Questions to ask a wedding videographer, and what a good answer sounds like

Most lists of questions to ask a wedding videographer are long, and most of what is on them is already answered on the studio’s website. What camera do you shoot on, how many hours are included, do you travel. Worth knowing, but none of it tells you whether the film you get back will be any good, or when you will get it.

The questions below are the ones that do. Each comes with what a good answer sounds like, so you know what you are listening for on the call.

1. Can we see one complete film?

Not the highlight reel on the homepage. A reel is the best ninety seconds of the best weddings a studio has shot, and it says nothing about an ordinary Saturday. Ask for one full film from one wedding, ideally a wedding like yours. A good answer is a link, sent without hesitation. Watch it for the vows and the speeches, not the drone shots.

2. How do you record the vows and the speeches?

This predicts more about the finished film than any other question, because bad audio cannot be fixed afterwards and a ceremony cannot be repeated. A good answer is specific: a microphone on the person speaking, a recorder on the officiant, a feed or a backup for the speeches. “The camera has a good microphone” is not a good answer. Here is why the sound matters more than the picture.

3. What is your turnaround, and how many weddings are ahead of mine?

Everyone answers the first half. The second half predicts your actual wait, because most of a long wait is a queue rather than editing. A good answer gives a number for both, and puts a date in the contract. Here is how long a wait is normal, and what to do when it runs over.

4. Do we get the raw footage?

Some studios include it, some charge for it, some keep it. None of those is wrong, but you want to know before you book rather than after. A good answer says whether it is included, in what form, and how long the studio keeps a copy. More on what raw footage is and whether you need it.

5. Where does the music come from?

A good answer names a licensing library. If the answer is that they can use any song you like, the music is unlicensed, and it is your film that gets muted when you share it. We license through Musicbed. This is why your first-dance song usually cannot be the soundtrack.

6. How long is the film, and is the ceremony kept in full?

A highlight film runs a few minutes, and the vows inside it are a few lines. Some packages add the full ceremony and speeches as their own edit. Ask which you are getting, because the complete vows and speeches cannot be rebuilt from a highlight film later. There is more on how long a wedding film should be.

7. Who will actually be there?

Larger studios send associates. That is fine, as long as you know who it will be, and the full film you watched in question one was shot by that person. Ask whether there is a second shooter and what they cover while the lead is elsewhere. Here is what a second camera actually changes.

8. What happens if something goes wrong?

Illness, a failed card, a car that will not start. A good answer describes a backup: a second camera on the ceremony, footage recorded to two cards at once, someone who can step in if the lead cannot. You are not asking because it is likely. You are asking to hear whether they have thought about it.

9. How will the film be delivered, and for how long?

A download, a streaming link, or both, and how long the link stays live. Links expire and services close, so the answer you want includes a file you can keep. Then keep it somewhere that will still play in twenty years.

Questions that matter less than they seem

• What camera do you use? Every working studio has cameras that are good enough. The difference between films is the person filming, the edit and the audio.
• Do you use a drone? A few seconds of the venue from above is nice, and is rarely the part anybody rewatches.

How we answer them

Fairly, since we have just told you to ask. Our films are 5, 8 or 12 minutes. The 8- and 12-minute packages carry a second shooter on a real Sony Hi8 Handycam; the 8-minute adds a full ceremony and speeches edit, and the 12-minute a full day edit. Our music is licensed through Musicbed. Coverage hours for each package are on what’s included, our films are in the video gallery, and anything this list did not cover, ask us directly.