Over the years, we’ve heard so many incredible stories from our couples, and we cherish every one of them. All of us are going through differentwalks of life, learning who we are, and how to best share life with each other. It can take months and sometimes years to plan a wedding, and it’s worth it to experience the joy and celebration of two people deciding to share their stories and walk through life together.
If you haven’t heard our story, you can read more about it here. Kathrynand I got married in 2013, we were in our early 20’s, living across thecountry from each other, and like many people, we were just trying tofigure out this whole wedding planning thing for the first time. It was aspecial time in our lives that I’ll always remember fondly. The only regret Ihave is that we did not have a wedding video. That might seem strange,but no one told us how important it was. I would love to hear the vowsthat my wife and I shared together, and my best man’s speech, and Iwould love to see Kathryn and I dancing and having fun togetherthroughout the day.
Over the past decade, we’ve worked with many couples who have fantasized about their wedding day since they were little kids. Somecouples watch wedding videos years before their wedding, maybe an old VHS of their parents, maybe a wedding video of their close friends orfamily, or maybe a wedding video of a complete stranger that tugs ontheir heart just the right way. Some couples are like Kathryn and I were unaware of how meaningful a wedding film will be to them in the future,and some are on the fence about whether it’s worth the investment.
So much goes into planning a wedding, and then it’s over in the blink ofan eye. This is my advice to every bride, groom, and couple out there whois planning a wedding: Have a wedding video of your day, whatever youhave to do to make it happen. After you’ve made that decision, here aremy 5 best tips when considering hiring a wedding videographer tocapture your wedding day.
1) Find Someone Who Gets You.
When you’re considering hiring a wedding videographer, it’s so importantto find someone who gets you!
You’re going to have a lot of choices when you’re planning your wedding,sometimes it can feel like an overwhelming number of choices. I alwaysrecommend working with people who want to connect with you on apersonal level. This is perhaps more important with your weddingvideographer than any other vendor because your videographer is goingto be spending the whole day with you during your wedding and tellingyour story!
You want the person capturing and telling your story to have an intimateunderstanding of what’s important to you, your personality, and how yougot to where you are today. I like to use the analogy that a videographeris like a biographer. If an author is going to write a book about you, you’dwant them to spend time to get to know you first and learn about yourstory so that they can share an accurate depiction of who you are. Thesame is true for your wedding videographer.
Make sure that your videographer is trying to connect with you and asking you questions about your story. You should feel like yourvideographer values your values and is invested in a relationship with you. High quality camera work is important, but you need to findsomeone who you feel confident in, that you feel comfortable with, someone with emotional intelligence, and someone that has the
expertise to capture the wedding day candidly and provide directionwhen necessary so that you can have the peace of mind knowing that nomatter what happens, your story will be expertly told without any effort orstress on your part.
2) Look for Experience.
Look for a wedding videographer who has years of experience. You are investing a lot into yourwedding day and you want to work with vendors who know how to handle any kind of situation thatcan possibly come up. This gives you the peace of mind to know that your day will be expertly capturedeven if things are running behind schedule, or a thunderstorm rolls into town, or any other unexpectedhiccups show up at the most inconvenient time.
Make sure that the company you hire and your specific cinematographer have the same amount ofexperience. Some large regional and national wedding videography companies hire contractors thatdon’t have as much experience as the best people on their team. At Up & Up Weddings, we have asmall, intimate team of cinematographers that have all been working with us for years and all have theexperience to perfectly capture your wedding day. We are experts at our craft, but we are also expertsat keeping the joy of your wedding celebration at the center of our focus, at approaching everysituation with optimism, positivity, and enthusiasm. We’re experts at knowing when to capture a candidmoment and when to provide you with direction. We’re experts at reading the room, connecting withyou, your wedding party, your family, and your guests, and knowing how to make the most out of anysituation. These skills only come through years of experience, dedication to our craft, and a genuineheart for caring about people. Hiring a videographer with experience to make sure you have the bestexperience.
3) Style Points Count.
There are many different approaches to creating wedding videos. Make sure that your weddingvideographer captures and edits videos that you love! We know we’re doing our job well when couplestell us that they were moved to tears by a stranger’s wedding film that they saw on our website. Yourwedding film should capture and share all of the joy and emotion from your wedding day. We take it astep further and get to know your personal love story as a couple and include that story in yourwedding video.
Pay attention to the storytelling of the wedding videos that you watch. Does the video feel likesomething recorded on a camcorder or does it feel like a hollywood movie? Is the video edited to eachbeat of the music? Does it feel cohesive, with a captivating storyline? Does it suck you in to make youwant to watch the whole thing from start to finish?
When it comes to your wedding film, style counts! You want something that feels cinematic,professional, emotional, intimate, captivating, and joyful. At the same time you want a film that is goingto be uniquely personalized to you and your story! If you’re looking at wedding videos and they all startto feel the same, move on, because that should never be the case. Every wedding video should be asunique as the couple, tailored to each bride and groom’s personalities, music style, culture, andpreferences.
4) Consider How You’ll Feel in 10 Years.
Again, you are investing a lot into every aspect of your wedding. It can sometimes feel overwhelming. Ifyou’re feeling stressed or overwhelmed, I recommend taking a break. Whether it’s just one minute ofclosing your eyes and remembering why you’re doing all of this or whether it’s an hour to just sit anddrink your favorite coffee from the nearby coffee shop.
After you’ve had some time to get away from everything, remember that in 10 years from now, you’ll bedoing something completely different and you’ll be doing it with your partner on your team. Youprobably won’t even remember the stress that you might be feeling right now, which isn’t a bad thing.
However you do want to remember the joy and the celebration of your wedding day and your storytogether. It can be hard to know what you’ll be thinking about in 10 years, but I can guarantee you thatit won’t be what you’re thinking about right now.
When you’re planning and crunching numbers to fit everything into the budget that’s already doublewhat you initially anticipated, it can be hard to keep the long term vision in focus. All I can say is that 10years from now you will be glad that you have your wedding film (and photos) to remember all of themoments that would otherwise fade into the abyss of forgotten memories. Your wedding film andphotos will be priceless, irreplaceable keepsakes worth far more than you can probably grasp until youget to that point in life. I say this from experience, 2023 is our 10 year anniversary. There’s no price tagthat would keep me from having a wedding film to capture our memories if I could go back in time anddo it again.
5) Enjoy the Moment.
With every wedding that we capture at Up & Up, we want each couple to be fully present, living in themoment, enjoying the celebration of their day with their friends and family. This is at the heart of whatwe do. The fact is that if you’re not having fun, enjoying the moment, experiencing every part of it – theexcitement, the nerves, the intimacy, the joy, the emotion, then there would be no reason to have thewedding in the first place. A wedding video or photo can only capture what is actually happening. Havefun, embrace the day with everything you have, and let your team of wedding professionals handleeverything else for you.