The Big Picture // Quality Wedding Videography

If you’re deep into planning your upcoming wedding, we know you've probably already read that the number one rule is to set a realistic budget and stick to it.  Choosing where to spend your hard-earned money isn’t always easy though.  There are so many venues to explore, vendors to interview, dresses to consider… the list can seem endless!  

But continually checking in on your budget and expenses is key in your decision making process, otherwise costs can easily spiral out of control or your original wedding dreams can go quickly out the window.

When deciding where to allocate your wedding day funds, we can’t stress enough that you especially don’t want to overlook those aspects of your wedding that will far outlast your wedding day.  Here, we’re talking about your wedding films and photos. 

These are tangible items that you’ll treasure for your lifetime and will bring out to view again and again over the years to relive your special day.  And you’ll be excited to share with friends and family, and eventually hand down these memories to the next generation, too!  So be sure to spend your money in the areas that will truly matter to you the most in the end.

When comparing vendors, the old adage, “you get what you pay for” certainly rings true for your wedding day photos and films.  If you allocate $1,000 for wedding videography, it would be very unrealistic to expect to receive a $10,000 product in the end.  So set reasonable expectations based upon your budget constraints. 

And when it comes to wedding videography, we realize it’s very hard to compare “apples to apples” because each offers different items and services and package construction isn’t consistent across the industry.  So you really have to decide first what you want in a wedding film, determine if your goals match your planned budget and then do your research to discover who can provide that for you.

It’s true that vendor fees also vary greatly across the world of event videography, especially from region to region, but videographers charge what they do for many reasons.  And in a nutshell, higher prices do result in high-end, quality products.

So what makes some videographers more expensive than others?  One reason is the quality and quantity of the equipment they possess in order to achieve impressive results.  The amount of training and knowledge held by select videographers is also a key factor.  Great videographers also continue to keep up with current technology (is that another new camera?) and techniques in the form of continuing education and skill mastery.

And the style of product created during the editing process makes a huge difference as well.  Artistic, creative cinematic films that seamlessly incorporate both natural audio and a soundtrack are much more difficult and time consuming to produce than a one-camera documentary-style video of the event.  So videographers that only create this second form of video will charge less than those who can produce films in both styles, and who do it expertly.

This highlights perhaps the most overlooked aspect of the wedding film process, which is the amount of time spent in post-production.  The hours and hours needed to edit the film to perfection is always a very significant part of the overall cost involved.

Even your own positive working relationship and level of comfort with the videographer holds value.  You need to be able to have full confidence, before, during and after your event, that your videographer can deliver exceptional, professional service and products to document such an important time in your life.

The bottom line is that you want to hire a cinematographer that holds each client and each job with the utmost importance and is experienced, conscientious and skilled to deliver products you’ll be thrilled to own.  So we say look at the videographer’s body of work, talk to them to see if their style meshes with your own. Then choose a quality filmmaker that you can trust to create the wedding film you’ll love to watch together and will be excited to share with friends and family, including with those yet to come!

www.cord3films.com