Videographer Advice

Videographer was a last minute decision for daughter (it didn't fit in the main budget, but she decided to add it after receiving an unexpected bonus at work). She went with a married couple who charged $100 per hour including all the raw footage. She booked them for 7 hours and then bought a 6-8 minute highlight video. In total she spent about $1500. She recently received the raw footage (about 6 hours worth), and while not everyone would want to invest 6 hours, she, SIL and I have watched it multiple times. It's nice having two different perspectives on things -- especially the processional/recessional, the ceremony (there is video of both the B & G's faces/reactions), dancing at the reception, etc. There's so much going on during a wedding, it was great to have video of different things/reactions going on at the same time. Daughter's really happy that she "bit the bullet" and went for it.

Do your homework! I think finding the right videographer ultimately comes down to what you're looking for with the service. There are so many types of videography styles, so really finding a company whose videos you like is important. Before I got engaged I didn't think I would want a videographer, but now that I'm engaged and am planning my wedding it's pretty high up on the priority list. So much time/energy is spent planning for one day and I'm sure it's going to go by in the blink of an eye. I like the idea of having a video that you can look back on to see all of the details and have memories of people who were in attendance. Personally, I'm going with a company who offers two videographers so they can capture more moments (i.e., bride getting ready and groom getting ready), and I'm hoping for a recap video of 6-10 minutes. I think a brother/sister or husband/wife duo would be nice to work with. I've noticed that the amount of filming hours differs too, like anywhere from 6-10 hours/day depending on what you want/need. I also prefer the companies who use audio from the day (i.e., vows) into their films in order to create more of a story, rather than just capturing moments from the day and playing them to a song. I've been cost-comparing companies and I've seen a range from $3-$8k.

I'm going to skip on the raw footage because I don't plan on editing the material myself. I would imagine it would be extremely choppy and difficult to watch straight through.

View Quoted Comment Thank you so much! Yes it was something I'd wanted but didn't really fit into our budget.. I also considered possibly hiring a student at the college I work at. One I found was unresponsive to emails so not something I want to deal with for the wedding so started looking at other options.

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Because she only started looking for a videographer 4-6 weeks before the wedding, daughter found hers on thumbtack! It was kind of out of character because she was super picky about all of her other vendors, but because it was so last minute she knew she wasn't going to have a lot of options. Also, she wasn't willing to pay $****, which is the more typical price in our high cost area. The couple she went with let her choose what she wanted from an a la carte price list. She liked that the raw footage was included in her base hourly cost. The downside is that according to her contract, she didn't get the raw footage until 3 months after the wedding and won't have the highlight video until 6 months, but it was a tradeoff she was okay with.

I found a husband and wife team. They will hang out with us all day. I wanted videographers because as a bride you come out last and I want to be able to look back on the day. My brother and SIL had 1 videographer that was a guy and it was a little awkward at times when we were getting ready. Other than that, if it's in your budget, I say go for it!

I 100% believe that having 2 videographers is absolutely necessary for your wedding day. My husband and I are videographers ourselves and us both being there to bounce off the other one is so helpful. I typically stay with the bride the majority of the day, and he stays with the groom and then while I'll be capturing the detail shots of the reception, he will get the drone shots and/or video. We also like to get 2 different angles (one zoom, one wide) of bridal portraits, bridal party, and family portraits. It makes your day go so much smoother and you will love the end result!

For raw footage, the reason why some may not is because typically a wedding is over 100GB of footage. To send this electronically to a client, is a daunting task and it requires a lot of "clean up" that you wouldn't expect so most videographers (myself included) do require an extra fee for this.

Personally, the package that I chose for my wedding day was $3,000 and included this, but obviously we were picky:

3-7 minute cinematic highlight film
2 videographers
3 cinema cameras
fully edited ceremony, speeches, dances, cake cutting, etc. (all the special moments)
full day coverage
drone footage
final handoff: 1 digital copy (usb), facebook-ready .mp4 mediazilla delivery

Hope this helps and happy planning!