Wedding content creators have become a pretty big thing over the last couple of years.

You’ve probably seen them on Instagram, following couples around with a phone and capturing little clips throughout the day, usually vertical video that can be posted almost immediately. I can understand the appeal. There’s something pretty cool about waking up the morning after your wedding and already having some footage on your phone to look through or share with friends.

But if you’ve already booked professional photography and videography, I think it’s worth asking yourself whether you actually need another person following you around with a camera.

I’m not against content creators. I’ve worked alongside them at weddings and there are some very good ones. The idea of having someone capture informal, behind the scenes phone footage can be great. My concern is what happens when that person starts trying to do the same job as the photographer and videographer, because that can actually change the feel of the day and, occasionally, get in the way of the professional coverage you’ve already paid for.

So what does a content creator actually add?

A content creator is generally there to capture the wedding as it happens, using a phone to create short vertical videos, candid moments and social media content. It’s a different product to professional wedding photography or cinematography.

As a photographer, I’m thinking about light, composition, timing, expressions, backgrounds and how the photographs will work together as a complete story of the day. Our videographer is thinking about movement, sound, audio and multiple angles, and then turning all of that into a finished film. A content creator is generally looking for the quick, informal moments that look good on your phone and can be shared straight away.

There’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, if that’s specifically what you want, I can see the appeal. The question is whether you need it when you’ve already got professional photography and video booked.

If you don’t have a video team, I can also understand why a content creator might make sense. Having someone there to capture some moving footage is certainly better than having nothing at all. It is worth comparing what you’re actually getting though. Our Essentials video is professionally filmed and edited, is a similar sort of price to many content creator packages, and is usually delivered within two weeks. You get proper cameras, stabilised footage, wireless audio and a finished video rather than just a collection of phone clips.

One thing I’m seeing more and more is content creators producing a highlights reel that looks very similar to what you’d expect from a wedding videographer. They’re filming the couple walking, posing, having their photos taken, cutting the cake, doing the first dance and all the other main moments, then putting together their own little wedding film.

The difference is that if they’re doing that, they’ve spent a lot of the day alongside the photographer and videographer, rather than actually capturing the behind the scenes stuff that makes their role different in the first place. You can end up with another person filming the same moments you’ve already paid a professional team to photograph and film, just with a phone.

And that’s where I think it’s worth asking what you actually want from the content creator. If you want someone capturing your bridesmaids mucking around while they get ready, your mates having a few drinks, guests dancing, Grandma chatting to someone in the corner or all the random little moments happening around the edges of the day, that’s genuinely different.

If they’re standing next to me while I’m photographing your couple portraits, or following the videographer around filming the same thing from another angle, I’m not sure you’re getting the same value from having them there.

The biggest selling point is speed

One of the main selling points of a wedding content creator is getting your content quickly. Sometimes you’ll have clips in your phone before you’ve even left the reception, which sounds pretty good when you’re planning your wedding.

But it’s worth looking at how quickly you’re already going to receive your professional photography and video.

At Wattleseed Collective, our usual turnaround starts the day after the wedding. I’ll generally send around five sneak peek images so you have something to share straight away. Within the first week, I’ll put together a blog post with around 50 to 100 images from the wedding, which you can send around to your guests and family while everything is still fresh. Then the full wedding gallery is usually delivered within two weeks.

I take that part of the job seriously. This is my job and, after more than 10 years in the wedding industry, I’ve developed a pretty strong work ethic when it comes to getting couples their photos. I don’t like the idea of leaving people waiting for months to see their wedding.

We also have our Essentials video package, similar in price to a content creator, professionally filmed and edited and is usually delivered within two weeks. So if the main reason you’re considering a content creator is because you want video quickly, you may already have that covered too, and with professionally filmed and edited footage rather than phone video.

Of course, getting a handful of phone clips the next morning is different from receiving your full professional gallery two weeks later. They’re different products, and if having immediate social media content is important to you, that’s a perfectly valid reason to have a content creator. But I’d still ask yourself what you’re actually hoping to get from one that you aren’t already getting from your photographer and videographer.

My biggest concern is having too many cameras around you

This is probably where my opinion comes from most strongly. Our style at Wattleseed is natural, fun and relaxed. I don’t want your wedding to feel like a production, and I don’t want you thinking about cameras all day. The best photographs often happen when you’ve forgotten we’re there and our Google reviews from couples often say this about us

I’ve worked with content creators who completely understand this. They stay back, capture the little moments happening around us and don’t interfere with the photography or video. That’s great. I’ve also had the opposite.

At a wedding recently, a content creator was standing in the aisle as the bride walked into the chapel. She ended up in some of my finished photographs because there was simply no way to edit her out. She was also standing over my shoulder during the family photos and while I was posing the couple.

That’s where I have a problem with it.

When I’m photographing family groups, I’m not just standing there pressing a button. I’m organising people, working out where everyone needs to stand, looking at the light, checking expressions and trying to get the photograph done without keeping everyone standing around forever. If another camera is sitting beside me, people naturally start looking at that camera too. Suddenly I’ve got someone looking at me, someone looking at a phone and someone looking somewhere else entirely.

The same thing can happen during couple portraits. I’ll spend time finding the right light, positioning you and creating a particular photograph. Having another person standing over my shoulder getting essentially the same shot on a phone can distract you and change the dynamic. Instead of just being together and enjoying the moment, you can suddenly feel like you’re being photographed by three people.

And that’s the opposite of what we’re trying to achieve.

Behind the scenes is different

I actually think this is where content creators can be really good. Capture the bridesmaids mucking around while they’re getting ready. Film the groom’s mates having a beer. Get your friends dancing, the little moments between the big moments and some of the things happening around the edges of the day that might not make it into the professional photographs.

That’s genuinely different content, and I have no problem with that.

What I don’t particularly want is another person standing beside me during the first kiss, the family photos or the couple portraits trying to capture the same thing on a phone. If I’m photographing you walking into the reception, your videographer is probably already filming it. If I’m photographing your first dance, the videographer has that covered too. If I’m setting up a portrait, I’d rather the content creator capture what’s happening around us than try to recreate the photograph I’m already making.

There’s a big difference between capturing behind the scenes and effectively becoming a third photographer with a phone.

Experience matters

Wedding photography has a particular rhythm to it, and after more than 10 years shooting weddings I’m constantly thinking a few minutes ahead. I know when the bride is about to walk down the aisle, when I need to move into position and when I need to get out of the way. I know when family photos need to happen quickly, when a moment is happening that can’t be repeated and when I should simply stand back and let things happen.

Someone can be fantastic at creating social media content and still have very little experience working at weddings. That’s not a criticism. It’s just a different job.

But when you’re stepping into a wedding where there’s already a photographer and videographer working, you need to understand that flow. I’ve had situations where I’ve had to work around a content creator who didn’t realise they were standing in the photographer’s frame or that something important was about to happen. That’s not something I particularly want to be worrying about on your wedding day.

There are other ways to get the behind the scenes stuff

If what you really want is some informal footage of your wedding, you don’t necessarily need to hire another person to follow you around all day.

I recently photographed a wedding where the couple bought a couple of basic handycams from JB Hi Fi for around $150 each and handed them to the bridesmaids and groomsmen. I thought it was a brilliant idea. The cameras were just there, being passed around and used by the people who were actually part of the day. You ended up with completely unpolished footage of people mucking around, getting ready, dancing, drinking and generally being themselves.

There’s another thing I really liked about this approach. Guests seem to drop their guard so much more when they know the person behind the camera. They’ll muck around, pull faces, ham it up, film each other and generally behave like themselves because it feels like a mate is filming them rather than someone they’ve hired.

You could even ask a teenage guest who already loves filming everything to take charge of the cameras. Give them a simple brief: film whatever looks fun, don’t worry about getting everything perfect and don’t spend the whole day following the bride and groom.

You could also set up a shared photo and video album and let your guests upload their own phone photos and clips throughout the day. Again, you’re getting something different from your professional photography and video. You’re seeing the wedding from the perspective of the people who were actually there.

One thing I probably wouldn’t recommend is going down the disposable film camera route. They seem like a fun idea, but they can get surprisingly expensive once you add up the cameras, film processing and scanning. And unless you’ve got some guests who know what they’re doing, a lot of the photos can end up underexposed, blurry or simply not very good. You can spend quite a bit of money for a handful of photos you actually want to keep.

Cheap digital or handycam style cameras make much more sense. You can shoot as much as you like, see what you’ve got and keep everything afterwards.

You might get Grandma’s reaction during the speeches, your mates mucking around in the toilets, the bridal party getting ready or some questionable dance moves that definitely weren’t part of the official photography brief.

And that’s really what I like about these alternatives. They’re not trying to be another photographer or videographer. They’re just giving you a way to see your wedding from the perspective of the people who were actually there.

It’s real.

So, do you really need one?

Honestly, that’s up to you. If you love the idea of having a bunch of phone clips ready to share immediately, then go for it. If you want someone capturing behind the scenes moments that your photographer and videographer aren’t going to capture, there can definitely be value in that.

But if you’ve already booked professional photography and videography, I’d think carefully about what the extra person is actually adding. You’re already going to have professional photographs, professionally filmed video, sneak peeks the day after the wedding, a blog with 50 to 100 images within the first week and your full gallery within around two weeks. Our Essentials video is also usually delivered within two weeks.

And I think this is where social media can sometimes influence wedding planning. You see other couples doing something, you see the clips online and suddenly it feels like something you’re supposed to have. You don’t. Your wedding doesn’t need to have every new trend added to it.

There are also other ways to get those informal little moments without having another person following you around all day. Give a couple of cheap digital cameras to your bridal party, put someone in charge of filming or set up a shared album and let your guests capture things themselves. In some ways, I think you can end up with more interesting footage this way because people behave differently when they’re filming their mates rather than someone they’ve hired.

If you do decide to have a content creator, that’s completely fine. I’d just make sure they understand that they’re joining an existing photography and video team. They should be happy to stay out of the photographer’s frame, stay clear of the aisle during important moments and give us some space during family photos and couple portraits. Most importantly, they should be there to capture something different rather than compete with the people you’ve already trusted to photograph and film your wedding.

For me, the best weddings are still the ones where the couple forgets we’re there. They’re talking to their friends, laughing, drinking, getting emotional, dancing and actually enjoying the day instead of worrying about whether they’ve got enough content.

That’s what I’m trying to photograph.

Not a perfectly staged version of your wedding for Instagram. Just your wedding, as it actually happened.

So do you need a wedding content creator?

Maybe. But before you book one, think about what you actually want them to add. If it’s something genuinely different, great. If it’s simply another camera following you around while you already have professional photography and video covered, there are other ways to get those extra little moments without adding another person to the mix.

The less you’re thinking about the cameras, the better the wedding usually feels. And that’s when we get the best photos too.