You chose your wedding date. After months of planning, everything is in place and ready. Except for the one thing you forgot…professional wedding video!

Photography is the traditional medium for capturing memories of your wedding day. Still images without motion and sound allow for the imagination to do the best it can to relive the moment. A professionally produced wedding video keeps everything alive, sights,  sounds, emotion.

It seems video is likely the last thought, and the importance is seldom realized until it’s too late and your wedding is over. A professional producer using broadcast quality cameras, special microphones and extra lighting, in addition to the ability to creatively capture the personalities of everyone through the course of your wedding day, will use the footage to edit a finished production that is unique to you.

You might ask yourself, what is of value to you?

So many times in today’s economy, budget conscious couples may ask a family member or friend to use their little handy-cam to video record their wedding, at the time not realizing the full value of video, professionally shot and edited. Typically, family members don’t have the training or the expertise, to see, hear and feel what they should be shooting, and tend to be distracted because they are not there as a professionals. They are there as a guest doing a favor to help the couple save money.

When meeting with couples and discussing their photography and videography needs, they quite often state that they definitely want photography but don’t think video is important, as they feel they would not watch it that often. Our response to couples who have this concern is this, how important is it to hear the vows you make, how important is it to watch your first dance, to feel that emotion all over again when your dad walks you down the aisle?

I met a girl a while back who told me that her biggest regret was not doing video. Her father had passed away and she could barely remember the amazing toast that he made at her wedding reception. She wished she had that memory in video. Until the time comes when you find yourself wishing you would have done video at your wedding, you may not realize the full value of what it is, and then it’s too late.

It’s impossible to speculate how often you may watch your wedding video. But I guarantee you will be more inclined to watch one that was produced by a professional. With a little research, or referrals, a quality producer reasonably priced can be found to accommodate your needs.

One thing we suggest when hiring any wedding professional is that you feel personally comfortable with that professional. As for video and photography, make sure to look at many different samples of their work, to see whether their work all looks the same, “cookie cutter,” or if each production is unique and shows the difference in character and personalities.

Don’t be the one who wishes you did video! Include it in your wedding budget, and you will not regret it!