Not for: Not a promise about timing. How long a run takes depends on your footage and your connection, and this guide does not guess for you.
What a same-day edit is
A short film of the wedding so far, shown on a screen before the night is over: usually the getting ready, the ceremony and the portraits, played at the reception. It is a different film from the highlight you deliver later. It is shorter and rougher, and the guests watch it with the people in it still in the room.
Agree it before the day
Settle four things with the couple and the planner in advance. Which parts of the day it covers. Which song, because the song’s length is the reel’s length: have it chosen and trimmed before the wedding. When it plays, and who at the venue plays it. And what happens if something goes wrong, so a late screening is a plan rather than a surprise.
Prepare the computer
Install Vantacut and sign in once before the wedding; after that, playback, the timeline and export never wait on the network. Create the project, load the trimmed song, choose the theme and write the brief at home, not at the venue. Export a short test file as MP4, MOV or WebM and play it on the venue’s screen system before the day, so you know what they can show.
The connection at the venue
Auto-Edit needs an internet connection: it shares low-quality copies of your clips, still frames and the speech, after the app asks once. Ask the venue for its network details in advance and test it from the room where you will sit, not the lobby. Bring a second connection of your own as a backup. If the connection fails, editing, colour and export still work offline, so the fallback is cutting by hand, not a blank screen.
Offload, then import
Offload each card to the laptop or an external drive the way you always do, then add that folder to the project. Vantacut reads clips from the drive where they are and never copies them, so add the offloaded copy, not the card you are about to put back in a camera. Heavy footage gets light proxies, so playback stays smooth on the timeline.
Let analysis run while you work
Turn on AI analysis as soon as the first cards are in. Each clip is only watched once, and if you close the app it picks up where it left off, so adding the next card does not start anything over. Auto-Edit checks the cut and keeps improving it, and you can keep working while it is made.
Know your answers before it asks
Auto-Edit asks up to three questions only you can answer: who matters most, the tone, what to leave out. On a same-day edit, bring those answers from the planning call so you are not deciding at the venue. Leave a question unanswered and it goes with the answer it recommends. Then it shows its plan before it cuts. Read it: it is your last look before the reel is made.
Know the cost before it runs
Auto-Edit is charged by the minute: once for footage it has not analysed before, and again for the reel it makes, at the rates on the pricing page. Work out the day’s cost from the hours you will film and the song’s length, and top up before you leave, not at the venue.
What it does, and what you still do
Auto-Edit watches the footage for the best moments, plans the story to the song’s length and lays the reel on a new timeline of ordinary clips, so your own edit is never touched. What it cannot know is your client. Check that both families are in it, that the grandparents made it, and that nobody appears who asked not to be filmed. Add a title with the names and the date as a clip on the timeline.
Check before the screening
Watch the whole reel once, with sound, before you export. Listen for the line of the vows you kept: the song should duck under it. Look at the colour where the day changed light; Auto Balance Colour evens white balance, and the colour page is there for the rest. Then export from your originals at full resolution, play the exported file on the venue’s system rather than your timeline, and keep a second copy on a USB stick.
The film comes later
The same-day edit is not the film. The full highlight comes from the same project afterwards, with a longer song and a new run. The footage is not watched again, so the film starts from what the day’s analysis already found, and that run pays for the film’s minutes only.
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
How long does a same-day edit take in Vantacut?
It depends on the job: the footage, the song and the venue’s connection. This guide does not guess. Make a reel from a past job’s footage before the day, on the same computer, so you know what to expect.
What if the venue has no internet?
Then Auto-Edit can’t run there. Bring your own connection, or cut the same-day edit by hand: editing, colour and export work offline once you have signed in.
Can I keep editing while Auto-Edit works?
Yes. It checks the cut and keeps improving it while you keep working, and the reel opens as a new timeline, so your own edit is never touched.
Get the editor
Windows and Linux now; macOS is coming. The editor is free; create your account when it first opens.