5 Questions You Must Ask Your Wedding Videographer

Now that you're engaged, you must learn to navigate the waters of booking vendors. If you're anything like us, sometimes you have no idea where to start. With that in mind, we've narrowed down five key questions you need to ask your videographer before booking. 

1. How many weddings have you shot?

Most videographers start off by shooting events, concerts and other public gatherings, however, you should make sure that your videographer of choice has shot other weddings before yours. Take a peak at their portfolio of wedding films and see if you like their style. There is a large degree of creative freedom given to videographers, make sure that you'd trust them with your film. 
Our Advice: Check out as many portfolios as you can. There are many different videographers out there, with many different styles.

2. Do you know other local videographers? 

Worst case scenario here, what happens if your videographer goes down with an illness the night before your wedding? Who is going to film it?! This actually happened to me as a week before a wedding I underwent an emergency surgery for an unforeseen medical issue. Thankfully I had enough connections to make sure the wedding was seamlessly filmed by another local professional. 
Our Advice: Make sure that you book a videographer who has good connections within your district. 

3. How well do you play with others? 

Your vendors, especially your videographers and photographers, will have to work together on your wedding day. Make sure that they can cooperate with other professionals. Toss out the name of your other vendors to see if the videographer may have worked with them in the past.
Our Advice: Book vendors who have worked together before. We love working with certain photographers, because we know that they will treat us like professionals, and we will do the same to them. 

4. Can we pick our own music?

This is a trick question in vetting your videographer. Much of the worlds supply of much, especially pop music, is unavailable for use in wedding films. Copyright ensure that all artists get paid for their work, including musicians. The bigger the musician, the more expensive the license. Also, make sure they are upfront with their music licensing techniques. Using popular music (major record labels) without purchasing the proper licences is stealing and could get you in some serious trouble. 
Our Advice: Familiarize yourself with your national copyright laws. Stay ahead of the game and hire a trustworthy videographer. 

5. Can we make changes to our film once we've seen it? 

The answer should be yes, within reason of course. Your videographer is a professional and you are allowing them creative freedom in the completion of your project. However, if someone's face comes up in your video that you don't want to see there, then your videographer should have no trouble substituting out a couple frames. Don't expect your videographer to re-edit your highlight film just because you don't like something about it. Trust is essential in a relationship between client and creative professionals. Do your research, hire someone who does great work. 
Our Advice: Make sure you book someone who is both creative and professional. 

If you think of some other important questions, feel free to add them to the list in the comments below! Also, if you're looking for a wedding videographer, feel free to give us a shout! 

Talk soon, 

-- Jordan & Lauren