Videographer

I mean he is only taking pics of the ceremony, not reception!

We are thinking about having a photographer and videographer for the ceremony and the beginning portion of the reception to cover the dances, speeches etc. Then our plan is to have disposal cameras available so guests can help capture the rest of the evening for fun and give us a bunch of unique and interesting photos for memories.

I would honestly hire a photographer to do the whole thing. I love my ceremony photos but my reception photos are by far my favorites. They show us after the nerves of the day were behind us and also capture all of our favorite people in one place.

That being said, I would also get a videographer if you can swing it. We watch our video every few months and it was nice to see the parts of the day that I didn't get to experience (like my husband walking his mom down the aisle).

I'd also hire a photographer to do the whole thing. Firstly, you'll be sure everything important is captured and secondly, you friend will enjoy the wedding with other guests and won't have to worry about the amount of work to do afterwards. Let me ask you this, are you hiring him because of his portfolio and Photoworks skills you are happy about or just because he's a friend first? Because from my experience I can tell you that hiring friends isn't the best option. The clients become less picky and let slip of something they normally wouldn't close their eyes at, because 'Oh, we are friends, why be so hard on them? '. The workers, in their turn, may not be that responsible because 'Oh, we are friends anyway, they won't be offended!'. I'm not saying your fiancé’s friend is a bad photographer or something, but mixing friendship and work just doesn't work out greatly in many cases. I'd think twice about the whole arrangement and would probably look for another photographer. If the said friend really wants, he could bring his camera and take several pictures but as a friend and a guest, not as a hired photographer.

I would hire a second photographer to be honest. My best friend is a professional photographer and I specifically chose not to hire her because I didn’t want her to be “on the clock” on my wedding day. I wanted her to enjoy herself.

View Quoted Comment Ah, that’s a good idea!

View Quoted Comment That makes a lot of sense regarding the nerves being gone and everyone is chill.

View Quoted Comment I’m considering hiring for the whole thing; so, I actually haven’t seen his work (I know!) FH insists he’s good, but the not knowing is digging into me lol. To be safe I’m thinking of another photographer/video

I was leaning towards not hiring a videographer initially. We hired a photographer for the whole event & a videographer for 3 hrs (to cover ceremony and some reception). I was mainly concerned that I wouldn’t get the see the ceremony since I will be the last down the aisle!
Some other things we considered: we are having a dinner only reception, but there are definitely photo-ops that need to be captured (by a professional IMO). Cake cutting, 1st dance, etc. and all those wonderful post-ceremony glow shots of you and the groom! Since our focus was on the ceremony & we are prohibiting cell phones during, we really wanted to make sure to we captured video of that. But if you’d prefer to capture the reception action, you could hire a videographer for a few hrs or just encourage your guests to capture as much as possible. Cell phone cameras are quite good these days!

For our original date, we decided not to book a videographer. However, since we had to postpone due to COVID, we decided to book a videographer for our new date, and we're super excited about it! There are some things that photos just cannot capture: the sounds of you reading your vows, the music playing while you do your first dance, your grandmother's laugh during the speeches, etc. If it's in budget, I would recommend hiring a videographer!


Also, I agree with some of the previous comments: I would avoid having a friend be your photographer. Partly because doing business with friends can be rough, but also because your friend wouldn't be in the pictures. There are many companies that offer photography and videography as a package deal, I recommend looking into those!

Hiring a videographer was the best decision we made! We absolutely love our videos and watch them often. Photos are nice, but being able to see your wedding day come to life on video is a completely different thing. They are worth every penny!

I wanted video more than photo to be honest but that's just me. i think as long as you've got photo then it's ok to not do video but if you have the budget for it, i don't see why not!!!

Hello Miya. While my partner and I definitely understand the pros for hiring a videographer: we can hear the sound of the voices during the vows,the laughs, cheers, applause, the sound of the 1st dance song(s), the groom & bride speech(es) ... things that photos can't capture,we're not having one: partly because we want to splurge on photography (we are having 2 shooters), but also because we think we wouldn't watch it more than once. A videographer, in my mind,is not a must-have but not a waste of money either, I totally get why many brides and many grooms see this as a must-have.

Always hire a professional. Your friends should never be asked to work. Also photo and video are completely different but they both preserve moments in time that you will not remember years down the road if you don’t have them. It sort of defeats the purpose to have a fancy lifetime event and not document it in any way.

Also, if cost is a concern and you don’t care about stylized edits, invest in a GoPro that can be mounted on a tripod. It can be used in the future to document life events such as family reunions, holidays, graduations, kids’ milestones, and the list goes on.