Why are wedding videographers so expensive?

From an full-time Orlando, Florida wedding videographer

You may have gotten a quote back from me or one of my colleagues and thought, geez this is just as much as my photographer! We are a specialty service more than photo is (still just more than half of weddings have a videographer) and we simply must charge the same amount, if not more!

It’s important to note that not hiring a videographer is often people’s top regret after their wedding. When you can watch your husband’s face back as you walk down the aisle, or hear your words and your guests’ reaction to the welcome speech you gave that you practiced for days… I think you’ll be happy you invested in a videographer. And why not feel like you’re hosting your own reality show or Hollywood film for a day???

The breakdown:

• Getting into video is more technical than photo, which for Alex and I, meant going to school to learn all the ins and outs. It’s not about photo presets and a few adjustments in Lightroom; there’s no “automatic mode” for video. You have to know what you’re doing when it comes to both your video settings in-camera and editing in post. Let’s be honest, a lot of people can pick up a camera and if a photo looks good, you’re golden. You cannot just pick up a camera and guess your way into doubling your fps for your shutter speed to make things look right for video. With more of a specialty service comes knowledge-and-experience-based pricing.
• We need a lot more equipment. Photographers walk into a wedding day with 2 camera bodies, a few lenses, a flash, maybe a flat lay backdrop etc. Videographers need 2+ tripods, 2+ light stands and a good light, 3+ cameras, multiple lenses, 3+ pieces of audio equipment and all the correct cords, and a drone just as the minimum. We also need better computers to edit on because our files are much bigger. This leads to us not being able travel lightly, so it adds to travel fees when we have destination weddings as well.
• Our editing time is often much longer, and it’s much less likely we outsource. Once a photographer nails down their style, it’s easy to outsource editing to a professional and then just do final touches yourself. For video, a lot of the story is in the editing, (unless we made a very precise storyboard for every wedding, which is tough because so many moments are spur of the moment) so we prefer to edit ourselves. This takes a lot of brain power and time commitment because you creating something beautiful out of the limited footage you shot on one day and cannot redo once a genius transition idea pops in your head…sigh.

Wedding videography is hard work.

I don’t ever feel like I need to defend my prices, but I do understand it’s easy to assume you’re paying 2 people to come work for 8 hours and that’s it. I hope this helped!

Vendors from the cover photo, a wedding video we filmed in Orlando Florida: VENUE Citrus Club PHOTO Illumine Photos FLORAL Oviedo Florist CAKE Morgan Hunger Desserts GLAM LeJeune Artistry PARTY Gainesville Event DJs PLANNING Kristy Rapp Events