Wedding videography used to be pretty tacky, poorly done, and generally a bit annoying to have someone running around with a huge camera getting in the way. In recent years, all of that has changed, and the world of wedding videography has exploded onto the scene as a must have for wedding celebrations.
Today, good wedding videography has a real artistry and craft to it; I’d actually describe wedding videography more as wedding film than wedding video. These are timeless keepsakes that you will cherish, your kids will love, and future generations will use to look into the rearview of family-life, love, and memories.
Make sure to scroll to the end of this article to find three great examples of Whistler wedding videography.
Wedding Films For Elopement Ceremonies
As more and more couple’s are electing to steal away to some exotic wedding destination (like Whistler!) to get married with just a couple witnesses, video storytellers are becoming more important than ever for helping capture the emotion, tone, vows, and feel of the day.
For those people in your life who love you and who would have also loved to attend your elopement ceremony, a short wedding film is an amazing way to let them experience some of the day. This is great for elderly family who can’t travel, friends too broke or too committed to make it, and other’s in your life who would love to participate in your wedding in some way but couldn’t be there.
As described by Whistler-based Valerie St-Arnaud of Calling Mountains Productions:
"Wedding trends are forever evolving, as well as videography. Wedding Videos are no longer hours and hours long of footage, but rather highlighting the most important and beautiful moments that should be remembered and shared. I hear often that videography is always the last thing a couple wants to invest in their weddings but it should be the first; a video can capture that real emotion, it puts life into your memories, gives you the ability to re-live this day that goes by SO fast."
A short wedding film, in a pretty cool way, let’s people into the day like they wouldn’t experience through just the photos.
Check out these All-Inclusive Elopement Ideas.
Wedding Films For Large Weddings
If you are planning a large wedding with lots of guests and lots of things happening; things like cocktail hour and axe throwing (maybe that’s just a Pemberton farm wedding thing?), bringing a wedding videographer onto your team of wedding vendors is a must.
In large weddings, there is so much happening and you are guaranteed to miss some of it. Having another set of eyes (behind the lens of a few cameras to catch it all) is a great way to see your wedding and to capture your guests reactions and interactions as they celebrate with you, dance, and enjoy the giant party you’ve thrown!
Andi Wardrop of the Whistler Wedding Collective calls this "excitement black out."
"Let me breakdown Excitement Blackout for you: You've been looking forward to this day for a while, maybe your whole life - and now it's here but it's over before you know it!! As much as you'd love to, you just can't be in 5 places at once. When you have a large wedding there's no doubt the action is happening in more than one place. You may miss seeing your mom cry as you read your vows, the baby eating the flowers in the middle of the aisle, your uncle doing the worm in the middle of the dance floor (who knew he could move like that?!) or your unwavering wedding party behind you, cheering as you have your first kiss as bride + groom. Whatever it may be, it will only happen once and you won't want to miss it."
So go ahead, add wedding videography to your wedding budget, you’ll be happy you did. But, before you book a filmer, consider these 6 things:
6 Things To Check Before Hiring a Wedding Videographer
1. The most important thing to ask, “Do you connect with the filmer?” You are inviting someone into an intimate and special day, you want to make sure that the person you are inviting into your day is someone you feel good with! The same thing goes for the wedding officiant, photographer, wedding planner, and everyone else you bring into your wedding vendor team.
2. Check their highlight reels. These showcase their style, skill, and will give you a pretty good idea as to the quality of product you will receive from them.
3. Do they do Same Day Edits (SDE)? Some videographers bring an editing team and will produce a short wedding ceremony film to be shown at your reception dinner later that day. Expect to pay more for this option.
4. Confirm price lists and what is actually included in the price. Some wedding videographers like to add a bunch of up-sales that maybe should have been included in the original quote. What do they charge for additional hours on-site? Are they purchasing legally licensed music, writing their own, using free music from somewhere, or stealing copywrited music? Is drone footage included or extra?
5. If you know your way around a camera, ask your filmer what their kit is. Are they using quality software like Adobe Premiere or Final Cut Pro or patching things together on a smartphone app? And what cameras are they using? Lighting rigs? What about audio? Mic’d up officiant? Etc
6. Have they worked with your photographer before? What is the relationship like? Photo and video have to work together to get the shot and also not be in the other’s shot. Experienced videographers prove themselves in this manner.
These, and questions like them, will help you determine if you’re hiring a seasoned professional wedding videographer or a hack.
Good luck and, if you’re looking for a great Whistler wedding videographer, email me here and I can introduce you to a few of the best!