Hold the Phone: Wedding content creators give a different perspective of the big day
Planning a wedding takes a village of vendors to ensure that getting hitched goes off without a hitch.
While couples prep and sweat all the details for their big day, what happens when the wedding whirlwind overshadows small moments? Luckily, wedding content creators have emerged equipped to document all those memories that might otherwise have been missed during the exciting but hectic day.
Yes, wedding content creators are a thing, and you may see one wielding an iPhone at the next ceremony you attend. From getting ready to the couple’s exit, these vendors capture it all and digitally deliver content to the happy couple as soon as the morning after the wedding day.
Hiring a wedding content creator wasn’t at the top of Emily Hightower McCollam’s must-have list when wedding planning. However, after being approached by Julie Milne, a photographer just starting her event content creation venture, McCollam decided to hire Milne’s Soirée Social in place of a traditional videographer.
McCollam recalls waking up the morning after her wedding to a treasure trove of behind-the-scenes snippets in a convenient online folder that could be easily shared and emailed to friends and family members. Her mother even played the videos for her grandmother, who couldn’t make the wedding. McCollam says she received about 300 clips of things she missed while in her bridal blur.
“After it was all said and done, my family and I were like ‘Oh my gosh, we’re so glad that she was there,’” McCollam says. “We got to relive it the next day. I would recommend it to anybody even if you do have a videographer. It just provides a different angle of looking at your wedding as opposed to waiting three to six months and having it be a structured video. It’s different than just having a videographer there.”
Milne began dabbling in event content creation after getting encouragement from a fellow photographer. So far, she has captured just over a dozen weddings for couples wanting an unplugged ceremony or those looking to get memories back almost instantly.
Milne is all about going undetected on the wedding day, capturing all the little memories along the way. However, she is also ready to coordinate some time for a fun TikTok trend.
“We don’t want to spend too much time doing social media stuff and then throw off your timeline for your wedding,” she says. “So it’s having someone who can read the room, work with planners and follow a timeline rather than giving your phone to like your Aunt Bertha. I think that is why content creators are becoming more valuable.”
Alexis Fury entered the business after seeing event content creators pop up everywhere while living in the Northeast. After moving to the South, she realized the trend hadn’t quite made it here yet. In January, she started Day of Bestie, a wedding and event content service.
Because wedding content creation is a fairly new idea in the wedding world, both Milne and Fury have seen plenty of discourse about their current ventures. Some feel that it’s an unnecessary add-on while photographers and videographers fear they can get in the way. But Milne and Fury have coordinated with and worked alongside other wedding vendors to ensure that everything goes smoothly on a wedding day.
“We’re not there to replace your professional photos or videos because those are classic, timeless pieces that you’ll keep forever in your albums and whatnot,” Fury says. “We’re just there to enhance the day and work together with the photographers and videographers. We’re not trying to make their job harder.”
Milne agrees.
“It really is about just knowing that you’re there for a couple,” she says. “We’re all there to make sure that the couples have a magical day, and we can all benefit from each other.”