As a budding wedding photographer and videographer based in Salt Lake City, Utah, I have spent time in countless Facebook groups looking for posts from people searching for these services. Time and time again, I am baffled by the amount of people that don’t feel the need to hire a videographer to capture their wedding day.
I got married last year and my biggest wedding regret and the thing I’m most satisfied with to this day is in regards to my wedding video. When my husband and I had our wedding, also here in Utah, I knew I wanted to put together my own wedding video. At this point of my life, I didn’t have a fancy camera (or any filming equipment for that matter) other than my little Canon EOS m100 vlog camera I’ve been using to make fun videos on YouTube. I considered hiring a videographer to simply capture the clips of the day but decided it wasn’t worth the hassle of explaining that I wanted to edit it myself. I also was on quite a budget and thought it wasn’t worth the money anyway since I technically had the means to film my own video.
I ended up designating a bridesmaid to film on my little camera when I was busy with wedding stuff and I got a good enough video out of it. I am so grateful to this day that I decided to put in the effort to make a wedding video even if it doesn’t look professional at all. The video is so special and it is my favorite reminder of my wedding day, even above all the photos.
Wedding videos capture emotion and memories in a way that photos don’t. I frequently watch my wedding video with my husband and say things like, “I forgot we did that.” It is also so special to see the day play out again in motion and remember so clearly how I felt that day.
However, every time I watch my wedding video I am just reminded of what I could have had if I had hired someone whose only job was to worry about getting high quality video clips of the most important day of my life. My bridesmaid did great, but she is not a professionally practiced videographer and she also wanted to be present and enjoy celebrating with me. My bridesmaid videographer and my cheap little camera were not equipped to capture sharp details of an event so important as my wedding day.
I am so grateful every day that I have any sort of wedding video at all, even if it’s a vlog-style recap of the day, but it’s not the video I had always dreamed of. All this time later, I have realized I would’ve valued a wedding videographer so much more than I valued a fancy venue or expensive flowers. I was on a budget, but I feel like I used it poorly. The worst part is that I can’t replicate my wedding day or do it over for the sake of getting a video. Plenty of people get wedding photos re-done months or even years later, but you can’t re-do a special day if you regret not hiring a videographer.
And you will regret not hiring a videographer.