Wedding video regrets

Each year we take on many bookings from clients who have been let down by other wedding videographers. Often at the last minute, these can be because of illness, over commitment or lack of staff.

Most wedding videographers operating in the UK are one-man operations, filming by themselves and editing on a home computer. Often they are not full-time professionals but enthusiasts undertaking projects in their spare time. This is obviously reflected in their costs, but unfortunately also often in their quality and reliability.

Therefore before committing your wedding film to a videographer, take extra care to check out their background. One easy way is to see check what samples they have on their website. Generally if they only have one or two (or none at all) you can be sure they have just started! Unless you are confident your videographer has successfully done dozens of similar weddings before, then be wary of their ability to manage your project!

Another common problem is post-production. Wedding videographers as well as clients often underestimate the time and effort involved in editing of a video. As a rule of thumb, the post-production should take around 5-10 times the length of the filming. This is a considerable amount of time and often catches out novice videographers who find themselves inundated with editing they don't have time for. As a result your editing can take 6 months or more and be very poorly done. Just as the examples below indicate, this can lead to a number of people asking us to re-edit footage already shot.

"Hi, I got married in Bangladesh and apsaloutley [sic] hate the editing of my wedding video! I have the master copy video and would like a quote on how much you will charge to edit it nicely for me?"

"Hi there I am hoping you will be able to help me. My husband and I got married in Las Vegas and unfortunately the video did not turn out as we hoped. We are now tring [sic] to find someone in the UK that will be able to edit the video for us. If you could help us with this will you please let me know. If you are not, would you please let me know if you you know anyone that may be able to help."

"I have 5 video tapes of a wedding that I filmed. Please could you advise the pricing of Editing onto DVD, also with music titles etc..Thank you"

We always decline editing other people's footage as we know how easy it can be to find oneself struggling to sort out dreadfully shot material. To avoid disappointment, we always take the safe option!

Nevertheless there is one regret couples have that is even bigger than those mentioned so far, that is not having their wedding filmed at all! In a recent survey commissioned by the international Wedding & Event Videography Association (WEVA) only a quarter of brides considered a professional wedding video as important before their wedding. However afterwards, nearly two-thirds of those who did not have a wedding video deeply regretted it. Even more significant is that 95% of those who had a wedding video recommended that others definitely have one.

At Bloomsbury Films, we know very well how the build-up to your wedding day can quickly turn to a huge void when it is over! Only a wedding video can really give you this wonderful day back.