26 Sep Tips on Choosing a Wedding Videographer
There are a lot of videographers out there and several articles meant to help brides figure out how to go about making the right choices. It is not terribly difficult to find someone willing to record your wedding for money. Bill Nixon of Everwedd in Colorado recently put out a great article designed to help weed through the people who just own a camcorder to find the pro videographer who is going to capture your once-in-a-lifetime wedding day. So I thought I’d share his Top Tips List . . . and thankfully, I can honestly say we pass all of his tests below 🙂
– Jamie
FINDING THE RIGHT ARTIST FOR YOUR WEDDING
1. Ask to see a demo. Better yet, ask to see 5 demos. Even better than that, ask if they will bring 25 FULL wedding videos with them to your first meeting. If a videographer cannot bring at least 5 full weddings to the a first meeting, then they probably haven’t even filmed 5 weddings. Ask the videographer if they will bring 5 (or more) full weddings to view. If they refuse or stumble, then don’t meet with them. All true artists and professionals have a portfolio of their work. If they don’t, how can anyone expect to make an educated judgment on whether to hire them?
2. Ask to see or read some testimonials from former customers. My experience is that most people will compliment me about my work, but only a few will take the time to write me a letter. If your videographer cannot give you 3-4 REAL testimonials and be willing to share those couples’ contact information, then they probably made up the testimonials to try to boost their image. It happens all the time, so don’t be fooled by the fake testimonials.
3. Ask the videographer exactly what kind of cameras they use. Most camcorders are not good enough to professionally capture the day for you. You want them to use High-definition cameras. Remember, all HD cameras are not created equally. Also, ask if they bring additional lighting. Your reception will probably have lower light settings and High Def cameras need addition light to help with the capture.
4. Ask them who EXACTLY will be filming and editing the footage. Many larger firms use freelance camera operators to film the events and then they edit whatever footage they get. When they use freelance “videographers” they don’t get any consistency in the filming. Everything rides on the footage that they capture. Without great footage, you cannot get a great final product.