A common question that a lot of couples have is about wedding videography and if they should hire someone for their big day?

Some love the idea of having video, others, not so much.

We’ll today, Carole and I would like to give you some sound advice on hiring a wedding videographer and we’ll answer some of the common answers that couples give too.

First, a Few Stats

I will tell you that roughly 63% of couples hired a wedding videographer to some extent in 2018 (it’s the newest data I have from The Wedding Report), leaving about 37% without any form of video for their wedding day.

Of the 37%, nearly 94% of those couples a year later said they regretted not having any video of their wedding day. If you look at Huffington Post, that number is 98%.

Those are pretty impressive numbers when you boil things down a little bit.

Should I Hire a Wedding Videographer?

Well, that depends.

Not everyone is going to see the value in getting a wedding film or video of the day, I get it, TRUST me, I’ve heard just about every excuse there is as a wedding filmmaker over the last 20 some odd years.

What I can tell you is this, reasons why you should hire someone to cover your day or at least the ceremony.

If being able to relive the day, being able to hear the vows, toasts or speeches being said or being able to see the expressions on peoples faces, if you want to show your children your wedding one day on video, then yes, you should get wedding video.

Video, unlike photographers, video offers motion and it comes with sound, so you can visually relive not just a single frame, but that moment in time.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to minimize wedding photos, they still play an important role in today’s day and age of weddings, although, video over the last 20 years has changed dramatically and it’s becoming more of a common staple in weddings than 20 years ago.

Having a professional cover you wedding day is an investment just as images are, think of wedding video as insurance that you’ll be able to remember the day in great detail.

The truth is that as humans, we tend to forget things quickly and over time, things become more fuzzy-minded so to speak.

Let’s take a moment and do an exercise, shall we?

What did you have for dinner last night?

Most people are going to remember that because it just happened, for me and Carole is was a steak with mini potato’s that we roasted in the oven.

What did you eat for lunch 30 days ago?

Honestly, you’re not going to remember unless you either wrote it down, took a picture or video of it somewhere. Basically, unless you had a record of it, chances are you’re going to forget.

Finally, what did you eat for breakfast on August 5th, 2005?

For 99.99% of people, they’re not going to have a clue what they ate on that date.

For me, it was important because my daughter was born on that day and I remember bits and pieces of the day, but I don’t remember everything in great detail, let alone what I ate.

And that’s my point.

Unless you have a record of the events that took place, you will not fully remember. Thus why we tend to have photos and video of important events like a wedding day.

Wedding photography is usually more highly rated than wedding video and that’s because of the age of the technology as well as the perception of it too.

See, photographs have been around since the mid 1880’s and chances are your grandparents had wedding photos taken but not video. Back then video was 8 mm or 16 mm film and most didn’t have sound, not to mention it was very expensive to have a motion film camera at the time.

Even in the 1980s and 1990s, when I started working in the business, the wedding video was more of a luxury than a commonplace line item. 25 years ago, wedding videos were cheesy 2-hour long videos that most people hated sitting through in the living room.

Today, however, couples enjoy short feature films, extremely high-quality ceremony videos with multiple cameras, and digital quality I could have only dreamed about in the mid 1990’s.

And although wedding videography has come leaps and bounds with today’s technology, it’s still far behind in importance as our wedding photo cousins.

The Common Complaints About Not Getting Wedding Video

You’ll find a lot of common reasons why you should skip the wedding video altogether, let me share a few of them with you.

You Can’t Hang Video On A Wall

True, you can’t hang your wedding video on a wall, this is true of any video, but truth be told, this is a common misconception, and here’s why.

Would you take your boat on the interstate?

Yes, I said take your boat on the interstate, because you’re comparing two completely different things, photos, and video.

So, would you take your boat on the interstate? Of course not, you can’t do it and the same is true for media. Are you going to watch your photos on an HDTV and just stare at the one wedding image all day long?

No, you’re not.

So when someone says they don’t want a wedding video because they can’t hang a video on a wall, just know they are talking about two very different things.

It’s Not Important to Capture my Important Moments on Video

Listen, I will tell you that having a video truly isn’t for everyone out there, some brides honestly don’t care much about their wedding day and pictures are just fine.

Do you know why Facebook has chosen to showcase more video than images in recent years?

It’s because people will stay longer watching a video than looking at an image and that helps increase likes, shares, and ultimately more ad revenue for Facebook.

Well, the same applies to video of any sort, you’re more likely to watch a video longer than a single image and that’s important in our technological society in 2020.

It Just Costs So Much

Well, not really.

When you compare the price of wedding photography and wedding video, couples tend to spend much more on photos, again thats because photos have been around longer and historically, couples choose photos first because their parents got pictures and their parents did and so forth.

While professionals come in all price ranges, from just a few hundred bucks to tens of thousands of dollars, wedding video pricing has increased some in the last 10-12 years, but it’s still cheaper than most photographer professionals.

Wedding Videos are LONG and Boring, No One Will Watch Them More Than Once

Some people will say that wedding videos are these two hour long, boring documents of the wedding day. Well, they used to be for the most part, today they are short (3-15 minutes), with background music, edited voice tracks of the couple or officiant and they tell a story.

As for people only watching them once or twice, we’ll I’d have to disagree with that. Every-time I place one of my wedding films on social media, they get LOTS of views, lots of comments and many of my clients say they watch them over-and-over.

Things to Look For in a Wedding Videographer or Filmmaker?

If you do decide on hiring a professional for your wedding day, there are a few things that you should know before you shop around and we’ve put that information together for you. As a Virginia-based wedding videographer, I can tell you that one of the first things you need to look out for is experience.

2+ Years of Experience

First, look for someone that has a couple of years under their belt, and here’s why.

They are going to have roughly 20-40 weddings under their belt and they’re going to have the equipment needed to make a fairly good wedding video or film.

Some common camera equipment types include the Sony A7iii, Panasonic GH5, or S1 as just a couple of examples. Videographers (sometimes called filmmakers) will bring far more equipment to a wedding than most photographers.

A Ceremony Edit

You will want to find someone that will offer a ceremony video with at least 2 cameras if not 3 or 4 along with a wireless microphone or input for an audio board.

If your wedding is 15 minutes, you should have a 15-minute video, you get the idea. Make sure it’s not a one-camera raw feed but edited with the cameras.

Highlight or Feature Film

While the name sometimes changes, a highlight or feature is a short story-line based video.

They can vary in length from just a couple minutes to about 20 minutes tops, but they can be narrated, they have licensed music and they usually tell a story of the day and evoke emotion.

Offering you Value-Added Services

Finally, find someone with value-added services.

Think of things like drones, gimbals, warranties, live-stream, and other things that can help enhance your video or film and your overall value.

Many filmmakers today will offer some things like drones included in the overall price, but we always recommend that you ask about it before you sign a contract.

How Much Should We Pay for a Videographer?

Well, nationally, the average price range is about $1,799 according to Wedding Wire.

You will find newbies offering services under $1,000 and you’ll find people like Ray Roman and his film company that start out at $10,000 just to book him in the immediate NYC region, a LOT more elsewhere. (Trust me, his work is among the best in the world)

But for most of us, $10,000 as a starting price is a bit out of budget.

We recommend that you spend about 5-9% of your overall wedding budget on a wedding filmmaker.

When you compare that to the $34,000 national average, that’s about $1,500-$2,000 give or take.

Price also depends on the region you live in, Roanoke, VA for example is fairly cheap compared to Washington DC and Orlando is so cheap that $1,000 gets you what $2,000 does in Louisville, KY.

Final Thoughts

If you are adamant about not having a video for your wedding day, I suggest you at a very minimum look into hiring a professional for the ceremony, it’s generally cheaper than having them all day covering the wedding and reception and MUCH cheaper than hiring them for a highlight or feature film.

One thing I can tell you is that should you choose to ignore this category of wedding vendors, chances are you will regret it within a year or two.

That’s not just me saying it as a wedding videographer myself, it’s proven by stats.