Depends on how long the people getting married want it to be. I've edited a few wedding videos for a friend and we usually cut them down to about 15 minutes, but some people might want more than that.

My father just got married and the Wedding video is two DVD's, the first DVD is the wedding and is about 20 minutes long and the second DVD is the reception and is about 15 minutes in length.

I would say video everything. Take lots and lots of footage and then edit it down to however long the happy couple want it be.

Customers in Ottawa often prefer 90 to 120 min DVD.
2 hr DVD would normally cover the whole wedding day.

Andrei, http://faqvideo.com

I would ask the people what they wanted too, because If I was getting married, I think I would wan't atleast an hour of footage if not more. I would suggest if possible, however, if you are doing on dvd, to make chapters so they can watch the parts they wish to see at that time, so they don't have to fast forward through an hour of film. I'm not sure if you can do that or not, but thats my advice. Good luck!

White Tiger Films

If you are serious about doing this as a business:

(1) More than one camera (you can't ask them to do a retake if there is a problem and if the ceremony goes long you lose something while swapping out tapes). Set up one so that you catch the faces of the bride and groom and the other should be handheld for catching the entrance to the church, cutaways of the audience, speakers, and the side views of the bride and groom. Three cameras would be even better but...

(2) Proper sound set up. Bride & Groom may not be audible and you really want to catch that "I Do" part so get a microphone in close. The guys running the show often use a microphone that creates bad sound, you might have to work with it, plug directly into the system or something to get the soudn before the speakers screw it up.

(3) Proper Lighting set up. Odds are everyone will be silloutted entering the church if they come from outside, this sucks, this is where you need a second camera to get side pictures of them. Light at the alter tends to be better.

(4) Create seperate movies of the wedding, the reception, etc. Provide a long version of each, and a short slick MTV Video version of each. When I say long version I do not mean the raw footage, but the entire event edited properly. A DVD-R goes for less than a buck these days, use a couple if you have to. Put long versions and short versions on different disks. If you are charging them you don't want to skimp on that sort of thing.

I ended up putting together a wedding video for a friend of mine, when he found out what he was doing I ended up with copies of every MiniDV that was used that day. I spent weeks trying to edit out coughs and find usable footage and audio. A little prep time first could have made the whole thing easy and fun.