by Emilie and Steve
You’ll have to make some compromises in your videography search to keep expenses from getting out of control as well as making sure you end up with a clean, concise video that does not include a lot of unnecessary extras. Here are just a couple things that we recommend to make sure you include verses what you can probably go without.
Highly Recommend:
- Getting prep coverage (typically the last hour) – Shows off more of the day, helps the video flow better, and really tells the whole story of the day. It’s especially great for capturing the personalities of the bridal and groom party as they joke around and share their excitement for everything that’s about to happen.
- Reception coverage (at least the first half of reception)
- Highlight Reel and/or Instagram Video – Great recaps of the day, and easy to share online.
- Full-length video – The shorter recap videos are great ways to quickly show off the day to family and friends but you’ll definitely want a longer video that dives much deeper into the day. This way you can have speeches and vows in full, feel like you’re reliving the day as it happened, and really see all the special small little moments that may not be included in the highlights.
Go Without:
- Rehearsal dinner coverage the night before – Including this in the video can be fairly jarring since you’re including two very different days and it can really increase the videography pricing, even if only for a few hours.
- Inserting a photo montage – Something else that really interrupts the flow of a video and ends up being redundant when you have video of the moments that were photographed.
- Guest Interviews – Can make people uncomfortable by putting them on the spot, often feels forced, and doesn’t really capture the raw emotion of the day like the rest of the video.
- Sendoff/Exit – Often couples will do a faux send off earlier in the night, which is great! This way you’re still having that sendoff moment while most guests are still present, as well as your photographer and videographer. Having both stay until an actual sendoff at the end of the night may not be worth it since there will be a large gap between it and the last major event happening. There is no shortage of dancing footage so this extra coverage time may just be a wasted expense.
- DVDs and Blu-Rays – Look around you for a second. Do you see anything that can even play a DVD or Blu-Ray? This is becoming more and more common as we move away from physical media. A digital video file is something that you can easily move around between different devices, store in multiple locations, and not have to worry about it getting lost or breaking. A physical disc is generally only recommended for older friends and family members that may not be tech-savvy enough for a digital file.
- Drone – Drones can provide breathtaking, amazing views, no doubt. But oftentimes these are in very limited availability, cost a decent amount to add on, rely on great weather, are restricted in many areas, and require multiple videographers. This is because a lot of attention has to be paid to navigating a drone at a wedding to avoid accidents, so it ties up a videographer from capturing anything on the ground. A better alternative would be having a trusted friend or family member flying a drone or hiring a company that specifically does drone footage for an hour or two. Then you can see if your videographer will add that footage into your video.