Not for: Not a photo culling guide, and not tied to one editor. Everything here works the same in Vantacut, EDIUS, Premiere Pro or Resolve.
Before the first event: sync the clocks
Set every camera and audio recorder to the same time before the first event, and check them again on each morning of the wedding. When clocks agree, clips from different cameras sort into the true order of the day in any editor, and lining up two angles of the same moment is a look along the timeline rather than a search. A phone’s clock is already right; your cameras’ clocks usually are not.
One folder per day, one per event, one per camera
Make the structure before you copy anything: the date first, then the event, then the camera or card. A folder named for the date and the sangeet, with one folder inside for each camera, tells anyone on the team what is there without opening it. Put audio recorder files beside the camera that filmed the same moment, and keep phone clips from relatives in their own folder, so they never get mixed into a camera’s card.
Two copies before a card is wiped
Copy every card to two separate drives before it is formatted, and check that both copies open. Keep one of the drives somewhere other than the studio once the wedding is done. A wedding cannot be shot again, so this is the one step that is never worth skipping on a late night, however many cards are waiting.
Notes from the day
Keep the run-of-show, the names of the people who matter to the couple, and the moments that must be in the film: a grandparent’s blessing, a cousin’s dance that was promised, the couple’s own song. These notes are what you check every film against. In Vantacut they are also what you tell Auto-Edit when it asks who matters and what to leave out, and what you can write in the brief before you press Create.
One project or several
Follow the films you sold. A highlight that spans the weekend wants every event in one project; a separate mehendi reel or sangeet film can have a project of its own. In Vantacut, each clip is only watched once, so footage from the weekend project that you reuse for a shorter reel is not analysed or charged again. Import whole folders, so a missing card shows up as a gap in the day rather than a surprise in the edit.
Leave the files where they are
Most editors, Vantacut among them, read clips from where they sit on your drive rather than copying them in. Moving or renaming folders after import is the usual way a project loses its footage. Settle the structure first, import from it, and leave it alone until the last film is delivered. Heavy footage gets light proxies in Vantacut, so a large weekend still plays smoothly while the originals stay on the drive.
Your footage stays on your computer
Editing, playback and export run on your computer, and your original footage and songs never leave it. To find moments, Auto-Edit shares low-quality copies of your clips, still frames and the speech, and the app asks once before anything is sent. The editor works worldwide, in English; credit packs are priced in Indian rupees.
Questions
Should a multi-day wedding be one project or several?
Follow the films you sold. One highlight across the weekend wants one project with every event in it; separate films for the mehendi, the sangeet and the wedding can each have their own project.
Does Vantacut copy my footage into the project?
No. Clips are read from the drive where you keep them, never copied, and heavy footage gets light proxies so playback stays smooth. Keep the folders where they are while you edit.
Should I rename the camera files?
Rename the folders, not the files. Camera file names keep each clip traceable to its card, and a clear folder name says what is inside.
Get the editor
Windows and Linux now; macOS is coming. The editor is free; create your account when it first opens.