Image by Adam Johnston
Lights, Camera, Action… We’ve booked a wedding videographer
It’s been another busy month of wedding planning and as the Easter Bank Holiday weekend approaches here in the UK, I’ve planned two full days of Bridesmaid dress and MOB (Mother of the Bride) dress shopping planned in amongst other small tasks like on-going research for wedding shoes and jewellery.
We have made one or two big decisions though in the last couple of weeks, the biggest of which being around having a videographer!!
After we chose our photographer – the lovely Tarah Coonan one of the next things we started to consider was a videographer – and you might remember my post from back in December where I briefly discussed some of our initial thoughts on whether to have a wedding videographer or not.
As every Bride will know, sticking to the budget can be tricky and having a videographer wasn’t something that either Mat or myself were too fussed about both from a budget perspective and from a more general perspective. I was definitely more focused on making sure we got the right photographer. So as a result, we decided not to include it in our budget.
However, the more we’ve thought about it over the last few months the more we started to wonder whether we were actually missing a trick by not having a Videographer, especially for moments like the speeches, that have such meaning and yet have the potential to be over in a flash.
We quizzed quite a few of our married friends, including French Wedding Style’s very own Monique, and a similar theme started to emerge, there were some people who had decided not to have a video because they already felt quite camera shy and weren’t comfortable with seeing themselves on film, but the majority of people we asked said that it was one of their best wedding decisions. Their reasonings including having the video meant they could re-live those key moments like the speeches or the exchanging of rings, and that just being able to hear people’s laughter and chatting really took them back to the atmosphere and emotion of the day.
Mat asked, “But do you actually watch it, or does it sit in a cupboard getting dusty?” The response was unanimous, everyone makes a point of regularly watching their video and actually, what could be more romantic that spending an anniversary or birthday or any random day that takes your fancy, curling up together and re-living the most amazing day of your life so far with a glass of wine and a box of chocolates.
So, for us that was it, decision made, we caught up with Monica (Wedding Planner) and asked her look into Videographers based in or near Chamonix. Even though we were now totally sold on having a video it didn’t alter the fact that it was unbudgeted so we were keen to find someone as near to Chamonix as possible in order to keep travel costs to a minimum.
Monica soon suggested Adam Johnston. Adam is actually British but spends part of his year based in Chamonix – perfect!
We spent a wonderful hour on Skype chatting to Adam (and his gorgeous dog) about all the different aspects of making a wedding film and luckily he knows our wedding venue well which was great as straight away he was able to make suggestions about how to do things.
Adam has different levels of package (and price) but was more than happy to chat through all the details with us and then put together a quote based on the various bits we really wanted.
For example, we had seen a couple of short, 3-4 minute wedding videos on line which were fab but we were keen to get something a little longer too that allowed for more detail and to really tell the story of the day from start to finish. We sent one of the videos to Adam ahead of the call as an idea of the kind of thing we’d seen and this led us onto a conversation about the pros and cons of having one or two cameramen.
Two cameramen obviously adds to the cost but does allow you to get footage from multiple angles or shot in a slightly different way. Adam talked about ways that we could give the illusion of a second camera man without the extra cost by setting up a static camera to film certain bits of the day, which he could then edit together so in the end we decided go for just one camera man which will be Adam.
I’m also really keen to get full and unedited footage of the speeches and the ceremony as I love the idea of being able to remember them in full in years to come which Adam totally ‘got’ so he’s included in our price the full unedited footage of the speeches and ceremony, as well as the edited version of the whole day.
The other amazing thing about Adam is that he has a heli-cam (quite literally a camera attached to a remote control helicopter) which will allow him (subject to the weather) to get fabulous aerial shots of the venue and the location!
So despite our initial reservations about hiring a videographer, we’re so glad now to have Adam on board, and yes we’ve had to re-jig our budget slightly which is inevitably going to mean trying to make savings elsewhere but I really believe in Adam’s capable hands it will be money well spent.
A bientôt
Hollie xx
Hollie’s Wedding Suppliers so far:
Planner: Haute Weddings
Venue: Les Vieilles Luges
Photographer: Tarah Coonan
Videographer: Adam Johnston
I am sure you will be really glad with your decision! My friend’s brother is a skilled cameraman and the video he made is simply stunning! You get a true feel of what the day was like and makes us cry every time! My friend said she also watches it regularly, even 3 years on, and she looks at it more than she does the photos.
How exciting, not long now!! 🙂 Fee xx