Guide
Delivering wedding video alongside photos in one gallery
How to put a highlight film and a full ceremony edit in the same gallery as the photos: file sizes, streaming versus download, export settings, and the videographer agreement.
Put the films in the same gallery as the photos, streaming, with a download option. The couple gets one link, one password and one place to send their parents; the film gets watched more because it sits next to the photos people are already looking at; and you stop fielding emails asking where the video is. It works when the videographer exports a delivery version rather than a master, when the two of you have agreed on hosting, credit and timing before the wedding, and when the couple has been told that the ZIP download is photos only and the film downloads separately.
When one gallery is the right call, and when it is not
If you shoot both photo and video, there is no question. One gallery.
If the videographer is a separate business, ask them. Some will be glad to hand you a file and be done. Some host on their own platform for branding, analytics and their own client relationship. Both are fine. The compromise that usually works is that the film lives in your gallery with the videographer’s name and website link on the video section, and the videographer also keeps their own hosted copy for their portfolio. What does not work is two links with two passwords.
What gets delivered
A typical video package has 2 to 4 pieces, and they are used very differently.
| Deliverable | Length | How it is watched | Best delivery |
|---|---|---|---|
| Highlight film | 3 to 6 min | Many times, shared widely | Stream, with download |
| Feature or documentary edit | 10 to 25 min | A few times | Stream, with download |
| Full ceremony | 20 to 60 min | Once or twice, by parents and people who were not there | Stream, with download |
| Toasts and speeches | 10 to 30 min | Once or twice, by the speakers | Stream, with download |
| Raw footage or a full reception | Hours | Rarely | A drive or a file transfer, not a gallery |
The highlight film is what the gallery is for. Put it first. The long pieces belong in the gallery too, because a parent who could not travel wants the full ceremony more than anything else in there, but they do not need to be at the top.
File sizes and export settings
Video size is bitrate times length. A 4-minute 4K highlight film at 50 Mbps is about 1.5 GB; a 40-minute 4K ceremony at the same bitrate is 15 GB; the same ceremony at 1080p and 20 Mbps is 6 GB. The working numbers for a whole gallery, and how to estimate a year, are in how much storage wedding galleries take.
The export settings to ask for, and to use yourself:
- Container and codec: MP4, H.264 or H.265. H.265 is about half the size at the same quality but takes longer to export, and a few older devices struggle with it. H.264 is the safe default.
- Resolution: 4K for the highlight film, 1080p for the ceremony and toasts. Long-form 4K is a large file for something watched on a laptop.
- Bitrate: 15 to 25 Mbps for 1080p, 35 to 60 Mbps for 4K, as rules of thumb. These are delivery bitrates, well above typical streaming bitrates, and the couple will not see a difference above them.
- Frame rate: whatever it was shot and edited at. Do not convert.
- Audio: AAC stereo.
What not to accept is a master. ProRes and other editing codecs run to hundreds of megabits per second, produce files of tens of gigabytes for a few minutes, and are not a delivery format. FOCL Galleries takes MP4, MOV and similar files up to 30 GB each and cannot process files above about 200 Mbps, so a delivery export is required regardless. Steps are in add videos.
Streaming versus download
Offer both, and be clear about which is which.
| Streaming | Download | |
|---|---|---|
| Watching on a phone | Starts immediately, adapts to the connection | Needs the whole file first |
| Sharing with family | One link | A 15 GB file to move around |
| Keeping it forever | Depends on the gallery staying up | The couple has the file |
| Quality | Adapts down on poor connections | Full quality always |
| What the couple feels they own | A link | A video |
Streaming is how the film gets watched. Download is how the couple owns it. If the gallery has an expiry date, say so in the delivery email and tell them to download the films before then, the same way you tell them to download the photos. The download side for photos is in how to deliver wedding photos to clients.
Two things to tell the couple in plain words, because they will assume otherwise:
- The “download all” ZIP is photos only. Films download from their own button, one at a time. In FOCL Galleries videos are never included in the ZIP, and the couple can choose the original file or a 1080p version.
- The film is not watermarked, and the original download is the full-quality file the videographer made. There is no better version.
Organizing the gallery
Put the films in their own section, and put that section first or second. A gallery that opens on the highlight film and then moves into the photos reads as the whole wedding rather than a photo gallery with an afterthought at the bottom. Sections show as tabs in most gallery platforms, and in FOCL Galleries you can drag sections into any order.
Name the pieces for the couple, not for the editor: “Highlight film”, “Full ceremony”, “Toasts”. Not “SamAlex_HL_v3_final”.
What to agree with the videographer
Before the wedding, in an email, so nobody is negotiating in the edit:
- Who hosts. Your gallery, theirs, or both.
- The files. Which pieces, in what format and resolution, at what bitrate, named how. Send them the list above.
- How the files reach you. A cloud drive link or a file-transfer service, not email, and not a hard drive in the mail unless it is a full reception.
- When. Video edits usually take longer than photo edits, often by weeks. Agree whether the photos go out first and the films are added later, or whether everything waits. Our advice is photos first: a couple waiting 12 weeks for photos because the film is not ready blames both of you. Then add the films and send the couple a second email. How long each usually takes is in how long wedding photo delivery takes.
- Credit. Their name and website on the video section; your name in their credits. The same spelling on both.
- Music licensing. Their responsibility, but you need to know what it allows. Some licenses cover client delivery and social posting; some do not cover the couple uploading the film to a public platform. Tell the couple what they can do with it, in one line, in the delivery email.
- Sharing with vendors. Whether the planner and venue can have the highlight film. Usually yes, and it is the videographer’s decision.
The delivery email
One email, both deliverables, three lines about the film: it streams from the gallery, it downloads from the button on the film itself, and the date by which everything should be downloaded. If the films come later, a second email that says the films are in, with the same link, and nothing else. Ready-made versions are in gallery delivery email templates.
When it is only you
If you offer a highlight film as an add-on to your photo package, the same rules apply with less negotiation. Deliver the film in the gallery, first section, downloadable, with the photos. Export at the delivery settings above, not at the settings you edit in. And do not hold the photos for the film.
Photos and films in one gallery
On FOCL Galleries paid plans, add MP4 or MOV files up to 30 GB each. They stream adaptively, download in original or 1080p, are never watermarked, and each plan includes hours of them.
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