Wedding Videography Budget Tips:

You've invested lots of time into finding the right wedding videographer for your wedding. Now, the issue is deciding what moments you want to make sure make it onto the final product.  A wedding video is your opportunity to capture and preserve your wedding day forever -- from all the wonderful moments you'll witness, to the moments you might not otherwise see. In many ways, a wedding video is priceless; but in reality, they can cost anywhere from $500 to $15,000. Couples generally allocate 10-15% of their wedding budget to wedding videography, but it's important to understand which factors shape the cost in order to choose the technology, people, and style that's right for you.

The Goods: Wedding Video Equipment and Technology

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Most weddings are taped using one digital video camera or digital camcorder (the cheapest route), with a second digital camcorder costing between $400 and $1,000, depending on the amount of coverage. The most advanced videos these days are shot using digital video or DV, and deliver your Wedding Video on DVD. While they're a pricier option, they have the fun advantage of letting you skip around to watch whatever sections you want, plus no matter how often the video is copied, it won't ever lose image quality. No grainy videos for your future grandkids!

Premium sound quality is a must for professional videos so you can relive those vows and that first dance over and over again. The single microphone, which is built into the recorder, costs the least, but the digital camcorder isn't always close enough to pick up sound perfectly. Wireless microphones are also used often, but be forewarned that things like fluorescent lighting and the officiant's microphone might interfere with the signal. Digital sound recorders (placed in the pockets of the groom, at the podium, etc.) record the sound on a disk, which is later transferred to a computer and edited along with the video. Since it has to be synced in with the video, it is more time-consuming for the video editing - and more expensive for you -- but it's the top way to get premium sound.

People: From Beginners to the Best

It may seem like a huge money saver to have a friend film your wedding for free. Unfortunately, this is a dangerous road to travel down. The average consumer video camcorder simply doesn't compare to the digital camcorder used by a professional wedding videographer, and the likelihood of your friend being able to handle disasters if they should occur isn't very good.

If you're thinking about hiring someone with some, but not tons of experience, look carefully. A beginner with excellent reels might be a reasonable bet, but run from someone just trying to make cash between acting gigs.

Experience is not just necessary for the technical aspects of filming, but for the professionalism (showing up on time, knowing what shots are important) and demeanor (knowing how to stay cool under pressure and interact properly with you and your guests). A trained and experienced wedding videographer is definitely worth the money.

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