Haitian wedding video editing, from the church to the cortege
Many Haitian weddings move between two languages and two moods: a church ceremony with hymns, prayers and vows in Haitian Creole, French or both, then a reception where the bridal party dances in as a choreographed cortege and kompa keeps couples on the floor late into the night. With WeddingEditor you upload the footage from the day, write which people, speeches and entrances matter, and WeddingEditor's AI editing makes a Highlight Reel of about 5 minutes or a Social Teaser.
The band, the DJ, the toasts and the church choir can be heard alongside music, in the balance your audio preference sets.
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Last updated October 2026
How to get a Haitian wedding edited
- 1
Upload the church and the reception
A Haitian wedding usually gives you a ceremony in a Catholic or Protestant church and a reception in a hall, often with a large wedding party and a second shooter covering the other side of the room. Put every camera's clips and any separate audio files into one project, without renaming or trimming them. File count and total size are unlimited, and a single file may be as large as 5 GB.
- 2
Write the brief only you can write
WeddingEditor never met the couple or their families, so your answers to the optional preference questions point the edit to the right faces. In "Before we start", name the parents, the godparents if the couple chose them, and the wedding party pairs, say which speeches matter and in which language, and list the entrances and dances you need. Skip any question you have no view on; nothing is assumed for it.
- 3
Start processing, then watch it
Pay for One Wedding or spend a plan credit, then start processing, which typically takes 24 to 72 hours with no fixed promise, before the edit lands in your project. Watch it in the app, download the 1080p MP4, and if something is off, send notes by email for up to two revision rounds on that same edit.
Preference notes for a Haitian wedding
Write the way you would brief someone who has never been to a Haitian wedding: names, clothing, order and language.
People to find
"Bride in an ivory gown with a long cathedral veil, groom in a navy three-piece suit. Please feature her mother (gold dress, head wrap) and his grandmother, who sits front left in church in a lilac hat. The couple's godparents walk in right after the parents."
The cortege
"Twelve pairs in the cortege, bridesmaids in emerald, groomsmen in black with emerald ties. Keep the whole routine readable: the opening pose, the turn in the middle, and the moment the couple arrives last. Wide angle from the balcony camera works best here."
Speeches and language
"The best man speaks in Creole and his speech gets the biggest laughs; keep a full line or two of it. The father of the bride speaks in French. The maid of honor speaks in English. A short piece of each, please."
Church moments
"Catholic Mass at Notre Dame d'Haiti. Must include the walk down the aisle with her father, the exchange of rings, the kiss, and the choir as they leave. The priest asked us to stay behind the last pew during the consecration, so those shots are distant."
The dance floor
"First dance is to a kompa ballad played by the live band. Keep a good stretch of the band's sound under it, then cut to the aunties pulling the groom onto the floor."
Leave out
"Skip the long buffet line and the gap while the band set up. The bride's cousin in the red jacket asked not to appear."
What Haitian wedding footage usually includes
Practice varies by family, church and city, and diaspora weddings often mix customs. These are common patterns, not rules.
A civil and a church wedding
In Haiti the legal marriage is performed by a civil registrar, the officier d'etat civil, and many couples also marry in church. Catholic Mass is common, and so are Baptist, Adventist and Pentecostal ceremonies, each with its own hymns and length. Diaspora couples marry under local law and often keep the church service as the main event.
Creole, French and often English
Prayers, readings, vows and toasts can switch between Haitian Creole and French in the same hour, and weddings in Miami, New York, Boston or Montreal add English (or Quebec French). Naming which voices to keep matters more than usual when the room changes language.
A large bridal party and a cortege
Wedding parties are often big, and at many receptions the bridal party enters in pairs as a cortege, sometimes with a rehearsed routine, before the couple's own entrance. It is often one of the most filmed parts of the night.
Kompa, food and kremas
Kompa (konpa) from a live band or a DJ drives the dancing, with couples dancing close. Tables commonly carry griot, diri ak djon djon, pikliz and bannann peze, and kremas, a sweet creamy drink, is often poured at celebrations. These make good cutaways if you filmed them.
Choir, band and music together
The finished edit can carry the audio from your own footage, the choir, the band and the toasts, with music working alongside it. Your audio preference sets the balance: More speeches & voices, Balanced speech & music, or Mostly music-led.
One edit for each project
A project returns one edit, either a Highlight Reel of about 5 minutes or a Social Teaser. For a separate film of the reception, open a second project; it uses its own purchase or plan credit.
Parts of a Haitian wedding and what to note in the preferences
| Part of the day | What to film or flag | A preference note for it |
|---|---|---|
| Getting ready | Both homes or hotel rooms, the dress, the parents' first look, prayers before leaving in some families | "Keep her mother fastening the veil." |
| Church ceremony | The processional, readings, hymns, vows, rings and the recessional; Mass for many Catholic couples | "Vows are in French; keep them audible." |
| Civil signing | The registrar, the signatures and the witnesses, sometimes on another day | "Civil signing was Friday, separate folder, use one shot." |
| Cortege | The bridal party entering in pairs, a rehearsed routine, then the couple | "Show the full cortege routine once, wide." |
| Toasts | Speeches in Creole, French or English, often with a master of ceremonies | "Best man in Creole matters most." |
| Dancing | First dance, kompa with the band or DJ, family pulled onto the floor | "Keep the band's sound under the first dance." |
| Cake and table moments | Cake cutting, kremas toasts, food cutaways | "One cutaway of the griot, then the cake." |
What is a Haitian wedding video edit?
A Haitian wedding video edit turns the raw footage of a Haitian or Haitian diaspora wedding, usually the church ceremony and the reception, into a short film for the couple. With WeddingEditor it is a Highlight Reel of about 5 minutes or a Social Teaser, cut from the files you upload by WeddingEditor's AI editing and guided by the names, speeches and moments you write in the preference questions.
It is not a recording of the whole Mass or the whole reception, and it is not a film of the civil ceremony alone. If you want the civil signing on its own, make it a separate project.
Haitian wedding editing questions
Can the edit keep speeches in Haitian Creole and French?
Yes, real speech can carry the film whatever language is spoken. Name which speakers to keep and roughly what they said, for example "the uncle's toast in Creole about how the couple met", so the right lines are chosen.
Will the cortege be in the highlight?
If you ask for it. List the cortege in the moments that must be included, say how many pairs there were and which camera covered it best. A routine with many pairs is long, so say whether you want it whole or as a few beats.
Will the film have music on the dance floor scenes?
Yes, in the balance you choose. The edit uses music alongside the sound in your footage, so a live kompa band or the DJ's set and the music in the edit share the dance floor. Pick More speeches & voices if the band itself should lead.
The civil ceremony was on a different day. Can it go in the same edit?
Yes, as long as its files are uploaded to the same project before you pay. Everything in the project is used as one pool of footage, and you can note in the preferences how much of the civil signing to show.
Does WeddingEditor decide what is appropriate to show in church?
No. The edit follows your notes. If the priest or pastor limited filming during parts of the service, or the family wants a prayer left out, write that in the question about anything to avoid.
Can my second shooter upload from the reception?
Yes, if they are signed in to your WeddingEditor team. WeddingEditor sets up a team upload link so their files reach the same project as yours.
How much is one Haitian wedding edit?
One Wedding is $119 one-time for one wedding; on a monthly plan the project uses one credit instead. Up to two revision rounds by email are part of every full edit.
More for Haitian weddings
From the church vows to the last kompa, edited around your notes
Create your account, upload the day, and write whose voices and which entrances belong in the film.
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