Gday. Based on experience, what do you think is the best showtime for SDE?

I've seen a lot of epic SDE includes the bridal waltz, which I reckon made a lot of impact to the build up of the SDE.. However, in most wedding I've been.. lots of guests left after the bridal waltz as only a few bunch would stick around and join the bridal party on the dance floor..

If the showtime is earlier (eg. during dessert), then you will miss out on the bridal waltz that could potentially bring the SDE to a whole new height..

Any input?

The earlier you can show it, the more impact it will have. For maximum impact, we sometimes show it just after the "grand entrance" of the bride and groom (into the reception room.) But it's a lot of stress....

The earlier you can show it, the more impact it will have. For maximum impact, we sometimes show it just after the "grand entrance" of the bride and groom (into the reception room.) But it's a lot of stress....

How many gigs of footage have you shot up to that point? My editor doesn't finish until after the cake cutting.

Really? The earlier?

I would've thought SDE would pack more punch at the end of the night.. kinda like the highlight of the evening..

How many gigs of footage have you shot up to that point? My editor doesn't finish until after the cake cutting.

I don't count gigs, do I don't really know. We shoot EX-1, copy to laptop throughout the day, and edit with Edius 5.5 as we go. Editing is always completed by the time guests begin their meal.

Edius is fast because no transcoding of footage is necessary. Just put anything on the timeline and edit!

Do you guys all have dedicated editors? We don't stop filming from the moment the ceremony starts until they all sit down to eat. There's no way I could edit and film at the same time ;)

Do you guys all have dedicated editors? We don't stop filming from the moment the ceremony starts until they all sit down to eat. There's no way I could edit and film at the same time ;)

I have a dedicated editor, but to be honest we don't finish the edit until very late in the reception. I even have the editor assist me during the day now so he is with me all day seeing what I shoot.

Okay gents.. we're slowly drifting away from the main question.. it's about 'when' is the best time to show SDE during the reception?

I shoot and edit but I am getting 2-3 hours break prior to reception so I'm sure I'd have enough time to finish editing around 9 to 9.30 pm.. but bridal waltz dont usually start until then. I haven't try showtime after that hour.. although this weekend will only be my 3rd & 4th SDE.

while I don't do SDEs it's been my experience at the 'few' weddings I've done that most times if there is say a montage that's played it's done either just before or just after dinner before dessert is served. Mind you now that in my area 99% of weddings are sit down dinners and not buffets which could change the timeline a bit. Keep in mind that generally after the B&Gs first dance, father daughter dance and mother son dance which are considered the norm in my market people will start to leave and frankly most DJs and or band leaders are not of the mind set to stop the party and the flow of it to show any kind of video. there is more than a 50% cahnce of "losing the party" meaning a lot of people would leave and then the bride gets ticked off at the DJ because her party got ruined. Anyway, I don't how it is in your part of the world but around here the video stuff montage or SDE gets played pretty early.

we play our sde between 9.30-10pm

Santo, what time does the bridal waltz usually start and how many time you have between the waltz and showtime? I suspect you need atleast 20 mins to transfer, transcode, insert into FCP, and render. Would most people already hit the dance floor by then?

it depends on the schedule. sometimes the bridal waltz happen right after the grand entrance. In that case we will most likely try harder to put it in the SDE. if the waltz happen much later at night, we will see whether we can manage to put it in somehow. I guess it really depends on whether your edit really dying to have the waltz in there or not. There is no rule that you have to put it in and its not all about the WOW effect that you managed to squeeze it in. Its more about whether it fits with the whole edit that you're doing.

I had some cases that we had waltz right in the beginning of the reception and I decided not to put it in because I didn't feel I needed to.

my two grand

LOL, thanks for the two grand tips mate. I actually have never been to a wedding where the waltz is after the grand entrance.

I just did two SDE last weekend and received great response on both. Showed around 9.30 to 10 PM. However, I noticed my editing skill still needs some polishing. It took me 4-5 hours roughly to finish off. Quite concerning...