Wedding videography has come so far since the days of grainy, spot lit VHS tapes featuring in-your-face interviews of guests and shaky footage of the cake cutting. Today’s Palm Springs wedding videography is as polished and as beautiful as a professional documentary, with expert special effects and music that is seamlessly integrated into the events of the day. Though you can certainly ask your Palm Springs wedding videographer for a copy of the raw footage, most brides prefer to see their big day captured through the lens of creativity. The best Palm Springs wedding videographers tell a story through the editing process, distilling the essence of you and your spouse’s bond and the excitement your loved ones feel on your wedding day.
Finding a wedding videographer takes a certain degree of imagination on your part because there is more than one way to shoot a wedding, and it is up to you to decide how you ultimately want to remember your day. Would you prefer a documentary style wedding video that captures your ceremony and reception candidly creating a moving emotional narrative? Or perhaps you are intrigued by the ideas of a faster-paced MTV style wedding video with quick cuts and montages? It is up to you when choosing a videographer to select one who shoots and edits in your preferred style and will be as unobtrusive as you need him or her to be.
While most wedding videographers will happily give you a demo video to watch when you are shopping around, ask for a full-length video. A demo reel will include the videographer’s best shots and is edited for greatest emotional impact, so as you watch it you may find you concentrate more on the drama of the couples and not things like how shots are framed (are guests’ heads cut off, for example) and whether those shots look grainy (which suggests that the videographer used ambient light in low-lighting conditions).
It is vital to remember that unlike wedding photographs, which may not be processed at all, your wedding video will undergo significant editing before you ever see it. In your wedding videographer contract, be sure that your expectations are outlined in no uncertain terms. You and the wedding videographer you ultimately choose should discuss elements of style such as titles, music, still photo montages, images of invitations and programs; as well as specifics like how many camera operators will shoot for how long, whether footage of the rehearsal dinner is included in the package price, and how long it will take to complete your wedding video.
Be ready to pay at least as much for your wedding videographer as you are paying for your wedding photographer. For many couples, a videographer is a secondary photographer, but a videographer’s talents are unique, and the finished product she or he provides is worth every penny.