REEL weddings

WRITTEN BY: Jessica Burke PHOTO: STOCK.ADOBE.COM/ANTONIODIAZ

IT’S NO SECRET THAT THERE IS USUALLY A WAIT TO GET YOUR PROFESSIONAL WEDDING PHOTOS AND video after your wedding. In this world of instant gratification, it can be oh-so-hard to be patient even though we KNOW it’s worth every second of the wait!

If you know that patience is not one of your finer virtues, you can always ask your wedding guests to send you whatever photos or videos they capture or assign a member of the wedding party to follow you around with their phone.

But let’s be real. You invited your guests (including your wedding party) to be present in the moment with you. And let’s be even more real: it’s not unheard of that a well-intentioned wedding guest has wandered into a pro photographer or videographer’s frame and ruined their shot of a once-in-a-lifetime moment.

Fortunately you can get that instant gratification you crave without turning to your guests for free labor or risking ruining the professional photos and video you’ve invested so much money in.

How? I’m glad you asked: by hiring a social media specialist to cover your wedding alongside your photographer and videographer.

I sat down recently with Amanda Bravender of The Social Confidant who specializes in this exact service.

Amanda, who began her wedding career 15 years ago in the beauty realm, found her recent clients asking for her help filming TikToks and Reels after she finished their wedding hair and makeup. As an avid social media creator, she was happy to help her brides create these videos. “I love helping create this fun content and realized that this was a service that couples might be interested in booking for their weddings,” she says. “This way you’re not on your phone all day, your bridesmaids aren’t on their phones all day - they can put it away and let me do it for them.”

Amanda notes that her services aren’t intended to replace a professional photographer or videographer, but to complement what they’re doing and get shots they don’t have time for, like filming trending dances to post specifically to TikTok and Instagram. In fact, she often finds herself working for other wedding pros. “I’m often hired by photographers,” she says. “You can never have enough content.”

Amanda coordinates with her social media clients ahead of the wedding to make sure she knows what is most important for them. She sends out a questionnaire and asks for their top 3 video concepts. “We try to hit your goals for you. You want to do it all, but you can’t do it all,” she says of the number of TikTok trends at any given moment. “Sometimes we take video footage and make something entirely different.”

With trends changing by the second, it’s best to wait until closer to your wedding to decide what dances and transitions to film. “For most couples, I ask the week before,” she says. “Things are changing constantly and it’s the only way to do it with social media.”

Some shots that have been fairly popular are transitions, including hair and makeup before and afters or wedding pjs to wedding dress videos, sweet moments on the altar, process photos of the photographer posing the couple paired with the final edited photo, partying shots on the way to the wedding, fun moments at the reception and silly reels.

Amanda’s advice for anyone wanting to recreate a viral TikTok or Reel?

If you want to do a trending dance, “You have to practice ahead of time,” she says.

If you have a favorite audio or concept, hit the “save” button so you can find it later when you’re ready to post. The chances of finding that audio when you’re ready to use it are slim if you haven’t saved it.

The benefits of having a social media specialist on your wedding day go beyond just having instant content; it’s also great for connecting with family and friends who can’t make it to the wedding. A social media specialist can post throughout the day to your account (even going live if you want that!) and at the end of the night, share all the raw photos and videos they captured directly with you.

You can start reliving your wedding instantly and share your day with the world before you even make it to your honeymoon!