A Wedding or a Funfair?

[Steve Burkett]

Originally Posted by Roger Gunkel

It's the weddings themselves that have all become identical, where you could basically drop any family into another wedding and everything would be the same. The ceremony is almost incidental. There are certainly times when I have been editing recently when I have felt that I could keep a stock of clips of the same regularly repeated props, to save me even bothering to film them each time. Mmmm!!! perhaps a new business idea, anyone want to hire a clip pool of standard wedding shots :-)

Roger

Surely they were always identical. Were Weddings 20-30 years ago such varied events with no two alike. Were Ceremonies back then rich in diversity or just using the same theme and words. I think Roger you have less a problem with a lack of variety but more with what the norm currently is. Weddings as you say are about entertaining the guests with lots of different sideshows, gimmicks and trinkets to keep the mob amused. Some of it is down to a hotels set package, which the couple for lack of time and experience accept, and in other cases down to what the couple have seen at other Weddings they attend. Only those willing to be really creative are up to making their Wedding Day unique.

If your taste is for the traditional, then I can understand the current trend for funfair style booths isn't going to win you over, but if you're as wacky as me, then all that nonsense becomes something to enjoy rather than rant over.

Not to say that I don't have my own rants and opinions of course over some of the Weddings I film. However it is more the traditional side of things that bothers me more than the wacky stuff.

[Roger Gunkel]

Originally Posted by Steve Burkett

Surely they were always identical. Were Weddings 20-30 years ago such varied events with no two alike. Were Ceremonies back then rich in diversity or just using the same theme and words. I think Roger you have less a problem with a lack of variety but more with what the norm currently is. Weddings as you say are about entertaining the guests with lots of different sideshows, gimmicks and trinkets to keep the mob amused. Some of it is down to a hotels set package, which the couple for lack of time and experience accept, and in other cases down to what the couple have seen at other Weddings they attend. Only those willing to be really creative are up to making their Wedding Day unique.

If your taste is for the traditional, then I can understand the current trend for funfair style booths isn't going to win you over, but if you're as wacky as me, then all that nonsense becomes something to enjoy rather than rant over.

Not to say that I don't have my own rants and opinions of course over some of the Weddings I film. However it is more the traditional side of things that bothers me more than the wacky stuff.

Weddings were always about two people committing their lives to each other in the company of family and friends, with a meal, speeches, cake cutting and leaving after the meal. That was it basically, so to a large extent a wedding was all about the people there, so yes the people were different at every wedding and so were the speeches. My perception now is that the wedding is shoe horned into a highly commercialised and scripted party package, with the focus shifted to entertaining the guests with various pre packaged and expensive side shows and tat. Just like many celebrations, the wedding has ceased being about a joining of two people and everything about a commercialised party and out partying the last wedding. What is interesting is that invariably the couple themselves are entertained by talking to their guests rather than the gimmicks!

I'm quite happy to film it all and take the money, but I don't have to sing it's praises or enjoy the plastic commercial repetitiveness that passes for entertainment.

Roger



Roger

[Noa Put]

Weddings were always about two people committing their lives to each other in the company of family and friends, with a meal, speeches, cake cutting and leaving after the meal.

My first marriage was in 1986 and in those days it was certainly different, like you said very simple, no speeches in my case, no silly games, presentations, but just a ceremony in church, a photoshoot, a good simple meal in the venue and a first dance which started at 21:30 and then a lot of dancing and people getting drunk, including me, and having fun. We didn't spend anything else on entertainment, for that we had a DJ, I still remember today what the cost was of my entire wedding: 2250 euro and we got that same amount back in money from our guests as weddingpresent, basically the wedding paid for itself :) What I hear from couples today that should easily be multiplied by 10 and more now.

Today the first dance is usually around midnight (had one wedding last year where the first dance started at 01:30 at night) and before that it's the speeches, powerpoint presentations, acts by friends, they show films that last forever from their bachelorsparty, there is often a group playing music live during the reception, there is a photo or videobooth, I also have seen during a reception that there where different games the guests could play.

To be honest, I would prefer the way my first wedding was, today I see people sitting in boredom trough the endless speeches, acts and presentations and waiting for finally the dancing to start.

[Peter Rush]

I just got married in Fort Lauderdale, Florida 8 weeks ago - cost $130 for the licence and ceremony at city hall, $200 for a tog for an hour (really nice guy but who mainly did sports and pets) and a wedding meal at The Cheescake Factory - just the two of us! Nice and simple :)

Good job not everyone is like me or we'd all be out of business!

Pete

[Noa Put]

My second wedding 14 years ago was even more cheaper, The legal part in the townhall, no ceremony but just a meal with my parents, our children and their partners in the afternoon at a hotels restaurant, I fell asleep around 17:00 probably because we didn't hire a DJ :) I think only weddingvideographers get married like that or in my case back then anyone who gets married a second time.

[Steve Burkett]

Neither Peter or Noa are really selling the non-funfair, small scale style Weddings very well. :)

[Noa Put]

Like Peter said, we would be the worst clients for weddingsvideographers. At my second wedding the photog was my wifes friend and he shot for free and my dad took a handicam with him to shoot video. I"m shocked whenever I hear what the budget of a wedding is and very often the parents have to pay a large part. It's all the "wacky" extra's they want that make it so expensive. But from a videographer point of view you don't hear me complain, it gives me enough material t make a fun film, it's only the speeches and especially the too longs acts by friends that add several hours of editing time.

Edit: I think it's best to move this topic to the members only area.

[Mike Watson]

At the same time, aren't you guys profiting from the funfair weddings? Sure, ten or 15 years ago, the idea of a magician and a photobooth at a wedding was absurd, and spending $5k on flowers was something Princess Diana did, not something that someone working full-time at Wal-Mart did.

But at that same time, a wedding video was a guy with an SVHS camcorder on a set of steel sticks with one angle would set up at the back of the church, roll the ceremony, pop the tape out, and hand it to the bride. Today... every wedding video looks like a frickin' movie trailer, suitable for playback on the Oprah network. From listening to you guys, it seems the average wedding is spending $3k - $5k on video. You guys rattle on about 2-3 videographers and a half dozen unmanned cameras. I work on TV shows that don't have that kind of coverage!

[Steve Burkett]

Originally Posted by Mike Watson

At the same time, aren't you guys profiting from the funfair weddings?

But at that same time, a wedding video was a guy with an SVHS camcorder on a set of steel sticks with one angle would set up at the back of the church, roll the ceremony, pop the tape out, and hand it to the bride. Today... every wedding video looks like a frickin' movie trailer, suitable for playback on the Oprah network. From listening to you guys, it seems the average wedding is spending $3k - $5k on video. You guys rattle on about 2-3 videographers and a half dozen unmanned cameras. I work on TV shows that don't have that kind of coverage!

Alas prices aren't always as good as you think they are. Photographers offering video on the side, Students looking for a part time job to supplement their studies and those looking to make their video craft more than a hobby tend to lower prices. Whilst Video is (in the UK at least), often the last port of call for many couples; who having spent most of their budget on other services, look at video as an affordable extra. I film on my own and yes with 4 cameras, and yes I am benefiting from the funfair as I offer Marryoke, Video Booth and same day edit. That much is true.

However I can't say whether the latest trends have increased video work or not. Certainly its made it more competitive.

[Roger Gunkel]

Well I may not enjoy the Funfair aspect of modern weddings, but I certainly earn a good enough living from it.

Sometimes though it makes me sad to see many couples who seem to feel obliged to have a big expensive wedding with all the latest fashionable gimmicks. Then I visit them to deliver the video/photos and see that they are living in a rabbit hutch working every hour possible for minimal wage. I wonder why they didn't just get married in a registry office, go to the pub afterwards and put all the thousands of pounds saved into improving their circumstances.

I will add that although I often find the video filming repetitive and tedious, I love doing the photography since we started offering the joint and individual packages. I feel I have so much more control and artistic input into the photography and I love the closer relationship it brings with the couple and their families. We did a photography only wedding a couple of weeks ago and it felt almost like a day off :-)

Roger

[Chris Harding]

I have always wondered whether I should forgo the glitz and glamour of the funfair weddings and the long tedious hours involved and target the registry wedding business? It's huge where we are with a good half dozen every day in the official registry office which is actually decorated very tastefully and has facilities for up to 20 guests too. I did one a while back and was amazed at the nearly 2 month waiting list they have to book a ceremony! No hassle and no issues ..just a one camera shoot for a cost that couples could easily afford and certainly plenty of work and cost effective too .. In and out within an hour and all in one venue. Even our civil celebrants are starting to offer couples a no frills ceremony in their offices and they far exceed the number of funfair weddings and they are certainly far less hassle than rushing to bridal prep, Churches and receptions ... admittedly you would only probably charge a much lower fee but you would get a whole lot more work and it would be a simple in and out affair. Also as they are more often than not done during the week which would eliminate the weekend warrior slashing prices. Anybody doing that sort of shoot ?

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Mike Watson

You guys rattle on about 2-3 videographers and a half dozen unmanned cameras. I work on TV shows that don't have that kind of coverage!

Your comparing apples to oranges, the extra camera's most of us use combined might cost less then one lens on a camera used at a tv show. Also, most of us on this forum work alone and certainly not everyone is able to charge the prices you mention.

a wedding video was a guy with an SVHS camcorder on a set of steel sticks

The guy with a SVHS camcorder could not buy more then one camera for less then 1k that matched the IQ of his main camera and which was small enough to put in his pocket. Those options where just not available back then, and we are not even considering the challenges he would face by trying to edit a multi-cam sequence.

[Peter Rush]

Originally Posted by Steve Burkett

Alas prices aren't always as good as you think they are. Photographers offering video on the side, Students looking for a part time job to supplement their studies and those looking to make their video craft more than a hobby tend to lower prices. Whilst Video is (in the UK at least), often the last port of call for many couples; who having spent most of their budget on other services, look at video as an affordable extra. I film on my own and yes with 4 cameras, and yes I am benefiting from the funfair as I offer Marryoke, Video Booth and same day edit. That much is true.

However I can't say whether the latest trends have increased video work or not. Certainly its made it more competitive.

Steve you do a SDE on your own? Kudos :)

[Noa Put]

These guys might make great weddingvideographers as well: http://www.sdmediapros.org/wp-conten...ManBandMCU.jpg

[Danny O'Neill]

But because the day is such a huge production now it means we can charge more. The value of a guy who turns up to film a ceremony and speech is little. But when they have these lavish affairs it means more work for us and thus more money.

Dont knock it Roger. I know they all go for the same stuff and copy speeches from the internet but it pays the bills :)