We photograph and film weddings in New York and Los Angeles, and before a couple books, most of their questions are about the line items on a video package. What a highlight film is. Whether the ceremony is in it. Who records the vows, and how. This guide takes a full wedding video package apart one component at a time, with market prices from The Knot and Zola and our own film packages as a worked example.
Quick Answer: A full wedding video package usually includes 8 to 10 hours of coverage, one or two videographers, a 5 to 10 minute highlight film, a 1 to 2 minute trailer, edits of the ceremony and speeches, professional audio and color grading. Couples who hired a videographer in 2025 paid $2,300 on average, according to The Knot, while Zola puts the national average at $3,993. Raw footage and extra hours are the items most often billed separately.
In this article
- What is included in a full wedding video package?
- What is the difference between a highlight film, a feature film and a ceremony edit?
- How many hours of coverage does a full wedding video package need?
- How many videographers come with a wedding video package?
- How is the ceremony and speech audio recorded?
- What usually costs extra in a wedding video package?
- How much does a full wedding video package cost?
- How long does it take to get your wedding film back?
- How do you compare two wedding video packages?
- What does a full wedding video package look like at Arrakis Films?
- Frequently asked questions
What is included in a full wedding video package?
A full wedding video package covers the day from getting ready to the first stretch of dancing and turns it into several edits: a highlight film, a short trailer, and the ceremony and speeches in full. Around those edits sit the items that decide quality: audio, color grade, crew size and delivery terms.
The Knot's breakdown of video package components treats a highlight film of five to 10 minutes and full ceremony and toast edits as the core, with six to 10 hours of shooting. Drone coverage and long documentary edits appear on its list as add-ons. The table below lays the usual components side by side.
| Component | What you get | Typical length | Usually in the package? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coverage hours | Continuous filming on the day, from getting ready onward | 6 to 10 hours | Yes, it sets the base price |
| Highlight film | The day edited to music, with lines from the vows and toasts | 5 to 10 minutes | Yes |
| Trailer | A short cut made for sharing | 1 to 2 minutes | On most full packages |
| Ceremony edit | The ceremony complete, with its original sound | Length of the ceremony | Top tiers, or an add-on |
| Speeches edit | Every toast in full | Length of the toasts | Mid and top tiers, or an add-on |
| Documentary edit | A long cut of the whole day in sequence | 60 minutes or more | Add-on |
| Drone footage | Aerial shots of the venue and setting | Cut into the films | Varies by studio |
| Raw footage | Unedited files from every camera | Hours of clips | Rarely, on request |
The row that separates packages most is the ceremony edit. Plenty of mid-priced packages include a highlight film and a trailer and stop there, so the vows survive only as fragments under music. If hearing the whole ceremony again matters to you, look for that line before you compare prices.
What is the difference between a highlight film, a feature film and a ceremony edit?
The difference is length and how much of the day is cut away. A highlight film runs 5 to 10 minutes and is edited to music for rewatching and sharing. A feature film runs longer and keeps more of the day in sequence. A ceremony edit is the ceremony complete, in real time, with its original sound and no music over the vows.
WeddingWire's glossary of video package terms adds two shorter formats worth knowing. The teaser or trailer is a minute or two cut for social media. The same-day edit is assembled during the wedding and screened at the reception. At the long end sit documentary edits of an hour or more, which The Knot lists as an add-on.
Our own awards are for Best Editing and Best Short Documentary, and that pairing is an honest description of a wedding film. It is a documentary shot on a single day and built in the edit. Most of what separates a good highlight film from footage set to a song happens in the cutting room: which line of the vows opens the film, where the music drops out so a toast can land, how long a look is allowed to hold.
Every one of these formats now arrives as a digital file through a private download link. WeddingWire notes that a digital copy is the preferred option for most couples, and Zola prices USB drives and other physical media at $50 to $200 as an extra.
How many hours of coverage does a full wedding video package need?
Eight hours covers a standard full day: getting ready, the ceremony, portraits, cocktail hour, dinner and the first part of the dancing. Ten hours suits a large wedding or a long gap between ceremony and reception. Six hours fits an intimate wedding where the ceremony and dinner run back to back.
Zola's cost guide sorts packages into three tiers. Basic packages cover 4 to 6 hours with one videographer. Standard packages cover 6 to 8 hours with one or two. Premium packages run 8 to 12 hours with several videographers. A "full" package, in the sense most couples mean, starts at eight.
The simplest way to size it is to write out the timeline, mark the first and last moments you want filmed, and add half an hour at each end. Getting ready at 1 p.m. and a sparkler exit at 11 p.m. is a ten-hour day, whatever the package names say. Overtime booked on the night is billed by the hour, and Zola puts the going rate at $200 to $400.
How many videographers come with a wedding video package?
Basic packages usually include one videographer, and full-day packages include two. The second camera earns its place at the ceremony, where one operator holds the vows close while the other films the reactions, and on days when the two of you get ready in separate places at the same hour.
Zola's tiers put one videographer on basic packages and one or two on standard ones, and The Knot counts a second shooter among the things a package should include. Whether a second camera is worth paying for depends more on your timeline than on your guest count. We go through the thresholds in our guide to hiring a second videographer.
Ask who the second operator is. On many packages the second camera is a freelancer the lead meets on the morning of the wedding. On our eight and ten hour film packages, both cameras are run by the two owners of the studio, Andrew and Roma, and on the six-hour package one videographer covers the day.
How is the ceremony and speech audio recorded?
A good package records sound from at least two independent sources, so one failed microphone does not cost you the vows. At a venue with a sound system, the cleanest source is a feed from the venue's or the DJ's sound board, backed up by a directional microphone mounted on the camera.
Lavalier mics clipped to the couple and the officiant are the other common setup. They work, and they also pick up fabric rustle and a hand brushing the lapel during the vows. They also depend on someone remembering to switch them on after the photos. We use them as standard at elopements, where there is no sound system to take a feed from, and on request at full weddings.
At a full wedding we record a feed from the sound board for the ceremony and the speeches, plus a directional mic on camera. With two independent sources, a dead battery or a DJ who mutes the wrong channel costs nothing in the finished film.
Ask every studio you compare where the vows are recorded from and what the backup is. The answer tells you more about the finished film than the camera brand does.
What usually costs extra in a wedding video package?
Extra hours, raw footage, rush delivery and long documentary edits are the items most often billed on top of a package. Drone footage and a second videographer are included at some studios and charged at others. That is why two quotes with the same headline price can end up a thousand dollars apart once the add-ons are counted.
The items to check line by line:
- Extra hours. Billed per hour on the day or booked in advance. Zola puts overtime at $200 to $400 an hour.
- Ceremony and speech edits. Often reserved for the top tier. On our six-hour package they are $500 each or $900 together; eight hours includes the speeches, ten includes both.
- Raw footage. The unedited files from every camera. The Knot lists it among the things a package usually leaves out unless you ask.
- Drone footage. Included at some studios, charged at others, and always dependent on the venue and local airspace rules.
- Super 8 film. Vintage 8mm film shot alongside digital and cut into the final film. Ours is included on ten hours and costs $900 on any other package, covering two Kodak cartridges, lab developing and a 4K scan.
- Rush delivery and same-day edits. Zola lists rush delivery as a separate fee. A same-day edit needs an editor on site.
- Physical media. USB drives and boxed copies, $50 to $200 according to Zola.
How much does a full wedding video package cost?
Couples who hired a videographer in 2025 paid $2,300 on average and $1,900 at the median, according to The Knot's survey of 10,474 couples. Zola's cost guide puts the national average higher, at $3,993, with a typical range of $3,200 to $4,800. A full-day, two-camera package in New York sits at or above the top of both ranges.
The two figures describe different things, which is why they sit so far apart. The Knot's Real Weddings Study averages what couples actually paid for any video coverage, short and single-camera packages included, and its lower quartile is $1,000. Zola's range is organised around standard and premium packages of 6 to 12 hours. Put a full day with two videographers against the survey average and it will always look expensive; put it against Zola's premium tier and it looks normal.
Location moves the number more than anything else. The Knot reports $2,700 in the Northeast against $2,200 in the Midwest, and Zola's city figures run from $3,005 in Salt Lake City to $6,091 in San Francisco. For New York specifically, see what a wedding videographer costs in NYC.
How long does it take to get your wedding film back?
Anywhere from two weeks to a year, according to The Knot, and most full-day films land somewhere in the middle of that range. The trailer usually comes first, the highlight film and the full edits later. Whatever the studio promises, the date belongs in the contract, next to the number of revision rounds included.
The spread comes from volume and from how the edit is made. A studio shooting dozens of weddings a season on a fixed template can turn a highlight film around in weeks. A film built shot by shot, with the ceremony and the speeches cut from two cameras and two audio sources, takes longer. The Knot's list of package essentials puts the delivery timeline and the revision count among the terms to fix in writing before you sign.
Our contract states delivery of the film within six months. The trailer is part of every film package we offer.
How do you compare two wedding video packages?
Line the packages up by what you will actually receive: hours, number of videographers, which edits are included and how long each one runs, how the audio is recorded, what is billed on top, and the delivery date. Then watch a complete film from each studio, from the first frame to the last.
A checklist for putting two quotes side by side:
- Coverage hours, and the overtime rate if the day runs long.
- Number of videographers, and the names of the people behind each camera.
- Which edits are included, with their lengths: highlight film, trailer, ceremony, speeches.
- Where the ceremony and toast audio comes from, and what the backup source is.
- What is billed on top: drone, raw footage, film formats, travel.
- The delivery date and the number of revision rounds, both in the contract.
- One full wedding film, watched with the sound on, including a ceremony edit if the studio has one.
The last point matters most. Highlight reels on a homepage are the best 90 seconds of the best wedding a studio has filmed. A full ceremony edit shows you how they handle sound in a room they did not control. For the questions to ask on the call itself, see our list of questions to ask a wedding videographer.
What does a full wedding video package look like at Arrakis Films?
Our full-day film package, Endlessly Yours, is eight hours with two videographers, a 6 to 8 minute highlight film, a 1 to 2 minute trailer, the full speeches edit, drone footage where conditions allow, and audio from two independent sources, for $4,800. The ten-hour Moving Symphony adds the full ceremony edit and Super 8 film for $5,890.
Both of us come to weddings from film. Andrew is an award-winning film director. Roma danced with the Bolshoi Ballet for ten years, then moved into film and produced Andrew's shorts. Those shorts won Best Short Documentary at Venezia Shorts Italy, Best Editing at the New York Indie Shorts Awards and Grand Jury Winner at the FFTG Awards, and the awards belong to the two of us as a team. On the eight and ten hour packages, we are the two people behind the cameras.
| Package | Coverage and crew | What you receive | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whispered Vows, $3,500 | 6 hours, one videographer | 4 to 5 minute highlight film, 1 minute trailer. Ceremony and speech edits $500 each or $900 together | Intimate weddings where the ceremony and dinner run back to back |
| Endlessly Yours, $4,800 | 8 hours, two videographers: Andrew and Roma | 6 to 8 minute highlight film, 1 to 2 minute trailer, full speeches edit, drone footage | A standard full day, from getting ready to the first dances |
| Moving Symphony, $5,890 | 10 hours, two videographers: Andrew and Roma | 7 to 10 minute highlight film, 1 to 2 minute trailer, full ceremony and speeches edits, drone footage, Super 8 film | Large weddings and long days where you want the complete record |
Every film package includes cinematic color grading and licensed music. Audio comes from the venue's sound board plus a directional mic on camera, with lavalier mics available on request. Super 8 can be added to the six and eight hour packages for $900. Prices above are for New York; our Los Angeles video and photo packages are listed separately, and the full catalog lives on our pricing page.
We also photograph, and many couples book the film and the gallery from one team so both are planned off the same timeline. If that is what you are weighing, our guide to combined photo and video packages explains how it works.
Frequently asked questions
How long is a wedding video?
A wedding highlight film usually runs 5 to 10 minutes, a trailer 1 to 2 minutes, and a full ceremony edit as long as the ceremony itself. Documentary edits can pass an hour. Our highlight films run 4 to 5 minutes on six hours of coverage, 6 to 8 minutes on eight hours, and 7 to 10 minutes on ten.
What should a wedding video include?
At minimum, a wedding video should include a highlight film, the full ceremony with clean audio, and the speeches. The Knot treats all three as core parts of a package. Beyond that, a trailer for sharing, drone footage and a longer feature edit are worth having if the budget allows, while raw footage is optional for most couples.
What is the average cost of a wedding videographer?
Couples paid $2,300 on average for a wedding videographer in 2025, with a median of $1,900, according to The Knot's survey of 10,474 couples. Zola's cost guide puts the national average at $3,993 and the typical range at $3,200 to $4,800. Full-day, two-camera packages in New York and San Francisco sit above both averages.
Is raw footage included in a wedding video package?
Usually not. The Knot lists raw footage among the things a package leaves out unless you request it. Raw footage is hours of unsorted clips from every camera, useful as an archive and hard to watch as a film. If you want it, ask before booking, since some studios charge a flat fee and some do not release it.
Is drone footage included in wedding video packages?
It depends on the studio and the tier. Zola notes that drone footage is included in standard packages and up, while other studios charge it as an add-on. Venue rules and local airspace decide whether a drone can fly on the day, so treat it as "where conditions allow." Our eight and ten hour film packages include it.
What is a teaser trailer in a wedding video package?
A teaser trailer is a 1 to 2 minute cut of the wedding, made for sharing before or alongside the full film. It uses the strongest shots and a single piece of music. Most full packages include one. Ask when it arrives, because studios deliver trailers anywhere from the wedding night to the day the full film goes out.
Do we need a full ceremony edit if we have a highlight film?
If you want to hear your vows complete, yes. A highlight film uses fragments of the vows under music, and the full ceremony edit keeps every word in order with the original sound. If it is not in your package, ask whether it can be added after the wedding and at what price, since the ceremony is filmed either way.
Planning your wedding film?
Send us your date and venue with a rough timeline, and we will tell you which package fits the day, including when the smaller one is enough. Get in touch with us here.