RACE

WEDDING

VIDEOGRAPHY

SUSTAINABILITY

STATEMENT

Saying ‘ I do’ to Sustainable Wedding Videography

As an earth-conscious wedding videographer, I don’t just want to preserve your memories, I want to do my bit to preserve our planet, Race Wedding Videography’s Sustainability statement is about sharing my company ethos on what I’m doing to reduce my carbon footprint so I can offer more sustainable wedding videography. I hope it might inspire and help you to be more eco-friendly too.

It is crazy to think but on average a UK wedding produces 14,500 kg C02eq greenhouse gas emissions, which is equivalent to the yearly carbon footprint of an entire household. It’s a lot. So it’s important to talk about it. 

Let’s start with why weddings have such a massive carbon footprint:

• Travel. Weddings bring friends and family together – and that means lots of people travelling from all over the UK, and often abroad, to join the celebration. 

• Food and drink. There’s a huge supply chain – with the emissions to match – to keep everyone well-fed and watered (liquored!)

• Products. So many things will be made and delivered to bring your wedding to life. New outfits, stationery, favours, gifts, flowers, rings… Which all come at a cost to our environment. And don’t get me started on the harmful toxins that sparklers, fireworks, and smoke bombs emit. 

So with all that going on, surely a wedding videographer won’t make much more difference?

There’s travel to wedding venues, takeaway drinks on the road, digital videography and audio equipment with short lifespans, high battery consumption, deliveries from suppliers… Yep, all those little things up. And put all the wedding videographers together and you’ve got – a lot more. 

But here’s the thing…

Weddings are wonderful occasions to celebrate love, spend time with our faves, and make lifelong memories. And whilst they take a lot from the environment, weddings aren’t inherently wasteful. With some thoughtful planning, it’s possible to enjoy a lavish day and minimise your carbon footprint.

And choosing a sustainable wedding videographer service will help.

GoING paperless

This was a big one. I once had drawers, trays, and boxes full of paperwork. These days, I’m almost paperless. In fact, the only thing I print now is my wedding day plans. All my other documents – like contracts, invoices, and receipts – are digital. 

Make deliveries online - FROM USB TO DIGITAL DELIVERY

I am now phasing out my physical USB sticks. By 2025 all your Wedding Videos are delivered through online downloads. I’m so pleased to remove the need for ageing tech, physical deliveries – and queues at the post office! This also is a benefit to you as the wedding couple as you wont have to spend days waiting by the letterbox, once your wedding videos, wedding speeches video and Wedding Highlights Trailers are completed you will receieve them almost instantly. Also at the time of delivering your wedding videos, may coincide with your wedding honeymoon, which means you can get access to your wedding videos in the Maldives or Greece at the touch of a button! With no need for a flight back to receieve your wedding videos.

UsING better batteries

As a wedding videographer, I prefer to work with natural light. But when the sun goes down, artificial light is essential. But the trouble is, lighting equipment uses a lot of – harmful – batteries. So I switched to more Eco friendly Rechargable Batteries for all my tech and equipment.

Leave No Trace & Beyond

Many Wedding Videographers are aware of Leave No Trace and why it’s important, which is a great starting place. But there are more things you can do to help promote environmental sustainability, such as:

• I am encouraging wedding couples to skip locations that are suffering from over-tourism

• I am recommend wedding couples visiting busy locations in the off-season
  

SupportING Diversity & Inclusion

Diversity and inclusion go hand in hand with sustainability. But I am not just throwing in a few diverse models into our portfolio and call it a day. Tokenism is so last season and authenticity is the real winner! This means educating myself about different cultures and cultural experiences as well as actively seeking out diverse models and subjects to represent the beauty of diversity authentically. I also strive to reach out to diverse communities and collaborate with other creatives who share our commitment to diversity and inclusion.Race Wedding Videography’s branding and website has always strived to be more inclusive. I avoid using gendered language like “bride and groom” and use gender-neutral terms like “partner” or “couple” instead.

ResistING Buying New WEDDING VIDEOGRAPHY AND AUDIO Equipment

The amount of gear you are told you need to buy can be overwhelming, especially as a wedding videographer as it is not only visual tech but ausio tech too! And it doesn’t stop once you’ve filled your gear bag. Companies are constantly releasing new models and developing newer technology. Upgrading to the latest and “best” models is tempting, whether that’s the newest camera body or the latest iPhone.

But we all know that the gear doesn’t make the wedding videographer. As a professional wedding videographer I need equipment to do my job and it should be in good working condition. But next time I am considering an upgrade I need to ask myself, “Do I really need it?”