Your magical day is almost here! From making the invite list, to tasting cakes and viewing flower arrangements, to wedding dress shopping, the journey has all been leading up to one very special day when you and the love of your life are finally able to say “I do.”
With all the budgeting and planning it takes to plan a wedding, videography can seem like an unnecessary excess cost. You might even be asking yourself, “Do I need a videographer for my wedding?”
Now as we write this, we’re of course aware how we may be a little biased with our opinion – just take a glance at the name of our website.
Our careers are predominantly based on wedding videography, having spent many years and countless hours perfecting our craft to bring couples a wedding video unlike any other (shameless plug).
But in that same breath, we feel we can give a unique insight on this topic as we have so much firsthand experience in dealing with this very thing. We speak to soon-to-be brides and grooms almost every day, receive feedback from the lovely couples we’ve filmed after they’ve watched what we’ve produced, and also spoken at length with many family and friends that didn’t consider having a wedding videographer for their wedding.
So we’ve put together a list of things we just had to get off our chest, things we feel you just cannot ignore when making the decision of whether or not you’ll have a wedding videographer film your special day.
Photography simply isn’t enough
Yup, we said it.
A wedding, just like a wedding cake, comes in layers, and while you may have budgeted a talented photographer to highlight some of moments in each of these layers, snapping a shot of the happy couple on the dance floor is just not the same as being able to re-live a video of your first dance.
It may not seem like a huge deal in the moment, especially when it comes to budgeting to make sure your dream wedding happens. However, a staggering 98% of brides admit that they are regretful about not hiring a videographer to film their wedding!
Were we shocked? Not entirely.
The truth is, that reflects pretty much what we’ve come to understand from speaking to our many friends and family that chose to stick only to photography for their big day.
They regret it. Plain and simple.
Whilst they very much enjoy their beautiful photo albums, their little hut of memories, holding close to them the smiles and family group photos, they all yearn for something a little more to truly bring them back to that day.
Now don’t get us wrong. We absolutely love photography, and in fact work alongside some extremely talented photographers to offer this service as part of our package.
Photography is great, which is why having a wedding without a photographer is almost completely unheard of in this day.
But we also believe the same holds for a videographer. It should be equally unheard of to have a wedding without one.
The Phenomenon of Wedding Haze – You’re Going To Forget Your Wedding
Even though your wedding day is all about you, it is also about planning a large, complicated event for a huge amount of people. In many cases it can quickly become overwhelming as you get caught up in the hustle and bustle of the moment.
Your big day is full of hundreds of tiny decisions, setbacks, and new challenges that essentially have to be managed by the wedding planner, the maid of honor and best man, and the groom and bride-to-be. This means that there is an immense amount of pressure for everything to be running smoothly.
On your wedding day, you wear many hats, and sometimes the event planner hat ends up getting worn even more than the bride or groom hat. Because of this, many couples years down the line admit they never really got the chance to really sit down and appreciate all the beautiful moments that were occurring throughout the ceremony and reception.
This is when hiring a wedding videographer really comes in handy. Being able to cozy up with your new spouse on the living room couch and look over the wedding footage, beautifully edited together by professionals, allows you both to look back on the beautiful ceremony, embarrassing toasts, and happy memories with family and friends.
They Won’t Be Around Forever
A wedding isn’t just about the happy couple being able to commit to each other “until death do us part.” It is also about bringing family and friends together to celebrate love, life, happiness, and tradition.
Your wedding may be a completely modern testament to who you are or what your relationship is built on, or it might be a cultural representation of who and where you come from, and what two cultures are combining to build this marriage.
In both cases, weddings are wholly about you, your family, and all the things you love in your life. That’s why having wedding footage to remember sharing this moment with so many people whom you love can be one of the most amazing gifts to give yourself years down the line.
Family and friends won’t be in our lives forever, and being able to remember a celebration in which all your loved ones were in the same room, happy, celebrating the love you share and the person you’ve become, is an incredibly touching experience.
Wedding videographers cover all your big moments, but they also capture moments you may have missed in the hustle and bustle of the day. Seeing your mother tear up as you walked down the aisle, or catching a glimpse of your nieces and nephews jumping around on the dance floor are moments you can view and cherish for years.
Put Yourself First – Your Budget Can Afford It
If budgeting is the main thing standing between you and hiring a videographer, remember that your wedding day really is about you. Being able to remember your wedding for the rest of your life, from walking down the aisle, to tasting the first slice of wedding cake, to dancing wildly with your entire family at the end of the night, all of these memories are invaluable.
There are other places in the budget that could be made less expensive. Be selfish! Moving from having two dessert options to one may seem like a massive detriment to the wedding, but your guests truly won’t mind at all if it means you get to have footage of one of the most important and magical days of your life.
If there was a single list of things we think every wedding needs, having your wedding filmed (and photographed) would honestly be right the top of it. Just make sure you know what to look for when choosing your videogapher, as we detailed in our other article.
We understand that sometimes budgets can be tight, but if you’re going to go through the effort of having a wedding, it may as well be done right.
Conclusion
Well, I think we’ve covered just about all that can be said on this topic. And we’re more than glad that we did!
If nothing else, then take away this one piece of advice: see for yourself what your family members and dearest friends who are married have to say about their wedding day.
Do your parents regret not having a beautiful wedding film to look back on?
Or do your close friends who chose to hire a wedding videographer cherish their wedding film dearly as a loving reminder of their day? Do they feel having it photographed would have been enough, or are they more than happy with the investment they made?
After all, who better to advise you then those who’ve been married and now live in the memory of their wedding, reminiscing on all their fondest memories that occurred during their day.