FINDING A WEDDING VIDEOGRAPHER

Finding a wedding videographer has been the hardest decision I’ve had to make about the wedding. I didn’t realise I’d be so fussy and how the concept I’ve got in my head is hard to come by. I spent months searching online to find the perfect wedding videographer and I reckon I watched over about 100 wedding films in the process. The majority of them I hated. Robin and I aren’t a very romantic couple you see, and most typical wedding videos feature the lovey dovey speeches as a voiceover, lengthy shots and are just boring to watch. I feel bad for saying that; obviously if it’s your own wedding video it must be amazing to look back over it and see the day, especially as (I’ve been told) it’s over with in a flash. I think when you work in a creative industry like me where I come up with lots of different video concepts, I edit my own videos and work with Robin on producing them, you end up criticising every video you see. So with that and not being very romantic Robin and I had the idea of finding someone that could produce a film that was fast paced and edited like a music video. Now I thought it would be easy to find someone that filmed and edited in that way for weddings, however everyone tends to just opt for a generic videographer, or none at all.

RESEARCH

When it came to researching for a music video inspired wedding videographer I turned to Vimeo and Google for help. I started off googling Essex Wedding videographers and quickly realised there was nobody who shot creative wedding films. Then I looked at Rock n Roll bride, an alternative bridal blog ran by Kat, a blogger I know, and I did find a few alternative wedding videographers but the reason they were different was because they gave their videos a vintage look by using retro cameras or editing in a dated way. Not the alternative style I was looking for…

My next point of call was Vimeo. Robin uses it all the time and always shows me cool videos on there so I thought I’d see if I could find anyone. I actually stumbled upon quite a few I liked so I started an account and followed all of the videographers I lusted over. A few good tips for using Vimeo is that I searched for wedding films within certain locations, so putting ‘UK, London or Essex’ in the search bar followed by ‘wedding film’. Also check out who these wedding videographers are following on Vimeo, a lot of them follow each other for inspiration. I then found my favourite ones Instagram accounts and looked at who they were following on there too. It was a lengthy process, but it was well worth the few months I spent as I am so pleased with my chosen wedding videographer.

One last tip in regards to research is book your wedding videographer as soon as you start planning your wedding. Make it the first thing you book! Honestly, I enquired to a few videographers before finding my one because they were already booked on my date. And this was 8/9 months in advance! It seems like people book their videographers at least a year ahead.

MY FAVOURITE WEDDING VIDEOGRAPHERS I FOUND

STUDIO 1208
I found Studio 1208 on Instagram and loved the way they edited their videos. They’re fast paced, edited to music and feature great drone shots. I just really like the way they film and execute their footage, it definitely has a music video vibe which was what I was looking for. It’s a couple who run Studio 1208, the wife is the photographer and husband shoots the films, what teamwork! The reason I didn’t opt for these guys is because I only liked a few of their videos compared to other videographers where I liked pretty much everyone.

HUMDRUM FILMS
I actually ended up emailing Humdrum Films as I LOVED their style of wedding film. Unfortunately they’re based in Australia so there was no way I had enough budget for them to fly over. Regardless of their location, they were exactly what I was looking for. Their films are fast paced and I love the quirky edits they include such as split screens and vintage looking snippets. If I had enough money they would have been my top choice for sure.

BAINIS FILMS
Another company I emailed was Bainis Films whom are based in Ireland, so not too far away. Unfortunately these guys were booked up on my date but I do believe if things aren’t meant to be, they’re not meant to be, so I quickly moved on and kept looking. This was one of my favourite wedding films they had on their website. I just love the fast paced, up beat track, the quirky flashy edits and just how they really portrayed the couples personalities through the video.

VANESSA & IVO
Vanessa & Ivo are based in Portugal, so fairly close to the UK and I really liked that their wedding films again featured quirky edits such as snippets of black and white footage, different angles from the same scene and decent music where you could actually sit and watch the whole film through. Again, these guys were booked on my date, so it wasn’t meant to be.

STORY OF EVE
Story of Eve was another company I found based in Ireland. There were lots of creative wedding videographers in Ireland actually, so I would recommend googling for videographers in that location as you’ll find many good ones and they’re not far from the UK. My favourite thing about these guys was how well they edited to the music. This was a crucial thing for me. I had to click off a lot of wedding videos because they weren’t edited to music, I found them so hard to watch. But it’s obviously because that’s how I edit my YouTube videos, to the beat of the music. I really liked how they got shots of the wedding venue and decor within the footage, some other videographers didn’t do this, but maybe that’s down to the preference of the couple. I’m not sure if I emailed these guys in the end, but if you are getting married and looking for a videographer, they’re definitely worth considering.

ALBERTO & YAGO
And finally…. Here’s MY WEDDING VIDEOGRAPHER! Well videographers as Alberto and Yago are actually a couple who shoot together. They’re based in Barcelona which is a cheap flight away and were available on my wedding date, so I booked them in! When I found them and they said they had my date free I was so chuffed! I had to do a skype call to chat to them to see if they were happy to work with me and vice versa and it went really well so I went ahead and booked. I honestly love the way they film and edit. They have a really different approach to everyone else; they film in short 3-8 second clips and then they mix up the shots within the film. They also do really quirky transitions between some shots which I love! It just adds something else to the video. They were exactly what I was looking for, so it was worth the long researching process. They edit to music which is upbeat and it really looks like a music video. They’re obviously really great as they do this as their full time job and travel the world filming weddings. The only thing they don’t do is drone shots, which is something I thought I wanted at first. However, watching all of their videos, I didn’t once think it would have looked better with a drone shot. I think they’re perfect for Robin and I and I can’t wait to work with them. We ended up picking a package deal from them where they edit a mini film, a long film and film the speeches and ceremony. The mini film I’m going to use on my YouTube channel!

So that’s how I found my wedding videographer! If you’re getting married soon, I really hope I’ve helped you by showing you a few creative film makers. A lot of people stick to traditions and get a rather traditional wedding video created, but if you know Robin and I, you’ll know we’re a bit quirky and love anything that looks cool! They’ll be more wedding posts coming soon, so keep tuned!

Peace
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