Tips for Choosing the Right Videographer for Your Wedding

Your wedding day is one of the most memorable days of your life, and you want to make sure that every moment is captured in a way that you’ll be able to treasure for years to come. Hiring a professional videographer is one of the best ways to ensure you’ll have a beautiful and lasting memory of your wedding day. But with so many videographers, how do you know which is right for you? They can make or break your day, so we’ve compiled a list of tips to help you choose a good one. We’ll cover everything from researching potential videographers and meeting with them in person to checking for certifications and insurance and reviewing the contract. Here’s everything you need to know so you can book the perfect videographer for the wedding of your dreams.

Research potential videographers

One of the first steps in choosing the right videographer for your wedding is researching potential candidates. 

Look at the videographer’s portfolio and reviews: A portfolio will give you a good idea of their style and the types of weddings they have experience filming. Pay attention to the quality of the footage, the editing style and the overall feel of the videos. Also, you can read testimonials from past clients to get an idea of what they think of the videographer’s work.

Wedding Videographer

Read customer testimonials and check for any red flags: Testimonials can give you a sense of what to expect from the videographer and what other couples have liked or disliked about their services. Be sure to read through them carefully and look for any red flags, such as negative comments or a lack of testimonials.

Compare prices and packages: Prices and packages vary widely among videographers, so compare prices and packages to see what fits your budget. Make sure to consider the length of the video, the number of cameras used, and if the videographer will be providing additional services such as drone footage or live streaming.

By following these tips, you can narrow down your list of potential videographers and find the one that best fits your needs and budget.

Meet with the videographer in person. Once you’ve narrowed down your list of potential videographers, the next step is to meet with them in person. This is an essential step in the process because it allows you to ask questions, discuss your vision for the wedding video, and make sure you feel comfortable with the videographer. To prepare for this meeting, here are a few tips:

Discuss your vision for the wedding video: Be sure to share your ideas and vision for the wedding video with the videographer. Ask them what they think they can do to help you achieve that vision. It’s also important to ask if they have any ideas that would work well for your wedding.

Ask about their filming style and editing process: Every Cairns wedding videographer has a unique approach to filming and editing. Ask them about their filming style and editing process to see if it aligns with your vision for your wedding video.

Please make sure you feel comfortable with the videographer and that they understand your needs: Videographers spend a great deal of time with couples on their wedding days, so it’s vital you feel comfortable with them. Make sure that you can communicate openly and honestly with them and that they understand your needs.

By following these tips, you’ll get a good sense of the videographer’s style and approach and if they fit your wedding. It’s important to find someone you trust and feel comfortable with, as they will be capturing one of the most important days of your life.

Check for certifications and insurance

Ensure the videographer is certified by professional organisations: Several professional organisations certify videographers, such as the International Society of Professional Wedding Videographers or the Wedding & Event Videographers Association International. These organisations’ certification indicates that the videographer has the necessary skills and experience to produce high-quality wedding videos.

Wedding Videographer

Confirm that the videographer has liability insurance: It’s important to confirm that the videographer has liability insurance if something goes wrong during the filming process. This will protect you from potential financial loss if something happens to the videographer’s equipment or an accident on the wedding day. Ask for proof of insurance and ensure that the coverage is adequate and valid.

Follow these tips to ensure you’re working with a professional and that you’re protected in case anything goes wrong. Finding a reliable, trustworthy videographer with the necessary certifications and insurance is important to provide you with a high-quality and safe service.

Ask for a contract

Once you’ve found the right videographer for your wedding, it’s important to have a written contract outlining the agreement’s details. The contract should include information such as the services provided, the cost, and the timeline for the final video delivery. 

Review the contract carefully and ensure everything is included: Read the agreement carefully and ensure that everything you discussed with the videographer is included. This consists of the services they will provide, the cost, and other important details, such as the timeline for the final video delivery.

Pay attention to the deposit and cancellation policy: Make sure you understand the deposit and cancellation policy outlined in the contract. Many videographers require a deposit to secure the booking and may have strict cancellation policies. Understanding these terms is important, so you’re aware of the situation later.

Look at the final video’s delivery terms: It’s also important to pay attention to the terms of delivery of the final video. Make sure you understand when you will receive the final video, what format it will be in and if there are additional costs for additional copies or editing.

A contract is a vital document that outlines the details of the service provided, the cost and the rights of the parties involved. By reviewing the contract carefully and ensuring everything is included, you can ensure that you’re getting the service you want and that there are no surprises later on.

In conclusion, choosing the right videographer for your wedding is an important decision that requires careful consideration. Research potential videographers by reviewing their portfolios and reviews, meeting with them in person to discuss your vision for the wedding video, checking for certifications and insurance, and reviewing the contract carefully. By taking the time to research and make an informed decision, you can ensure that you’ll have beautiful and lasting memories of your special day captured on film.

Are Wedding albums still relevant in the digital age?

Part of considering a professional wedding photographer and how you want your day captured, is how you want your final images presented. Albums or a box of prints used to be the mainstay of the wedding industry. When I started out in the early 00’s, I remember many hours spent in dark rooms producing images and then carefully adding them to the wedding album. Now days my light bending skills have been largely replaced with Photoshop, and and pigment inkjet prints on fine art papers. Images are now provided online and via usb sticks, and although I still provide package options with albums, I find less people are going for the album options.

When considering whether or not to add an album to the package, below is a list of what I believe you should consider, before you make a firm decision to go with the digital only wedding photography option.

What’s so good about a wedding album?

One word springs immediately to mind ‘Tactile’.

There’s really no way that digital can replace the feel of an album, literally. Being able to leaf through gorgeously crafted pages of photos and smell the print, paper and cover simply cannot be replicated on screen (even with the oculus rift).


Conversation starter and memory keeper

There is something absolutely magical about your children or grandchildren being able to leaf through a solid, beautifully bound album and discover their relatives staring back at them from before they were born. The first thing my wife does when she visits her Mum is take some family photo albums off the shelf and snuggle in with a cuppa to ask her Mum to relay her stories and memories behind the photos.

Albums are easy to access and a great way to refresh memories. And like all memories, each person that was part of that memory immortalised on the page, has a different interpretation of what happened in that moment. It’s the story it tells for each person there and each person viewing it afterwards that makes an image special, yes it’s a little like a time machine.

Easy to find on the bookshelf

How many of us actually know which cloud account, hard drive or PC folder or usb stick our cherished photos are in? Not many of us take the time to title and tag our precious digital memories outside of Facebook, so it’s not an easy search. Try and find something from more than a year ago right now..I’ll wait…. Was it easy? I’m guessing it was harder than you expected.

Even if you could find the general event immediately, what if you’re looking for that specific one where you and your beloved are talking and smiling with Nana who’s since passed away? Do you have to scroll through 350 photos in Facebook, Flickr or a windows explorer folder to find it or do you slip that perfectly bound wedding album off your bookshelf and flick through to the section that has all your previously picked reception pics and find your late Nanna on side 27?

Having a professional to help compile your wedding day into one beautifully bound volume, puts all the highlights and special moments at your finger tips. A qualified photographer will help you plan your album, assisting you in finding your favorite images, to create a final product that is something you feel a part of.

What’s not so good?… or at least requires further consideration.

It’s a material object……. that could get lost.

I’ve added this here as a potential negative but it doesn’t have to be.

I’ve heard the argument, but digital files are safer, you can back them up to multiple places, an album can be destroyed and become degraded over time. The great thing about digital photography is that if an album is lost in a house fire, or abused in some way, it can actually be replaced. Wedding stories backs up all album files and wedding images locally (the blue mountains), regionally (Sydney CBD) and internationally (Somewhere on the east coast of America, because you can never be too careful right?). If you decide to get a professionally made album your photographer (most likely) still has the original files. It’s a good idea to back your personal files up to a cloud as well as an easy to grab removable hard drive, but that probably needs it own post (stay tuned for best ways to backup your memories).

Costs more than digital


It’s true! Albums can be relatively expensive…

At the time, the cost of a professionally crafted album may seem more expensive compared to just getting the digital negatives on a usb stick. But think about everything else you’ve invested in that day, rings, wedding dresses, suits, shoes, reception venue and food, flowers, cars, locations etc, etc. I’ll wager the cost of the album is tiny compared to these other costs. And they are OVER in one day!

Most forget the money spent and remember the experience. An album helps you relive the fun, laughter and love. Photos can help to cement those memories, and make new ones for people entering your life after your wedding day.

In short, get the album, you won’t regret it.

Paul Wookey and Philomena Carroll

Entrance fee and show time: TBA

Bookings: 5345 3308

Get ready for a special music event with Paul Wookey and Philomena Carroll. Award-winning Paul is considered one of the best flat-picking acoustic guitarists in Australia, and Phil, an accomplished musician on banjo, guitar, double bass and vocals. Together, they will present Ol’ Timey music with a new twist from their vast repertoire of classic and original songs in a variety of genres, including Roots or Americana, Country, Blues, Folk and Bluegrass.

 

Paul Wookey is one of a very small handfull
of extremely talented musicians who were the
key members of Melbourne’s and Australia’s
acoustic
(called ‘Roots’ or ‘Americana’ these days)
music scene in the late 1970s, and one of
the only ones who has stayed there full time
through the four decades that have followed,
and he is now singing and playing even better
than he ever did, a true master of his craft.
It is hard to put a label on Paul’s music: there’s
Country, Blues, Folk, Bluegrass, etc.. Better perhaps to
look at his influences and heroes, from Doc Watson to
Eric Clapton, from Woody Guthrie to Bob Dylan, to
Clarence White, The Byrds, The Beatles ….. .
And also to look at some of the people who have
enjoyed playing with him through the years …..
Aussies like Mike McClellan, Doug Ashdown, Ross
Ryan, Tommy Emmanuel, and international stars
like Country legends Vince Gill, Albert Lee, Mark
O’Connor and Byron Berline, and blues greats
including Jimmy Witherspoon and John Hammond. Not to mention the many international artists he has
supported in concert, including all of the above as well as Jesse Winchester, Mick Jagger, Charlie Musselwhite,
Mickey Newbury, John Renbourn, even Jasper Carrot, and a score more that have slipped from his memory.
From his early days as a resident performer at the famous Frank Traynor’s jazz and folk club in the 1970s to a
debut album in 1981 that won him the ‘Best New Talent’ Golden Guitar at Tamworth’s Australasian Country
Music Awards Paul has continued travelling upwards and onwards with his music, adding fiddle and electric guitar to the playing that already had him marked as one of the very best
flat-picking acoustic guitarists in Australia, and blooming relatively late as
a notable songwriter, releasing two albums of original songs in recent years,
leading to extensive airplay on ABC Radio National and inclusion on Ian
McNamara’s most recent Australia All Over compilation CD.
Nowadays as well as playing solo and in occasional band configurations
Paul loves performing with his long time friend and now new and first wife
Philomena Carroll, herself a very accomplished musician, on banjo, guitar,
double bass and vocals. Phil was a member of all girl Country group Git
and The Rank Strangers Bluegrass Band, amongst others. Together Paul
and Phil present Ol’ Timey music with a brand new twist, and can throw
in a vast repertoire of classic and original songs from a variety of genres.
For more information visit www.paulwookey.com.au

Jacqui and Michael – 2013

Sometimes the light just makes taking great pictures almost effortless. The morning of Jacqui and Mikes wedding was one of those days. The light was soft and beautiful and the mood was relaxed and happy. Just right for a wedding day.

Blackheath in the late autumn has an almost ethereal quality about it, and after the arriving at the traditional wedding ceremony venue,we roamed the park in the twilight searching for interesting and colourful scenes.

From there it was off to an intimate venue with close family and friends. The Carrington in Katoomba is an art deco masterpiece that literally transports you back in time.

For a young couple, Jacki and Mike both had maturity beyond their years, and their relaxed and fun nature made them a pleasure to photograph.

Here is to autumn weddings 🙂