As we were taking a break from videotaping at a recent wedding reception the wedding DJ sought us out and very frantically asked us if we were being inundated by requests to shoot weddings on July 7. I thought it was a strange question and asked why. He couldn't believe that I wasn't aware of the 7-7-07 wedding date phenomenon. Couples are scrambling to book this date for their weddings because of the "lucky" combination of the number seven.

Unfortunately, I had to answer no. But that didn't surprise me. Hiring a wedding videographer is usually the last thing on a brides "to-do" list. Its rare that a couple will book our services months in advance of the big day. More often that not, we usually get a call one to two weeks before the wedding. This is unfortunate because this last minute request usually means that we are already booked or leaves no room to negotiate a good price.

Which made me wonder about how the various wedding service providers were setting their prices for bookings on this "special" 7-7-07 date.

According to Michele Higgins of the New York Times, "Some July 7 brides say they believe they are being forced to pay a premium for services that wouldn't cost as much on any other Saturday this summer." Higgins? interview of Massachusetts bride, Esther Marius, revealed that she and her groom had to shell out $400 more than they had planned to reserve the stretch limo they wanted. And this was after calling 20 limousine companies and finding that they were already booked for July 7th. Higgins goes on to quote the bride as saying, "Once we told them we were getting married on July 7, the tone changed."

Higgins also reported that "some hotels around the country are trying to capitalize on the date with wedding packages that play on the lucky-seven theme. The Ritz-Carlton New York in Central Park has created a Lucky No. 7 Wedding Package for just 77 people with seven guest tables, a seven-tier wedding cake, seven diamonds for the bride from Tiffany & Co., Room 2007 for the bridal party to dress in, and a seven-night honeymoon at any Ritz-Carlton hotel, all for $77,777."

While the Ritz-Carlton is probably going to get a lot of takers of this package, there are probably just as many couples who's wedding budgets will limit them to a ?Ritz Cracker? wedding package.

If you are on a tight budget, and you want to book a professional videographer for a specific date at a reasonable price, just remember to allow plenty of lead time'at least six months.

However, if you are already coming up on your wedding date, and are finding it difficult to find an available videographer'or you've found one that has quoted an outrageous ?last minute booking? price that you can't afford, you may have to rely on the footage shot by friends or relatives with their personal video cameras.

If this is case, don't despair. Instead of waiting until after the wedding to request the footage, try to find a friend or relative who might be willing to take on the task of shooting the entire wedding and reception. You can get great results simply by communicating to them exactly what you'd like captured the day of the wedding. Suggest that they attend the wedding rehearsal so that they can get a general idea of what to expect and to scout the best place to position their camera.

You might also want to offer to pay for the purchase or rental of any extra equipment such as batteries, microphone, tripod, audio cables and videotape stock.

There is also plenty of information online that they can access to help guide them through the wedding video production process.

Even without a professional videographer you can still have a memorable wedding video that captures your special day with near-professional results. All it takes is some planning, preparation and a little luck. Who needs 7-7-07?