One of the most important questions you’ll ask yourself when picking your wedding suppliers is ‘how much does it cost?’ and ‘can I get it cheaper elsewhere?’. Like most budget-savvy brides you’ll be keen to know that you’re getting the best price. But when it comes to wedding videography, cheap and cheerful can be risky, as Andrea from Shoot it Yourself explains…
“A wedding is a live event and we don’t get any re-shoots like in the movies,” explains professional wedding videographer Danny from Minty Slippers. “This is where the skills of a good videographer come in handy. It is possible to unobtrusively film someone’s wedding, and create a film that is great to watch over and over again.”
“That’s not to say that we don’t use top of the range gear – but our skill set and our eye for capturing that moment is exceptional. You really are investing in something that will give you an everlasting memory – can you really put a price on that?”
“A good editor will be able to craft your story into an entertaining and watchable film that you can proudly share with friends and family. So many couples have their wedding filmed, and it ends up gathering dust on the top shelf. You really want to spend your money on something that you’re going to watch for years to come.”
At the other end of the spectrum in wedding videography, you have the ‘film your own wedding video’ companies, an idea which originated from Shoot It Yourself in 2009. While this is certainly cheaper than hiring someone to film your wedding for you, as you don’t have to pay for a videographer to be there on the day, it is still a professional editing service and you get what you pay for.
“What we find difficult to explain to some people is that whilst we’re not actually present at the wedding, we have to prep, maintain and deliver the cameras and go through all six hours of footage to find the best clips,” explains Andrea McDowell, founder of Shoot it Yourself. “The same amount of time, energy, attention to detail and skill goes into editing a ‘self shot’ wedding video as it does a professional wedding video.”
One thing that is obvious, even from the untrained media eye, is that both types of wedding videography are completely different and appeal to two very different wedding clients. Check out these two clips – one from Minty Slippers and the other from Shoot It Yourself. Which one do you prefer?
https://vimeo.com/86711189
On the other hand, there are those couples who are looking for something less formal, that captures the big personalities of their family and friends.
“We find that we’re a bit like Marmite,” explains Becs from Shoot It Yourself. “We tend to appeal to people who wouldn’t have hired a wedding videographer anyway because of either cost or because they didn’t like the ‘reportage’ style of filming. With Shoot It Yourself, these clients have the opportunity to capture all of the fun and excitement behind the scenes with their friends and family on their wedding day and have all of the footage professionally edited onto a wedding DVD.”
There are, of course, hundreds of wedding videographers to choose from but with so much time, effort and money spent on your wedding day, we would recommend that you choose a reputable company with a proven track record. Remember, there is no such thing as a good cheap wedding video and if a deal seems too good to be true, it almost certainly is!
Your wedding photography and videography are two of the most important things to get right on the big day, as they will capture precious memories that you cannot repeat again. Download our free photography spreadsheets today and make sure you get all the essential shots.
