Wedding Videographer Cost Guide
It’s a great pleasure to welcome you into this far corner of my page.
This lets me know that you are very interested in my work and that you probably have already seen my pricing list and apparently want to know a little bit more on what exactly impacts a wedding videographer’s prices?
To begin with, this is my primary source of income, and it is possible that the following pricing conditions do not apply to other videographers who are doing this at their free time from their primary jobs or are just taking their first steps in the deep waters of wedding videography. 🙂
There are a variety of factors that can impact wedding videography prices, some may be obvious and others less so.
- Time. The creative time that we spend together, it can be both – a couple of hours or even several days. In general – the more time videographer is filming, the more you’re likely to pay. Most wedding videography packages include the amount of time that your video pro will spend at your wedding. Unfortunately it’s very common for people to forget that videographer’s work does not end with him placing his cameras down and packing his bags at the end of your event.
- Travel. Time and finances spent on the road, fuel, and food. These conditions are always variable, but they are just as important to our work as any other. If your wedding videographer will be traveling a long distance to be present at your wedding, you’ll likely have to pay for his or her gas mileage, airfare, hotel or other travel charges. Also, it’s always worth remembering that the videographer will most often try to arrive before the time of the wedding because it might be necessary to explore the surroundings or to prepare his equipment before the filming;
- Sorting & Post-processing. The editing process is actually the most time-consuming part of creating your wedding video. If filming process usually takes a day, then sorting and post-processing most often will take at least a week. Of course, it may always vary with every event or season. Your videographer may also allow you to make a round of edits to your wedding video, but additional edits may cost more.
- All the little things are HUGE. Taxes, electricity bill’s, computer software, advertising (Google, Facebook, Wedding agencies, etc.), client gifts, website maintenance and marketing. Meeting with the new couple before the wedding at the most convenient time and place. Meeting the new couple repeatedly (if necessary). Being available for counseling through e-mail, voice calls or on social media. Meeting with the new couple after the wedding when delivering work. These all may seem like trivial things, but when they are all summed together, they make a really large portion of my work, which, of course, also requires it’s own time and resources invested;
- Final Product. Your wedding videos will likely be provided to you via some kind of data carrier – DVD, Blu-ray, or as in my case a custom made USB drive. Your video may also be made available via YouTube or Vimeo for easy sharing. If you require additional copies of your wedding DVD, Blu-ray disc, or USB, you will likely incur additional charges.
- And finally – technical support. As with any professional, we need our own tools to work — from high-definition cameras to lighting equipment and more. To be able to provide our customers with the best quality, we can not afford to do our job with cheap equipment. As you may already know, professional tools of any kind tend to be really expensive. Some photographers backpack with it’s contents can come very close to the price of a long-desired car you might be looking at for some time. 😎 And then there’s the equipment preventive care we have to invest in regularly. ?
Now that we have covered all the pricing factors, we can return to the most important – The Wedding!
I always find it the most difficult task to determine the prices for these beautiful events. In my opinion, any wedding is unique and unrepeatable in its own right, the moments you’ll experience on this day might be some of the most beautiful moments in your lives. This is why I feel that capturing this day must be treated just as heartily as when you did, when asking the big question, or maybe saying “I Do.” in front of an altar to your very special other half.
I hope that you will agree with me when I say that I can not charge the same amount from a couple who invited 100 guests at their wedding and the same amount from the couple who decided to marry in front of the few closest people to them. The same rule applies to many other cases – some couples will organize their day in one location, while others choose to arrange a trip across half of the country. It is also very common to hear people searching for a videographer who will cover “a full day shooting” – and again, while for some this full day might be 9 hours long, for others it is going to be 12, 16 or even 20 hours long. I think you already understood where I’m going with this… 😉
Each and every wedding is special. Which is why, even if you have already looked at the indicative prices listed on my page, feel free to contact me about your special day, tell me all about your wishes and your planned budget and I will get back to you with accurate cost and possible suggestions on how to plan the day so that we can fit into your desired budget.