I’ve received an email from a friend. He had a very successful video studio before some matters of a personal nature caused him to close it down. Now he’s almost ready to start it up again. For weddings he offered two-camera shoots with wireless audio and professional editing, and his prices were among the lowest in town. He talked to a local photographer who told him that he shot 45 weddings last year, down from 150.
With the economy down, are people putting off weddings? Or are they just trimming out the extras?
It’s the impact of digital photography. Back in the days of film, you paid a professional to make sure that they got the shots. Now, folks can shoot and know that they have the results they want, on the spot; no need to pay a pro.
Still, even with digital cameras there is a marked difference between professional photos and snapshots. (The guy my friend talked to uses digital.)
As for the videos, it’s surprising how few people don’t know how to use a camera. Again, it’s a difference between a produced video and a ‘home movie’. My friend uses two cameras, usually a jib, nice audio, and is an incredible editor. Most people will probably just use a HandiCam and pick up the audio with the on-camera mic. And they probably aren’t going to use two cameras, make a montage with music, etc.
Having planned and had a wedding in the last just-over-a-year, I can tell you that on the wedding message board I was a member of, lots of people in that community (independant budget-minded types, not The Knot) felt pro photos were important but that videography would be the first thing to get cut from a wedding budget. I’m sure people are cutting even more things now.
We didn’t have pro videography. **The Superhero ** already had a digital video recorder (he needed it for school) and a tripod, and we asked a friend to turn it on and point it at us during the ceremony. The only reason we wanted it recorded was so **The Superhero’s **grandma, unable to attend due to health reasons, could watch it later. I’m glad we have a recording of it and wish the toasts given by the best man and MOH had been recorded as well, but would never have been able to afford a pro videographer. We had a semi-pro photographer who was just starting up his business, which was the only reason we were able to afford his services.
mlerose: A few questions: Have people commented on their home-made videos? Did these people consider pro video at all; and if they did, did they see examples of the videographers’ work? What is the consensus on how much a pro video should cost?
I remember my friend charged $500 for a two-camera, edited shoot of the ceremony, with one DVD. He had two other ‘levels’, but I don’t remember what he charged. The other levels included the reception/toasts/dance, a montage set to music, and extra DVDs. He also offered what was basically a short dramatic film (like an actual film production), but I don’t recall him ever selling one.
My (still photography) business for next year is actually ahead of where I was last year at this time. I aim for 30-40 weddings a year, and this is my full-time and only job.
150 weddings a year? That’s an insane number. I’d make close to half a million a year with that kind of business! What I have found, as a still photographer, is that people around here seem to cut the video before the still photography. I would say that 20% of my weddings have professional videographers.
edit: As for pro video, the people I’ve worked with were generally starting in the $1500-$2000 range, up to $3K-$4K for the deluxe packages.
Um, no. But if you can’t tell the difference between somebody’s snapshots and a pro photographer, then you probably shouldn’t be spending the extra expense on a professional anyway.
Yeah, 150 is a lot. I’d hate to shoot that many weddings. My friend (the videographer, not the photographer) was often double-booked, which was good for me since I was out of work at the time.
As I said, his ceremony-only shoots were really cheap. Not many people chose that when I was there. ISTR the usual package that included the reception was about $1,200 or so, and sometimes he’d throw in interviews gratis. And again, his editing was (and is) superb.
Yeah, I don’t envy you video guys with editing all that footage, especially with transfer to computer usually being real-time. $1,200 seems reasonable. I personally would be weary of anybody charging much less than that (of course, it depends on where you live.) If you’re shooting 150 weddings a year, that (usually) means your prices are much, much too low. Even if I didn’t have to edit them, I would go absolutely bonkers shooting that much. I’ve hit 40-45 in a year (usually concentrated all from April through December), and by the end of it, I’m completely running on creative fumes. Not that I’m complaining, it’s not a bad life, but a little break is necessary to mentally and artistically recompose.
Maybe its the people I hang with, but I don’t know anyone who paid for videography (I know a few people who were given it as a gift by a pro or semi-pro). It just seems like such a… waste of money. You watch it a couple times, and then the media gets obsolete or wears out. (I mean, if you were married 20 years ago, how would you even watch your VHS? Most people aren’t replacing their VCRs as they break.) $1200 is a hefty chunk of most people’s wedding budget, and I think that’s actually quite on the low side.
I have to admit, that some of the really well-edited video is actually quite good. The problem is finding videographers who do a tight edit. The best video I’ve ever seen was actually just a 10-minute (max) highlight video, incorporating video and stills. It’s the only wedding video I’ve watched multiple times, and I still pull it out from time to time because it was just so cool.
Maybe it’s just the group on that message board, but I didn’t notice many people who were all that interested in having videography. Like I said, we wouldn’t have had anything recorded were it not for the grandma factor (and were only able to do it because we had a digital recorder and a tripod already).
The prices don’t seem unreasonable to me, but when you’ve got to plan an entire wedding for $2K or $5K or $10K, including everything, an extra $500 or $1500 for a video (no matter how cool) that will only be watched a few times is a pretty big splurge. I’m sure there are some people to whom videography is an important priority, but if you have a good photographer, if you aren’t comfortable being videorecorded, if you’ve only got 2 grand to throw the entire shindig, it’s not so high on the list.
According to this site, the average cost of a wedding in the U.S. is $28,732.
(My bold.) I put the ZIP code for Bellingham, WA, which is where my friend had his business, into the search box on the page and it said that weddings there ran between $18,754 and $31,256.
Around $24,000 was the figure I heard three years ago. Obviously not everyone spends that much; but it seems that many have until at least recently. I’m hoping for the sake of my friend that the economy doesn’t entirely crash the business.
I think the wedding industry has a vested interest in the “average” cost of a wedding being really high. That way when someone spends less than the “average”, they feel like they’re getting away with something. The “average” cost for the zip code nearest to where we got married was between $23K and $38K. We spent about 8 for everything, and that included the attire for attendants and the afterparty.
I don’t think I’ve been to a wedding that cost more than $20K, but maybe I just don’t know a lot of rich people.
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