WHY ARE WEDDING VIDEOGRAPHERS SO EXPENSIVE?
Videographers, what are they good for, absolutely nothing, say it again
Huh!
Videographers, they’re terrible people, right? Can get a bad rap, right? Well, maybe if you listen to the occasional old-fashioned photographer, you know, the kind who doesnt like working with other people, who likes to grumble, who doesnt even really appear to like weddings, they are known to whinge about videographers. Crusty old vicars too are occasionally not that keen on wedding videographers. Or so I’m told. Personally I’ve never met a vicar, priest or celebrant, crusty or otherwise, who I didn’t get on with. .
Wedding Videographers are lovely, just like wedding photographers, just like most humans. And just like most photographers and most humans, they charge more than you might want to pay. Why is that?
The good news is, there are wedding filmmakers to suit every budget, so if you have only four or five hundred quid, you can still afford one. The bad news is that these guys are either at the very beginning or the very end of their career and probably do not have the experience, equipment, ability, energy or talent to offer a high quality product. How can I say this? Because if you’re not packing at least £10K worth of equipment plus edit software, running a car, liability insurance and other expensive offsets, you are not going to be able to make professional wedding films. It just isnt viable. See the lady who offered so many brides a £600 wedding film only to tell them eight months later there was an editing back log and they were 43 in the queue. How is that sustainable?
It isn’t. Though sadly every year so many brides have to find this out the hard way. Seriouslyif you’re not in the market for a high quality product, well you know, your phone has a camera on it.
But a good wedding videographer costs AT LEAST £1500, three times that lowest budget figure. Many will tell you that anything under £2000 is cheap. I am a little under £2000 and while I wouldnt dream of calling it cheap, it IS very good value.
But what exactly is all that hard-earned wonga going on, I hear you ask.
Well here goes. As a London Wedding Videographer who covers all of the Uk, and destinations abroad, when I rock up to the eleven hour shoot that is my working day, I’ve already spent a heap of money before you even see me.
On my car, the petrol I put in it, the insurance and tax. None of this is chargeable to you.
On my three, sometimes four cameras, along with drone, monopod, tripods, gimbal, accessories, lighting, audio equipment, radio mics, and high quality lenses.
On my website, advertising, socials, so that you might find me and I might help you choose if I am your guy, and happily answer a thousand other wedding-orientated questions.
Ever wonder why your phone videos are only so so? Check out that little lens on the front, or the tiny sensor inside. The value of the equipment I bring along to your wedding day totals somehting in the region of
£16 000. Which is what it is insured for. Insurance being another thing I pay for, including public liability of up to £10 000 000
That’s right, this is a bone fide grown up business, with insurance, payroll, public liability, limited liability, legal contracts, advertising costs, editing software, a high end computer with external peripherals, admin costs, accountancy costs, and all the rest of it. On the day, I look like a nice chap having a jolly time, and that is what I am. Because I really do love making wedding films. But what I also am is a consumate professional wedding videographer focussing on getting the very best images and sound, capturing every important moment and making sure key people get included, and knowing how to weave that into a story, into the narrative of a film you will want to watch over and over
So yes, I agree. Wedding videographers are a bit of an expense. But so is wedding food, and you won’t be watching that time after time, for years to come, right?
Please feel free to zip on over to my main videography page to check out some of the hundreds of beautiful wedding films and lovely, happy couples I have worked with over the years