The wedding is over, the last guests have flown home, and a new question arrives: when, and how, will we actually see our film? It is a fair question. A wedding film is only as good as the way you receive it, and the moment you press play for the first time deserves better than a download link that expires in a week.
This guide explains what happens to your footage after the wedding, how we deliver your films through a private online gallery built on VidFlow, how to watch them on the television in your living room, and what to do so that they are still safe in thirty years. It is the same process for every couple we film, whether you live in Ragusa, London or Sydney.
- Trailer and vertical reel
- Within 10 to 15 days
- Wedding film
- Within six months
- Private gallery
- Online for 10 years
- All your footage
- Optional extra
What Happens After the Wedding
The same night, before anyone sleeps, the cards from every camera and from the drone are copied onto two separate drives. A full wedding day filmed with three cameras, a drone and separate audio recorders easily goes past one terabyte, and none of it is ever kept in a single place.
Then the work moves to the editing room, and it happens in two stages. First come the short films: the trailer and the vertical reel, ready within 10 to 15 days, while the wedding is still on everyone’s phone. Then the long work begins: choosing the moments, building the story, cleaning and mixing the audio of the vows and the speeches, colour grading every shot. The wedding film arrives within six months of the wedding.
How Your Wedding Film Is Told
Our wedding film does not follow the clock. It is not the day in order, from the hairdresser to the last dance, and it is not a sequence of beautiful scenes put together at random. It is a story, built in the editing room around a precise thread: often your own words, the vows, a letter, a speech, sometimes a feeling the day kept coming back to.
So the film moves through time the way memory does. The first look can open it, a line from the vows can return over the dancing, the quiet of the morning can come back at the very end. Every jump has a reason, and by the last scene the story has been told, in an order that makes it feel the way the day felt.
If you also want the day exactly as it happened, there is the feature film: an optional extra, 40 to 60 minutes long, that follows everything in chronological order, with far less music and the important moments left to run. Many couples choose both: the story for themselves, the whole day for the family.
When the films are ready, you do not receive a file in an email. You receive a link to your own gallery.
Your Private Film Gallery
Every couple gets a private online gallery, with your names, your date and all your films in one place: the trailer, the wedding film and, if you chose them, the feature film, the full ceremony, the speeches or the Super 8 film. It lives on our own address, film.filmvision.it, and it is built on VidFlow, a platform designed for delivering films to clients rather than for posting them online.
No adverts, no suggested videos from strangers, no compression designed for social media. Just your films, in up to 4K, on a page that looks like ours rather than like a video site.
The gallery stays online for ten years. You can open it on a computer, a tablet or a phone, and you can protect it with a password of your choice if you prefer to keep it private. Sharing it with the people who could not be there is as simple as sending the link: no app, no account, no sign-up, which matters when the person watching is a grandmother on the other side of the world.
On a phone, the gallery offers to add itself to your home screen. Tap Add to Home Screen and it appears among your apps, with our logo, one tap away whenever you want to show it to someone.
Watching on the Big Screen
A wedding film is made to be watched together, on a large screen, with the sound turned up. The gallery has a TV button for exactly this, and it works with the VidFlow app for televisions.
- Install the app on your TV. Search for “VidFlow” in your television’s app store and install it. It is available for Samsung and LG smart TVs, Sony and other Android TV and Google TV televisions, and for Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV and Roku.
- Open the app. The TV shows a six-digit code.
- Open your gallery on your phone or computer and press TV (on a phone it is at the top of the page).
- Type the code and press Add to TV. Within a few seconds your gallery appears on the television.
You only do this once. From then on, your films are waiting in the app every time you turn on the TV. If your television is not on the list, a streaming stick such as a Fire TV or a Chromecast with Google TV costs little and does the same job. The full list of compatible devices is on VidFlow’s website.
Downloading Your Films
Streaming is for watching. Downloading is for keeping. In the gallery, the cloud button opens the list of your films, and each one can be downloaded in two versions:
- Original, the full-quality master file exactly as we exported it. This is the one to archive. It is large, often several gigabytes for a long film in 4K, so download it on a computer with a good connection.
- Mobile-Friendly, a lighter copy at the same resolution, ideal for keeping on your phone and showing to friends.
Download the originals in the first weeks, while everything is fresh in your mind. Online platforms set limits on how long the original files stay available (VidFlow keeps them downloadable for the first year), and the streaming gallery is a way to watch your films, not a substitute for your own copy.
Keeping Your Films Safe for Decades
Hard drives fail, phones get lost, cloud accounts get closed, and file formats age. None of this is a reason to worry; it is a reason to have more than one copy. The rule archivists use is simple, and it is the one we follow for our own work:
- Three copies of the original files.
- On two different kinds of storage, for example your computer and an external drive.
- One of them somewhere else: a cloud service such as iCloud, Google Drive or Dropbox, or a drive kept at your parents’ house.
Every couple of years, plug in the drive and open the films to check they still play. Every five years or so, copy them onto newer storage. And never keep the only copy on a phone, or rely on messaging apps to pass the film around: they compress it heavily, and a version sent on WhatsApp is not your film anymore.
All Your Footage, if You Want It
The films are an edit: the best of the day, chosen and shaped into a story. Some couples also want everything else, every clip from every camera and from the drone, including the moments that did not make it into the film. In twenty years you may want a different film, with your children in mind, or a moment we left out may become the one that matters most.
That is why the full footage is available as an optional extra, in two forms:
- Full footage, compressed and easy to watch: all the clips in lighter files that play on any computer, handy for browsing the day without special software.
- The original, uncompressed footage on a hard drive: every file exactly as it came out of the cameras, more than a terabyte for a full day, for those who want the complete archive at full quality. For couples abroad, we prepare the drive and you choose the courier; shipping is arranged by you, to the address you prefer.
If you add the hard drive, store it like your other copies: away from heat and damp, and plugged in every now and then.
What We Ask of You
Very little. Watch the films when they arrive and tell us, in writing, if something needs a correction: each film includes one round of revisions for precise changes, such as a name in a caption or a song. Download the originals. Make your copies. Then, on your first anniversary, turn on the television, open the app, and press play.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the wedding film edited in chronological order?
No. Our wedding film follows a story, not the clock: it moves through the day with deliberate jumps in time, around a precise thread such as the vows, a letter or a speech. If you also want the whole day in order, the feature film, 40 to 60 minutes long, is available as an optional extra.
How will we receive our wedding film?
Through a private online gallery on film.filmvision.it, built on VidFlow. It holds all your films in one place, plays them in up to 4K on a computer, phone or TV, and lets you download them.
How long does it take to receive the wedding film?
The trailer and the vertical reel arrive within 10 to 15 days of the wedding. The wedding film arrives within six months, because careful editing, audio work and colour grading take time.
Can we watch our wedding film on our TV?
Yes. Install the free VidFlow app on your smart TV, Apple TV, Fire TV, Roku or Android TV device, open your gallery on your phone, press TV and type the six-digit code shown on the screen. You only need to do it once.
How long does the online gallery stay available?
Our galleries stay online for ten years. They are for watching and sharing: download the original files early and keep your own copies, because the original downloads are only available for a limited time.
Can we share the gallery with family and friends?
Yes. Send them the link: they can watch on any device without an account or an app. If you prefer, you can protect the gallery with a password of your choice.
How should we back up our wedding films?
Keep three copies of the original files, on two different kinds of storage, with one of them in another place, such as a cloud service. Check them every couple of years and move them to newer storage every five years or so.
Can we also have all the raw footage?
Yes, as an optional extra. You can choose the full footage in compressed files that are easy to watch, or the original, uncompressed footage on a hard drive. For the hard drive, couples abroad arrange the courier and we prepare the drive for shipping.
Questions about what you will receive?
Tell us about your wedding and we will explain exactly which films you will have, when they will arrive and how you will watch them.
Tell us about your wedding