Tips for Hiring a Wedding Videographer

with Natasha Levitan

Transcript: Tips for Hiring a Wedding Videographer

Hi, I'm Natasha Levitan for About.com. When all the excitement of picking out your wedding date starts to subside, it's time to start seriously considering hiring a videographer to capture your wedding day.

Your wedding video is a unique document of your day. If it is done right, you will enjoy it all your life and possibly show it to your children. Let me help you find a good videographer.

Wedding Video Pricing

Like most things in life, in wedding videography there are highs and lows of the pricing spectrum, and it is up to you to see how much investment you want to make in your wedding memories.

At the most basic level, the videographer can capture your wedding so you can watch it when you go home. If you ask a friend or a relative to act as a videographer, beware that you video may be shaky and have low sound quality which will take away from enjoyment of watching.

At the high end, you can ask videographer to do anything that you wish. Here are some of the considerations you should have.

Wedding Video Budget

First, figure out your budget. You should ask the videographer about the packages. You can get either one or two cameras to film your wedding. If your aim is to have good quality of the wedding video that you can enjoy for many years in the future, and not only to save money, always choose two cameras. It will give a possibility to see the event from two different angles, and you a feeling of watching a movie.

Wedding Video Styles

Next, ask videographer about the style. There are two most common styles of wedding videography: cinematic and documentary.

Cinematic Wedding Videos

In cinematic style, the video is carefully planned and sometimes posed as in making a movie or film and the video is captured and edited for the dramatic effect and mood.

Documentary Wedding Videos

In documentary style, the video captures the activities of the wedding day candidly, and often includes moments the bride and groom never see on their wedding day, being occupied elsewhere. Videographers who work in the documentary style shoot as much of the wedding day activities as they can, then select the footage that best creates the narrative of the wedding.

If you can't see video samples of previous weddings on the internet, you can make an appointment view a videographer's samples in person.

Videographer Equipment

Next, ask about equipment. Good quality sound is as important as a good picture. If you can't hear what is going on, the likelihood is that you're not going to be able to watch the video further. You should ask if the videographer uses at least two wireless microphones.

Usually one is attached to the minister to record his or her speech and the second microphone is attached to the groom's jacket to record your vows. You should also ask how the wedding is edited and how long it will approximately take.

Videographer Qualifications and Competency

Most importantly, you should find out whether the videographer has proper techniques and troubleshooting ability to start and complete your video competently. Troubleshooting you ask? Yes. In a live event, like your wedding it is rare that everything will always go as planned. Your videographer needs to be able to instinctively adapt to whatever unforeseen things may occur to ensure that your precious moments are caught and immortalized onto your wedding video.

Thanks for watching. To learn more visit us on the Web at weddings.about.com.

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