“A photographer is all you need.”
“Not hiring a filmmaker is my biggest regret.”
“We don’t make wedding videos, we make wedding films.”
Are you overwhelmed trying to pick the team that will capture your wedding?
You’re spending SO MUCH MONEY on everything else, and now you’re supposed to add stuff on top of that? Why can’t you just have your memories??
Or maybe you’re at the beginning of your journey. You’ve just picked a wedding date, and everyone’s telling you to hurry up and lock down a photographer! It’s the most important purchase you’ll make!
If you’ll stick with us for ten minutes, we’ll take all the mystery out of this decision and give you the clarity you need to choose the perfect team for your wedding day.
Let’s start at the beginning:
A wedding photographer, usually alongside a second shooter, will spend some or all of the wedding day with you. They will take photos commemorating your moments. You’ll usually find one of three styles, although photographers are free to make up their own words for their marketing so sometimes they will use words besides these:
A documentary style photographer will spend most of the day capturing photos of what’s actually happening to you. They might ask you to stand in different light or prompt a guest to wave at the camera but they will pretty much never ask you to do something again or to do something fake just to create a photo of it. A documentary style photographer typically represents very little intrusion on your wedding day, aside from a small portrait session at sunset and your own list of family and friends that you request photos of.
Candid photographers are typically less expensive than other kinds because they do not need to worry about the pressure of making every photo artistically perfect. They can prioritize the technical side of photography and focus on capturing the most moments for you throughout the day. They will rarely ever cause a delay in your schedule and they can deliver their finished work pretty quickly.
A candid photographer we absolutely love is Anu Iyer. We’ve had the pleasure of working with him several times and the peaceful way he navigates a wedding day is a blessing for every couple who hires him.
A prompted photographer will cover your wedding day similar to the way a candid photographer would, except that during your real moments they may interject short prompts for you. For example, as the groom is doing his tie, cuff links, and jacket buttons they may prompt him to turn a certain way, play with the tie for a few moments more, and so forth.
These photographers are typically a bit more expensive because they’re trying to not just capture your real moments, but influence them in such a way that they look like fake moments that were staged to look perfect in a photo. They will generally spend more time throughout your day on portraits - expect a longer portrait session tied to your first look, your post-ceremony photos, and sunset/golden hour.
A prompted photographer we can happily recommend is Katie from Peach May Photography. She knows how to have a fun wedding day while still prioritizing the photos the couple have specifically requested or that she knows they will love.
A fine art photographer is the most likely to take over your schedule. To some extent, all photographers create moments, but fine art photographers really create moments at your wedding. A fine art photographer typically uses lots of posing and prompts, spends extra time capturing all the small details of your wedding and all the things you could showcase, and honestly usually takes the longest to deliver their galleries. Some editorial photographers will include or offer as an upsell a studio session after the wedding so you can get a second set of photos in your wedding attire.
Unlike a prompted photographer, you can expect a fine art photographer to truly pose you. Tilting your head a certain way, asking you to relax your shoulders, and so forth. For some couples this is preferred to prompting because they feel less awkward, for other couples prompting gets better portraits because the couple is less stiff.
We have a lot of respect for Delano Scott, a fine art photographer we got to work with for the first time in 2023. He has a discerning eye and worked very well with our team to make sure that he got all he needed without getting in our way or holding up the couple too much.
Your photographer will spend the day capturing moments, often ones that they have created for you. They will adjust their work either by posing you or by giving you simpler prompts, and they will deliver a gallery of photos after your wedding which you may choose to keep digitally, pay for prints you can hang/frame, or use for any other purpose.
What photographers cannot do, no matter what their marketing might say, is let you relive your memories. They can’t give you experiences you missed or place you back in a certain time and space.
Your photographer also can’t make a photo feel like you. By the very nature of the art they create, photographers will always give you work that feels like them. This is why it’s so important that you look at a photographer’s past work before hiring them! If you don’t vibe with your photographer’s style, there’s nothing you (or they) can do about it. Every photographer sees the world in a different way, and they choose to capture it differently.
Lastly, your photographer can’t give you back time with a loved one who has passed on. While your photographer can absolutely take beautiful pictures that may capture the essence of a family member, they can’t transport to that moment and let you experience the interaction again. You need something more immersive for that.
These 3 ways that photographers fail you is where a filmmaker becomes important. Filmmakers work with a completely different facet of art, despite using some of the same equipment, and the work they provide is less about creating moments for you and more about giving you the memories you never had.
If you’re wondering about the difference between a wedding film and a wedding video, the answer is stupid. It depends on the person. They’re just words and people use them to market themselves. The most common use of the terms can be defined like so:
These are just a common way of defining the terms - a self proclaimed wedding videographer and a self proclaimed wedding filmmaker may make exactly the opposite, or something completely different. Infuriating, right?
We have already identified 3 ways that your photographer will fail you. If any of those are a problem for you, you should get a wedding film!
That means that if you value…
Then you should be getting a wedding film!
Every filmmaker approaches their work differently, just like photographers do. Just like with photographers, it is so important to go and watch some of your filmmaker’s work BEFORE you hire them. Look for reviews you can read, and see if they’ll set up a conversation with you before booking so you can get to know them.
Since we can’t speak for everyone in this, here’s how we accomplish those three big-deal things for you.
We bring a lot of people to a wedding. Usually 3-4. And some of those people are specifically in charge of not following the Bride & Groom around! With so much happening at your wedding, there’s no way you can be everywhere at once. With us covering the day, you can feel free to take a deep breath and be present where you are without worrying what you might be missing - we are capturing those moments for you. So while you’re busy taking that long list of photos with extended family after the ceremony, we’ve got somebody at cocktail hour capturing people talking about how beautiful the ceremony was or how incredible that dress looked!
We also use a lot more microphones! The average videographer might only put a microphone on the groom and record the DJ’s sound board, but we put microphones on the groom, the bride, the officiant, the bride’s dad, 1-2 groomsmen and bridesmaids, and anyone else we think might have some important moments with or without you at your wedding! Without the sound, you can only be a spectator, just like looking at your photos, but when you add the audio back in to a moment you missed out on, you are suddenly immersed in that moment. We also will often attach backup microphones to ourselves so that in the unlikely event there’s nobody wearing a microphone nearby, we can use the sound from our own microphones to still immerse you in that moment.
In the leadup to your wedding, good filmmakers (like us) will take the time to get to know you. I don’t mean they’ll send you a questionnaire, although that might be part of it, I mean having actual conversations with you to learn more about the heartbeat of your relationship.
For us, this process begins before you book us during our initial conversation. We dream together about what your wedding could be and that gives me a good place to start when brainstorming for your wedding.
We have a follow up conversation with you to talk about your story session. This is something that not every filmmaker does, but it really helps set your wedding film apart and increase it’s impact. Learn more about story sessions here.
When we film your story session, we get to know you even better! We’ll often pitch unorthodox or creative ideas we’ve had for your film based on what we’ve learned about you.
By the time we show up to your wedding, we’re already friends. And that makes all the difference.
Rather than filming with a set “style” we research the shows you love, the music you like, and the hobbies you share, and look for ways to let that influence your film. Seriously. We’ve done Marvel, Goth-Lego-Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and more.
Because we took the time to get to know you in the months leading up to your wedding (or years, we don’t judge), we also usually have a good idea of who’s important to you that may not be around for much longer. We’ll still usually ask explicitly before the wedding also.
While your photographer might add them to a list of people to pose beside you, we make special notes to capture the real, authentic moments they have at your wedding. We roll the camera long enough that rather than being a simple montage of clips, you can usually get immersed back in that moment with them. Hear their voice. See them smiling, or laughing, or crying.
And even if we can’t fit all those moments into your wedding film, I’ll let you in on a secret: we save as much of our raw footage as we possibly can. So if something happens years after your wedding and you find yourself wishing you could get just a few more moments with them, send us a message and we might be able to help.
do more than fill in the gaps your photographer leaves behind
Love is the most powerful force any of us will encounter during our time on this earth. Your wedding is a powerful celebration of your unique love. Your marriage is a reflection of the way God loves us. That means your love story, your wedding, and your marriage have the potential to impact people around you!
Your wedding photo gallery is all about YOU. Even if you share it online, people will look at it and see YOU.
Your wedding film is about YOUR JOURNEY. When you share that story with people, they will see you but they will also see THEMSELVES! Your experiences can have a profound impact on people who may have turned left where you went right, or on the journey of couples who are just a few steps behind you in their love story.
Wedding photos serve your vanity, and that’s okay! That’s exactly what beautiful art of you can do!
Wedding films serve your family, your friends, and the people in your sphere of influence. At least, the ones we make do.
There are a few sure ways to know what’s right for you, but brace yourself, because they’re the opposite of what you have probably been told.
If literally anything is more important to you than having a fine arts photographer pose you in their style, get a wedding film.
You might hang 3 photos and put an album on your shelf. Your wedding film, on the other hand, will immerse you back in your wedding day. If it’s a question of seeing photos that remind you a moment happened vs getting back the memories you never had and actually experiencing those moments, it’s a no-brainer.
If you can, find a filmmaker like us who will offer a photo gallery built from their video footage, and you can get the best of both worlds! The cameras we film with shoot in a high enough resolution that you can print our images as large as 13x19 and you won’t see any difference in clarity in the printings or digital versions. Our wedding film with a digital gallery and print options costs less than many prompted or fine arts photographers by themselves!
This may be the only opportunity in your life to capture the moments of all those folks interacting, and I promise they’ll be grateful for it too when they get to the other side. It’s sweet to see them pose next to each other in your photos, but it’ll move you to tears to watch those little nieces and nephews play together on the dance floor.
Wedding photographers have their own artistic approach to everything, which is fine! It’s also going to be influenced by trends. Wedding photographers will typically ask you for a style you like (dark academia, bright and airy) and then go research what that style looks like. Their research can’t help but be full of the current, trending rendition of that style - and probably your idea of the style is just as biased!
The truth is, if you’re going to break tradition, create tradition, or do anything super unique that reflects who you are, capturing it in a wedding film is the only way to fully experience it. If you don’t believe me, ask any bride you know without a wedding film how much of her wedding day she remembers. You’ll be shocked how much of it she’s lost.
If there are aspects of your journey that may inspire, encourage, or even entertain the people in your sphere of influence, a wedding film is the best way to capture them, package them up in a way most people are definitely going to watch, and present them for maximum impact.
You can always have a friend or cousin set up a camera on a tripod at the back of the room if you just want to see the ceremony again.
Statistically, in our home turf of the mid-Atlantic, you’re going to spend at least $50,000 on your wedding. That’s the cheap end, anyway. You’ll be emotionally saturated by noon, and although you’ll have fun, you won’t have any more room for emotionally charged memories. You’ll experience about $20,000 worth (2/5) of that wedding day. If you spend a more realistic average of $80,000-$90,000 then you're getting back closer to $54,000 with the same investment!
So really, you’re not spending extra on film and photo - you’re spending $5,000 - $15,000 to get a minimum of $30,000 worth of memories you never had.
That’s a steal! Maybe we should raise our prices again. But we won’t.
Book us.
TL;DR: While photographers capture beautiful posed moments and artistic images, filmmakers preserve authentic experiences, emotions, and memories couples miss during their wedding day. Wedding films offer immersive storytelling through audio and video, capturing interactions couples never witnessed, preserving voices of loved ones, and creating personalized content reflecting the couple's unique story. For couples who want specifically artistic creations of themselves, photography is a worthwhile investment. For couples spending $50,000+ on weddings where they'll emotionally experience only part of the day, investing in videography provides thousands of dollars worth of memories they would otherwise lose, making it a valuable investment alongside or instead of traditional photography.
