You get what you pay for….most of the time. This is an interesting dynamic inside of the wedding business. In theory, anyone can shoot your video. No matter the amount of time or experience, most folks who have never shot a video or film or wedding video, believe that it may be as easy as lifting your iPhone and pressing record. In theory, they are right. But that is exactly what you will get. There is a chance that you may wind up with something decent but it will be a random shot here and there. In the end, you probably won’t have anything too remarkable.
The Cousin Jimmy Scenario…
I have seen many couples to be, decide to have cousin “Jimmy” shoot their wedding Because cousin Jimmy just got a new DSLR camera and Jimmy is looking for fun stuff to shoot. In no way am I trying to be mean to cousin Jimmy and his aspirations of using his camera to express himself as an artist. Maybe Jimmy is the next Stanley Kubrick. The important question to all of the couples to be, is to ask: Do you want to risk your wedding day on the hope that cousin Jimmy is going to turn out a cinematic masterpiece or even something decent or even wind up getting you anything at all?
I have seen more often than not people come to weddings shoot footage and no one ever sees that footage ever again. Memory cards get lost. Footage is downloaded onto a drive that disappears into a closet and never sees the light of day again. It’s hard to get folks who will commit to a job and see that job all of the way through. I have worked with piles of “pros” and in the end, I have only worked with a few real pros who are consistent and good and trust-worthy.
Do Some Research…
In the film/video world, there are no real checks and balances in certifying that anyone can do the job. The only way is to see samples of someone’s work, talk to them on the phone, make sure that they understand what your needs are. Checking for positive reviews on Google doesn’t hurt either. LOL.
There are millions of good quality cameras around the world, but only a few of them will wind up doing what type of work which will end up on television or a movie screen or creating a beautiful wedding video. The range of talent can vary tremendously. Anyone with a few bucks can buy a camera but very few learn how to become good shooters.
I try my best to not sound salty about the fact that most people believe that anyone can pick up a camera and all of a sudden they are a “pro.” The reality is that, just like any other skill set, it takes time to learn, fail, fail again, and then probably find some success. My side hobby’s are wood working and music production. When I started buying music gear and wood tools, I thought I would have it down in a few days. Here I am years later and I am still figuring out how to properly EQ and compressing music so it sounds good on many types of sound devices. I am also building more wood pieces that might look good but after a little more time, I see that I still have so much to learn. Luckily, there are about a million other wood workers on youtube who help show you how to do it better than you would alone.
Why it Costs What it Costs…
After over 10 years of shooting wedding videos, the short answer to your question about price is approximately $1,500 to $10,000. If people charge under $1,500, I would proceed with caution.. If your videographer charges you over $10,000, they had better be doing something amazing. Again, these estimates are based on me, one person. Most of my work is in Southern California and AZ with an occasional job in Mexico. My clients aren’t oil barrens but they usually middle to upper middle class. I do get the occasional “Cost doesn’t matter” client but I don’t base my prices on that. My goal is to do good work that is reasonable and worth the cost.
There are many factors which come into play that will dictate which direction you are going for the wedding. Cost depends on your needs and wants, time of delivery, amount of cameras and or camera people, professional sound, Drone footage, extra time shooting and the biggest time element: EDITING.
Editing, in my opinion this is the biggest time investment as a wedding videographer and the least known part of the wedding videography / wedding films process. The shoot (hours of coverage) and raw footage part may take somewhere between 2 to 12 hours, but the amount of time to edit all of that footage will be much more time. Just setting up an edit, transcoding videos, setting up the timeline, music etc, usually takes a few days for me.
I need fresh eyes to do good work so after 4-6 hours, I usually go away and come back later so my choices are better.
I also go back and forth on my projects where I edit if it’s a slow season and I send the edit off and pay that editor out of my pocket. It’s always a time vs money dynamic. When I get busy, I send out edits if I can’t give the attention it deserves because I have more shoots that have to be done. Luckily, I have a small team of go to folks who do great work and I trust.
A good editor is worth their weight in gold.
If you do want to save money and keep the cost of a wedding reasonable without sacrificing quality, hiring your wedding photographers and hiring a wedding videographer for less hours is the best way to go. You will still get plenty of great shots for social media and pictures your wall at home but limiting time and having a shorter final product list will keep your quality up and cost more reasonable.
If I have less footage to edit, my post production time aka editing time goes down. That means the average cost for for a wedding videography package goes down.
This also means your wedding planner has more space in the number of hours to get other work done. This creates more breathing room for everyone. Planners are usually working against the clock and are always behind because of all the moving parts. If your shot lists are shorter, its easier for everyone and you get more time with all the folks who flew from the different corners of the earth to see you.
Another way to save money is to not have your photographer(s) and or videographer(s) come in for the rehearsal dinner or other surrounding events. It is an extra day/half day videographer cost. I have used the rehearsal dinner shots and they usually are amazing in the final video but they aren’t make or break in the grand scheme of good pictures or film/video.
I hope this info helps. My goal in writing these articles is to create a little more transparency between couples and the vendors who do the things that make this wedding day all come together. Sometimes, costs in certain categories may seem inflated but when you dig a little deeper, you will see that even though “It’s just a wedding video” that video camera alone costs thousands of dollars.
My camera setup is about $6,500. My other lenses, lights and sound gear are $10,000 and I am constantly buying new gear and switching out the old stuff. My new camera body will be around $7,000 going up to around $12,000 after we purchase the new gear that makes that camera work the way it needs to.
Learning to shoot that camera takes years and many free or low paying gigs to get good. The time and money to make your wedding video good is substantial and my hope is that with artiles like this, you see the value and are able to make more informed decisions so that we all have lives with a little less stress.
Much Love all!