There is something about hiring a wedding videographer that can be so intimidating. Fitting your wedding film into 5-10 minutes can seem like such a small amount of time when you are looking to hire someone for 8 hours. How does your videographer decide on the moments, can I buy all the footage from your wedding day, can I select the songs used… those are all frequent questions involved in hiring a wedding videographer.
We realize this is probably the first time you are hiring a wedding videographer, or even just a videographer so we wanted to share some insight on what to expect when hiring a wedding videographer and what to look for!
- Style: Generally there are two types of styles that videographers produce, one is a story telling style and the other is documentary style. A documentary style videographer will capture your wedding piecing together the day as it unfolds. The second style of wedding videographer is to tell your story, meaning your wedding film won’t always go together chronologically. Both are beautiful ways of telling your wedding day! To give you an example we would describe ourselves as storytellers. We want to tell your love story through a combination of candid moments and staged moments that we plan like reading letters, first looks, and more. We then take these moments and put them together to tell your story, no matter what moment comes first.
- Editing Style: Just like photography, videographers all have their own editing style. There are a bunch of different terms to describe a videographers style, some are true to color, some use muted tones, others like vibrant colors and we could go on. Generally we recommend going with a similar style as your photographer!
- Music Selection: Understanding how the music for your wedding video is selected is so important. We often get asked if our couples can pick the song that their wedding film is to. The short answer is maybe… but if we are being honest we prefer you don’t. The first reason for that has to do with licensing. In order to use music in your film videographers have to license it. And no every song is created equal, so we want to make sure we are able to secure it first. The second reason is, just like movies background music can make or break a scene, so ensuring we are matching the feel of your wedding with the music can make a video great or not so great. If your wedding was really upbeat, with lots of laughter and dancing an upbeat song is perfect, but if your wedding is more romantic and emotional a slower song would suit it much better!
- Coverage Time: This is a big one! If we are being honest the more coverage the better! The more moments a videographer is able to capture the more of your story that can be told. Unlike photography those getting ready moments and reception exits can add so much to a wedding film, whether you think you want them or not.
All in all taking a look at a videographer’s portfolio is a good place to start. We may be biased but we feel getting to know our couples makes a huge difference in the final film we are able to produce of them. If you have any questions we would love to chat with you and help with your search even if we aren’t the right fit for you!
