For some reason when it comes to planning a wedding, it’s not hard to come up with specific questions for your photographer, planner or venue coordinator. But when you start thinking about videography, your mind goes blank!
Hiring someone to shoot your wedding video is likely the ONLY time you’ll hire someone for personal videography, so it’s no surprise this is new territory. We want to help you through the process and give you a handful of questions that can help make sure you get the wedding video you dream of.
1. How much experience do you have filming weddings?
This is a really nice way to feel out the skill level of your videographer. An experienced wedding videographer may respond with how many years they’ve been shooting or how many weddings they’ve actually covered. However this question can also help you find out some unique experiences that your videographer had PRIOR to shooting weddings specifically. Individuals who have a shot a wide variety of content can often bring a perspective to shooting that is distinctive to their style and you won’t find anywhere else.
So keep an open mind when listen to your videographer’s response. This can be particularly helpful if you’re potentially hiring a cheaper videographer who is new to weddings, but may have a lot of other experience with a camera.
2. What makes your video’s unique?
This question is so amazing because it gives your videographer the opportunity to explain their process and style. There will be times when you’re watching a wedding video and it just pops off the screen and into your heart. Sometimes it’s hard to understand why, but a videographer may be able to articulate what makes their videos different from the rest of the pack.
Look for any spark, any connection you feel to your videographer’s words and work. When you start to feel drawn into one videographer’s work in a way that you can visualize yourself in their videos, you’ll know you’re on the right path.
3. How do you capture the audio from our wedding?
Pretty shots are only half the viewing experience when it comes to wedding videos. The single most powerful thing that a videographer should bring to your wedding is the ability to capture audio for the key moments, like the first look, ceremony and toasts. There is so much power and emotion in those moments and the words spoken will be deeply treasured. That cannot be captured in a photograph.
So pay attention to how the videographers you are considering uses spoken dialogue in their films and see if it fits what you’re looking for. This is going to be one of the best ways for you to relive these memories, so take audio seriously. And if you are curious about how they approach that aspect of the day, it’s always great to ask questions about it.
4. How do you choose music for our wedding films?
Legally, all videographers are required to use licensed music‑‑even for personal wedding films. Some videographers don’t use licensed music, which leaves their businesses and their couples at risk of being fined and even sued! Fortunately, there are awesome resources with incredible music that is available to videographer who are willing to make the investment.
If you find a videographer, like ourselves, who try to go above and beyond for their couples, they may even go out to find single song licenses for more special songs, but not every videographer is willing to go to that length for their couples.
What does a wedding day feel like working with you?
We try to capture the day as it unfolds. Sure there are going to be a times, like during couple’s portraits and such, that we will step in and help pose and create some fun interactions for you during the wedding day. But for the major moments of the day, such as the first look, ceremony, etc, we like let them unfold as naturally as possible. We prefer to blend in as much as is reasonable.
But that’s just our style. Be sure to chat with videographers that you are considering and find out how they typically approach the day, whether they are more controlling or more hands off, and get a feel for how intrusive they may be or not.
