Candice (00:07.498)

You know that you want to create better content at your weddings this year, but you're not really sure what you should be doing and how to make your content look better. Well, in today's episode, I'm going to teach you how to capture wedding day content like a pro, even if you're not a content creator. Hey there, friends. Welcome back to the Power and Purpose podcast. It's me, your host Candice, and we are continuing our marketing episodes today with a special episode all about

content creation at your events this year. Over the last several episodes, I revealed to you some of my marketing predictions for 2025. And I strongly believe that 2025 will be the year that those who utilize content creators or become their own content creators, this will be the year where your businesses will have an edge over people who were not creating video content to market their wedding industry business.

And I know that you don't always have access to a content creator for weddings. You may not be able to afford having a content creator on your team for every wedding this year. And so I believe that while you should be hiring content creators for your best, biggest, most awesome weddings this year, you should also learn how to be your own content creator for your business so that you can create content no matter the circumstances. And that's what today's

episode is all about. No excuses as to why you can't create some bomb content for your business this year. I think this episode is also going to be one to bookmark. I think you should come back and re-listen to today's episode as you drive to your next wedding this year, your first or your next wedding. Think of it kind of like a game day hype you up episode, getting you in the mic.

in the right mindset to create some great content while you do the amazing work that you do for your clients. And I know it's hard to balance. And I know that sometimes you feel like, do I have to create content at an event? I'm so busy. I have so much on my plate. I can't whip my phone out and start filming. I get it. I really do understand. But this is going to be the year where I feel like content creators are going to be a very

Candice (02:31.118)

critical and pivotal part of wedding industry marketing. And I don't want you to get left behind. So either you hire somebody to come and do it for you, you assign the role to someone on your team, or you pick up your phone and you do the best with what you have. And I'm going to give you 13 hacks today to add to your toolkit. So let's get into how you can capture content on wedding days like a pro.

even if you're not a content creator. I've got 13 great tips for you. The first tip, and this is going to sound so silly, but it's not silly. And it's probably the biggest mistake that I see my darling, darling wedding pros making when they post content. And the first tip is to please

your camera lens every single time you use your phone. I cannot stress it enough. Before you take any video, please wipe off your camera lens on your shirt, on your pants, grab a pair of sunglass or eyeglass wipes, but please wipe off your camera lens. You've had your phone in your pocket, in your bag, your fingerprints are touching it, and the lens is collecti-

all this oil and grease and smudges, makeup, who knows what else is on that lens. And a dirty lens equals blurry, smudgy, unprofessional looking footage, which is probably why when you look through your camera roll and you're like, why does everything look like shit? Like, why can't I capture a good video? It's because you have not wiped off your camera lens. This alone,

is going to basically like make you the Martin Scorsese of content creation, just this heck alone. And your footage kind of becomes unusable with a dirty lens. It just looks dull and it just looks crappy. And you mean you could take something from a bad angle, you could take something in bad lighting, but if your camera lens is clean, it's gonna look so much better. So before you start recording, take two seconds.

Candice (04:54.52)

your shirt, your pants, just wipe off that camera lens. You can even blow on it like a pair of glasses, get a little moisture on it, wipe it off. It's going to look so much better. tip number two, I want you to use the right camera settings when creating content. Now, most phones these days just take great video, but you also can tweak your camera settings in your phone.

to make that video just a little bit better. And for the sake of this episode and camera settings, I'm just going to talk about what I know, which is iPhone. If you have an Android or another type of device, just Google camera settings for your phone and follow some content creators even on Instagram or TikTok that will help you with your camera settings. I didn't invent this. I just learned it from other really smart content creators. So we want to make sure that your camera settings are correct.

I want you to go to your camera settings and make these changes if they're different. I want you to set your camera at 4K at 300 frames per second or FPS if your phone allows this. And this is going to give you the highest quality. I also want you to set your camera at 1080p at 60 frames per second if you want smooth motion. And you

always want to use your back of camera when creating content. Even if you are filming yourself, that front camera, it just isn't as sharp and it's not going to give you the best picture. Your back of camera is going to give you great picture. And also you get to zoom in and out more. So when you're using that forward facing camera, you can't really zoom out. You definitely can't go to point five.

And with your front facing camera, you're the front of your camera, you have so much greater control settings and just better camera quality. Now, you can also go into Instagram. And when you post, make sure that your settings are always uploading to the highest quality. As much as your phone can capture 4K video, it often just gets converted to 1080p.

Candice (07:16.758)

So it doesn't make sense to capture your video in 4K unless you're a professional videographer, or you're going to use that video in a professional setting or use it on YouTube or something. Otherwise, 1080p is perfectly fine. And that's the highest setting that most social media can take, and they will convert anything that's higher than that into that video format. The next tip, tip number three.

is to make sure that you're getting minimum six second clips. When you watch reels and when you create reels, you probably often wish that a video was a little bit longer or it was a little bit shorter. And I think one of the biggest mistakes that most people make when creating content is not holding the shot long enough.

So you're either whipping around, which I'll get into in a second, moving really fast, or you're just taking a video one second, two second. Six seconds is a great benchmark to set. It's just going to give you six seconds worth of framework to create content, to create a reel around. And that six seconds can actually make this one video into one piece of content rather than splicing it into a

Rather than taking multiple videos and creating a reel out of it So if you're only taking two to three second clips It's gonna be hard to make longer form content with that one clip and I personally think it's always better to have to cut a Clip down than to have it be too short So that's why I want you to make sure that you hold the shot for at least six seconds before moving on to the next one

Now you also don't need to be recording two minute clips for everything. They take up a ton of space on your phone and you just have to look through it and sort through it later. And it's very annoying. So six seconds to maybe 20 seconds should be your maximum for most clips that you're taking unless you're filming like legit filming something. Tip number four is to stop moving so fast when you film. This is another mistake that I see a lot of

Candice (09:41.72)

content creators and business owners making. And I've been guilty of making this mistake in the past, which is moving your phone like you're filming an action movie, which you're not. You don't need to move so fast. You don't need to whip us around. It kind of gives us whiplash. I want you to think about when you watch content and the content creator is whipping their phone around, it can feel really jarring. Nobody likes fast or jerky camera movements.

So when you have that, you create a shaky, messy footage that's really hard to place yourself in. And the goal with video content for marketing is for the person who's watching the video to feel immersed in whatever scene is in the video. And if you're moving around really quickly, doing room shots and whipping around or just whipping around your phone for details, moving really fast,

you're creating a very chaotic environment to watch as a viewer. And often our brain isn't able to compute what we're seeing as you're moving around quickly. So instead, what I want you to do is if you're moving the camera, move it really slowly, slightly, just effortlessly, just a little bit of a tilt or a little bit of a move. It's a small shift. creates a little dynamic,

Dynamic footage for you, but it's not this crazy whip around and even better I personally think just keep it still and let the moment unfold in front of you Just keep it still whether you're filming your clients. You're filming your team. Maybe details of the day Just keep your phone still and in post editing you can zoom in zoom out You can crop it change it and you can do so much very quickly. I might add in tools like CapCut

or maybe even an Instagram's latest tool or newest tool that they're releasing to edit videos. But you can do this in the post-processing. You don't need to do it as you film. I also think having a tripod or a selfie stick or something like that can really help you stabilize your footage and allow you to pan smoother or slower. And tripods are great because you can just move them around, do six-second clips, and just

Candice (12:02.232)

film so much quicker and easier. know you're probably thinking, I don't want to roll up to a wedding with a tripod, but I say, why not? Why not create? You can actually save and share all of this footage with your clients and surprise and delight them with it later of some of the clips that you got at their wedding. I'm sure they would love it. And these days it's the norm to have somebody filming something.

on a wedding. So long as the content creation does not supersede the role that you're there to perform, I don't see anything wrong with having a phone on a tripod. Even better, if you can make the phone on the tripod last year's iPhone, don't trade it in. Keep it for content creation. So tip number four, stop moving so fast. All right, tip number five is really important. I want you to lean in, and I want you to hear this tip.

Clean your lens. Clean your lens. It's time for a refresh here. Wipe off your camera lens, please. I'm saying it again because I know you'll forget. And I'm saying it again because I really think that this is going to improve your footage so much more than you realize.

And it's time for you to wipe your phone off because at this rate, if you've been doing all these things on wedding day, you've definitely touched your camera lens and it definitely needs a nice clean. tip number five, clean your camera lens again. All right. Tip number six, you can use a gimbal or something to stabilize your shots. I mentioned getting a tripod. You can DM me if you want some suggestions for phone tripods. have a favorite of mine on Amazon. It's a standing tripod.

I love a standing tripod. It's very heavy duty and you can make it short, you can make it tall. So it works in all types of situations, but you could also get a gimbal, which is something that you'll place your phone on and it allows really smooth footage. You can move around with it and it basically hangs your phone in this sort of balance where the phone doesn't move as you move. So it provides a steady shot.

Candice (14:17.932)

as you take content and as you take video. So if you want to move around, if you want video of you moving around or you want video that has motion to it, you walking a gimbal is going to be your best friend. And it's literally like $30 on Amazon. You'll see your favorite videographers using gimbals all the time, especially as they're walking and moving with the client. It really helps to get a steady shot.

And it's just gonna smooth out your movements so that your shots don't look chaotic. Now, if you don't have a gimbal or you're not interested in having a little content creation toolkit on your weddings, you can rest your elbow on something for stability so that the camera doesn't shake or move. You can hold your phone with two hands. You can walk heel to toe to avoid bouncy footage, or you can use something like a selfie stick, which will provide

some stability to your shots, way more stability than your shaky hand full of adrenaline. You've got so much shit to do and you're like, Candice fucking told me I had to take these videos and you're just like, so much is going on. The adrenaline of wedding day is coursing through your veins and you have not had any water or any food. A selfie stick will really help. I promise.

So you can try getting a gimbal. I think that this should be a part of your content creation toolkit personally. And I think that you can have somebody on your team supporting you in doing this. It doesn't have to be you being the videographer of the day. Now, tip number seven is to plan when you'll get your shots. And this is important because the day can get away from you pretty quickly, as we all know. And the worst time is

to think about taking a video is when you're already in the chaos of wedding day. And the second worst time is after a moment has already happened or after guests have already put all their shit down on tables, their jackets, their purses, their crap, and their room is starting to look cluttered. So instead, I want you to add it to your timeline ahead of time of when you know you'll be able to grab some shots.

Candice (16:31.574)

And typically when we think about timing, this is going to be before guests enter into the reception space or the dining space when the room is really beautiful. This is going to be before guests grab their escort cards or start to kind of mess things up. And you can look on your timeline and all you really need is about a five to 10 minute window to grab these six second shots throughout the final setup and just before guests begin to interact.

with the wedding day. But you also want to think about grabbing some content throughout the evening as guests live the experience and so do your clients. I made a prediction that I think this type of content is going to be very, very popular this year. And I think that the type of video that is going, people are going to gravitate towards is the more authentic in the moment moments.

that tend to go viral, that people are like, wow, I wish I was there. They could feel the energy or they could feel the mood and the spirit of the day. And you're going to want to capture some of those moments. Now we know what those moments often are. We're talking about intros, first dances, speeches, although speeches can kind of be hit or miss. It depends on the crowd. But those are definitely moments to capture. Dancing, entertainers that might be hired for the day, whether it's a band, a DJ.

Those are all big moments that couples are often looking forward to experiencing for themselves. And I want you to not just capture details, but I want you to also make sure that you're capturing those very important immersive moments of wedding day.

Candice (18:21.816)

Tip number eight is to capture things at different angles. So instead of just standing in one place and filming everything the same way, I want you to find ways to switch it up. And you can look at it from the perspective of try to get a wide shot to show the full setup. This kind of sets the tone and allows us to understand the environment that the video exists in. So a wide shot. Then you can get a mid shot.

which is midway through and it gets a little bit closer and it's almost like at eye level or if I were looking at whatever you're shooting, if I was standing right where you are, level, my eye is watching that in the same distance that you are watching it. And then of course, closeups and these are things to highlight details, highlight moments, things like stationary, flowers, little details of the day.

One of the great things though about wide and mid shots is that you can crop into these shots and provide more close up. So just keep that in mind. If you shoot wide and mid, you're going to have the opportunity in the post process to cut in, which is great actually. And you kind of want that more so than just having a bunch of up close shots.

So keep that in mind. And this can actually take your time investment down if you just focus on getting wide and mid-range shots. Now, when you think about some of those videos where things zoom in and out, so you're looking at a reel where things are clipped and you're kind of being transported closer and farther away, you can do a lot of that in post-processing too. You don't need to physically zoom in on something unless you want to.

but you don't have to physically do that while you're videoing. In fact, if you just stand in one space and take a six second clip of something wide and then you go mid and then you zoom in, you've just created three pieces of content that you can post. You don't need to physically zoom in unless the moment calls for it. right, tip number nine is to switch up your camera.

Candice (20:38.018)

movements. Now, one of the mistakes that I see wedding pros making is taking every video from the same angle. So for example, if every single video of your shots pans left to right, when you put them all together, it's going to look like you're spinning in circles. So think about it. And you probably run into this when you have tried to create a reel and you're like, fuck, why do I always go from left to right or right to I always go right to left.

because I'm right handed, so that's probably why I do it. And when you start to add videos together, it just looks like you're spinning around. So if you're going to be panning in videos, try to go both ways. Try to do a steady shot, then pan left to right, and then pan right to left. And if you do that, then you just create options for yourself. And you never have to worry about if you panned from the right side or not.

Variety goes a long way with content creation and having all this b-roll footage to market your business. So tip number nine, switch up your camera movements. And if you can, try to go right to left, left to right, and get that steady shot. And now you've just made it so easy for yourself to create tons of post-wedding marketing content. Tip number 10 is to get shots of you and your team. Now we're talking all about

We're also talking about angles and camera movements, but I don't want you to forget that you and your team need to be in these shots. People don't just buy your most beautiful work. They buy from the people that they connect with. People like to do business with people, so we need to show your personality. We need to show yourself working hard and I know that we can be our Hershes critics.

and that we don't always love how we look on camera or we don't always love being on camera. And so you just need to find your angles and you need to embrace being on camera, regardless of if you look perfect. We all know that by reception time, you're not looking perfect. Your flyaways are out. Your makeup is sweating off. Like, you you've got some wrinkles on your shirt. You're not perfect. Nobody's noticing that except you. And one of my biggest

Candice (23:02.068)

regrets and I have never shared this but one of my biggest regrets as a planner is is that I hid from the camera on wedding days because I didn't like how I looked and I didn't feel like I looked perfect or polished enough because of course I've been running around all day working my ass off and I regret not having those images and that footage of myself I regret it think about all the marketing content that I could be using right now

to show you that I know what the hell I'm talking about from my own experience if I had more images and more video of myself doing the work. I regret it. Do not make my mistake. So take my foolish advice. Please make sure that you're in shots, you and your team. I want you to show your personality. I want you to show your vibe. I want you to show how you have fun while working really hard. And so here are a few ideas for you to get yourself in the shot.

You can set up a time lapse of yourself setting up or doing something. If you're a photographer shooting or getting ready or setting up the shot, whatever it might be, but time lapses are great and nobody can really see you, but they know you're there because you're, you're moving within the confines of the shop. can also grab a quick clip of you adjusting something, setting something up, photographing something, filming something, doing your work. If you're a DJ with your DJ deck,

You can just get a few quick clips wide, mid and zoomed in of you doing something. And I mean, you can also get some clips of just you having fun with your team and speaking to the camera or just more documentary style of the day. But those are just a few ideas. It doesn't have to be complicated. It doesn't have to be set up in such a way where it's a production.

In fact, think some of those raw honest moments are gonna be the best to share and you're going to really appreciate being able to show you in these shots on your social media. Now, a lot of what we're talking about today is B-roll, but I wanna say filming something like a post-wedding recap, sharing your favorite parts of the day or talking to camera.

Candice (25:18.176)

about the design in a completed room or talking to camera about your vision for the day photography wise, whatever it might be is amazing exceptional content. And so don't be afraid to talk in your videos. I know it can be really intimidating. Believe it or not, I used to be terrified to be on camera. Well, you could probably believe it because I shied away from being photographed and videoed at wedding days. But prior to

me recording my podcast like this, I decided to start a podcast because I was too scared to go on Periscope, to go live and to share my opinions on video. I used to be frightened of the camera and it took years for me to get more comfortable to the point where I'm at now where I could pretty much talk about anything. It's going to take you some time, but you'll never get great at something that you don't try. So if you feel like I used to feel, which is self-conscious or nervous about talking to the camera,

You just need to get in the ring and try it and learn and do better and better and better. And I'm also here to tell you that a lot of people that you know and admire who look great on camera either were nervous at one point or are still nervous to talk on camera. It's not that it ever goes away. You just learn how to compartmentalize it. And so if you're watching somebody on social media and you're like, my God, she's so good on camera.

She probably has a bit of imposter syndrome or they probably have a bit of imposter syndrome that you'd never notice because they just fight through it. So don't take this for granted. I think talking to camera is so important. And if you remember, Jamesa from Jane Eyre Events, her behind the brand interview where we talked about how she has risen in the wedding industry to be a recognized brand, she talked about content creation and how important it was.

in the evolution of her business and getting luxury clients. And we talked about how good she is speaking to camera, but I will tell you that she practiced that. That is something that she worked hard to practice. It didn't necessarily come naturally to her, although you would never know because she's so freaking good. And she talked about how important it was for her to get that right and to really keep doing it until she felt more comfortable.

Candice (27:39.19)

and it has been a game changer for her business. If you want to learn more about what I'm talking about and you haven't listened to her behind the brand episode, go and check it out. I would also say go to her Instagram, Jane Air Events, and take a look at the type of content that I'm talking about with you looking at the camera. Now, looking at the camera is a very easy way for you to build that know, like, and trust factor with potential clients. So remember that when you can show up in your business and talk directly to your customer,

you are going to accelerate the buying from you process. So I have to ask you, how much is it worth it to you this year to book hire and clients to really put your brand out there and to establish yourself as an expert in your field? If it's worth it to you, then I know I'm going to see some on camera talking from you. And I also know that you're going to tag me in it. You're just going to tag it. You're just going to tag my profile so I can see it.

And you're gonna DM me and say, Candice, I did it. I did a talking head video. Thank you for your podcast episode. All right, we're down to our final tips. Tip number 11. And please don't forget this one. It's so important. Are you ready? Clean your damn lens. This is the last reminder, I swear, but I had to include this three times.

Because when you are deep into capturing beautiful footage and then you realize that you forgot to wipe off, take one second to wipe off your camera lens, all that footage is no good. So don't let this be you, please wipe it off. And I promise you, I'm done now. I feel like you will never forget to wipe off your camera lens. And every time you do it, you're gonna think of me, you're gonna be like, yeah, this is Candace.

She's telling me wipe off my effing camera lens and I am, I'm your sleep paralysis demon on wedding night Eve standing at the foot of your bed telling you, wipe off your fucking camera lens please. tip number 12. Don't post anything until after the ceremony. Now this one's a little more practical but I just wanna make sure we're all on the same page here. Please don't ever post anything.

Candice (29:53.536)

in real time until the ceremony has ended. Now the last thing you want is for a guest to see your post or somebody very important who shouldn't be seeing something just yet see your post before everyone has had the chance to experience it. Plus it looks like you're just capturing content and not necessarily working. So I don't mind to set up post, I don't mind onsite for Candace and Jason's wedding day, follow along.

as we post after the ceremony, I don't mind that at all, but I want you to be thoughtful about when you begin to post real-time content. And also too, I think when you can wait a little bit, then you can also curate what you're putting out in a smart way and make sure that the video footage that you're putting out matches the moment of your brand and the quality of content that you want to release.

Instead, record everything and then post. This is also gonna force you to record in your camera roll and not on Instagram, which is another kind of mistake that I see a lot of pros making is you're just recording things in stories and you're not necessarily recording them to your phone first. This way, this will force you to record it on your phone first, saving all that footage so you don't lose it.

All right, my final tip for creating content on wedding days as if you were a content creator is to stop hoarding your footage. The more you edit things, the better you'll get. The more you do things, the better you will become and at the easier it will become. And you cannot take all this beautiful, stunning footage and then drop the ball on posting it.

So I really need you to start showing up this year in big ways. If we learned anything so far in the Behind the Brands series is that every woman I've interviewed so far, Jamesa, Kayla, and Akeshi have all said that one of the keys to their success is their marketing and their branding. They do not shy away from showing up. You cannot do that. And I see it far too often. You take all this footage and then you're like,

Candice (32:12.216)

I don't want to post. It's hard. I don't want to put myself out there. We have to get over that hump, that obstacle. We got to get over it. There's no excuses. You can edit things and every time you edit, you'll become better. There's now templates on Instagram. They make your job easier. So you can just use a template. You can use a template on Instagram. You can use a template in CapCut. You can use a probably in Instagram's new

at video editor, there's templates for a reason. It makes it so much easier for you to post. And you can also download static templates for your stories, triptychs that can get pinned to your profile, testimonial templates to share. There's so much more that you can download. I even have Instagram templates in my shop at shop.candiscopla.com that were created specifically

for wedding planners, but any type of wedding pro I think would really benefit from these templates. There's story templates, there's Instagram feed templates, real templates, no excuses, okay? So stop hoarding your footage. It's not doing anything for you in the depths of your camera roll. We need to get this out. And you need a system now for posting after each event.

And I think that might be a really great podcast episode to release soon. So I'll put it in my notes. All right, so let's be real. Wedding days are chaotic. You're running around doing a million and a half things, making sure every detail is perfect, making sure that you do your job to perfection, that your clients are happy, that you're playing nice with all vendors, that you're just living up to why you've been hired. And now you also need to create content. It is an unfortunate fact.

But with today's episode in these 13 tips, I know that you're going to be armed with some practical, easy to implement tips that are going to take your content to the next level. So let's recap really quick what I want you to do this year. First and foremost, clean your camera lens, please, for the love of God. Every time you take your phone out of your bag, out of your pocket, even holding it in your hand as you set up for a shot, clean your camera lens. Next tip, use the right.

Candice (34:25.464)

camera settings and you can do some Googling here if you want. If you're iPhone, Android user, Google some of the best settings to have on your phone. Next, make sure that you take at minimum six second clips. I like six to 20 seconds. Anything beyond that is probably not necessary and anything below six seconds doesn't give you the versatility you need to create content. Next, stop moving so fast. You don't need to be whipping around.

And instead, it's probably best if you just do steady shots. Next tip, you can use a gimbal if you do want to move around. And a gimbal is going to help you stabilize your shots while you move. And you can easily get a gimbal, a tripod, and create a little content creation kit for wedding day. You can buy all of this on Amazon. Next, plan when you'll get your shots. Make sure that you know throughout the day on the timeline

when you're going to film and record content. This one is really important because if it's on your timeline, you will get it done. I also want you to capture at different angles. Don't always be moving left to right or right to left. Try to do both and get a steady shot. This way, as you're editing footage and creating reels and creating content, you have multiple different angles.

I also want you to switch up your camera movements and that's what I just spoke about. So for capturing different angles, let me do that again.

So we'll edit from plan when you'll get your shots next. Next, I want you to capture at different angles. This is where I taught you about wide, mid, and close-up shots. And when in doubt, just focus on wide and mid shots because you can always crop and zoom in. Next tip, switch up your camera movements. So if you notice that you always go right to left or left to right, I want you to try doing both. And I want you to get those steady shots. So this way, when you edit your footage and create content,

Candice (36:28.44)

You have different options to choose from. Make sure that you get shots of you and your team. Remember my big mistake. I regret so much not having more footage of me in the field working. Don't make my mistake. Make sure that you and your team are in the shots. Don't post anything until after the ceremony unless it's set up and it's just sneak peeks. And finally, stop.

Make sure that what you film, you find ways to share as soon as you can. All right, so I want you to go out there this year and create some great video content. Take us along with you, share the amazing stories of your couples and the incredible businesses that are a part of their wedding day. The wedding industry would not exist without you, and I want you to take us along so that we can really see.

what it's like to be a planner, photographer, videographer, DJ, whatever it is that you do in the industry. All right, friend, thank you so much for listening to today's episode. I wanna remind you, as always, there's so much power in your purpose. I'll see you next time.