View Full Version : Where have all the wedding videographers gone?


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Noa Put
May 18th, 2018, 01:19 AM
I tend to agree with you and raising prices significantly every year can also leave you with referrals from last years brides to this year's bride who wants to know " Why did Tracey only pay $XXX in November and you want to now charge me $XXX for exactly the same thing'?

What is considered normal is to raise your prices a bit every year because of inflation, maybe like 2% extra every year, no client will complain about that. In my case it's different as I went from undercharging a lot to currently charging a normal hourrate and multiply that with all the hours I spend on a wedding, the price increase I made every year to get to my current level was sometimes questioned but I told them what I described before that I was slowly raising my prices to a level that not only is considered as normal rates to sustain a business but also reflected the value of my work. I charge more then most of my competitors because my work is better and I don't need to use fancy words on my website or show what gear I use to prove my point, I just need to show my work.


Today my pricing is at a level I can live with so price increases the following years will be a lot smaller.

James Manford
May 18th, 2018, 04:28 AM
I now have another source of income and have taken a step down in weddings. I charge more and just wait for the right client rather than taking on any booking now. I also do a lot more second shooting jobs now, especially second shooting on multi cultural weddings. No headache of having to directly deal with the asian / african / arab bride or grooms, but keeps me on my toes shooting something different.

What I have found by upping my price is a lot of annoyed referrals ... why did so and so pay this much and why am I charging so much now. As mentioned above brides talk to each other and certainly discuss how much they paid.

Noa Put
May 18th, 2018, 05:17 AM
Annoyed couples because I raised my prices are the least of my worries and what if they talk to eachother? It's no secret that I raise my price, it's on my website so every can follow and see the changes.

Steve Burkett
May 18th, 2018, 02:00 PM
Why would a couple with a higher income pay my price when they can book a competitor at half my price, they pay more, not only because they can afford it, but because of my work. If they just wanted to have "a video" they'd pick the cheapest they could find online and there are plenty to choose from. If they didn't value video more they would save on video so they could spend extra on a honeymoon.



Why should she take on the risk. Even if the videos on their website is as good as the other guy, doesn't guarantee the whole service will be equal to the one charging more, and most go by the maxim that the more you pay, the higher the quality, even with exceptions to that rule often occurring. Reliability and guarantee you won't let the couple down and deliver consistent work with your other videos counts for a great deal. Why referrals are often our best source of new work.

Besides you missed my point. A Bride who is well off and values video will most likely pay a top price for it. If she doesn't, she won't and be one of the worst customers. I've had a few like that.

However those on low income who do value video can't pay for a top priced Videographer. So they book me. It doesn't mean they value Video less, it's just they can't afford to spend £2000+ on video.

So my clients can range from high earners who don't value video to low earners who do and can't afford the big guns, and of course there are low earners, who don't value video, though they're more likely to get a friend to do it. I'd say the middle one is my most common for me.

Personally I get a lot of satisfaction filming Weddings by those who don't have tonnes of money to splash out on it. There's a market there and some good Weddings. Some of the rich ones I do can be quite bland. Those with less money tend to be more creative.

Chris Harding
May 18th, 2018, 06:41 PM
Its a weird industry and sometimes we do have wedding shoots where nothing goes right and we have to fight against lighting, technical issues and end up no being very happy about the way the shoot turned out even though we have done our best. Then the bride comes back with glowing reports about how she cries every time she watches it and gives you referrals from all her friends. I have one groom (yes groom) who's wedding we did 4 years ago and he will often refer us to new brides whenever someone asks "who can do my wedding" Their wedding was fairly run of the mill without any hassles yet he still enthuses about it ..they are having a new addition to the family soon and have already booked us for photos even though we don't advertise baby shoots! As Steve says you can have both low and high budget brides who can either enthuse about video or spend weeks picking it to pieces regardless of price. I guess it's the luck of the draw who you get??

Danny O'Neill
May 24th, 2018, 01:10 AM
Blog post is finally up.

How to get your wedding business found in google (https://www.mintyslippers.com/how-to-get-your-wedding-business-found-in-google/)

It's a shameless post for our new SEO business which is not actually for you video folks.

But it mainly talks about wedding related search trends and their decline for the past 5 years. We also looked at the office of national statistics for the official line.

The most interesting thing is the MASSIVE decline for wedding blogs. We dont show it on the post but we also delved into each of the major UK blogs. Rock my wedding, love my dress and the american style me pretty and those trends match the massive drop for the broader term. Probably part of the reason Oauth wanted to dith SMP.

Steve Burkett
May 25th, 2018, 04:49 AM
Actually I've just had an enquiry from a couple whose Videographer has gone into liquidation. Assuming it's true and he/she just didn't decide just to pull out. Obviously some Videographers don't make it. I think some aim too high but lack the talent for business to make it work. It's not the first time I've heard from a couple whose previous Videographer they've booked has gone out of Business. I've had several enquiries this way.

Roger Gunkel
May 25th, 2018, 09:21 AM
Actually I've just had an enquiry from a couple whose Videographer has gone into liquidation. Assuming it's true and he/she just didn't decide just to pull out. Obviously some Videographers don't make it. I think some aim too high but lack the talent for business to make it work. It's not the first time I've heard from a couple whose previous Videographer they've booked has gone out of Business. I've had several enquiries this way.

We've also had a couple of enquiries this year from couples whose videographer has cancelled and one who had also lost their photographer. I think some people come into the business with little experience, get a couple of cameras and think it is an easy way to make some good money. They soon learn that to do the job well takes skill, perseverance and business acumen.

Roger

Chris Harding
May 25th, 2018, 07:01 PM
Hi Roger

Quite common here too. What is amazing is they close their doors sometimes just a few weeks before the wedding and the poor bride has to try and rebook someone at short notice. Sadly the industry here has no regulation so you can technically wander into a discount camera store, buy a cheap camera and wham..you are a professional wedding photographer/videographer (I've actually noticed once they discover their DSLR shoots video they offer both too!) until you find out it's all too much work so you simply disappear from the scene and sell your cameras on eBay leaving brides stranded!!

James Manford
May 26th, 2018, 06:02 AM
Something I discovered the other day reading a few posts on a facebook group .... there are many so called "pro's" who hire equipment a day before the wedding.

So all year around they don't have professional gear to play with, they just hire them before an event and just shoot on 'Auto'

I'm getting quite annoyed by manufacturers making cameras really good in the 'auto' setting. Whatever happened to shooting manually and becoming a master of your craft.

Nigel Barker
May 26th, 2018, 07:38 AM
Something I discovered the other day reading a few posts on a facebook group .... there are many so called "pro's" who hire equipment a day before the wedding.

So all year around they don't have professional gear to play with, they just hire them before an event and just shoot on 'Auto'
There can be good reasons for hiring gear a day before the wedding & it doesn't necessarily mean that you don't have any pro gear the rest of the year e.g. a backup camera body or two &/or extra lenses.

Danny O'Neill
May 26th, 2018, 07:58 AM
The market has become saturated for sure and as our graphs show (https://www.mintyslippers.com/how-to-get-your-wedding-business-found-in-google/) the actual number of weddings has gone down and continues to slide. So just means more competition. This must how the photographers have always felt :)

Hopefully this latest economic blip will thin the herd a bit.

Nigel Barker
May 26th, 2018, 08:10 AM
The market has become saturated for sure and as our graphs show (https://www.mintyslippers.com/how-to-get-your-wedding-business-found-in-google/) the actual number of weddings has gone down and continues to slide. So just means more competition. This must how the photographers have always felt :)
Back in the days of film you had to be relatively skilled to take photographs. Now anyone can take halfways decent photos due to the dumbing down of photography (or democratisation of photography depending on your point of view). At least editing will always remain a major hurdle to the complete dumbing down of video.

David Barnett
May 26th, 2018, 08:53 AM
Personally I think photography has become more saturated than video. I've seen alot of photogs who are almost more like 'friends/guests' shoot the wedding, moreso in an effort to get a port going. They claim to be pro's, but seeing them go thru the day its just spray & pray for some or trying too hard to get that photo for their port (had a photog send a bridal party out in 0 degree weather, wanted to take family photos outdoors too, I kinda recommended against it as we cannot send Grandmom outside). Then just color correct in lightroom using instagram style filters & effects.


While I admit photography is a skill set thru the day, and more leadership & posing of people, I feel video is a harder/more labor intensive day.. Carrying bags, tripods etc. Also, if there are any startups renting gear or new to it, they likely become overwhelmed at the amount of post production/editing it takes. And suddenly the $700 or $1000 they charged becomes alot less per hour. Add in the fact good editing takes a bit of talent & practice, and they're likely delivering a pretty shoddy final edit, it doesn't surprise me if many bail out.

As for quitting, how could someone not complete out their weddings? I could maybe understand if you had one way out (Fall 2019), and asked if they'd accept a refund and looking elsewhere, but I'd still feel obligated to shoot it if they didn't want to switch. I couldn't just say "I'm out of business", that's weak. (I get it when large national chains close like that, they can't continue to pay their staff. A few wedding dress companies have done that now & then. But not a 1 man show.

Noa Put
May 26th, 2018, 09:52 AM
Blog post is finally up.

I"m not sure if appearing on the first page in google is that important for a videographer, a lot of my work is a result of photographer referrals so I find it more important to make good friends with most photographers I work together with. I say "most" for a reason because sometimes there are photogs I rather not work with again. I think it's rare that there is no photographer at a wedding but from what I hear from them maybe 2 out of 10 weddings they see a videographer so they can play a key role in assuring you get enough bookings every year.

Danny O'Neill
May 26th, 2018, 01:11 PM
As for quitting, how could someone not complete out their weddings? I could maybe understand if you had one way out (Fall 2019), and asked if they'd accept a refund and looking elsewhere, but I'd still feel obligated to shoot it if they didn't want to switch. I couldn't just say "I'm out of business", that's weak. (I get it when large national chains close like that, they can't continue to pay their staff. A few wedding dress companies have done that now & then. But not a 1 man show.

I would imagine they've realised they had to go out and get a day job and either could no longer have that and the weddings or just thought "F' it!"

Chris Harding
May 27th, 2018, 06:18 PM
Weddings haven't really dropped that much here in Australia but they have most decidedly gone from lavish $40K affairs to $10K to $15K which has affected a lot of the fancier higher priced venues. Brides seem to looking a lot more for caterers and halls rather than dedicated wedding venues.

On the video side there seems to be a huge increase in videographers and photographers .. mostly female that have done a uni media course and offering crazy stuff like full wedding photo and video for under $999 and they seem to pop up on Facebook Groups on a daily basis so there really must be a LOT of them out there without work!!!

I wonder if they are shooting on auto and just transferring images from card to USB? or are they doing full image editing and working for peanuts? I must admit I have seen them at weddings with just one entry level camera, cheap Thailand made kit lens and rely on the pop up flash!

Danny O'Neill
June 12th, 2018, 04:03 AM
I"m not sure if appearing on the first page in google is that important for a videographer, a lot of my work is a result of photographer referrals so I find it more important to make good friends with most photographers I work together with. I say "most" for a reason because sometimes there are photogs I rather not work with again. I think it's rare that there is no photographer at a wedding but from what I hear from them maybe 2 out of 10 weddings they see a videographer so they can play a key role in assuring you get enough bookings every year.

The importance of page 1 depends on your marketing and referal source. Our no1 source has always been photographers. But as their work has been dropping and becoming more competitive then that source has also fallen off for us.

Most photographers we work with have all said the same thing. The past 2 years now they have seen a 30-40% drop in bookings. Thats 30-40% less to refer to us.

For us we like to have a number of lead sources. A friendly dj,lighting and production crew we know reminds us of the perils of putting all eggs in one basket after their regular venue which gave them 80% of their yearly work decided to start taking commission and without even giving them the chance went with another DJ. He was in such a pickle.

The only graph we didnt include on our blog post was the search patterns for wedding videographer. THis is the ONLY wedding related supplier which actually has had an increase in traffic over the past 5 years.

Roger Gunkel
June 12th, 2018, 01:35 PM
I know I have mentioned this before on past threads, but we still find wedding shows give us a constant flow of bookings. We avoid the big expensive shows as they have sometimes 100s of stands and thousands of visitor. That sounds great in theory, but if you are selling dresses or supplying suits you can take many orders, but videography and photography only allow for a limited number of bookings and the cost of the big shows make them uneconomic for us. We also find them just an impersonal leaflet collecting exercise for many visitors.

We rely on the smaller shows with generally 30-50 exhibitors and much more affordable.There are less visitors, but they have more time to talk and are much more likely to remember us. We also rely on very friendly and non selling conversation with visitors which seems to go down well and encourages them to talk longer. Many of the visitors are interested in the venue that is holding the show, so we try to show a wedding that we have filmed there to encourage conversation. It also means that the venue send visitors to our stand so that they can see a real wedding at the venue.

Sunday just gone was a good example, with the show being only £40 at a local golf club. It is way cheaper than any other we would usually do, but being local was worth trying. It was well run, visitors were slow but steady, but we had a lot of long conversations with couples. As of this morning, we have already taken 5 bookings from it which is amazing.

We also keep a blog on Facebook of clients we have visited, reports on our shows and of course updates on weddings we have filmed. It has been very popular with Brides, who particularly love waiting for the 20 or so pre delivery stills that we post. Our wedding page has brought us a steady flow of work and seems to be increasing gradually.

Roger

Chris Harding
June 12th, 2018, 07:45 PM
Hi Roger

Glad things are going well for you guys when others around you seem to have suffered massive drop offs in business. I have seen many, many new "wedding expos" spring up lately (even over Winter) and it seems all seem to realise it's easy money for business starved wedding vendors. I wouldn't be surprised if some of these expo organisers are even ex-wedding vendors who have decided having a few expos a year is a lot less work than actually being a vendor. Shows obviously work for your market and then others rely on other vendors like photographers (I have found that so many photogs here are also offering video as well so that wouldn't be a good source for us) We do get work however from wedding celebrants as they are normally the first point of contact for a bride but I guess the UK is still more traditional and the couple have a Church wedding?

Chris Harding
June 12th, 2018, 08:47 PM
Just going on the theme of this topic I have noticed that some photographers have either closed up shop or are turning to other adventures. I have worked with a great (and very expensive) photographer a couple of times and then he sort of vanished into thin air and I never ran into him at all at weddings. I found out a week ago that instead of doing weddings he now just does landscapes and then also hosts "learn photography" day sessions at a nice venue ... To come to think of it, it's not a bad way to put a few pennies in the jar either. He normally has 12 camera enthusiasts per session and charges $59.00 for a couple of hours wandering around a nice venue. (the event is mid-morning so the participants get lunch from the venue so I'm sure he doesn't get charged to use the venue ... "I bring you 12 lunch clients and you let them take photos in your gardens"

What would you do if the wedding video market got to the point where brides were booking cheap videographers that used cell phones and it just wasn't worth your while to continue? Would you still keep with video and do something else??

Steve Burkett
June 13th, 2018, 03:45 AM
I don't think Chris we need to worry too much about cell phone Videographers. Most who enter this craft will be using mirrorless or DSLR to film. In short we love our toys too much to settle for a phone. Those who do are simply looking for a gimmick to be different, but if it became commonplace, it's no longer a novelty item to sell. I clasify phone Videographers with those who also film some stuff on super 8 film. It's a little bonus extra. But requires too much work to be viable in the long-term for vast majority of footage filmed.

Most newbies who come in offer only Highlights videos. They see a good return for a short, easy marketable video that earns them kudos online because keeping it short means the quality can be reasonably high. However there are too many clients wanting something a lot longer and I can't see a drop in clients for me until the newbies stop chasing the Cinematic videos and embrace the longer documentary edit.

However as longer edits can mean more footage and longer hours to edit, and a finished video they can't always post online and earn respect from their fellow Videographers, it's not something I expect many new to the industry will choose to do.

Roger Gunkel
June 13th, 2018, 10:45 AM
I don't think Chris we need to worry too much about cell phone Videographers. Most who enter this craft will be using mirrorless or DSLR to film. In short we love our toys too much to settle for a phone. Those who do are simply looking for a gimmick to be different, but if it became commonplace, it's no longer a novelty item to sell. I clasify phone Videographers with those who also film some stuff on super 8 film. It's a little bonus extra. But requires too much work to be viable in the long-term for vast majority of footage filmed.

Most newbies who come in offer only Highlights videos. They see a good return for a short, easy marketable video that earns them kudos online because keeping it short means the quality can be reasonably high. However there are too many clients wanting something a lot longer and I can't see a drop in clients for me until the newbies stop chasing the Cinematic videos and embrace the longer documentary edit.

However as longer edits can mean more footage and longer hours to edit, and a finished video they can't always post online and earn respect from their fellow Videographers, it's not something I expect many new to the industry will choose to do.

I totally agree with this Steve!.

I delivered a video last week to a couple who booked early last year. They had completely forgotten that we supplied documentary video and had seen a number of recent friend's wedding videos that were cinematic short form. They were totally delighted that we had captured the whole day and remarked at how envious their friends would be.

Roger

Chris Harding
June 14th, 2018, 06:45 PM
Thanks Guys

I actually find the trend quite amusing. In the past all we ever did was film documentary style on "proper" video cameras and covered the entire day then along came the first video capable DSLR's and the so-called "war" began and actually became quite heated if you remember and the in thing was to supply cinematic videos ... short and set to music and we struggled with crazy camera shoot limits as short as 12 minutes on Canon which made editing a mammoth task. It seems that everything has done the full circle now and the full day coverage is back in vogue and appreciated by brides too so those that are producing only a short cinematic highlight of the complete day will probably fade into the background.

Hakob Hakobyan
June 14th, 2018, 10:07 PM
From my perspective as I have been getting busier and busier with work I have less time to post on any social media and forums and in fact anywhere else for that matter.
Just the reality.

Chris Harding
June 15th, 2018, 12:25 AM
Good news Hakob

Hmm if it wasn't so darn cold in Canada I'd love to go there and shoot weddings! We have a son and daughter-in-law in Montreal but when they start telling me "it's minus 35 degrees here today" I'm definately put off!!

Just for interest do you do long form or short form video??

Noa Put
June 15th, 2018, 03:55 AM
It seems that everything has done the full circle now and the full day coverage is back in vogue and appreciated by brides too so those that are producing only a short cinematic highlight of the complete day will probably fade into the background.

Not going to happen anytime soon, my impression based on my experience dealing with my own clients, following couples comments on bride/groom forums and looking at what the trends are in the videography world by following a facebookgroup with over 10k members for a year or so (not a part of that group anymore as I got too frustrated about the enormous amounts of ego and money driven attitude) is that either long form documentary and short form cinematic will continue to excist and have a place, the main difference is the pricing.

I think we have to be honest that most of us, including me, who react in this topic charge low prices for our work what is mainly documentary based and there is a hugh interest from couples with more limited budgets, this might give us the impression that cinematic will be a passing fad but this can't be further from the truth.

If in that weddingvideographer facebookgroup you mentioned that you charge around 2K you would be called out for dragging the entire weddingindustry down because you are undercharging, There was mostly cinematic weddings discussed and pricing ranging from at least 4K and upwards would be considered normal, the known guys like Ray Roman who charge 10K+ would often post but mainly to promote his workshops and to laugh at anyone who was charging low (like us guys here).

Allthough most deliver like 10min average highlights they do offer full ceremony or speeches, raw footage etc at prices higher then what we charge for a full day documentary coverage, weddingplanners who attract high end clients are often a keyfactor to team up with in order to secure these big budget clients.

More videographers that are interested in making cinematic films are able to charge more money for them because for a client it looks like there is much more production value and time spend to make it look this way, not all succeed in that, like beginners who want to jump on that train but miss the experience and/or talent to produce quality films with good images/sound and editing, if they don't succeed in selling at a high price they at least can finish editing quickly and move on to the next bride that one day will regret not having a full ceremony or speeches.

Nigel Barker
June 15th, 2018, 08:58 AM
If in that weddingvideographer facebookgroup you mentioned that you charge around 2K you would be called out for dragging the entire weddingindustry down because you are undercharging, There was mostly cinematic weddings discussed and pricing ranging from at least 4K and upwards would be considered normal, the known guys like Ray Roman who charge 10K+ would often post but mainly to promote his workshops and to laugh at anyone who was charging low (like us guys here).
I would be very suspicious of that bragging. I've seen the same among wedding photographers always talking up the number of bookings they have & the prices they are charging & it's usually so much BS. It's funny how the guys who claim to charge the most spend so much of their time running workshops to teach others how to be as succesful. Workshops are obviously even more profitable than weddings or perhaps just easier to get bookings.

Noa Put
June 15th, 2018, 12:14 PM
I would be very suspicious of that bragging

And do you think that does not happen either with those who charge low? :) Everytime I see a videographer reach their moment of fame, they start with workshops to share their secrets, obviously there is enough money to be made to make it worth their while because those workshops do require quite some preparation, it's not only what they make paid by the attendees but after that when they have it filmed and then post in online for sale and boom, you have got a wordlwide audience.

Cinematic wedding is only gaining in popularity mainly because of these "big earners", wether it's all true or not doesn't matter, not to those at least who want to look for that same pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Chris Harding
June 15th, 2018, 06:47 PM
Hey Noa

Maybe your side of the world is different but here we have a typical example of well known videographers and photographers just vanishing from view and then re-appearing later doing something else for a LOT less money. Actually the one in question was a $7000 minimum photographer and apart from supplying a bunch of edited images on a USB the only other thing he did was show his un-edited shots on a screen at the reception. I would suspect he was killed off for charging way too much .. he teaches kids photography at monthly workshops now and you can be sure he doesn't make $7000 in a day.

Yes the guys who buy a DSLR with a few kit lenses from the discount camera store and shoot weddings for a fraction of what others charge do exist nowdays in great numbers too and although some are charging ridiculous prices which would only make them beer money, some ARE charging a more realistic rate than the "braggers" who are doing the "it's a wedding so I can charge 3 times my normal costing"

I have a photographer friend who is fully booked out for 2018 yet I see brides asking for someone to do their wedding on FaceBook groups and they will get 30 or 40 replies from photographers who obviously are scratching for work ... Apart from consistency, my friend is simply booked out because he doesn't charge an arm and a leg and based on his home and lifestyle he is doing alright too!!

When I was full time we were booked solid by mid year and often taking bookings in the following year and beyond and making a good living simply because our packages were fair and good value for money. That's why people like Roger and Steve are doing well!!

Roger Gunkel
June 16th, 2018, 04:34 AM
Hi Chris,

A lot of good points in your post,and I think it brings up the question of what are we trying to achieve with the the work that we are doing?

One can follow the route of building a business that earns big bucks from each job, earns respect and perhaps admiration from others in the business and enables us to produce work with high technical and artistic value. There are many different routes, but my requirements are to give me an income that enables us to enjoy our home, pay our bills and have leisure time to do the things we enjoy. For that,we need a good spread of bookings so that we can afford to lose a few without it impacting our overall income. We achieve that by targeting the largest sector of the wedding market in our part of the world, which is the lower middle to middle price range. We like to build a friendly relationship with our clients which makes for an easier day and also leads to future work with friends and family of the couple.

I have zero concerns about what others in the industry think of my work or approach as it has absolutely no bearing on what my clients think. I am not looking for status or admiration, just a comfortable living from doing something that I have enjoyed for almost 35 years.

I also follow my own direction sometimes against what the general opinion of others in the trade may think. The joint photo and video package being a good example of ignoring what others have said about not doing either well and doing what we feel competent at. The combined package has been a massive success for us, both solo and working together, with some great reviews from our clients.

My advice is always to listen and look at the competition, but follow the path that you are comfortable with and gives good returns, rather than just following fashion and emulating others. Above all, heed your clients first, not your peers.

Roger

Hakob Hakobyan
June 16th, 2018, 05:49 AM
Good news Hakob

Hmm if it wasn't so darn cold in Canada I'd love to go there and shoot weddings! We have a son and daughter-in-law in Montreal but when they start telling me "it's minus 35 degrees here today" I'm definately put off!!

Just for interest do you do long form or short form video??

Hi Chris,
It' is not that cold in Canada and summer/fall/spring in here is quite nice and warm.
The only issue with weather in Canada really is that winter is too long, like 5 months...

Well I do wedding trailers and full length (1-2 hours) documentaries of the wedding day.
There are some couples that just go for trailers only but most couples want trailer + full film.

Chris Harding
June 16th, 2018, 06:21 AM
Thanks Roger
You and I have always seen eye to eye and in my opinion you have carefully looked at your market and calculated a package that the average bride in your region can afford without too much hardship.

We still combine our live packages with photography ..in fact our last wedding was photography only and at the end of this month we are also doing a live video/photography combined and at this time of the year (remember it's a wet and cold Winter here now!!) that doesn't happen often.

Good luck to the guys that claim they never charge less than $10,000 for photos or video but I really wonder if they have consistent work?? I could see that being a reality in Hollywood but not in normal suburbs or towns. I actually remember some guy in LA complaining the car park at the venue was full and most of the cars were either Ferrari's or Lamborginis ... I could quite easily imagine a 6 figure video price tag for that sort of gig but that's about all!!

Chris Harding
June 16th, 2018, 06:28 AM
Thanks Hakob

Seriously?? the kids never seem to mention that the Winters are that long!! They are visiting Australia in 2 weeks ... You have to remember I'm a warm weather animal and even now in Winter here it's at the moment it's probably around 60F and my cold threshold is a closer to 70F ... to me that's freezing already but remember over here it's not uncommon for our temperatures at a wedding to go over 100F most Summer days!!

Hope business to good since you guys are in Summer now which would be a good time for weddings

Steve Burkett
June 18th, 2018, 02:59 PM
I am not for one moment thinking that cinematic edits are either just a passing fad or even less important than documentary. However as more and more Videographers turn to Cinematic edits as the norm, those clients wanting documentary face a smaller pool of talent to pick from. It's easy to stand out amongst a small pool of talent, hence I feel why I'm successful. Though admittedly, it's not that easy a ride and requires good marketing to reach new clients amongst the pool of low charging Photographers offering video and the weekend warriors. :)

Am I dragging the Video Wedding industry down with my prices. Nah. No more than MacDonalds is dragging down the food industry from 5 star restaurants. Different prices and needs from clients with different budgets and requirements from those wanting a 2k plus Wedding Video service. Those who do, will never trouble me.

I'm sure some may laugh at my service. But then some will laugh at all Wedding Videographers, for simply filming Weddings and not something more high profile. Who cares in the end. No matter how successful, you're still not going to be respected by some and laughed at by others. Do what's right for you as others opinions don't matter in the grand scale of things.

Steven Shea
June 25th, 2018, 07:47 PM
with the cinematic vs documentary, why not just do both?

Best of both worlds, it seems. Pretty much everyone wants the cool looking highlight, but there's so many little moments in the full video, I can't imagine missing out on those.

Chris Harding
June 25th, 2018, 10:25 PM
Steve? As long as your prices allow you to make a decent profit/living I really don't care whether I'm called "cheap" or "pricey" ... I have seen videographers and photographers that can only be classified as a total ripoff ....and if brides want to overpay just to say "look how much mt wedding video cost me" that's their problem. We have videographers here who will do ceremony and reception for as little as $400 ... seriously I don't see how but if they make a profit good for them. If a videographer can also sucker a bride into paying $15000 for a video then good for them too!!

Also Steven Shea ?..it's OK doing a cinematic and doc version of a wedding but make sure you cost for both!!