So you’ve found your dream wedding videographer…
They could have come recommended by a friend, your venue, a planner or another supplier. Perhaps you found them on social media or a wedding blog and were inspired by a film they shared. Or perhaps it was hours of painstaking research on Google trawling through hundreds of companies.
But at last you think you’ve found the one. The films on their website are exactly the style you’re looking for and you can almost imagine watching back your own wedding in months to come.
You enquire with the company and, happy with the commission that’s on offer, you arrange to speak to the Creative Director in person about all your hopes and plans for your wedding. Always thinking back about the films you fell in love with when you found their website.
They speak your language, you get along great and you’re excited about them being part of your day and capturing those memories on film you’ll look back on for a lifetime.
It’s a huge investment. One that so many other couples will regret not making. And you’re sure you’re making the right decision.
You’re almost there. It’s time to commit. To book your dream wedding videographer.
But STOP. There’s one thing that might not have occurred to you but had you done so, might have made you think again.
Who will actually be there filming your day? Come to think of it, who will actually be making your film once all the footage is captured??
Let’s take a step back now.
When I first started out as a wedding videographer the selling proposition of my company was pretty unique. I was a Video Journalist at the BBC with 20 years filmmaking and storytelling under my belt. It was actually my Dad who came up with the name of my company after I gave him a long list of what I was hoping to achieve and do differently in the industry.
Story Of Your Day was the obvious name. After all my intention was to authentically and genuinely tell the story of my couples. I would film every single wedding which I commissioned and I would edit and produce every film. I would be telling a story.
“A woman with a camera telling your story”
After a few years the success of my company meant that some couples wanted to commission Story Of Your Day but couldn’t afford it. I had to come up with a solution for them. I did. To find a hand-picked team of videographers to film certain weddings in my unique storytelling and cinematic style. A style which was being recognised throughout the industry.
At first, I’ll be honest I wasn’t comfortable with the lack of control but soon discovered my team ‘nailing it’ and I could concentrate on the editing of all the weddings, whether they were filmed by myself or by my team.
However the important thing to highlight here is that I openly offered a ‘Creative Team’ option as part of the the service. Most of my clients still invest in having me, the Creative Director, tell their story but those that book always know exactly what and more importantly WHO they get for their money.
So now let’s return to my earlier point.
Who will actually be there filming your day? Come to think of it, who will actually be making your film once all the footage is captured??
Have you asked that question? Is the person you’ve built a rapport with the person who’ll be filming at your wedding? Did they film and edit the films on the website you found or did they outsource?
In an increasingly competitive market place where many videographers are selling them cheap and piling them high. It’s a sausage factory output for these videographers. More and more now not only use different freelance videographers to film their weddings for them but they’re also using various editors to put the films together too.
Apart from selling you ‘their’ services, being a point of contact, and delivering your films to you, they have no other involvement than that in ‘telling your story’.
If you’re OK with that, then great. Go head and fill in that booking form. If, for any reason you’re not so comfortable with that, then now’s the time to ask that exact question before you sign on the dotted line.
With this is mind, there might be other things you had not thought of asking to any potential videographer, so here’s my Top 10 Tips on finding the right videographer for you.
