FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Many bridal couples and their families have questions and concerns about how the wedding will be taped. Below are some of the questions we're most often asked, together with information we hope will be helpful to you when considering video services for your wedding.
Q. Why should I have my wedding videotaped?
A. Your wedding day is a once in a lifetime experience. After months of careful planning to make your celebration perfect, your emotions will fly by in a heartbeat - laughter shared with friends and family as you prepare for your ceremony, eager anticipation as you walk down the aisle, tears of joy as you say your vows, a loving caress in your first dance, the fun and excitement of your reception. These moments are full of sights, sounds, and motion! And these memories are what are left after your wedding day is over. As professional wedding videographers, we capture emotions as only a moving picture can and preserve them for you to enjoy over and over again and to pass down to future generations.
Q. Why should I hire you to videotape my wedding when I have a relative who has videocamera?
A. By having us videotape your wedding, you get the exceptional benefits of an experienced professional wedding videographer: a creative eye with the ability to capture flattering angles and compose terrific shots, the skill to anticipate important moments and ensure that emotional moments are captured forever, plus you get professional cameras, professional microphones, and professional editing equipment to give you the outstanding picture quality and great sound that your wedding day deserves.
Q. Will the video equipment be distracting during the ceremony?
A. Because portable video equipment is compact and silent, the most important consideration here is whether or not the videographer has the skill to avoid intruding on the ceremony. We feel strongly that both the ceremony and reception should be taped in as unobtrusive a manner as possible. For example, the videographer should not move about during the ceremony - the camera should remain stationary on the tripod.
Most people are concerned about the use of flood lamps during the wedding service, and we agree that use of such lighting is not appropriate during the ceremony. We only use low-light professional cameras which can produce images in all but the most dimly-lit interiors without video lamps.
Q. We want to be sure that our vows can be heard on the tape. Will this be possible if the camera is placed away from the altar?
If the ceremony were to be recorded using the camera's built-in microphone, your vows would most likely be inaudible. These microphones lose clarity at distances beyond 7-10 feet. We use several methods to ensure quality audio is recorded at your ceremony. We prefer to put a wireless microphone on the groom so that we can monitor the quality of the audio during the ceremony. If an officiant prefers us not to use wireless microphones because of fear of interference with their house wireless system, we can also use a portable MP3 recorder to record the vows. We also place similiar microphones on lecturns and in flowers, if necessary to catch other significant events.
Q. We are being married in an evening ceremony and the church lights aren't very bright. How will the video look?
A. Any camera does its best in good lighting conditions, but our professional camcorders are among the industry's best at handling the low light conditions found in some churches and synagogues. When we meet for our pre-wedding consultation, we'll discuss your specific lighting situation and explain how our equipment will look in your environment.
Q. How important is it for the videographer to attend the rehersal?
A. Even if we've recorded at your church before, we feel it is very important to attend the rehearsal. This enables us to avoid such unpleasant surprises as having an attendant block our view of the couple during the vows.
Q. You claim your short form video is an edited production. Why would we need editing, since we want to see everthing that happened?
A. Our short form is not edited to remove significant content. Instead, to us, editing means that we remove all the "boring parts" to give you a video that is very replayable. For example, it can take a bridesmaid 30 seconds to a minute just to walk down the aisle. If you have a normal 6 bridesmaids, that can take a full 6 minutes just to watch all the girls walk down the aisle. When it's time for someone to read a particular scripture, do you really need to watch them walk up to the lecturn to read? Removing and reducing the amount of time for these types of activities makes the entire movie more watchable.
In addition, we always provide an archive copy of the ceremony and reception so if we cut something out of your ceremony to maintain a good pacing, you can always go back and watch it on the archive footage.
Q. How much coverage time do I need?
A. This is a very personal question and to get an accurate estimate, we really need to talk about your specific situation. However, for the purposes of illustration, consider this example:
A bride is getting ready at her parents house. She has a 2:00pm ceremony. It's not a catholic wedding with a full mass so we guestimate approximately 30 minutes for the ceremony. Pictures are being taken before the wedding at her parents house so we assume pictures will run from 12:30pm until 1:30pm. This means that she will need to be in her dress by 12:15pm. In order to get all the preparation activities recorded, we recommend that we are starting to shoot by 11:30am. That would be the start time.
Ceremony is over at 2:30pm and more pictures are taken between 3:00pm and 4:00pm. Introductions are roughly scheduled to start at 4:30pm. If we went with a 6 hour package, we would go from 11:30am until 5:30pm. The bride doesn't feel that's enough time so we go with the 8 hour package which would get us to 7:30pm and the bride feels that we can have all the important activities wrapped up by then.
HOWEVER, things run long and some of the activities aren't complete by 7:30pm. When the contracted time is up, we will approach the bride and ask if she wants us to stay. If she wants us to stay, we bill hourly after the contracted time is up. When the major activities are finally over, we'll ask the bride again if she would like us to stay. We will stay until the end, if that is what she wants.
Any extra hours that we stay past the contracted time are billed hourly and not required to be paid until the final payment is due.
A. Our payment schedule is simple. We require a 25% retainer fee to reserve your date. This retainer must be submitted with a signed contract in order to be considered a binding contract. Not less than 2 weeks before the wedding date, 50% of the outstanding balance is due. The remaining money (and any extra charges due to overtime) are due when we notify you that your final video is complete and ready for pickup or delivery.