At (almost) 29 years old, I’m becoming something of a professional wedding guest with friends getting engaged and married left, right and centre. When I’m not sipping champagne and eating canapes on a lawn at the weekend, Monday to Friday you’ll find me at British Vogue where I am Senior Social Manager. With that role comes responsibility though, and as such, at weddings, hen-dos and even thirtieth birthday parties, I often find myself assigned the role of Chief Content Officer, capturing the day from every angle.
In 2024, however, my role as CCO might soon be defunct as the latest and fastest growing bridal trend sweeps not just the UK but the world. That’s right, alongside the increase in embroidered veils and faux flower bouquets is the rise of the wedding day social content creator.
Now, before you add another zero to your wedding budget, what is a wedding social content creator? Well, just what you’d expect: a content creator dedicated to capturing photo and video footage of your wedding day, usually on iPhone.
Just as a photo booth and second look have become almost a given at weddings nowadays, I predict in five years time the wedding social content creator will do too. Working in social and as 2024 bride-to-be myself, I’ve witness firsthand the interest in wedding-related content skyrocket, propelled by the stratospheric growth of TikTok and, subsequently, #WeddingTok.
Nowadays, almost everyone wants to share their journey to “I Do” on social media and why not? For many brides, getting married is the perfect excuse to level up their social presence – just look at Sofia Richie Grainge whose Hotel Cap Du Eden Roc nuptials in 2023, and the extensive Vogue coverage surrounding it, rebranded her as the Queen of ‘quiet luxury’.
Stacey Moran from The BTS Bride married in June 2022 and, following her big day, realised how heavily she had relied upon her bridal party and guests to capture high-quality iPhone content for her to share on her own social platforms. That realisation led her to launch The BTS Bride and since then she has built a team of eight wedding content creators who have captured social content at over sixty weddings across the globe.
Stacey puts the demand down to #WeddingTok and, you guessed it, the likes of Sofia Richie Grainge and Madeleine Brockway. “Brides saw the power of capturing and posting real-time content to bring their family, friends and followers along the entire wedding process,” she told TWE. “Capturing footage of significant life events is common practice in today’s social age and so it’s only natural that couples want to do the same on their wedding day”.
Speaking to Lauren Bunnage of the Social Brides Club, the UK’s first luxury wedding social content creator, she revealed she had over 1000 enquiries in 2023 alone and, like Stacey, entered the industry after she wed in September 2022 and wished afterwards that she had more candid footage.
If you recognise Beyonce’s ‘Freakum Dress’ from the opening line, you will know just how TikTok trends spread like wildfire before becoming oversaturated. Rather than arriving at a client’s wedding day with a list of transitions and sounds to lip sync to then, content creators like Lauren and Stacey prefer to capture unscripted moments and employ simple, creative storytelling that resonates with the current landscape on social media.
Given that social content creators always shoot on iPhone, it is unlikely they will replace a professional photographer or videographer but that is not to say they don’t have their own USP which makes them worth considering adding to your supplier list.
For one, the joy of having a dedicated person to capture content as if they’re an undercover guest is that actual guests can put down their own iPhones and revel in the moment with you while they capture it, of course.
Unlike a traditional photographer or videographer, most wedding social content creators will deliver content within 24 hours so that the newlywed couple can pour over a camera roll’s worth of content and relive their big day before they’ve even left for their honeymoon. A salve for impatient brides desperate for a glimpse of photography.
Something I remind people in my day job at British Vogue is also the importance of thinking “social-first” and the beauty of hiring a social content creator is that they get it. Delivering content that is optimised for vertical video platforms (Instagram Reels and TikTok) is music to my ears and of course means the bride and groom can share with their family, friends and followers quickly and easily.
Capturing a friend’s wedding on an iPhone is nothing new but the notion of hiring a content creator to do so certainly is and is set to make waves in the industry in 2024. Whether or not I can give up the title of CCO on my own wedding day is yet to be seen but Lauren puts it perfectly she said: “the majority of our couples are not influencers, they just want to be able to relive snippets of their special day over and over again”.
Watch The BTS Bride and Social Brides Club in action on TWE’s Instagram.
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