Most girls grow up with a picture in their mind of just how their wedding day is going to look and feel. How they will be dressed, what the flowers will look like, What flavor the cake will be, where the event will take place, even down to what will be served. But few girls grow up dreaming of who will shoot the video.



In a recent survey, only about 1/2 of potential brides listed their videographer as one of the top 10 elements of their wedding day. Yet, after marriage, nearly 80% of those same brides listed the wedding video as one of the most important features of their special day. (WEVA 2002). So how do we prevent what should be your most treasured memory from becoming the biggest regret of your day.

Plan to have a wedding video

Nothing can capture the feelings, looks, sounds and expressions of the day as well as a wedding video. Perhaps because it has not been a long standing family tradition to have a videographer that many brides choose to forgo a wedding video. Almost 40% of brides nationwide had no video taken of their wedding. Yet 60% of Brides who chose to not have a wedding video made later regretted that decision and wished they had. On the other hand, I have yet to personally meet anyone who had a wedding video made, who regrets it.

Don't do the "Uncle Bob" thing

Many brides elect to have a wedding video. but in an effort to save money, they choose to have a family member or friend shoot their wedding because after all, we live in a day of inexpensive video cameras and easy to use editing programs. Though this approach is better than no video at all, about one half of all brides who used family or friends to shoot their wedding video later regretted not having hired a professional videographer.

It is surprising that many who would never consider turning over something as precious as their wedding photography or making their cake to an amateur, happily assign one to do their videography. Learning to create and craft the perfect representation of your day takes more than good equipment. It takes talent and skill that has been developed over time. It takes a keen attention to detail and a skill of anticipating shots.It takes someone with a creative eye, a repertoire of shots, and a feel for how to make the moment come alive forever.

Uncle Bob probably has few, and may not have any of these traits and abilities. Since you have one chance to get this right, are you sure you're comfortable to have him do it?

The Happiest Brides

In that same survey, almost all of the brides who hired professional videographers to capture their wedding day were happy with the results and said they would recommend the same to all other brides. I mean, really, who else should you trust this day to? This is the group with the highest satisfaction and least regrets about the video portion of their wedding day. So after the vows have been exchanged, and the cake has been cut, a well crafted professionally shot wedding video will become the most treasured keepsakes of that special day.