Choosing A Separate Or Combined Wedding Photographer And Videographer
Choosing trusted professionals to capture your wedding day will be the best decision you'll make, but what are the benefits of hiring an all in one photography and videography business, verse hiring a photographer and videographer separately?
A separate photographer and videographer working together at The Barn on the Ridge.
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Choosing Wedding Suppliers That Best Fit Your Vision
When planning your dream wedding, booking a photographer is usually a given but deciding on whether you want a photographer and videographer from separate businesses or an all in one photographer and videographer company or just investing in premium videography on its own.
The Change In Video Culture
The massive growth in wedding videography in recent years can in some part be attributed to the growing popularity of video across social media. New platforms for better or worse like TikTok have helped to push the popularity of video with more people creating videos for day to day entertainment and tutorials but also a necessity for keeping up with friends, family and work commitments through platforms like Zoom.
Social media companies like Instagram and Facebook who once were photography only platforms have long ago announced that videos are now their main point of focus. The popularity of wedding films across YouTube and Vimeo and the ease of sharing large video files via Google Drive and Dropbox have catapulted the use and ease of sharing and storing video that was impossible in recent times. You may be someone who interacts with video over social media and uses video more than you did before without even realizing it. You may know somebody who owns a GoPro camera or even drone who films just for fun. All these small shifts in culture have impacted the way we value and store our memories.
You don’t have to look very far to see couples sharing their epic wedding films more than ever before across social media and that doesn’t even account for all the wonderful wedding films that are delivered privately.
Wedding Photography And Why It's Important
Photography has evolved so much in recent years and will always continue to do so. Modern wedding photographers take inspiration from many other forms of photography including landscape and street photography, fashion and editorial photography but also other styles including abstract, drone and fine art photography. The possibilities for glorious images on your wedding day are endless. Pro photographers are highly skilled creatives and just like skilled surgeons, carpenters or pilots this skill set isn’t something that can be learnt in a short amount of time. When you book a photographer you are handing them the important role of capturing your memories. Memories that need to often be captured on the fly with great care, precision and artistic flair. Photographs that inspire you and images that evoke emotion are what you’ll receive when you choose a photographer who has mastered and honed their skills.
Why Wedding Videography Is More Important Than Ever Before
While photography is usually a given for weddings the number of couples placing increased value on booking videography services continues to steadily increase, high-quality wedding films are being searched, watched and shared as demand grows and more styles of wedding films become available that cater for every wedding niche. As the bar continues to rise for high-quality wedding films so do the budgets of couples who value capturing their memories in an immersive video format.
Just like photographers, pro videographers are masters of their trades with years spent evolving their craft. Focusing on lighting and composition, complex visual storytelling, quality audio, engaging camera movement and complex post-production, the modern wedding videographer has become more of a cinematographer, producer, sound technician and editor all in one, utilizing the latest video technologies and gadgets that help create wedding films like never seen in previous times.
Why Choose A Videographer
Ask this hypothetical question, if you had the choice to have your grandparents wedding photos or their wedding film, which one would you choose? Most people would choose the wedding films as it’s so much more immersive, you could hear their voices see their quirks and mannerisms hear the emotion in their voice and feel their love, this is something photography just can’t replicate and can only be truly captured with a video.
The Final Decision
When it comes to amazing photographers and videographers you’re truly spoilt with so many wonderful options, styles and budgets but remember, bargain-basement prices usually mean bargain-basement quality, you get what you pay for and the same is true for wedding photography and videography services.
Why Choose A Combined Photography and Videography Company
This style of service may be a large or small studio and offer services across multiple cities and states. Many combined photo and video studios hire photographers and videographers as contractors to fulfil their bookings. They also use contractors based overseas to edit your photos and videos rather than work on post-production in house. This style of arrangement allows for booking multiple weddings on the same days and having your photos and film back in as little as 2 weeks.
Of course, there are some pros and cons to booking combined photography and videography packages.
Pros
-You may have a better chance of locking in your ideal date.
-It’s likely that your allocated photographer and videographer have worked together before and have an efficient system for capturing your wedding day.
-Your photos and video should have a similar look, style and feel to them compared to booking a separate photographer and videographer who might have different styles.
Cons
-Most businesses that are primarily photographers who offer videography may not be experienced in cinematography, audio, lighting, complex storytelling or the additional work and skills needed in creating high-quality wedding films through the complex editing process.
-Many combined photography and videography businesses that capture a high volume of weddings each year may have a cookie-cutter approach that lacks personalization resulting in a generic final product.
-Your combined photographer and videographer will likely be contractors, you won’t meet the persons shooting your wedding day until that morning of your special day when they arrive.
-If you are concerned about privacy, consider that all your images and footage may be sent overseas for editing.
Why Choose A Separate Photographer And Videographer
There may be several reasons why you might wish to choose a photographer and videographer from separate businesses.
It’s possible you’ve already chosen your ideal photographer who doesn’t offer videography services or you may have seen a friend’s wedding film and want your wedding day captured in a similar style.
Pros
Some of the pros for hiring a separate photographer and videographer are that you’ll likely correspond with the same person in the lead up to your wedding; they will be there on the day with you to capture your wedding and be the same person who edits your wedding film and photographs.
Rather than someone trying to do two jobs of covering photographs and video you’ll have two separate professionals who are masters of their craft focused on the single role of getting the most from your wedding images and footage.
You’ll have more options when it comes to choosing the style of your photographer and videographer. You might want to choose a photographer whose images have a fun and upbeat style and a videographer who has a more romantic and moody style, or even a mixture of both.
It’s likely your photographer will be able to recommend a trusted videographer or vice versa. If this is the case, your photographer and videographer will have worked together previously having an efficient style of covering your wedding.
Because the people capturing your wedding are also the business owners themselves, they are more likely to push the limits of creativity and go to extra lengths to provide a better quality of service.
Cons
Your photographer and videographer may have different styles depending on which you choose, this may be a con for some.
When booking separate professionals you will need to examine and sign separate contracts. This may take more time back and forth plus additional meetings compared to having a single contract that covers both photo and video.
You may have to initially outlay two separate deposits rather than a single one.
Information Overload
With many photographers and videographers offing slightly different services, various packages and different names for the same thing it’s understandably difficult to navigate through the sea of information when planning your wedding. Check out our ultimate videography guide that includes loads of information to help you make the right decision.