video game controller than a piece of professional gear, so whenever you’re standing there holding it with your phone clipped in, people assume you’re playing PokĂ©mon Go rather than working. I’ll take it.

Matt holding the Mavic Pro remote controller with its antennas extended, looking down at it

The other half of small is fast. The propellers are already on, so all you do is pull the gimbal guard, run a quick calibration, and go. I was driving to a wedding, came over a ridge line at sunset with this gorgeous valley below, realized I could actually have that shot, pulled into a rest area, and was flying in two minutes. Whenever you’re filming a run and gun event, two minutes versus ten minutes is the entire difference between getting the shot and missing it.

Quality

Here’s the big one, and I know what you’ve been reading online, which is that the build quality is beautiful but the camera is garbage and you should buy a Phantom instead. From my experience that just isn’t true. The image quality on the Mavic Pro is on par with the DJI Phantom 3, a drone that sold like hot cakes and that thousands of people are still using every single day to capture genuinely beautiful cinematic imagery. Same bit rate as the Phantom 3 and the Phantom 4. Same codec. Different lens. That’s it.

Aerial drone shot of a tree-lined river bend with a house and a building under construction on the bluff above

Which means this drone can absolutely produce cinematic images once you understand its limitations. So here are five things I do to get the most out of it.

1. Take The Dad Gum Bubble Guard Off

I have read way too many comments from people asking whether they should leave it on. No. It is not made to film through. You can see reflections on it, you’re putting an extra piece of plastic in front of your lens, and you’re going to get flaring and a softer image for absolutely no benefit. Unless you’re flying in a snowstorm, and if you’re flying in a snowstorm we have a bigger conversation to have.

Matt holding the folded drone in one hand and a circular ND filter up to his eye in the other

2. Shoot In D-Log

Up until about a month before I made this video, everybody said don’t bother with D-Log, that it’s too compressed and too muddy and too much work to grade. That used to be true. Then DJI pushed an update in mid-February that genuinely fixed it, widening the dynamic range so it doesn’t look nearly as flat or as muddy, and now it can result in some truly beautiful images with only a little grading.

And I hear you saying you don’t want to grade, you just want to shoot it and put it on YouTube. Fine! Slap a LUT on it and you’re back to a nice looking image without much work at all. For me the bigger reason is matching, because I shoot with the Sony a7S II and I use a flat profile on it, so having a flat image out of the Mavic means I can match my aerials to my ground footage without a fight. If that’s useful to you, here’s my review of the Sony a7S II and here’s the flat picture profile I use on it.

I also promised in this video that I’d make a follow-up with my exact Mavic settings once I’d tested them properly, and I did: here is my favorite picture profile and cinematic camera settings for the Mavic Pro.

3. Buy ND Filters

I use the PolarPro Cinema Series Vivid filters with the polarizer, which come in ND4, ND8, and ND16, and they do two things for you. The polarizer kills reflections so your greens and blues actually pop, which this camera needs all the help it can get with. And the ND lets you drop your shutter speed to double your frame rate, so if I’m shooting 4K at 30 frames per second I can sit at 1/60th and get proper motion blur instead of cranking to 1/1000th and getting that stuttery, over-sharp look.

Matt holding up the folded Mavic Pro drone to the camera while talking, whiteboard visible behind him

4. Shoot 4K, Always

A lot of you are going to read this and go “well, duh,” but I tested it and 1080p on this drone simply does not have enough bit rate. The second you point it at trees or leaves or anything with real detail in it, the image starts falling apart. Shoot 4K and scale down later if you need to.

5. Don’t Fly It At Night

If you’re a Part 107 pilot you’re not legally allowed to fly at night without a waiver anyway, but for anybody thinking about it: the image does not hold up. Even with street lights and car trails, this sensor falls apart the second you push the ISO. If night footage is what you need, look at a Phantom 4 Pro or an Inspire, because they have bigger sensors and better cameras. If somebody could figure out how to dangle an a7S II off this thing I would fly it in a heartbeat, but here we are.

If you want to go deeper, I’ve also got A Wedding Filmmaker’s Review of the DJI Mavic 2 Pro: Time to Upgrade? and DJI Mic 2 Review For Wedding Filmmakers.

Tripod Mode And Cinematic Mode

Two settings in the DJI Go app do most of the work for me. Tripod mode slows every movement down to a creepy crawl, which is what you want whenever you’re flying in a tight space or under trees or anywhere you’re nervous about hitting something.

Cinematic mode is the one I use more. It doesn’t slow the drone down much, it slows down the rotation and it ramps your acceleration and deceleration, so whenever you’re following a couple walking through a field and they suddenly stop, you can let go of the sticks and the drone gently glides to a halt instead of snapping to a stop. You get a beautiful cinematic slowdown without doing anything for it. The catch is that if you’re about to hit a tree and you panic, the drone will also gently float into that tree. Know what you signed up for.

Battery Life

Depending on wind, flight speed, and how acrobatic you’re being, expect 20 to 25 minutes per charge, and I’d recommend landing at 30% rather than pushing it. For actually getting the shot, 20 minutes is plenty of time to pull over, get up, film a venue, and come back down.

Get the Fly More combo though. It comes with three batteries, the little man purse, and a charging hub, and that hub is honestly one of my favorite things I own. With my old Phantom 2 I had to charge every battery individually, which meant setting an alarm for 3:00 a.m. to go swap one and stumble back to bed. It sucked. The hub takes four and charges them in sequence, so you set it up the night before a wedding and wake up to a full set.

Close-up of the drone's battery and gimbal connector port with its cable attached, a hand reaching in the background

Conclusion

Is this drone good enough for commercial use? Yes, I totally believe so. Is it worth buying if you already own a Phantom or an Inspire? Also yes, wholeheartedly, because it’s perfect for the situations where the bigger drones are simply too much. I’m going to Iceland next month, and my options are to check a Pelican case at the airport, or cut foam for the Phantom 4 Pro, or just put the Mavic in my carry-on next to my a7S II and my lenses and my clothes and be done with it. That’s not a close call.

Matt holding the folded Mavic Pro drone in one hand, gesturing toward the camera with the other

Drones are like potato chips, and you can’t have just one. There are genuinely different drones for different jobs now. If you travel and you want a small footprint and you’d rather not get harassed, fly the Mavic. If you need better image quality, buy the Phantom 4 Pro. If you need raw video, buy an Inspire. Three tiers, and I think that’s really cool. And if you’re brand new and you’re asking me which one to buy first, my honest answer is the Phantom 4 Pro, because it costs more but the image quality is that much better.

One note for anybody reading this later: this review is from 2017, and the prices, firmware, and DJI’s lineup have all moved on considerably since. Check what’s current before you buy anything.

Where To Buy Everything

Here’s my drone gear list with all the places to buy the Mavic and the accessories, and here’s the rest of my gear. This is what’s in my bag now, which has changed a good bit since this review went up:

Everything here was cut in Adobe Premiere Pro and color graded with my own WhoisMatt LUTs.

Getting Your Part 107

If you want to fly a drone commercially in the United States you have to pass the FAA’s Part 107 knowledge test. I took it, I passed it, and I made a video about exactly how I studied for it, so if you’re going for yours I hope my video helps you.

More Help For Filmmakers

If you’re trying to fill a wedding calendar, I put together a free quick tips guide on how to book more wedding film clients, and my wedding film editing course covers the editing side end to end. There’s also a free Learn Wedding Filmmaking Facebook group if you’d rather just talk to other people doing this job. And whenever I need a hand with an edit, I use Archaius Creative, who’ll give you 10% off your first project through that link.

I am also now offering one-on-one personal filmmaker consulting! Wanna talk about cameras, lighting, or booking clients? Let’s do it!

As always, if you have any questions or comments about this review, please feel free to leave one below, or get in touch. You can also follow along on Instagram for photos, videos, and behind-the-scenes stuff.