7 Questions to ask your Wedding Videographer – The key to finding a wedding videographer that you will love is to interview and ask some key questions. Why is this so important? This is a person or the people that will spending the entire day with you. You can love their style but you will be so much better off when your wedding videographer is someone you enjoy being around and trust.
This is a BIG reason why we include an engagement sessions for our couples. We have heard countless times from them that the engagement session was critical to build trust and allow us to do our best work on the wedding day.
It can be daunting to make the right decision, and usually you will have a few wedding videographer options to choose from. Here are some questions to spark discussion and help you get a good feel for each option.
Add these “ice breaker” questions to your list of what to ask your wedding videographer. We made this with the intention of helping you really get to know who the person behind the camera is, and how to make sure they are real pros!
1. Tell us how you became a wedding videographer.
This is a greatway to make sure you know some very important things about your wedding videographer. Firstly, you’ll get to know them, how long they’ve been in the industry and maybe a fun story or two about how they’ve came to be wedding videographers.
You should get a good sense of them as a people/a person because this is a person who will be there ON YOUR FREAKING WEDDING DAY! You want (and deserve) to feel the warm fuzzies when you talk with them. Knowing their history and story is going to help you decide if they are going to be the right people for you.
2. What is your favourite part about being a wedding videographer?
This question can really dig deep into their passion for the craft. It’s not something that a lot of videographers take the time to think about and reflect as to why they love what they do. Their answer to this question should revolve around you (the client) and make you feel like you’re an important part of what makes them want to work with you. Again, wait for those warm and fuzzy feelings.
3. Can you explain your shooting style during a wedding day?
Any videographer who is knowledgeable and experienced will be able to give you the full play by play of how they approach filming a wedding. Starting from the Getting Ready, to the Ceremony, and finishing with some night time dancing.
Pay attention to how well they articulate what and when they will do what they do because this will show you how they work. If they seem lost and nervous about the explanation, it might be they are still new.
4. What is your cancellation / refund policy?
This question is beyond important. Please make sure you read the fine print of any contracts you sign – this is a life lesson to take with you to the grave. The fine print should be clear and concise when it comes to what a professional wedding videographer should have in place for a cancellation and refund policy. This is usually kept for the contract signing, but it’s sure worth asking at the beginning to make sure that they have a policy to begin with. What’s the risk if they don’t have things like this in place? You could be left in the dark if they don’t follow through, or if you must change or heaven forbid cancel or postpone. You should know what their policy is in these situations. All of us in the industry have learned valuable lessons with the Covid-19 pandemic cancelling many weddings, and I’ve heard of many couples who were shocked when it came time to see what their vendors had, or did not have in place.
5. What is your backup plan in case of an emergency?
There are tons of important questions to ask your wedding videographer, but this is definitely a super important one to ask. There can always be some emergency with the video shooting such as missing or broken equipment, problems with lighting, and so on. It is a good idea to ensure that the videographer has a backup plan in case of any glitch during the wedding.
6. How long will you hold on to our footage?
This is less important of a question, but worth asking. Any pro wedding videographer will have backups upon backups to secure the previous footage they are tending to as they edit. They will also have a certain amount of time (typically) that they will hold onto footage.
There is no “rule” when it comes to this but ask it regardless, so you know they have a backup system in place. You don’t want to work with someone who loses their hard drive (and your wedding) if they go on vacation.
This can also become important if they do sell RAW footage, as you can assume you would have about that amount of time to still get that after the wedding.
7. How do you work with photographers?
This is a very simple way of asking, do you play well with others? A wedding videographer will be gracious to all the vendors at your wedding, but a special communication must exist with the photographer as both teams oversee capturing the day for your memories. It’s a basic question, but the videographer should/will have some sort explanation of how they collaborate on the wedding day.
Do you want to know all our answers? Feel free to reach out to us and we will be happy to answer them.
