Wedding Vendor question

[ckret01]

I am in the process of looking for wedding vendors. I am having a tough time deciding on a videographer. There are 2 we are looking at and one is 2000 more than the other in price. Now we are on a budget, however I am willing to slurge on this but not sure if I should. Many of my friends that have been married say they watch their video once and thats it so it is a waste of money.

Both videographers do the montage of pictures at the reception itself on a screen which is what I want. But the one that is more expensive has really nice work from what I can see. Just the angels and the way his video is looks great. The one that is more expensive also does this thing where he videos the wedding ceremony and while the reception is going on he puts togtehr a video montage that is shown at the reception of the ceremony itself. It is like a wow factor during the reception. I have never heard of anyone doing this before.

I am curious for those of you that are married, did you have a videographer what your thoughts on having one was?

 

[diznygirl]

I've heard of photographers and even DJs that offer the montage as part of their packages. Meanwhile, I haven't broken out the ol' wedding video in who-knows-how many years.... it's a bit dusty!!! I wouldn't break the bank on the videographer. Photos and flowers are most important.

Congrats and good luck!

 

[Aimeedyan]

Nope, we vetoed a video in favor of a better photographer. We were on a major budget, though, so we really prioritized. I talked to SO many people about their own wedding and none of them recommended doing a video so we ditched it. We spent a small fortune on photography but am glad we did. We're photography people so we have def used those in our home, office, etc.

We have an audio recording of the ceremony and I never want to listen to it. I would rather just have my memories of what went on that accompany the photographs instead of know the truth about the mistakes and how big my butt looked up there ROFL

BTW - we did the photograph montage ourselves with Powerpoint, a CD Player, and a VCR. It is SUPER easy and you cannot tell a difference between our slideshow and my best friend's which was done by a professional for $500. DH and I did it ourselves and put the music we wanted with it - it turned out fabulous and we HAVE watched that! We played it while people were being seated for the ceremony. Our parents loved getting a copy, too.

 

[hiwaygal]

We didn't have a videographer either...and I kinda regret it. DH and I are the gooey type who would have watched that sappy stuff over and over again

but, alas, the budget was tight...

My only suggestion with whichever you choose, see if you can get copies of the RAW footage they shoot. This way you can see EVERYTHING they got, not just what they decided to put into the final package. Also, later, you can have things re-edited if you want.

 

[golfgal]

$2000 is a HUGE amount of money to spend on a video show at a reception that most people aren't really going to watch. They may watch for a bit but then they will settle in and chat with people around them. We were at a wedding reception not long ago and they did this picture thing. After the first couple minutes people were bored with the whole thing. Save the money and use it for part of a down payment on a house, you won't regret that.

 

[LindsayDunn228]

$2000 is a HUGE amount of money to spend on a video show at a reception that most people aren't really going to watch. They may watch for a bit but then they will settle in and chat with people around them. We were at a wedding reception not long ago and they did this picture thing. After the first couple minutes people were bored with the whole thing. Save the money and use it for part of a down payment on a house, you won't regret that.

Yeah, what she said.

We skipped the videographer and just had the sound man in the church turn on their camcorder. He was in the balcony so it was a great view. We got the wedding on tape and he didn't charge us anything. Later my FIL transferred it to a DVD for us. Worked for us and I think we've watched it only 2-3 times since we got married in 2004.

 

[kerrynic78]

We used one and don't reget it one bit, it was one of the best decsions we made. He did the montage, and did some really cool stuff with the reception footage. We watch the video a lot and many of our friends asked to have a copy as well. Whenever someone comes visit us they ask to see the video, we always have a huge laugh watching it! I feel that if it something you can fit in your budget, then go for it and go for the one you feel more comfortable with.