How to Make Your Pre-Nup Video (Your Love Story)

Good friend and famous videographer, Buddy Gancenia, was our heaven-sent (gift from Ninang Janette) wedding story teller. Aside from documenting our wedding Buddy offered to do our pre-nup video as his wedding gift. We actually just planned to make our own since our budget was limited, so Buddy's offer was very much welcome.

We set a date to shoot the video almost 2 months before the wedding. I just wrote the script when Buddy was on his way from Quezon City to Paranaque. I crammed everything in less than 2 hours. It was quite hard to jump-start the script but this is more or less how I structured it (and basically what I do whenever friends ask me to make their pre-nup vids):

Theme
Timeline
Important Highlights of Your Love Story
- When and where you met
- How things started
- How he courted you
- How you said yes
- Highlights of your relationship
- The proposal
What you love about each other (suggested by Buddy)

I had no idea what to do with our video since Buddy said he wanted to interview us. What I wanted to do was share the gazillion of photos and videos we had. One of my friends suggested I follow the flow of the movie, "100 Days of Summer". So I thought our theme should be related to the internet since we both loved blogging and our jobs were IT related. I then traced the timeline of our love story and discovered that our wedding day was the 800th day since we met each other. I then proceeded to unearth photos and videos to show highlights of our relationship leading to the proposal. The rest was Buddy's magical secret sauce.

Here's what Buddy came up with based on the script/timeline I wrote -

I've made a couple of pre-nup vids for my friends and so far all of them were happy with what I made. It was made out of love so I don't think I'd make one for people I don't know. Making your own video or working closely with your videographer would surely make your story-telling much more personal. 

Our Love Story Video

Finally after some trimming our dear friend-videographer Buddy Gancenia has uploaded our pre-nup video. The script, the planning and the shoot was done in just one day. I did the script an hour before Buddy and Jay showed up at home. The script revolved around our theme, "We Clicked" since both Jay and I are online junkies (he's a web consultant/developer and I work for a search engine). Some friends also suggested to use "500 Days of Summer" as inspiration for the love story AVP. I didn't watch the movie, but after watching the trailer on Youtube several times I got the gist.

So I traced back our "clicks" (days) from the first day we met and was surprised to find out that our wedding day would fall on our 800th click (the 800th day since we met). Anyway, here's the video of the clicks that happened before the wedding.

 

Homemade MTV

I would say that the best way to entertain your guests during your reception is by showing some videos. It may be a prepared pre-nup AVP (a summary of your love story) or some photos of videos of what transpired during your relationship. Sweetie and I made a pre-nup AVP together with our videographer (Buddy Gancenia), but we're still waiting for him to upload it on Youtube (he said he is still trimming it a bit). It was a gift from him and I just whipped up the script a couple of hours before he came to shoot our video.

We still keep in touch with our pre-cana classmates via email and one couple, Sherwin and Olive, shared an endearing homemade MTV. Here's their awesome video -

The Pre-Nup Video

One of my friends dumped on me 4 thick albums days before her wedding and said, "Hope you can do our pre-nup video! Here's your dress, we gotta go now. See ya at the hotel before the wedding."

I was faced with a huge problem then - I HAD NO VIDEO EDITING SKILLS back then. I had mastered powerpoint by then, so I ended up scanning multitudes of photos and did a timed video. I have since done a couple of pre-nup "videos" for other friends and it usually goes by this formula:

Once upon a time...
Groom's baby to elementary to high school and college photos
Bride's baby to elementary to high school and college photos

When the prince met and pursued the princess...
Photos showing how the couple met
The courtship

The prince and princess together
The relationship
The engagement

And then the story ends at the point where the couple's pre-nup photos are showcased. A simple, but effective formula. I always choose the funniest photos and I try to relay the couple's love story through pictures. Doing it on powerpoint is kinda limiting and that's why I started to vlog (to learn how to edit videos).

While walking through hoards of suppliers in various wedding expos, I have found it really hard to distinguish the uniqueness of each supplier - especially for videos and photos. I usually end up hiding behind Sweetie while going through throngs booths. I get dizzy with all the flyers being handed out and I admit I have 2 bagfuls that I have not managed to sort.

I was reading through some twits through my Twitter account when I saw Buddy twit about some of the videos he has done recently. I met Buddy two years ago when he was just starting out. He was the one who captured me on video in the very first workshop I gave for PTTC. I eventually saw him again in an IT club meeting.

Anyway, I was kinda in an exploratory mode so I checked out his videos in his Youtube channel and I was very pleased with what I saw. I went through a couple of the pre-nup videos and realized what makes Buddy stand out from all others.

He has passion for his craft.

I have seen a lot of pre-nup videos done by studios and they all do not have heart. They just basically plug in everything in a video, timed with a love song and that's just about it. It's always just a canned, boring thing that makes you squirm in your seat while watching it.

Buddy's videos is like having your friend do it.

These I think are two very important elements when doing your pre-nup video. I wonder if Buddy will give me a huge discount when my time comes. Hehehe. (Just seriously kidding!).

Here's one of Buddy's heartwarming videos -



That's former PNP Chief Art Lumibao with wife Mrs. Jackie Tiu-Lomibao.