As a destination wedding videographer, a job that I have been blessed enough to do for over 10 years in the United States and Mexico, there are a few things that every husband and wife and or couple need to know in order to feel comfortable that their love stories are being captured in their dream location.
Our films are loved award-winning for two reasons.
1. We Care about our clients.
2. We Love the Film/Video medium.
Here are FIVE go to TIPS when deciding on a destination wedding videographer and photographer so that your destination wedding unfolds perfectly.
- INTERVIEW – I am a people person, love getting to know them, understanding needs and helping build a bridge to make sure our brides and grooms-to-be are super happy, lifelong clients/friends.
The main element that gets most destination wedding videographers and photographers on a short list is their work. if you jumped online looking for a wedding videographer and found stuff that looks pretty and engaging, you are probably going to contact those folks to check availability.
The next most important part of this selection process is simple: make sure your personality is compatible with your vendors – AKA destination wedding videographers, photographers and most importantly your planner/coordinator. If your coordinator is nice and does a good job, the rest will be easy.
Most of the folks (clients and vendors) I have worked with over the last 10 + years in the wedding preparation process, the wedding day, and the wrap up have been a delight. But every once in a while there’s a personality that winds up in the mix who can change the entire energy of your wedding day. Interviewing folks and asking questions, getting to know your vendors will help weed out anyone who could go against the grain of what you are trying to create.
How will I know if it’s a fit?
The great thing about people is that all you have to do is let them talk for a while and they will tell you everything you’ll need to know to determine, for the most part, if you are all going to be compatible. Go with your gut. We know what will work and what will probably create more work.
The interview will give you some indicators if they are fun or not so much. Just ask questions and see if your potential destination wedding videographer will lean towards being positive problem solvers or if they will tend to lean towards negative, finger pointing.
The majority of your work that needs to be done is picking the right team. If you choose nice people who get the job done, you are already 90 + percent in the clear.
Attitude and how people show up to their job is the most important piece to making sure you have a good team especially when planning a destination wedding.
Once you have left for your destination with your team, your ability to change out any vendors becomes very limited or impossible. Let’s face it, you chose a destination wedding for a reason. Otherwise, we’d be discussing why I should be your elopement wedding videographer. Choose wisely in the beginning and the rest should be smooth sailing..
THROW A CURVEBALL
When I say this, I don’t mean it to be manipulative in any way. More so, it’s just good to see how people react when something changes. After an initial interview when the vendors are trying really hard to get your business, a personality trait that I have seen over the years is that with some of the more difficult personalities who do this type of job, they put on a good face during the interview process. You may not get the most honest version of a person during round one.
A great curveball can show you how a vendor will react. Ask them about their most difficult client. This will test their honesty AND see if they turn into Negative Nelly’s.
We all get a difficult client at some point. See how honest your potential destination wedding videographer and photographer will be with you about a difficult job. What they tell you and how they tell you could be a strong indicator of how things will go with you.
If you were to interview me and ask who my most difficult client was, I would keep it brief, let you know that I learned a lot and it gave me the ability to realize that I needed to interview my clients when they are interviewing me. Not everyone sees eye to eye with everyone else. It’s good to see if the fit is mutual.
Most of us who make wedding films for a living are small business owners. I have worked long enough in this business to know that I choose to work with clients who are kind because that’s the type of person I am. I love people and want to have a good time while shooting.
I am constantly telling my clients that I shoot for free because I love shooting and being with people. The part they pay me for is doing all of the other stuff like emails, deal memos and editing.
BE SPECIFIC WITH NEEDS AND DETAILS
If there are any specific shots, ideas, music or themes that you want incorporated into your videos and photographs, make that known. Are you looking for a specific style? Are you looking for someone who can do something different, like a Super 8 videographer or maybe a drone videographer? I also have a huge space in my deal memo giving them another opportunity to make sure I understand everything they need and want on their wedding day. The more we communicate in the beginning, the less you need to worry on your day.
For me, I usually have 3×5 note cards in my back pocket where I have written down all of the details and requests of my brides and grooms. I usually organize them by time of day so that as I go down the list, they are in alignment with our schedule. The more you tell your destination wedding videographer during the Preparation time, the better your vision will be after the fact with videos and photographs. After all, the ability for us to do well in our business depends on your level of satisfaction.
EDITING
I usually mention the editing process in most of my articles because it is the least known part of what makes a wedding video and or film company work. Make sure you speak with your videographer beforehand about what you want. This part dovetails from the last bullet point detailing the specifics. Most editing takes much more time then the shoot.
A Copy of Everything
Part of our company policy now is that we plan to send you a hard drive with every bit of information we shot on your wedding day so that if you ever choose to do something else with your footage later down the road, you have a copy of everything. We include the edited video or videos that are detailed out in the contract or deal memo but those final videos are just a fraction of your footage. In the last few years we have gotten more and more requests for raw footage for clients should they ever decide to do anything else with their footage. Now, we just include it with every package we sell.
LET GO & HAVE FUN
I saved this part for the end because the other four parts are so brainy and technical. There is one part that needs to be remembered. If, we together as clients and vendors have discussed and written out and planned for how you want your ceremony and reception covered, by the time your wedding day comes we should be like ninjas in the darkness AKA we will be there but we should be out of your way but also within an earshot just in case you have any spur of the moment ideas and or shots that you want to see in your videos. On most of my weddings now, if I have properly prepared, I don’t ask any questions of my clients on the day. The photographer will need to do poses with you but for the most part I try to stay out of the way and capture authentic moments as they happen. My favorite videos are always the ones where I get to get footage of you enjoying the moment. It’s that simple.
Thank you so much for reading this. I hope that I have given you enough information so that as you make your decisions on who your vendors will be for your wedding day, you have some good ideas on what will work for you so that by the time the wedding day comes, you are at ease and having fun. Feel free to reach out to learn more about us or if you have any questions. Much Love all.
Levi