The truth is that nearly all wedding videos have music on them, whether it is because incidental music is recorded during the first dance or because music is added during the editing process.

Videos in general nearly always have some music added to them, because the fact is that music adds a sense of energy to video which makes it more entertaining and inspiring. It does not matter whether you are looking at a corporate training video, a Hollywood film or a wedding video, music is usually present somewhere in the mix.

There are essentially two types of music which are present on a wedding video:

1, Incidental Music. Incidental music, is music that is recorded through the microphone of the camera and is therefore present on the footage and therefore virtually always makes it onto the final cut.

That is unless the editor removes it for some reason. It may be that on reflection the bride and groom decide that they do not like that version of the song, and therefore ask to have a different version or a different song added to the mix. It could be that the speakers in the wedding venue playing the music were distorted, producing a terrible sound quality, and therefore the editor decides to re dub the track onto the edit, to improve the quality of the wedding video.

The typical sections of a wedding day where music is recorded incidentally are:

A, During the ceremony.

B, During the first dance.

C, During the cutting of the cake.

D, During the throwing of the bouquet.

2, Dubbed or edited music. Dubbed music is music that is added to the video in the editing process. Dubbed music is usually added during parts of the video which are montage (quick short clips that are edited together).

Music is added to these section because:

A, It makes the video more entertaining.

B, It makes the more romantic or emotional.

C, It has a personal meaning for the couple.

The typical parts of a wedding video that have music dubbed onto them are:

A, Bridal prep.

B, Montage of the photographs being taken.

C, Details of the dinning room montage.

D, Cutting the cake.

When selecting music for any film, one must think about how relevant the music is to the video and what is actually going on within the video. Obviously weddings are very romantic occasions and therefore romantic music is nearly always used, as it is relevant to the sentiment of the day.

It is important to carefully consider not just the music but also the lyrics. Some couples pick songs that they think are romantic but on closer inspection of the lyrics, it is not actually romantic, and in fact the song writer has written it from a bitter perspective.

In summary, music is a massive part of the film making process and this is definitely true of wedding videos, but massive care must be taken in picking the music and choosing where it should go on the wedding video. Get it write and you can massively improve the quality and emotional element of your wedding video. Get it wrong and you can make a mistake that irritates you for the rest of your life.