I’m always for getting as high as possible, but check with the venue’s rules about that. I know a lot of reception halls don’t allow guests to stand on chairs or tables for insurance reasons. Of course, if you brought a platform to set the camera on, you’d be kosher, but again, you need to see if you’re allowed to do that.
As far as editing goes, I heard someone once say that the best editing software is the one that you know how to use. If you can do what you need to on program A, don’t bother buying program B. But that’s only my "If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it" mentality speaking. 🙂
