Friend Videographer

You will get the best deal with the most availability which is great cause you are likely thinking to get them to record some stuff during the wedding day.  This enlistment often produces the most impacting results because of a lack of experience or equipment to get the shot.  Almost all people in this category get up in your face and distract from key moments.  We have lost track of how many people went and parked down in the middle of the center aisle right next to the family.  The classic was getting literally inches from the brides face with the camera as she was doing the cake cutting.  Professionals are aware of their surroundings and know how to work well with others to achieve a collective success.

Big Company Videographer

You found someone available which is great.  Little did you know at the time of booking that you were not actually talking to the actual videographer.  It was a big company that took what was a lot of money to you and then turned around and outsourced is to someone starting off needing a gig for a couple hundred dollars.  If they spent 2x time editing then they likely spend toward the wedding day then they might be making between $6-7 per hour of work.  As you would imagine it is hard to live below minimum wage and so expect slower work since they have another job.  You also cannot have great equipment at that price so expect lower quality.

Budget Videographer

If the first two options do not sound like what you are seeking you go the route of finding someone actually running their own company.  Solves everything – right?  Well in this category we have often found the equipment used to be severely lacking.  One of the reasons we do not do videography is because to use the true equipment is 30k+ for a body and a few lenses.  Most videographers seem to use far less quality equipment.  We have seen it go so far that the total new value of all the equipment used by a videographer was less than 1 of our camera lenses.  In this category we think it is best to save the money as you may not like the end product because you will likely get what you paid.

Cinema Videographer

On the other extreme of videography there is the cinema production level.  We think most people want this level of work but around a third of the price.  The reason why this is on our list is often couples have not considered in going this route how it will effect other services like photography as often videography can cut photography time in half.  To illustrate, if you are not doing a first look then the cocktail hour 20 minutes quickly becomes 10 minutes for photography and 10 minutes for videography.  While you may think both can shoot at the same time the more cinema things get the more motion there is and the more staged things become.

Here are two videographers we would recommend:

Having worked with them both multiple times we have found that they have different styles but in the end produce what the couple wants, generally at the price most were looking for, and have consistently added positively to the wedding day.  We do not believe in vendor lists but rather just get this question a lot and so like to give a couple options of who has done great work for our couples in the past.  We also like to provide these recommendations because we can work well with their styles of shooting.  The benefit for you is that the impact to photography is far less and the collective end product is better as we can help support one another.  Below are some behind the scenes shots with links to their websites.  If you end up going with a videographer we would love to know the company you chose.