How Much Is A Wedding Videographer?

When planning your wedding, making the most out of your budget is the key to success. Some couples plan simple weddings that are still elegant. Others will go all out with everything they do for their wedding. Regardless of the type of wedding you have, one of the things you should consider having is a wedding videographer. With a top wedding videographer, you can ensure that all of the important elements of your wedding are professionally documented. Of course, depending on the budget, price has to be considered when choosing a wedding videographer. The cost may vary quite a bit, depending on the experience and expertise of the videographer, location of your wedding, and some other factors. If you just want the wedding documented in a traditional manner, where they just record the ceremony and maybe speeches, the nationwide average is anywhere from $1000-3000. If you are looking for more of a cinematic experience when watching your wedding film, the cost of wedding videographers will again vary based on their skill level. Low to mid range videographers generally charge anywhere from $2500-$6000 for this type of service. Keep in mind, if you’re ever paying less than $5000, you are really in a riskier type of situation because the videographer might not have the experience or skill level to capture the event in a way that you had expected (and with the same quality as a top wedding cinematographer).

If you are investing in a luxury wedding and/ or luxury destination wedding, your top luxury wedding planner should have already recommended one of the best wedding cinematographers. This will ensure that you have a team that has vast amounts of experience documenting the most lavish destination weddings from around the world. Not only are you going to receive a film that’s being produced by the most talented wedding filmmakers in the industry, you are going to have complete peace of mind on your special day (by knowing this event that you’ve invested in is being documented professionally by the best in the business).

Factors of Wedding Videographer Pricing

There are many different factors that may impact the pricing of your wedding videographer services booked. Some of the most common reasons for the pricing changes include the following:

• Length of time – How much time do you need the wedding videographer for? Will they be documenting your entire wedding and every event you have, including the rehearsal dinner and reception? Will you only need them for your ceremony and speeches? The length of time you need videography services will affect the pricing.
• Staff requirements – How many videographers do you think you need? Will you only want one wedding videographer or do you want multiple? The more wedding videographers required, the more it is going to cost. A top wedding cinematographer will already know how many team members are required to properly document the event based on the questionnaire you will fill out.
• The finished product – The finished product could come in many forms. You may want the videos to be edited. You may just want a shorter wedding highlight teaser. Maybe you want some raw footage of your wedding. The end product is actually something a lot of couples don’t think about. How will the film be delivered? Will the wedding film be delivered in HD? Is 4K resolution available? Some videographers still film in 1080p HD, which is the equivalent of 2K resolution. This will look nice on a 1080p TV, but what happens if you have a 4K television? This means the image will have to be stretched across a TV screen that has 5 times the amount of resolution as 1080p. This will certainly degrade the quality of the film. What kind of packaging will you receive for the film? Will you have a USB drive with the finished films, so you can easily back it up on a computer or hard drive? Will it be made available for online viewing with a private link you can send to family and friends? 4K and all these delivery options come standard at Ray Roman Films.
• Extras – Instagram wedding teasers are a really popular way to have a short highlight of your wedding viewed by your friends on social media. Are you having a pre-wedding day trip or rehearsal dinner? Brunch party after the wedding day? The more interesting, important and compelling moments that are captured by your wedding filmmaker, the more compelling and interesting the film will be to watch with your family and friends. Think twice before you let an event go by at your wedding without having it professionally documented. Once those moments happen, they are gone forever. You either had it documented or you didn’t. We don’t really recommend any situations where people will just be eating, drinking and mingling for video, as people don’t look their best for video when they’re drinking and have food in their mouth. We always focus on the overall ambiance at these types of events and of course we’re always focusing on shots that will make the film more impactful.
• Traveling – Do you need the wedding videographer to travel? Are you having them go to another city, state, or even out of the country? The costs of travel should include a safe place to stay for the videographers, preferably at or near the venue, so they’re able to provide the best coverage. The more experienced wedding studios know how to keep travel expenses to a minimum.

There are a lot of aspects involved in the production of your wedding film. Some of the things that may be involved in your wedding video cost include the following:

• Videography services – The number one thing you are paying for is the actual videography service. You are paying for the time the wedding videographer is spending at your wedding events to document everything. Generally, you will agree upon a number of set hours that they will spend at your events. If there are extras, this will be discussed when you book the wedding videographer services. You can also order extras after the wedding. It’s very important to make sure that extras will be available after the wedding, such as a full ceremony edit or speeches and performances (if any)
• The post-production – You are also paying for the post-production services. This includes the editing of your wedding film. The editing process takes a lot of time depending on the style and workflow of your videographer. If you have hired a videographer in the low to mid range, their editing skills might be limited. If they are doing over 30-40 weddings a year, they might have a cookie cutter workflow, since they will not have too much time to dedicate to each wedding (as they have so many to edit). A top wedding cinema studio generally has a boutique operation, where they are only taking on around 15-25 weddings per year. This allows the studio to hand craft an incredible wedding film that has been very well thought out and presented in a way that is sure to exceed all of your expectations. Sometimes this boutique style wedding studio will go through several rounds of editing before they have your finished film ready for viewing. The delivery times of a professionally hand-crafted wedding film should take no longer than 90-180 days. There are many factors that go into delivery times, which include the time of year and how busy the wedding season has been. Most top studios deliver within 90 days. If someone is delivering your film within a week or so of the wedding, be wary and know that there is a risk that this is just being cookie cut to turnaround quickly. It would take most top studios about a week or so just to sift through every ounce of footage to find the best shots and most compelling moments.
• Wedding gear/ cameras – When you are paying for top wedding videography services, your videographer will be using the best equipment to document the events. They will be using high-quality cameras, lighting, sound recording devices and other professional equipment needed for the different events at the wedding. There are all different types of cameras being used to document weddings. Most videographers, especially in the low to mid range market are using cheaper gear, mainly because they do not have the type of revenue to justify using top of the line cinema cameras. They will typically be using consumer quality cameras. You might not tell the difference when watching the film from one of those cameras on your mobile device, but you will undoubtedly see the difference in quality when you put your wedding film on a large screen. Top wedding cinematographers are making use of the latest cinema cameras that provide the same quality as seen on TV and in movie theaters.

Time Frame for Hiring a Wedding Videographer

Ray Roman recommends that you book your videographer around 8 months to a year before your wedding. If it’s a boutique wedding cinematography studio and they only accept a limited number of weddings per year, you might be disappointed if you decide to look too late and they’ve already met their goals for the year. Another thing to consider is that there are “popular” dates each year that brides rush to book. For instance, February 1st, 2021 (2-1-21) or Memorial Day Weekend (it’s a long weekend where guests have a lot of flexibility to party the entire weekend). It may be helpful to start researching wedding videographer services about one year and a half before your wedding. If you have a wedding coming up in less than 8 months, don’t worry. You can still try booking excellent wedding videographer services.

Questions to Ask the Wedding Videographer Before You Book

You want to make sure you hire a wedding videographer that is in your budget, but who will also do an amazing job. Some of the questions you might want to ask the wedding videographer before you book services include the following:

• How would you describe your style of videography?
• How many people are on your video team?
• Can you send me three sample films?
• How many weddings do you film per year?
• When will I get my finished films?
• Have you filmed weddings at my chosen venue in the past?
• Can you describe your style of editing?
• Do you work like a team with our favorite Wedding Photographer?
• How will you be dressed at my event?
• Do you film the wedding in 4K resolution?

These are some of the questions you may want to ask the wedding videographer before you book services to ensure that you’re making the right choice. 

Trust Your Videographer

Once you hire your videographer, you should have seen enough samples to ensure that the style fits your vision for the film. You should never send a videographer a film from another studio and expect similar results. You would also be taking the videographers outside of who they really are as artists with their own unique style. The quality of the film you receive should be consistent with the sample work that you were shown by the videographer. 

If you are looking for a wedding photography team that works seamless with you wedding videography team, ask your videographer if they also offer photography. You might find that hiring both from the same studio will save you money. It will also ensure that your event is being documented by professionals that have experience working together as a team.

If you’re looking for the best wedding video for your particular event, we hope you find this article useful.