For Couples
When to Book Your Wedding Videographer
Honest thoughts on when it makes sense, when it doesn't, and how to decide what fits your day.
I get asked this constantly.
Should we get photo and video? Or just pick one?
And look, I get why it is confusing. You are already spending money on the venue, the food, the flowers - and now you are trying to figure out if you need someone to take photos and someone to film it.
Here is my take after doing both for a few years: you are asking the wrong question.
The real question is what parts of your wedding day you actually want to remember ten years from now. Once you know that, the photo vs video thing sorts itself out pretty quick.
I started with videography. My first wedding was 2018 at Home Hill Winery with a Canon 6D. Since then I have stepped into photography as well. So I have been on both sides of this.
I know what a photographer sees during your ceremony. I know which moments work better frozen in a photo versus captured on video. And honestly? I prefer video now. But I still think you should get both if you can swing it.
Photos just exist in your life in a way video does not.
You can take a single moment of the greatest day of your life and freeze it forever. So many couples will print out a signature image from their day and hang it on a wall, something they see every morning for years. You can't do that with a video.
Photos live on your walls. On your desk at work. In albums on your coffee table that people actually flip through. They are just there, constantly, reminding you.
The detail thing is real. When I am photographing, I am hunting for the tiny stuff - your grandmother's hands fixing your veil, the embroidery on your dress that cost a fortune, the way afternoon light hits the Tasmanian landscape.
This is the big one. The thing that will haunt you if you skip video.
Your dad's speech. The way your partner's voice cracked during vows. Your grandmother laughing at something during the reception. These sounds fade from memory faster than you would think.
Your dress moving as you walked down the aisle. The first dance (which is genuinely hard to capture in one still photo). The energy of the dance floor when everyone is going wild. Almost all of this is lost in a photo whereas a video can preserve it forever.
When I am editing a wedding film, I am building an arc. You see the anticipation during prep. You feel the emotion during ceremony. You experience the celebration at reception. It unfolds. There is pacing. There is music underneath it all tying it together.
With photography I am giving you perfect individual moments. With video I am giving you the whole day compressed into five minutes that will make you cry every anniversary.
But. I still tell couples to get both if budget allows it. Because you use them completely differently. The photos are what you live with every day. The video is what you watch on anniversaries and when you really want to go deep into remembering.
If budget only allows one thing, I am not going to lie and say video is more important than photos. Most couples prioritise photography and I get why. Photos are tangible. Video requires effort - you have to sit down, find the file, actually watch it.
But if speeches matter to you, get video. If you have got family members where hearing their voice will matter someday, get video. If you wrote personal vows and you care about preserving them exactly as you said them, get video.
For camera-shy couples, photography is probably the move. One photographer with two cameras is fast and light. When I show up to film, it is a different kind of presence - FX6, two A7IVs, gimbal, tripods, all the audio gear. Some couples just do not want that.
Photography: Sony A7IV, 24-70 GM Mark 2, 70-200 for ceremony. Light, fast, mobile.
Video: FX6 as A-cam, two A7IVs for static angles and gimbal work, multiple audio sources including DJI Mic 1 wireless lavs on the groom and officiant, a Zoom recorder at the altar as a dedicated backup, the Rode NTG5 on camera for ambient sound. Stabilisation. Lighting. Monitors. Batteries for days.
It is a completely different animal. Which is part of why video costs what it costs - it is not just the day, it is the equipment investment and the editing time. Photography I can turn around in four to eight weeks. Video takes six to twelve weeks because every frame has to be right.
Before your wedding day, good photographers and videographers talk to each other. We share your timeline. We discuss who is leading on different moments. We plan our angles.
During ceremony I am usually set up at the back with wide shots and locked-off cameras. The photographer is working closer for reactions and emotion. We are not competing - we are working different angles for different purposes.
The goal: you should not feel like you are navigating around cameras. If you do, someone is not doing their job right.
When you want to remember a holiday, do you pull up the photos or watch the video your friend took? That is probably a clue.
If your dad is giving a speech and he is not going to be around forever, video matters. Personal vows? Video. Ceremony music that is important to you? Video.
Photos get shared constantly - printed, posted, sent to family. Video gets watched on special occasions. Neither is better. Just different.
And honestly, if budget allows, just get both. They complement each other perfectly.
Tasmania has a way smaller vendor pool than mainland cities. If video matters to you, book early. I am usually six to twelve months out. For November or March weddings, twelve to eighteen months because everyone wants peak season.
Good news is the wedding scene here is tight. Most photographers know which videographers they like working with. And if they do not have anyone they recommend, that is actually kind of a red flag - it usually means they have not built good working relationships with other vendors.
Also the light here is genuinely different. I do not know if it is the latitude or the air quality or what, but Tasmanian light hits different than anywhere else I have worked. Makes both photo and video look incredible.
Photography and video both matter. They just matter in different ways. Neither is more important. They are different tools for different jobs. Just do not skip both because you are overwhelmed by deciding. That is the one choice you will definitely regret.
Honest thoughts on when it makes sense, when it doesn't, and how to decide what fits your day.
Honest thoughts on when it makes sense, when it doesn't, and how to decide what fits your day.
I only take on a small handful of weddings each year. It is a deliberate choice and it means when your day comes, I am completely present. If we are a good fit and your date is free, I would love to hear more. I'll get back to you within 48 hours.