When a wedding video shows up on your timeline it can be just breathtaking. They’re so beautiful! You weren’t even there, and you were never even that close to this person, but you have this crazy emotional reaction to the video because you can just feel the love and joy jumping off of every frame! It’s moments like these that make you realize: you HAVE to have your wedding filmed! But where do you begin?!
Hey everyone! I’m Levi Hanusch, a full time wedding videographer that’s been in the industry for seven years. I’m honored to be writing a post for Avery Earl’s Experts Series, and my goal is for you to come out of this post knowing exactly how to pick out the perfect videographer for your wedding! Here are four tips to help get you there!
Evaluate How Important A Wedding Video Is
You may have known you wanted a wedding video the moment you started planning your wedding! However, if you are on the fence, or are deciding what to budget for a wedding videographer, here are some things to consider.
What do you feel when you watch other wedding videos? Based off of these reactions, you may NEED your wedding to have a highlight video. Even if you don’t feel like you will watch your wedding video frequently, the value of having an audible and visual reminder of the vows you made that day can be significant. Every loving glance and every smile of pure joy in a video can be a tool to strengthen your marriage for years to come!
The budget you set for wedding videography should directly reflect the significance of these memories and reminders. When I got married 7 years ago, we thought we would just have a friend who did some media work set up a camera and record a few basic shots for us. He ended up having a problem with the camera and we received NO FOOTAGE from our wedding day. I don’t blame our friend at all for this! Our budget for a wedding videographer directly reflected the importance we placed on having those memories on film, and I wish we had cared about it more.
All this should get your mind turning with how important wedding videography is for you. If you feel this aspect of the wedding is not important to you, I want to affirm you that it’s OKAY! Everyone is different, and maybe film just doesn’t effect you the way it does others. It’s okay to spend more of your budget on the best photographer you can get
(HINT: Avery Early)! However, if having these moments to watch again is important to you, I urge you to spend time and money to hire the professional that’s right for you!
Understand What Kind Of Video You Want
Wedding videos can vary from real time capture of your ceremony exactly as it happened, to creative highlight videos that showcase your wedding as if it were a scene from a movie. Some videographers offer one of these things and not the other, so it’s important to know what you are looking for in a wedding video.
Highlight videos are a great quick reminder of what your wedding day was like. It is beautiful and emotional, and there is nothing like having that quick reminder to show friends and family who weren’t able to attend what the wedding was like. However, it is also stylistic, and in time you may want to watch the events as they occurred rather than through the lens of the videographer who edited these quick succession of moments.
Full wedding day videos are fully edited wedding moments, like your ceremony, grand entrance, toasts, & exit, put together in real time for you to remember them as they were. If you want to remember that specific thing that happened, it will almost be guaranteed to be in this kind of video. Videos that are put together as they happened in real time are timeless because other than the angles in which they were filmed, they have no creative edge placed on them.
If both of these kinds of wedding videos are important to you, find a videographer that offers both as well! I personally offer both kinds to my clients because I can’t imagine having one without the other. However, if only one kind of wedding video is important to you, you could save a lot on the budget looking for a videographer who has a package offering only the kind of wedding video you are looking for.
Know Your Style Of Videographer
Now for the fun part! What style of videos do you like?! Wedding videographers can vary so much in style through color and editing. Sometimes the differences are hard to spot if you don’t know what you’re looking for, so I’ve laid out a few to help you know the difference!
Color is one of the most obvious things you will notice when viewing the work of two different videographers. As an artist, and just like photographers, videographers can tend to make their videos either bright or dark, warm or cool, and vibrant or faded. This is extremely preferential, and while I personally may prefer bright, warm, and natural looking colors for a joyful and happy wedding video, some people prefer more moody, cooler, and faded tones that can take a more serious and cinematic look.
The way a highlight video is put together is also an important style choice between videographers. When you are looking through different videographers think about what kind of music they used for the video and if you like the way the scenes are put together. It may be put together more chronologically, with getting ready and venue shots first that lead into the ceremony and then reception, or it may be more creative, with a part of the toasts first or some epic portrait shots of the couple. Think about how the differences make you feel, and what you think is best to fit your wedding.
Ultimately, all of this comes down to whether or not you liked someone’s work after seeing it. If you love the style in someone’s portfolio, that is the person you want filming your wedding! Don’t hire a videographer (or photographer!) expecting their style to be any different for your wedding. It will most likely look and feel very similar to what is in their portfolio!
Like Your Wedding Videographer!
Personality is important! The person you hire to be your videographer will be with you almost your entire wedding day. They will effect the atmosphere and the mood of your wedding day, so make sure you get along! Even if you don’t know them well, you want to be sure you feel comfortable when talking and emailing with them. You should be able to feel an air of confidence, but also kindness and encouragement in your communication with them.
Your vendors should be the last people adding stress to your wedding day, and the first to make you feel like everything is going to be great. They are the only ones there who have done several weddings before, and you want to be able to lean on them for a quick “is this okay?” so that you can hear that reassuring “YES, it’s amazing!!! This is going to be so good.”
Wow! That was a lot of info! I hope after reading it all you have a better understanding of exactly the kind of wedding videographer you want for your wedding. The style and kind of video you get at the end of the day is important, but so is how your videographer effects the atmosphere of your wedding while you’re experiencing it. If you find one that offers the package you want, with a portfolio you love, AND they are a joy to talk to, you KNOW you’ve found the right videographer for you.
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Based in Texas, Levi Hanusch is a talented and experienced wedding videographer. When he’s not creating incredible wedding videos, you can find him drumming for Jimmy McNeal (among others) and spending time with his beautiful wife!
On Instagram you can find him at: @levihanusch
On Facebook you can find him: Levi Hanusch Videography
And his website: http://levihanusch.com
