Should we book a wedding videographer?
As a wedding photographer, I get asked this question by my couples quite often and I should be honest with you right from the start: when Anna and I got married in 2011, we didn’t have a wedding videographer.
There were a couple of reasons for that. Still images were really important to us and we wanted to ensure that within our budget we could hire the wedding photographer that we really wanted. The other reason was that we felt we looked (and sounded) awkward on video. We felt that photos could be carefully chosen or edited to make us look better than we would in a video!
The question is: do I regret not having a wedding videographer? The answer is… yes. At least a little bit. Knowing what I know now, I wish we’d found the extra money and got over the awkward feeling. For me personally, it wouldn’t be the footage of myself that I’d be interested in anyway; it would be the record of the speeches, the audible and visual reactions as people showered us with confetti, the mannerisms and voices of people who are no longer with us.
I LOVE photographs. I think they capture so much in a way that video doesn’t.
But the opposite is also true.
A talented videographer – or cinematographer if you prefer – can record elements of your wedding day in a way that still images can’t.
Watch these two films from one of my favourite wedding videographers, and see if you agree.
These videos were crafted by Geoff, the highly-talented cinematographer behind Our Wedding Videographers. Geoff has worked in the industry since 2008 and is one of the very best, as you’ll see from this highlight video of Laura and Scott’s West Mill wedding.
I’d highly recommend Geoff to anyone looking for a wedding videographer. He’s a true professional and as a photographer, it’s really important to me that any videographer at your wedding is easy to work and get along with.
Many couples choose to have a friend record the speeches and if that’s all you want from a video, that’s fine. In fact, I’m happy to do that myself for my clients, if they wish. But I hope those two videos above show how much more a talented cinematographer can offer. A professionally shot and edited wedding video can perfectly complement your wedding photos in the retelling of your day, creating a video that you’ll want to watch again and again with family and friends.
I’ll put it as simply as I can. If I could turn back time, I’d have hired a videographer for our wedding. In fact, I’d have hired Geoff.
