Choosing the best wedding videographer that matches your style
How to Choose a Wedding Videographer
Table of Contents
Videography That Matches Your Style
Most couples do not have much experience when it comes to finding the best wedding videographer and it can be a daunting prospect. How much should you budget? How long does the process take? What style of wedding film do you want? These are all valid questions and any good wedding videographer should be able to easily answer your queries from the first meeting.
We thought we would fast track your quest to finding your dream wedding videographer by sharing our advice and tips, so you’re in the know before you even book your first appointment.
Wedding Planning 101
This is wedding planning 101, and it applies to every supplier you are looking to book. Before you start lusting over lace or getting giddy with ganache, book your wedding venue. It’s your baseline, as the availability of your venue will affect every other supplier and its location/type may bring extra travel costs.
Sit down early in your wedding planning and take the time to look at all the talented filmmakers(not only in your local area). If you’re in NSW, search for wedding videographers in the Southern Highlands for example and look through each of their sites. Some of them will have their wedding cinematography packages available to view online, which will give you a good idea of pricing – but don’t stop there! Look through all the other information they provide, including their about page. Just because X wedding videographer is cheaper than Y doesn’t mean that X is right for you, get a feel for their personality and make sure you’re a good match. Besides that, look at what else they offer. Are they based in another area and contract random videographers to work in your area? Do they have a team and offer both photos and video? How many hours of footage do they take and provide? Do they have drones? What are their testimonials like? Do you like their videos?! All of these points will help you decide whether they are worth putting into your “get in touch” column.
Just like photographers, wedding videographers take different approaches to their craft. Candid/documentary-style wedding videos present the events chronologically, without too much additional editing, while a cinematic film is generally more popular, using interesting angles for a modern style production. These are just two options, there are many other styles and actually, you may find you want elements of all of them in your film in order to represent your big day at its best. Maybe a cool music video style shoot for the evening and a relaxed minimalist approach to the day time. It’s your wedding and you’re in charge so find the films you connect with.
Go Old School & Meet Your Wedding Videographer in Person
As we said, there is a lot you can learn from a Google search of wedding videographers in the Southern Highlands, South Coast, and Hunter Valley but to truly know if your chosen supplier is right for you, you need a face to face. In your first meeting bring along as much information about your big day as possible, along with the things that are non-negotiable in your ideal wedding videography package. Besides the hashing out of the final details, your first meeting in person will also tell you if you like them or not! This is really important as he/she/they will be present throughout your special day, so you will want to feel comfortable and relaxed around them. A good wedding videographer will go unnoticed and blend into the scenery, but however good they are, if you don’t like them you’ll know they’re there! So make sure it’s a good match from the off.
Look Out for Warning Signs
As with any major purchase, check the T&C’s (no, actually check them this time!) and the professionalism of the service. If they don’t have a clear contract and seem a little dodgy – maybe steer clear. Choosing a wedding videographer based on price will not always get you the results you’re looking for. Also, find out if they are a photographer and videographer combination. It’s an all too common occurrence these days when a photographer decides to pick up a cheap video camera and start offering video as well. Just as a professional photographer takes many years to perfect thair art, a videographer is much the same with the addition of having to perfect fluid movement, and composition, shoot in a way that tells the couple’s story, be an experienced drone operator plus understand sound and audio which is a whole other speciality.
For the most part, a photography business that also offers video will usually have the 2nd photographer shooting the video, contract another photographer or random videographer to capture the video on the day. The last thing you want is someone juggling equipment in the background of your wedding all day as they try and use the same camera for both photos and video! Consider the editing side post-wedding, this is so different from editing photos, video editing is an extremely creative profession, not something just learn overnight.
Ideally, you want a separate photographer and wedding videographer who can seamlessly work in tandem together. If you find that your videographer is mainly a photographer this may be a red flag, steer clear at all costs.
Capture the Sounds not Just the Sights of your Wedding
One of the obvious, but sometimes overlooked advantages of wedding videography is that you have sound! You can relive your heartfelt vows, hear the little interactions between bride and bridesmaid on your wedding morning and listen back to your Dad’s awful jokes during his reception speech, forever. These magical moments deserve to be captured, and they will give your wedding film another level of narrative. So don’t be shy in asking if your videographer has the right audio equipment to capture the moments you want to be remembered. Also, it’s a good idea to introduce your DJ and Celebrant to your videographer before the big day, so they can coordinate all the necessary audio plug-ins.
A Wedding Videographer Needs Post Production Time
If a wedding videographer says that they can deliver your film back to you a couple of days after your wedding, move them into the red flag column. Post-production is as much an art as the actual filming itself, and it takes time. Your wedding video deserves to be nurtured by a professional who cares deeply about their finished product. Someone who is experienced in extracting those precious moments from hours of footage, in order to present you with a visual representation of your special day, just as you remembered, possibly better! To find out how long they will take to produce your film in advance, and agree on a timescale that is right for both of you. Good things come to those who wait!
We would love to be your match in cinematography heaven, so if you’re looking for a wedding videographer please feel free to get in touch via our contact page.