Ask any bride—they will tell you that planning a wedding is stressful. The most important decisions to make include what vendors you choose to go with. These vendors are the services that really pull your wedding together: the DJ, the bakery, the florist, and the photographer.
But the wedding videographer is one of the most important choices for couples who want to relive their wedding day throughout the years. However, hiring a wedding videographer, like other vendors, isn't simple or cheap.
So let's get right into this complete guide to help you navigate wedding videography and how to make the right choice for your budget.
Ultimately, according to Forbes, only 1 in 3 couples end up hiring a wedding videographer. But not hiring a videographer and capturing their wedding day on video is a decision that, according to The Huffington Post, a whopping 98 percent of brides end up regretting.
This is unfortunately true. It’s really easy to google “regret not hiring a wedding videographer” and get post after post about brides who regret not hiring a wedding videographer.
It’s because most people realize the stark difference between a photo and a video. Think about it—photos are wonderful to look at and fondly remember your wedding day, but having a video to reminisce on with your friends, family, and children adds a whole new dimension to vividly cherishing the love and happiness you experienced that day. You can relive the emotions, the expressions, and the sounds of that day whenever you want to. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a video is worth a thousand pictures. This is why many regret not hiring a wedding videographer in the first place.
If you want inspiration for your wedding video, check out some of our work.
The average cost of a wedding videographer depends on many different factors. This includes location, experience, time of year, and the type and size of wedding you are having. For example, a couple having an elopement in Hawaii may pay much more to hire a wedding videographer than a couple hosting a traditional wedding in their home city.
The Knot: Based on a Real Weddings Study by the Knot, couples spend an average of $2,300 on a wedding videographer.
WeddingWire: According to WeddingWire, most wedding videographers charge between $1,000 and $2,500.
With Joy: Wedding Videographers have price range between $1,200 and $7,000 according to With Joy.
Overall, you can realistically expect to pay around $2,000-$3,000 for a high-quality wedding video, with some wedding videographers charging more or less. Wedding videographers who charge more than $3,000 usually have exceptional equipment and/or offer a lot of value for the price. Some charge even higher prices, like $10,000-$15,000, for international weddings or special travel destination weddings. Check out our pricing page for more specific examples.
Depending on the time of year, some wedding videographers will charge more for their services due to the high demand during peak wedding season.
Like wedding photographers, hiring a wedding videographer may seem like a steep price at first, but once you understand everything that goes into creating a wedding video, the price starts to make sense.
Wedding videographers use expensive equipment to film weddings. Depending on the videographer, the cost of their equipment can range from a few thousand dollars to over a hundred thousand dollars. This includes camera bodies, lenses, cages, stabilizers, drones, computers, editing software, and licensing for music.
The wedding day is just the beginning for wedding videographers. The editing process can take months for wedding videographers to finish before delivering to you the final product. This includes video editing, color grading, video effects, music, and assembling the order and pace of the final wedding video.
Wedding videographers are like the cinematic directors of a short film. They use their creativity to capture scenes in real time during your wedding—except they only get one chance to get it right. Wedding videographers are under a lot of pressure to be able to use their technical skills and experience to capture your wedding day as it happens while being prepared to handle unpredictable situations if they occur. On the off chance that something doesn’t go according to plan, wedding videographers always have backup cameras and audio to ensure that no moment goes unnoticed.
Every wedding videographer structures their packages differently, but here are the most common inclusions:
Some wedding videographers don't charge by the hour but rather stay the whole day for a flat fee stated on their package. Others base their pricing partly on the amount of hours spent at the venue on the wedding day. In this case, there are usually three options:
Ultimately, the choice of which videographer you choose to go with ultimately depends on your personal preference and budget. Here are the essential tips:
So there you have it - everything you need to know about the average cost of wedding videographers and what goes into the prices they charge. If you need a wedding videographer or have any questions about your wedding (congrats!), check out our website and fill out our contact form.
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