You're one month, maybe only a couple of weeks, away from your wedding. The levels of excitement are building, but you don't quite feel like the nerves have kicked in yet. You're enjoying spending more time with family and friends all in one place. Life is good and the wedding is all coming together.
Then all the invoices start coming in, and you're thinking "jeez, this all ads up pretty quickly." The last thing you want is to not get the value you're paying for - and let's be honest, when it comes to videography, it's not exactly pocket change. So how do you get the most value out of your wedding videographer? Well, here are my top three tips:
#1: Say something personal
I'm going to do my best to tell your story in the best way possible, but I can only capture what's said on the day. The best way for me to tell your story is for you to tell it!
There are three main ways that I would recommend telling your own story, and a recommendation on why each one might be best for you.
The first way is by saying personal vows during the ceremony. This allows you to tell your own story, and express your love, in front of all your family and friends. To scream to the world how much you love your partner. To let the world see a glimpse of how personal your love is. It can be high stakes and requires some preparation, but the payoff is definitely worth it!
The second way that you can tell your own story is by writing letters and reading them out loud. This is very similar to personal vows, except you don't have to do them in front of everyone. In fact, you don't have to do them in front of ANYONE (except me lol). The same concept applies as vows in that you can summarize the highlights of your relationship, talk about how much your love means to you, or slip in a sexy little anecdote if you're feeling it. It's less high pressure than saying it in front of your whole wedding, but is still just as emotional and beautiful.
The third option is to do interviews with the videographer. This is a great option for people who might not be so good at expressing yourself. It's also an awesome option to do in addition to the letters and vows, if we have the time on the day. Basically, the videographer will sit you down for about 10 minutes and ask you questions about your relationship, your love, your experiences, etc. We'll guide you to make sure you tell your own story in the best way possible.
So, tip number 1: tell your own story by saying something personal.
#2: Consult us on the schedule.
Lots of photographers are going to help you with the schedule of your day, and that's an incredible amount of help! Even if you have a planner, though, and are making the timeline as efficient as possible, I would still strongly encourage you to also the videographer.
When people think about photography and videography, it can often feel like they're the same thing. The truth is they're very different, and need different things. While we can get really good stuff using photo poses, the creme of the crop for video comes when we use a lot more movement. To guest the best video clips, in addition to the best photos, make sure to schedule enough time for the both the photographer AND videographer to get what we need.
Also, it never hurts to have more than one professional's opinion on the timeline. Having done my fair share of weddings, I have some ideas on how to make a day run as smoothly as possible!
#3: Tell us EVERY DETAIL!
To be blunt: we don't know what we don't know. There's going to be a lot that happens on your wedding day, and we're going to do our best to capture all of it. But the simple fact is that we're much more likely to miss something if we don't know it's happening.
There's also a huge difference between capturing something last second, and just making sure we get it on camera, vs preparing the shot and capturing the moment in the best way possible. To make sure we not only get every important, but capture it in the best way possible, make sure to tell us everything!
A last little tip: on the day, ignore the videographer. Unless we specifically ask you to do something, just ignore us. For photos - absolutely, look at the camera whenever you want a moment captured. For video it's not so simple. The best moments for video are the little in between moments - dancing with your wedding party, subtle (or very not subtle) butt grabs, crying at a thoughtful gift. Try not to look at us!
If you have any other tips to help people make the most of their wedding videographer, please be sure to leave a comment! If you have questions or suggestions for other blog posts, or if you'd like a wedding video made, please feel free to contact me!