Small weddings
Filming an elopement or a courthouse wedding
A wedding of four people still deserves a film. It just needs a different plan for who holds the camera.
Most advice about wedding video assumes a crowd: a hundred guests, a dance floor, somebody’s uncle with a phone held up. An elopement or a courthouse wedding has none of that. There may be four people in the room, two of them getting married, and the ceremony may be over in fifteen minutes.
That changes the problem in two ways. There is almost nobody to hand a camera to, and the day is too short for the way wedding video is usually sold. Both are solvable, just not with the plan you would use for a big wedding.
Why the usual packages do not fit
Wedding video is priced by the day. Our own commissioned packages run eight, nine and ten hours of coverage, because that is what a full wedding takes from getting ready to the last dance. A courthouse ceremony and a long lunch afterwards might be two hours in total, and paying for a full day to film it makes little sense.
Plenty of videographers offer shorter elopement coverage, so ask any studio you like for a short-coverage price rather than assuming the full-day package is the only one. We build custom coverage for days that do not look like our packages, so tell us what your day looks like if that is you.
Who holds the camera when there are four people
- Your witness. Usually the obvious choice, and usually also the person who has to sign something halfway through. Agree in advance who takes the camera for that minute.
- A tripod. With so few people, a camera on a tripod set wide is the most reliable record of the ceremony itself, because nobody has to remember anything after pressing record.
- A hired filmer for an hour or two. Worth it when the location is the point, a mountain or a coastline, where the wide shots are half of why you went.
- The two of you. Before and after the ceremony, handing the camera back and forth is a perfectly good way to film an elopement. It looks like what it was: two people on an adventure.
The sound is easier than at any other wedding
At a big wedding the vows compete with a crowd, a breeze and a string quartet. In a small room with four people, a clip-on microphone on each of you catches every word cleanly, including the parts said quietly. That matters more than usual here, because at an elopement the vows are most of the event. The setup is in our guide to recording the vows properly.
What else is worth filming
The ceremony is short, so the film is mostly made of what happens around it. These are the moments most worth keeping:
- Getting ready, even if it is ten minutes in a hotel room.
- Arriving. The walk up the courthouse steps, or the drive to the trailhead.
- The signing. The one moment that is unmistakably a wedding and not just a nice day out.
- Telling people. If you call your parents afterwards to tell them, film it. It only happens once.
- A message for the people who were not there. Thirty seconds to camera, for the family who will watch this later.
- The meal afterwards, wherever it is.
How The Loaner fits a small wedding
Our rental suits an elopement well: there is less footage to wrangle and fewer people to hand the camera to. The single-camera kit is $729 and includes an LED fill light for dim rooms. Add the tripod for $30 to hold the ceremony shot, and the microphone kit for $50, which packs two clip-on mics, one for each of you.
The box lands three days before the wedding and the rental window runs seven days from the wedding day, which covers a road trip there and back. If the trip runs longer, extra days are $25 each. We ship within the lower 48 only, so for an elopement abroad our commissioned team travels if you cover travel and accommodation.
Travelling light? The Demo is our edit on footage from your own phones, $549, with nothing to ship unless you add the microphone or tripod. Either way the footage comes back to the same editors who cut our commissioned films, and you get a 3 to 5 minute film plus every raw clip, in the order it happened.
Can you film a courthouse wedding?
Usually, but rules vary by courthouse. Call the clerk’s office before the day and ask whether filming is allowed in the ceremony room, how many guests may attend and how long the slot is. A camera on a tripod and a clip-on microphone on each of the couple is the simplest reliable setup for a short courthouse ceremony.
Do you need a videographer for an elopement?
Not necessarily. With only a few people present, a camera on a tripod for the ceremony, microphones on the couple, and the witness or the couple filming everything else covers an elopement well. A hired videographer earns their place when the location itself is the point, such as a mountain or coastline elopement where wide, composed shots matter.
How much does an elopement videographer cost?
Usually less than full-day wedding coverage, because elopement coverage is often sold by the hour or as a short package rather than a full day. Prices vary widely with region and travel, so ask each videographer for a short-coverage price rather than assuming their full-day package is the only option.
How do you film your own elopement?
Put a camera on a tripod, set wide, for the ceremony, and clip a microphone on each of you. Before and after, take turns filming or hand the camera to your witness. Film the arrival, the signing, any calls to family afterwards and the meal, because a short ceremony means the film is mostly made of what surrounds it.