WHY YOUR VIDEOGRAPHER IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON AT YOUR WEDDING

Okay, obviously I’m biased. I film weddings for a living. But I genuinely think there’s an argument that your videographer is the most important person you hire for your wedding, and weirdly, it has almost nothing to do with the actual wedding day.

Your planner is probably more important on the day. They’re the reason everything is actually happening when it’s supposed to happen. Your photographer is going to make images that end up framed in your house. Your band might be the reason everyone stays until midnight. All of those people matter. But most of what you spend money on for a wedding is at its most valuable right then. The flowers are never going to look better than they do that day. The food is gone that night. The venue is empty the next morning.

A wedding film is almost the opposite. I actually think it’s probably the least valuable it will ever be the day we deliver it.

You’ll watch it, hopefully love it, send it to your family, post it, watch it 15 more times and eventually you’ll stop watching it as much. And then life happens. Five years goes by. Ten years. Twenty years. You have kids. Everyone gets older. Your friends look different. Your parents look different.

And suddenly this film isn’t really about your wedding anymore.

It’s an archive of your people.

That’s the part of wedding videography I think gets missed all the time. We spend so much time talking about cinematic films and drone shots and Super 8 and color and all of these things that I obviously care about. But none of those things are the reason this stuff is going to matter in 30 years.

It’s going to matter because you can hear your dad’s voice.

You can watch your mom laugh. You can hear exactly how your best friend sounded when he gave his speech. You can see your grandparents walking into the ceremony. Your kids can watch their grandparents when they were younger. They can watch you when you were younger.

And the crazy thing is that none of this feels particularly important while it’s happening. Your dad’s voice is just your dad’s voice. Your mom laughing is something you’ve heard a thousand times. Your friends being idiots while you’re getting ready is completely normal.

Until someday it isn’t.

That realization has honestly changed the way I film weddings. I’m obviously still trying to make something beautiful. I want good light. I want good composition. I want the Super 8 to look insane. I want the film to feel like a film. But I don’t want to become so obsessed with making a beautiful wedding video that I miss the people standing right in front of me.

Because I can manufacture a pretty shot. I can take you outside at sunset and put you in good light and tell you where to walk. What I can’t manufacture is your grandfather looking over at you during dinner. I can’t recreate something stupid your brother said while everyone was getting ready. I can’t ask your mom to react to seeing you in your dress for the first time again because I wasn’t paying attention the first time.

You get one shot at that stuff.

That’s also why I don’t want to spend your entire wedding directing you. If I’m constantly making things happen for the film, at some point I’m no longer documenting your wedding. I’m documenting the wedding film we decided to make.

I’d rather let your wedding be a wedding.

Thirty years from now, I really don’t think you’re going to care that I could have moved you six feet to the left and gotten a slightly prettier shot. I think you’re going to care that we caught your dad standing in the corner trying not to cry.

So yeah, I think there’s a legitimate argument that your videographer is the most important person you hire for your wedding. Not because we should be the most important person at your wedding. Honestly, I want to be one of the least important people in the room while it’s happening.

But we might be the person responsible for making sure you can actually go back there.

And that gets more important every year.