A wedding is one of the most exciting days of your life. As exciting as a wedding can be, it’s not without its stress. With a seemingly endless amount of vendors to pick and choose from to bring your wedding together, you need all the advice you can get to pick the best vendors at the best price.
One of the most important vendors to consider is a wedding videographer. Wedding videographers are able to capture your wedding day in a way that wedding photographers simply cannot—with moving pictures. To see the expressions on your spouse's and loved ones' faces is a priceless memory that only wedding videographers can capture.
But, like all vendors, what makes a great wedding videographer? And how do you determine which one you should hire? Well, stick around, and we can help you find the perfect wedding videographer in this ultimate guide.
You can ask that question for any vendor at your wedding. There is always a way to make your wedding cheaper with less outside involvement. You can do it all yourself. But for most people, it’s not worth the struggle and stress. A wedding is meant to be a once-in-a-lifetime event. It’s meant to be enjoyed, celebrated, and cherished. That’s why most people are okay with pouring a lot of money into one. The less you take on in setting up a wedding, the more you can enjoy the process. So if financially possible, hire a professional to do the work for you.
This goes for wedding videographers too. Sure, Aunt Sally can whip out her phone and take a quick video of a few parts of the ceremony. But who knows whether the video will turn out right? Maybe she’s in a bad seat and can't get a clear shot because of 6’4” Uncle Tony. Maybe there’s a crying baby that she can’t edit out. A lot of things can go wrong with video. Not to mention, iPhone quality is okay, but it doesn’t compare to DSLR cinematic cameras.
If you have seen the work of a professional videographer, you would see every moment of your day captured in cinematic quality. It would be done in a way that tells the story of your day. Wedding videographers know how to artistically and emotionally charge your wedding video in a way that connects to you. So instead of putting the burden of capturing your moments on family members, spend a few bucks more and leave it to the professionals.
If you need a professional wedding videographer, visit our contact page linked here.
The first thing you need to do when looking to hire a wedding videographer is making sure that they are available on your wedding date. It sucks to have been looking through an entire portfolio of a wedding videographer whose style you love for the last couple of weeks, only to be let down that they are booked for your date by the time you finally reach out.
To avoid this disheartenment, we recommend that you first have the money saved to be able to put down a deposit immediately when you find the wedding videographer whose work you like. Most wedding videographers book on a first-come, first-served basis. It’s more common than you think to have multiple wedding couples with conflicting wedding dates.
You should plan to save 50% of the total cost of the price of the wedding videographer’s service. While not all wedding videographers require a 50% deposit, it’s best to be safe in case they do.
Once you have saved money, search for 5 or so wedding videographers whose work you like. You can Google search for local videographers, or you can search on Facebook and Instagram. Just about every wedding videographer showcases their work on Instagram, so that’s probably the best place to start.
Once you have about 5 wedding videographers, reach out to each one to inquire if your wedding date is available. Note that wedding videographers usually have their prices and ways to contact them listed on their website.
This could mean a lot of things, but here’s the simplest advice: if you like the videos the wedding videographer you are hiring has made in the past, then tell him about the one video you liked the most and ask him to replicate that. Then, you can begin to ask him for specific things you want in your own video (first look, special moments, speeches, etc.). This helps give the wedding videographer a clear vision of what you’re looking for, and then you two can adjust as needed. Giving a reference point to work from allows both you and the wedding videographer to start off on the same page.
Make sure you discuss how long the wedding videographer can be available for your wedding day and verify that you can fit their available hours into your wedding timeline effectively. Also ask him questions about the packages he offers. The most important question to ask is what the main video being created is style-wise. This could be in the form of a highlight reel or style of video (i.e., documentary, traditional/classic, cinematic, highlight reel, etc.). Wedding videographers offer different styles of video. Some offer every style; some offer only one or two. Think of it like a movie versus a documentary, etc.
Like any profession, experience is preferred over no experience. It can make all the difference. If you’re getting a major surgery, you want the surgeon who’s been doing the same surgery for 10 years, not the doctor who just got out of residency operating by himself for the first time.
It’s not just experience in general that matters. Make sure that the videographer has direct experience with weddings and not just general videography experience. Filming a wedding is completely different from most other types of videography. This is because there are no do-overs with weddings. You get one shot to capture the moment, and that’s it. You also have to have good people skills, and you must be able to work in the shadows.
Wedding videographers are always prepared with extra batteries, extra lenses, and extra cameras, and they always have a backup in case something doesn’t go as planned. If you have never filmed a wedding before, then you may not be prepared for sudden changes and could potentially miss a crucial shot on the wedding day. They know how to stay out of the way yet deliver a video that keeps you at the center.
At R&B Productions, we always have a second wedding videographer and a third camera at every wedding to make sure we always get the shot we need. To learn more about our process, visit our process page.
Keep in mind, the more experienced the wedding videographer, the more expensive they are. This is because the product they deliver is high quality, as they are likely using high-end gear and their own artistic experience along with countless hours of video editing to bring you a truly stellar wedding video.
Remember, this is your wedding. Like any vendor, your wedding videographer should be striving to listen to your needs and set their mind on delivering you the best video that you envision. They should be hospitable, kind, and willing to move things around to accommodate you. You only get one wedding. So if you aren’t satisfied with the way your wedding videographer is conducting themselves or how they are doing business with you, you are free to find another one. Just don’t sign a contract until you are positive that you want to hire your wedding videographer. The further out from your wedding day you find a wedding videographer, the more likely you are to secure your booking with them.
If you are in the surrounding western Pennsylvania area and need a wedding videographer, book us through our website.
And if you are newly engaged, congratulations!
Have any questions? Ask us through our contact page.
.png)
.webp)
