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The Art of Wedding Videography

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Here comes the bride.  There is the groom waiting, anticipating.  Then comes the moment of truth, the father gives her away and she becomes his forever.  Very simple, very idealistic, very nice.  For them.  

As a professional videographer I too find the scene beautiful but those few minutes from the time the bride walks down the aisle and meets her mate can be the most difficult to film in the entire wedding.

Case in point...the maid of honor is hiding the bride as you are trying to film her coming down the aisle, the minister is standing in what would be the perfect spot for you to tape the bride kissing her father as he hands her over to her soon to be husband.  So many, many things can get in the way.  After 10 years in the wedding video business I personally have seen a few and so often I have wished that a wedding could be planned like a film with the actors all in the perfect spots.  I have discovered, much to my delight, that with a little extra planning and attending the rehearsal much can be planned and prepared for.

By attending the rehearsal you can speak with the bridesmaids and ushers and the minister.  You can plan for any contingency and prepare yourself for the whole ceremony.  Their is no doubt that the service is the toughest to tape and I will tell you to run at least two cameras. 

 When I film I place one camera on the alter facing the couple and running constantly.  The other camera I am with constantly and it moves with me.  One word of advice--always be a professional and don't move too much.  Your not a photographer who has to jump up for a shot here and there, you are running real live action footage so try to remain in one place for awhile.  There is a rule about maintaining the interest of the viewers by changing the scene every 40 seconds or so.  That is manageable in most cases but not always.  Try to cut to change scenes instead of swinging the camera around.  Sometimes the only appropriate thing to do is go for the close-up, but even that is better after a cut.  And remember to always change your focal point after you cut.

Extra batteries--backups of EVERYTHING including cameras and microphones is a must.  I once filmed a wedding in which I had hired an assistant to run a 2nd camera.  My camera failed just at the vows, I don't know if I turned it off inadvertently or what but it didn't catch the vows.  Imagine my disbelief when after the ceremony I learned that my assistant also did not get the vows on tape.  I hummed and hawed but eventually decided to keep my mouth shut until the couple came to pick up the tape after the honeymoon.  I had been a wreck until that point trying to do something special on the tape to make up for the missed vows and worrying about possibly getting sued.  I ended up putting music over the short part of the vows I did have and piecing together a pretty nice scene.  As it turned out the bride and groom were great about it and they loved the tape, but it could have been a disaster if they were a different type of couple.  Moral:  Don't sweat the things you can't change--instead wait to see what happens and do your best to make the tape as wonderful as possible.

Pricing:  This is quite different dependent on what part of the country you are in.  Boston may charge $1,500. for the same video I would charge $850. here and hour away from them.  California tends to be more expensive then Minnesota.  Check around your area and then try to price yourself near the majority.  As you get better you can get more expensive but build a following first.

Lastly, I wish you all the luck in the world.  If you have any questions feel free to contact me at diane38@mindspring.com

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