Wedding Video; Make the Right Choice

It is every young girls dream to have a perfect wedding day and as such a lot of thought is put into. One of the most important things about a wedding is memories and the best way to capture these memories is in a wedding video.

In 2005 The Wedding and Event Videographers Association (WEVA) conducted a survey that showed only 50% of Brides put their wedding video in a top 10 wedding priority list before the event but that figure changed to 79% after the event when the importance of a good wedding video was realised as becoming a great memento for a fabulous day.

Unlike the massive amount of money spent on caterers and flowers, and some will even say photo’s, nothing brings the memory of the wedding back as much as perfect wedding videography. Not only does it capture moments that you remember but it also provides the chance for your children to share in the big day years later and give dad a gentle ribbing for his out of date suit or say how beautiful and elegant old aunty Jenny looked in her youth. This is why a quality wedding video should be seen as an investment and not just another add on to your wedding, choosing based on price alone.

Make the effort to get the right professional for the job. This will mean looking at as many different wedding videographers work as possible so you can make an informed decision on how you want your personal video to look. Not only should you look at the technical quality of their finished product but also assess their personal skills. If you don’t feel a connection with your chosen person then your wedding video won’t be warm and personable.

The best place to start your search for the perfect wedding video is at a wedding show or convention. Generally, you will find all you need at one of these fairs and videographers will be there en masse, advertising their abilities and products. It will give you a chance to meet them personally and also watch samples of their work, and look at their wedding video production which will allow you to create ideas in your head on what you want in your video and how you want it to look.

It is also worth searching the internet for a local wedding videographer and checking their websites for sample clips and satisfied customer testimonials. Sometimes it is even worth contacting another couple and getting a personal review before making your choice.

When narrowing down your choices, ask the videographer to supply you with a sample DVD so you can see a finished product and how it is put together. Check features like menus, video quality and audio quality. Whilst it is great having the film, the audio needs to be high quality also, to put the pictures into context. Ask about audio recording. Do they use separate wireless microphones or just the inbuilt microphone on the video camera?

It is now becoming popular for couples to have some sort of video playing at their wedding reception and your wedding videographer can help you put something together such as a photo montage or couple vignette. The first is when the couple provide photos of each other from birth up to the wedding day that are set to music. The couple vignette is like a short film where the couple before the wedding and shoot a short video on how they met and important anecdotes about each other. Either idea can be shown as a main event at the reception or just something that is on repeat in the background for viewing pleasure.

There are no real guidelines when it comes to cost as each package can vary massively. A good way to compare prices however would be to;

Check how many final copies you receive,

Check how long the final coverage will be,

What additional features are offered?

Find out how long the editing will take.

Other factors that affect the cost can be location (including competition), time of the year, day of the week, number of camera men and hourly paid verses package cost.

Most people expect their wedding video to be available soon after they return from their honeymoon. What they fail to realise is that the shooting of the video is the easiest and quickest part of the whole process.

Wedding video editing to a good standard takes hours, days and even weeks. A basic rule of thumb for any type of videography is it takes one hour to edit one minutes worth of video! Imagine also if your man has a backlog to get through and you can see how long it takes to produce quality. If your professional tells you it will be back in a few weeks following the wedding then this should be looked upon suspiciously. They either have no backlog, which means no other customers, or they don’t produce a quality product, either way, it could be a sign to look at someone else for shooting your wedding video.

Most importantly; don’t be afraid to ask for references for your own wedding video and book in advance. If you want a quality wedding video, make sure you employ the best people and they will often be in big demand!