A wedding film deliverables spec is the one-page list that tells your editor exactly which films to build from a wedding, how long each should run, what goes inside it, and which file formats come out the other end. Most disputes between a videographer and an outsourced editor trace back to a missing line on that page: "highlight" meant five minutes to one person and nine to the other, or the vertical teaser was assumed to be included and was never briefed. This guide gives you a deliverable-by-deliverable framework, with tables you can lift straight into your own brief, so the first cut that comes back is the one you actually asked for.
The advice here is written for professional wedding videographers and studios who hand footage to an outside editor. It is not a pricing guide and it does not tell you what to sell. It tells you how to describe what you have already sold in language an editor can build to.
1. Why a deliverables spec comes before the footage
An editor cannot choose the right story length until they know how many films the wedding must produce. A single five-minute highlight rewards tight, emotional selection. A highlight plus a 25-minute feature plus a teaser means the same ceremony clip has to earn its place three different ways, and the editor budgets their time very differently.
Think about what happens without a spec. The editor opens the folder, sees four hours of ceremony and two hours of reception, and makes a reasonable guess. The guess is usually the editor's own default, not your package. You then spend a revision round correcting length and scope instead of polishing story and color, which is exactly the round you wanted to save. If you want to cap the number of those rounds, pair this spec with the process in our guide to structuring revision rounds before outsourcing.
A deliverables spec does three jobs at once:
- It sets scope, so nobody builds a film you did not sell or skips one you did.
- It sets the finish line for each film, so "done" has a number attached: a runtime, an aspect ratio, a file format.
- It sets the order of work, so the film your client sees first is the one your editor finishes first.
Send the spec at the same moment you send the footage, not after the editor has started. Changing the film count mid-edit is the most expensive kind of change request, because assembly choices made for a single film rarely survive being re-cut for three.
| Without a spec | With a spec |
|---|---|
| Editor guesses the runtime from their own habits | Runtime range is written per film |
| Vertical and teaser versions arrive as late add-ons | Every version is listed up front with its aspect ratio |
| First revision round fixes scope | First revision round fixes story and polish |
| Delivery format negotiated on the final day | Codec, resolution and audio spec agreed in the brief |
2. The five core wedding film deliverables
Most wedding packages are built from five film types: teaser, highlight, feature, full-length coverage edits, and vertical social cuts. Studios name them differently, so define each by what it contains and how long it runs rather than relying on the label. The same word "trailer" or "short film" can mean a 60-second tease at one studio and a six-minute narrative at another.
Use the table below as a starting vocabulary. The runtimes are working ranges that many studios sell within, not industry rules; replace them with the numbers in your own packages.
| Deliverable | What it is | Typical working range | Audio approach |
|---|---|---|---|
| Teaser / trailer | A fast, music-led taste of the day | Under 90 seconds to about 2 minutes | Music only, maybe one voice line |
| Highlight film | The emotional arc of the day with music and selected sound | Roughly 3 to 8 minutes | Music plus vows, speech fragments, ambience |
| Feature / documentary edit | A longer, chronological story with real sound | Roughly 15 to 40 minutes | Mostly natural audio, light music bed |
| Full-length coverage | Ceremony and speeches shown in full | Matches the real event length | Clean, levelled, multicam-switched |
| Vertical social cut | A platform-native version of the teaser or highlight | 15 to 60 seconds is common | Music-led, captions often needed |
One practical habit: give every deliverable a short internal code and use it everywhere. "HL" for the highlight, "TZ" for the teaser, "CER" for the ceremony edit, "FT" for the feature, "VT" for vertical. Codes appear in the brief, the file names, the review comments and the invoice, so nobody has to wonder whether "the short one" means the teaser or a vertical cut. It sounds trivial, and it removes a surprising amount of back-and-forth when a studio runs ten weddings through the same editor in a month.
It also helps to separate sold deliverables from internal ones. A sold deliverable is in the client's contract and has a due date. An internal deliverable, such as a portfolio teaser you cut for your own marketing, should be flagged as lower priority so it never delays the films the couple is waiting for. Editors who see everything labelled urgent will quietly decide the order for you, and their choice may not match your promises.
If your film names are fuzzy, our breakdown of documentary versus cinematic wedding video helps you decide which style each deliverable should follow before you brief it.
3. Teaser and trailer: briefing the shortest film
A teaser is the hardest film to brief precisely because it is the shortest. With under two minutes, every second is a decision, and an editor who does not know the purpose of the teaser will optimise for the wrong thing. State the purpose in one sentence: is it a same-week social post, a preview that makes the couple share the news, or a portfolio asset you will use to sell the next booking?
Then answer four questions in the brief:
- Delivery window: when does the couple or your marketing expect to see it, and does it ship before or after the highlight?
- Spoiler policy: may the teaser show the first look, the vows, or the dance, or must those stay locked for the highlight?
- Music: a track you licensed, a track the couple chose, or the editor's pick from an approved library? Licensing for each use differs, so see our music licensing guide for videographers who outsource.
- Re-use: will the teaser be cut from the highlight, or built first and then expanded? Building the teaser first usually produces a punchier film but risks repeating shots.
Name two or three must-have beats rather than a full shot list. A teaser with eight mandatory shots stops being a teaser and becomes a squeezed highlight. Reserve the mandatory list for moments you know the couple will want to see, such as a particular entrance or a family moment, and let the editor choose the rest by rhythm.
Notice the pattern in the table above: the shorter the film, the more of its quality comes from selection, and the longer the film, the more it comes from structure and sound. That is why a short film and a long film should never be briefed with the same template. A teaser brief is mostly a list of constraints. A feature brief is mostly a map of scenes. Mixing the two produces briefs that are long but unhelpful.
4. Highlight film: the film most clients actually watch
The highlight film is the deliverable that carries the reputation of your studio, so it deserves the most specific brief. It is also where length drifts the most. Without a target, editors tend to keep cutting in emotional material until the film feels complete, which can push a five-minute package to eight.
Give the editor a runtime range, not a single number, and say which end you prefer. "Five to six minutes, closer to five" is a clear instruction. "About five minutes" invites a nine-minute cut because nine is, technically, about five to someone. If you are unsure what length your package should promise, read our analysis of how long a wedding highlight film should be first.
Then specify the story shape:
- Opening: morning preparation, a detail montage, or straight into the ceremony?
- Audio spine: which voices carry the film? Vows, a parent's toast, a letter read aloud, or music alone?
- Must-keep moments: the short list of non-negotiables, ideally flagged during the shoot. Our guide on marking key moments for your editor shows how to do that without slowing the day down.
- Ending: a final-dance image, a sunset portrait, or a quiet closing line.
| Brief element | Weak version | Strong version |
|---|---|---|
| Runtime | "Around five minutes" | "5:00 to 6:00, aim for the short end" |
| Audio | "Use the vows" | "Open on the groom's vow line, close on the bride's first sentence" |
| Style | "Cinematic" | "Slow, wide, natural light, minimal speed ramps" |
| Music | "Something emotional" | "Licensed track from the approved list; no vocals over speech" |
Finally, tell the editor what a finished highlight should feel like using reference films from your own catalogue, not from other studios. A link to one of your own previous edits, with a note such as "same pacing, warmer color, slightly longer ceremony section", is worth more than a paragraph of adjectives. It also keeps the brief honest, because it points at a film you have already delivered and been paid for. If you have no previous example, describe the pacing in measurable terms: average shot length, how often the music changes, how many seconds the film lingers on a face before cutting away.
5. Feature and documentary edits: when the real sound is the story
A feature edit works because it trusts the day to be interesting, so the brief must protect real audio. Where a highlight is built from music and fragments, a feature is built from continuous scenes: the ceremony in compressed form, a speech trimmed to its best two minutes, a reception section that lets laughter breathe. Its quality depends on clean audio and on the editor knowing which scenes to leave nearly whole.
Specify the following for a feature edit:
- Target length and chaptering: a fixed runtime, or a range tied to a structure such as preparation, ceremony, speeches, party.
- Scene priority: which scenes must run long, and which can be reduced to a summary montage.
- Speech handling: use full toasts, edited toasts, or only the strongest passages? Wedding speeches carry both the best material and the most audio risk; the audio side is covered in our guide to filming and handing off speeches.
- Music use: a light bed under natural sound, or music only for transitions.
Tell the editor plainly if the feature is a separate film or an extended version of the highlight. If it is extended, they can reuse the opening and the best moments; if it is separate, they should avoid repeating the same shots and sound bites, or the two films will feel redundant to the couple watching both back to back.
A feature also needs a decision about interviews and voice-over. Some studios record short audio messages from the couple or their parents and weave them through the film. If you did, deliver those clips with a transcript or a clear label, tell the editor where each one belongs in the structure, and say whether any of them must appear in the highlight as well. Unlabelled audio files are among the most common reasons a feature edit stalls, because the editor has to listen to hours of recordings to find the one useful minute.
6. Full-length ceremony and speech edits
Full-length coverage edits are not creative films; they are clean, accurate records, and the brief should say so. The editor's job is multicam switching, audio levelling, trimming dead air at the start and end, and keeping the timeline honest. Done well, these edits are fast to produce and valuable to families who want the ceremony as it happened.
Write the rules down, because editors default to creative habits otherwise:
- No music over the ceremony unless the officiant or the venue played it live.
- No speed ramps, no cinematic grade beyond the agreed look, no cutaways that hide a spoken line.
- Switch between angles on natural pauses, not on a musical beat.
- Level every speaker to a consistent loudness and remove only obvious distractions such as a dropped microphone.
Tell the editor whether to trim anything. Some studios keep every second including the officiant's logistics; others trim the walk-in and the final processional to a tidy length. Either choice is fine, but it must be a choice. For the audio you will need to supply, our walkthrough on prepping wedding audio before you outsource editing covers the files and notes that make this work.
| Rule | Creative film (teaser, highlight) | Record film (full ceremony, full speeches) |
|---|---|---|
| Music | Central to the edit | None unless live at the event |
| Cutting rhythm | Follows the music | Follows the speaker |
| Grade | Stylised, per your look | Natural and consistent |
| Trim policy | Aggressive | Conservative, agreed in writing |
Finally, agree the storage and re-use rules for record edits. These films are often uploaded privately for family and sometimes shared with the venue or the planner. Decide whether the editor may keep a copy, whether a watermark is required on preview files, and who owns the right to share them. Privacy expectations differ from couple to couple, and the editor should not have to guess. Our article on sending wedding footage to your editor touches on secure transfer, and the same care applies on the way back.
7. Vertical and social cuts: brief them as separate films
A vertical cut is a re-framed, re-paced film, not a cropped export of the horizontal master. Cropping a 16:9 frame to 9:16 throws away roughly two-thirds of the picture, so faces and details that sat comfortably in a wide shot may land on the edge of the new frame. A proper vertical version needs its own framing pass and sometimes its own shot selection.
Instagram's current guidance for Reels is a 9:16 vertical frame, commonly delivered at 1080 by 1920 pixels, with a maximum length of up to three minutes. YouTube accepts vertical and square uploads and its player adapts to them, though 16:9 remains the standard on computers. Platform limits change, so confirm the current numbers on each platform's help page before you write them into a contract.
Brief these points explicitly:
- Source: built from the finished highlight, or re-cut from raw footage?
- Safe area: keep faces and captions away from the top and bottom edges where apps place interface elements.
- Captions: burned-in, supplied as a separate subtitle file, or none.
- First frame: the opening image acts as the cover in many feeds, so choose it deliberately.
If social cuts are an upsell in your business, our article on repurposing wedding highlight films into Reels explains how to package and charge for them. Whichever way you sell them, list them in the same spec as every other film so the editor can plan the time.
A last point on vertical films: decide early whether the vertical cut shares the music licence of the horizontal film. Music cleared for a private couple's film is not automatically cleared for public social posting, and platforms apply their own audio rules. If you plan to post a vertical teaser from your own account, say so in the brief so the editor chooses a track that works for that use, and note it in the file name so the cleared version never gets mixed up with the private one.
8. Technical delivery specs: codec, bitrate, audio and naming
Technical specs belong in the deliverables brief because the editor's export is the last step and the easiest to get slightly wrong. Two platforms are the common destinations for a finished wedding film, and both publish their recommendations. YouTube's upload guidance recommends an MP4 container with the moov atom at the front, H.264 High Profile video, progressive scan, 4:2:0 chroma subsampling, and AAC-LC audio at a 48 kHz sample rate. It also advises encoding at the frame rate you recorded; 24, 25, 30, 48, 50 and 60 fps are all listed as common rates.
YouTube also publishes bitrate targets for standard dynamic range uploads, summarised below.
| Resolution | Standard frame rates (24, 25, 30) | High frame rates (48, 50, 60) |
|---|---|---|
| 1080p | 8 Mbps | 12 Mbps |
| 1440p | 16 Mbps | 24 Mbps |
| 2160p (4K) | 35 to 45 Mbps | 53 to 68 Mbps |
Vimeo's compression guidance is more generous. It recommends H.264, Apple ProRes 422 (HQ) or H.265, suggests roughly 10 to 20 Mbps for 1080p and 30 to 60 Mbps for 4K, and advises keeping the source's native frame rate with a constant, not variable, frame rate. For audio it recommends AAC or Opus at 320 kbps and notes that every file needs an audio track. Its stated file size limit is 250 GB.
| Purpose | Suggested master or export | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Archive master | High-bitrate intermediate such as ProRes 422 HQ | Best quality for future re-exports |
| Client download and Vimeo | H.264 or H.265 at the higher Vimeo-style bitrates | Good quality at a manageable file size |
| YouTube upload | H.264 MP4, bitrate per YouTube's table | Matches the platform's recommended ingest |
| Social vertical | H.264 MP4, 9:16, within platform size limits | Compatible and quick to upload |
Beyond codecs, put three housekeeping rules in the brief. First, a file naming pattern, such as couple surname, film type, version number. Second, the loudness and peak target you want for the final mix, because consistent loudness is what clients notice across films. Third, the delivery method and where the editor should upload; our guide to sending wedding footage to your editor covers the transfer side that mirrors this return trip.
Do not forget subtitles and captions if any film will be watched with the sound off or by guests who speak another language. Decide whether captions are burned in, delivered as a separate file, or not offered, and list the language. A small spec line now saves a late-night request later, when the couple asks for a version their relatives abroad can follow.
9. Turning the spec into a one-page brief and a delivery order
The most useful deliverables spec fits on one page and lists the films in the order the editor should finish them. Work order matters because the first film exposes problems that affect all the others: a sync drift, a color mismatch, a missing audio file. Surfacing those on the shortest film is cheaper than discovering them in the last one.
A sensible default order is highlight first, then teaser, then record edits, then feature, then vertical cuts. The highlight establishes the look, the music and the story choices; the teaser and vertical cuts can borrow from it; the record edits are mostly mechanical. If your sales promise is a quick teaser for social, flip the order and say so.
Here is a template you can adapt:
| Film | Runtime | Aspect ratio | Audio | Due (days after footage) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Highlight | 5:00 to 6:00 | 16:9 | Music plus vow lines | Set in your agreement | Must-keep list attached |
| Teaser | Under 1:30 | 16:9 and 9:16 | Music only | Set in your agreement | No vows, no first look |
| Ceremony edit | Full length | 16:9 | Natural audio, levelled | Set in your agreement | No music, no ramps |
| Feature | 20 to 30 min | 16:9 | Natural audio, light bed | Set in your agreement | Speeches trimmed |
Pair the page with your footage handoff checklist so the editor receives scope and material together. If you have not standardised that checklist, start with our guide to handing off wedding footage to an editor. When the first cut returns, review it against the spec line by line using the method in our QC checklist for an editor's first cut, so feedback stays about the brief and not about taste.
Common questions about deliverables
How many films should a wedding package include?
There is no standard number, but a common structure is a highlight film plus one or two supporting films, such as a teaser or a ceremony edit. Add films only when each one has a clear purpose for the couple or for your own marketing, because every extra film adds editing time and another round of review.
How long should a wedding teaser be?
Most studios keep a teaser between roughly 60 seconds and two minutes. The right length is the shortest one that delivers the mood of the day, and it should be shorter than the highlight by a clear margin so the two films feel different.
Should the vertical version be a crop of the main film?
Usually not. A 16:9 frame cropped to 9:16 loses most of its width, so subjects can end up cut off. Ask the editor to reframe each shot, or to select shots that already work in a tall frame, and brief safe areas for captions and platform interface elements.
What export settings should I ask my editor for?
Ask for an archive master in a high-quality intermediate codec, plus delivery files in H.264 MP4 at the platform's recommended bitrate. YouTube and Vimeo both publish current recommendations, and both advise keeping the frame rate you recorded rather than converting it.
Do I need to brief the order the films are finished in?
Yes. Naming the order lets the editor surface shared problems such as sync, color or missing audio on the first film, and it ensures the film your client expects first is the one that arrives first. A short note in the spec is enough.
What if my client asks for an extra film after the edit has started?
Treat it as a scope change. Add the film to the spec in writing, agree runtime, aspect ratio and due date, and confirm any price or schedule change before the editor starts. Keeping the original spec on file makes this conversation short and fair for everyone involved.
One more tip for studios that outsource regularly: keep the deliverables spec as a living template, and update it after each wedding. When a couple asks for something unusual, such as a ten-minute film for grandparents or a silent version for a venue screen, add it to the template as an optional line. Over a season, the template becomes a menu of everything you can offer, with runtimes and technical details already worked out. New hires, second editors and fresh outsourcing partners can then produce the right film without a long onboarding call, which is exactly the point of writing the page in the first place.
A clear deliverables page is a small piece of paperwork that removes the most common source of editing friction. Write it once as a template, adjust the runtimes per package, and send it with every handoff. Your editor spends their hours on story, and you spend yours on clients instead of corrections.