Wedding Planning Tip | When to Book a Wedding Videographer

The common wisdom on when to book your wedding videographer is around the same time as the photographer. 12 - 18 months ahead of the big day is recommended for best chances of hiring the videographer that you want. It depends on how important your wedding videography package is to you.

How Important is Videography to You?

Top-end wedding videographers with a strong brand presence are in high demand. These wedding videographers will typically take bookings up to two years in advance. Their production values will be outstanding and their packages will usually include additional videography team members and sometimes photographers too. These types of videographers are highly sought after by clients who place a great deal of importance on their wedding videography package.

Videography might not rank as highly on the scale of importance for some clients. Usually considered as a nice-to-have, as opposed to a must have. Opting only for coverage of the ceremony and vows or a short form highlights video. For this type of booking, you can usually book much nearer to the wedding day, within around 6 months or so.

Our Average Booking Time

Our bookings have been from between 4 months up to nearly two years out from the wedding date. The average time has been 9 months from booking to the wedding. Our package ranges from coverage of the ceremony and speeches up to short and long form cinematic wedding films. You can learn more about our packages and pricing by following the link.

The True Value of a Videographer

The bottom line on when to book your wedding videographer depends on how much value you place on your wedding videography. If your wedding video package is your most valued memory, we would recommend contacting your preferred videographer as early as possible to check their pricing and availability. If wedding videography less important to you then it is OK to leave booking till much later. You can even shop around for a newer wedding videographer who is building their portfolio and save some money. If you take this approach, please be aware of the inherent risk in using low cost vendors. (Tax, Insurance, Professionalism etc) One of the most common regrets for newly married couples is not hiring a videographer. Wedding videography these days is an art form in itself, combining stunning visuals with audio design and music for a truly priceless memory. We would recommend budgeting at least as much for your videographer as you have for your photographer. The true value of a wedding videographer is not in how much they cost to hire, but in their experience and ability to provide you with priceless memories that you’ll treasure forever.

Limited Availability & Pricing Changes

The majority of wedding videographers tend to book only a set amount of weddings per year. This is especially true if they're doing all of their own editing such as we do. It pays then to make your enquries earlier rather than later to ensure that your preferred videographer is available for your date.

Another good reason to book your wedding videographer earlier is to secure them at a lower price. Wedding videographers will review their pricing in line with their increased demand, business costs, style and quality. They will increase their prices to reflect increased demand and maintain their limited availability throughout a year. This is especially true of new but talented videographers building a portfolio.

Editing a wedding film takes time and dedication and is where the majority of the work is done. Most wedding videographers are creative and diligent in giving each wedding film edit the time and dedication it deserves. This is great for the client as it ensures quality. Wedding videographers will often only book up to a set number of weddings for a given year, particularly during the peak months for weddings. If your wedding is coming up soon and you haven’t even thought about a wedding videographer. It is always worth checking availability with your first choice. If they are booked they’ll usually be able to recommend other videographers of similar style who will be available.

We tend to aim for around 20 weddings per season. This ensures that we do not bite off more than we can chew. Each wedding gets the time and attention it deserves and we are also able to maintain other commitments. During peak wedding season it’s non-stop editing for us. But we like to maintain creative control over the editing and so we don’t outsource our editing. Editing is a big part of the process of wedding film-making and we enjoy that side of it almost as much as the wedding itself.

If you think that we would be a good fit for your wedding and would like to know if we’re available for your wedding day, pop a few details in our contact form and we’ll get back to you ASAP.