Somewhere between the first march-in and the yam seng, most Singapore wedding banquets dim the lights for a few minutes of photos and music telling the couple’s story. A good wedding montage video makes guests laugh, gets parents teary and gives everyone a glimpse of who you are together. A rushed one runs too long, has blurry photos and stalls on the venue’s screen. This guide covers how to plan, gather material, choose music responsibly and time the screening, whether you make it yourselves, hand it to a friend, or brief an editor. It is about the pre-made story video you prepare before the day, not a same-day edit filmed by your videographer.
Decide the Story Before Collecting a Single Photo
Start with a simple structure. Montages that work usually follow a clear arc:
- Growing up: a handful of baby and childhood photos of each of you, ideally in parallel (two school photos side by side always gets a reaction).
- How you met: the place, the friends, the first photo together.
- Building a life: trips, milestones, pets, the proposal, your first home or BTO key collection.
- Thank you: photos with parents, family and friends, ending with a message to guests.
Agree on the tone early. Funny and light, sentimental, or a mix? This shapes your music, captions and how much text you use. If you have already written your story for a wedding website, reuse it as a script outline. Our guide to writing your love story for your wedding website has prompts that work equally well here.
Collecting and Preparing Photos
Give yourselves at least six to eight weeks for this stage. Old photos live in albums at your parents’ homes, on old phones and in friends’ cloud folders.
- Ask family early. Parents and grandparents often hold the best childhood photos. Ask them to pick a few favourites rather than handing over every album.
- Scan properly. Use a flatbed scanner or a phone scanning app with good lighting, and avoid glare from glossy prints. Crop out album borders.
- Use a shared folder. Create one shared cloud folder with subfolders by chapter, so friends can contribute group photos.
- Choose quality over quantity. As a rough guide, many couples use somewhere around 50 to 100 photos for a video of a few minutes. Cut duplicates and anything too blurry to read on a big screen.
- Check consent. Ex-partners, embarrassing moments of friends and photos of children should be used with care. If in doubt, leave it out.
- Short clips help. A few seconds of phone video (the proposal, a dance, a pet) breaks up still photos nicely.
Name files with numbers in order (001, 002 and so on) so they stay sorted when you edit.
Choosing Music and Understanding Licensing
Music sets the mood, but it is also the part couples most often overlook legally. Songs are protected by copyright, and playing music publicly or including it in a video can require permission.
In general terms:
- The venue’s music licence may cover some public playing of music, but whether it covers a video you bring is something to confirm with your banquet coordinator.
- If the video will be posted online, platforms may mute or block it because of copyrighted songs.
- Royalty-free or properly licensed music from reputable music libraries avoids most of these issues. Check the licence terms for personal or event use.
- Original music or a friend’s recording, with their permission, is another option that feels personal.
This is general information, not legal advice. In Singapore, public performance rights for many songs are administered by a collecting society, so if you are unsure, ask your venue or consult the relevant rights organisation or a lawyer.
Two or three songs usually suit a montage: something nostalgic for childhood, something upbeat for the dating years, and a warm track for the thank-you section.
DIY, Friend or Professional Editor
| Option | Pros | Cons | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| DIY with a free or consumer editing app | Personal, low cost, full control | Time-consuming in the busy weeks before the wedding | Couples comfortable with basic editing |
| A talented friend | Personal touch, may know your story | Pressure on the friendship, deadlines can slip | Close friends who have edited before |
| Professional editor or wedding videographer add-on | Polished results, handles formats and timing | Costs more, needs a clear brief | Couples short on time or wanting a cinematic style |
Whoever edits, give them a written brief: target length, chapter order, music choices, any captions and names spelt correctly, and a deadline at least two weeks before the wedding.
Timing the Montage at Your Banquet
Most guests’ attention lasts only a few minutes once food is being served. Many couples aim for roughly three to six minutes. Anything much longer tends to lose the room.
When to screen it is a decision to make with your venue coordinator and emcee:
- Before the first march-in while guests settle, so it sets the mood.
- Between courses before the second march-in, a common choice that covers your outfit change.
- Alongside other programme items, such as speeches or games. Our guide to wedding banquet games and entertainment can help you plan the flow.
Agree on exactly who will press play, and give the emcee a cue line to introduce the video. For a full overview of the evening’s running order, see the wedding banquet explained.
Technical Checks That Prevent Disasters
- Format: Ask the venue’s AV team which file format, resolution and aspect ratio they prefer. A common widescreen MP4 file usually plays smoothly, but confirm.
- Test on site: Play the full video on the actual screen and sound system during your rehearsal or venue walkthrough. Colours, subtitles and volume often look different on a large projector.
- Backups: Bring two copies on separate USB drives and keep a copy in cloud storage.
- Audio: Check that music volume is balanced and that any voice clips are audible over a busy ballroom.
- Captions: Use large, high-contrast text and keep it on screen long enough to read. If you have elderly relatives or guests who read Chinese, Malay or Tamil, consider short bilingual captions.
After the Banquet
Share the video with family and friends who could not attend, keeping your music licence in mind if you post it publicly. Many couples later play it again on anniversaries. Store the final file and original photo folders together so the whole project is easy to find years from now.
Further reading: Same-Day Edit Wedding Videos and Whether They Are Worth It