So Many Couples Are Choosing Super 8 Wedding Videography—Here's What You Need to Know About This Retro Style

Documenting your wedding on camera is a huge priority for most couples, but adding a video component captures your nuptials from a unique and authentic lens. Hiring a videographer to record your big day brings movement and dimension to memories, allowing you to relive special moments in the present. In 2024, there’s one particular type of videography style that’s trending in the wedding world and taking over social media: Many couples are choosing Super 8 film to narrate their big day.

Super 8 film is a nostalgic medium that produces warm, grainy footage with a soft whirring sound and a romantic, vintage feel that you won’t find with traditional wedding film. “The film we use has a bit of grain and a muted color recording that makes the picture feel like a fuzzy-yet-sweet memory,” says Megan Pettus, destination videographer and owner of Megan Pettus Films. Since film is expensive, instead of constantly rolling, Pettus explains that wedding videographers who specialize in Super 8 often look for highlights to shoot, which creates candid, sentimental footage—not a huge, highly-edited production.

Although Super 8 wedding videography has been taking shape for quite some time, more and more couples are incorporating it into their big day this year. Since 2024 has seen the return of the retro aesthetic, this nostalgic type of film is the ideal accompaniment to vintage soirées. Plus, Pettus notes that weddings have become more personalized celebrations, and Super 8 allows couples to portray their unique identities. “In a world of the anti-bride, where spontaneity and freedom to do what is most authentic to you and your story is [supreme], we see Super 8 as the perfect method of showcasing that individuality that makes our clients’ events perfectly theirs,” she says.

If you’re thinking about using this trending video style to record a portion of your big day, luckily, it isn’t limited to a certain style of celebration. Of course, vintage-inspired fêtes are best suited for Super 8 film, but modern nuptials aren’t excluded. “Super 8 isn’t just for the adventurous and indie,” Pettus points out. “It’s for those who value moments and memories—they see their wedding film as a piece of their family history to be preserved.”

In terms of your venue, this nostalgic film needs plenty of light to come to life, according to Pettus. That’s why outdoor locales, such as backyard, garden, or beach bashes, in the daytime are prime spots for your Super 8 videographer to work their magic. Don’t be deterred if you’re throwing your celebration indoors or at night, however. Pettus says your videographer will manufacture light to capture the footage. “It is the same as your photographer using light, so it shouldn’t be intrusive or uncomfortable,” she mentions.

Since Super 8 film isn’t intended to document your entire wedding, Pettus notes that it should supplement more traditional footage. This type of medium doesn’t record sound, so to accurately depict your special day, you’ll want another digital video camera on deck, too. “Your vows, the way your family and friends speak about you in their toasts, what your spouse says the moment they see you for the first time on your wedding day—those are all moments that will be gone once they are spoken unless we capture them in digital format, preserving them for years to come,” Pettus reveals.

While many couples post their Super 8 video on Instagram Reels or TikTok, Pettus says watching the clip on your television provides the best viewing experience. Although this type of wedding film is currently dominating the social media landscape, the videographer concludes that it isn’t a fleeting trend—it’s here to stay. “We will continue to see videographers pick it up as a new creative tool, and the couples that value this form of nostalgic filmmaking will continue to ask for it,” Pettus predicts.