There are about a million moving pieces to keep track of when planning a wedding. Amidst the tea lights and ceremony notes, bachelorette weekend plans and floral arrangements, you must also consider the ways in which your vendors will work together. While a wedding planner or day-of coordinator (like Hitch Studio!) can help manage the talent, it takes more than a little finagling ahead of time to ensure everyone collaborates successfully.
In some cases, you may opt to hire a photographer and videographer who work together at the same company. While this is certainly a convenient option, the reality is that these professionals do vastly different kinds of work. Choose a joint wedding/videography package and you may find that a jack of all trades is a master of none. Instead of focusing on convenience, select photographers and videographers based on their portfolios. It might require a little more work on the front end to find qualified professionals you trust to capture your big day and to coordinate their services, but the end result will be more satisfying.
Should you decide to hire a photographer and a videographer who are not affiliated with one another, it’s important to get everyone on the same page from the start. Use these tips to guide your conversations with each vendor. They’ll help keep everyone’s goals aligned while minimizing stress!
Communicate Ahead of Time
When meeting with vendors before the wedding, it’s a good idea to discuss their preferred collaboration style. Ask photographers about how they plan to work alongside and in conjunction with the videographer. Do the same with your videographer. In many cases, you may want to designate the photographer as the head of the shoot for the day. Having one person running point can make the entire process less stressful.
If possible, you might even try to coordinate a meeting with your day-of wedding coordinator, the videographer, and photographer. Be sure to list out your must-have shot list and any special moments you need to have captured on video. It can be incredibly distracting for a videographer to have to change plans mid-shoot, so creating overall goals for the day can be helpful for everyone.
Allow Plenty of Space – Both Literally and Metaphorically
Professional photographers and videographers are experts at their crafts. Nobody likes to be micromanaged, so rather than dictating the exact setup of shots or equipment, leave your photographers and videographers to work these things out themselves.
Weddings are sometimes challenging to shoot because neither a videographer nor a photographer wants to risk missing out on an important moment. Go over your plans with the videographer ahead of time to decide who will be jostling for what and when. Cramped spaces along the aisle, in particular, can be difficult to squeeze into. Without a plan in place, competition for the spot can be fierce. Minimize tension ahead of time by leaving plenty of actual space for your photographer and videographer to claim their territory.
Shared Styles, Shared Goals
Hiring a photographer who works best in natural light is a good idea – at least until you realize the videographer you selected needs a ton of lighting rigs set up to capture your event. When you’re choosing vendors, be sure to hire talent who share similar styles and goals with their photography and videography.
Of course, not every aspect of the artist’s style needs to coordinate perfectly with the other vendors. If you’re hoping for a documentary style wedding video, the preferred style of the photographer won’t matter as much. If you’re struggling to understand the different kinds of wedding photography and videography, talk with vendors about your questions. They’ll be able to quickly suss out your needs and plan ahead for any equipment requirements. Consider a company like Complete Weddings + Events that offers both photo and video services to help set you up with professionals who regularly work together and are managed by one entity.
Delegate Your Delegating
Weddings should be a celebration, not a chore. If you’re feeling anxious about the relationship between your photographer and videographer, pass the management reins over to your wedding planner. We’ll have more experience with the handling of vendor relationships, and be less emotionally-driven when dictating demands. After all, you deserve a day of fun! Leave the delegation to others more than willing to take it on.
You have enough big decisions on your plate leading up to your wedding day. From the moment you and your loved one made the commitment, the planning began. Thankfully, you don’t have to manage every detail yourself. There are whole teams of experts that support wedding planning for couples, such as Hitch Studio. Want something to help you start planning before you hire a wedding coordinator? Check out the Wedding Day Designer, an online or printed booklet with wedding planning checklists, timelines and other helpful worksheets. Whether you need gorgeous save the dates, stunning table decor, or the perfect stress-free day, hire Hitch Studio to give your wedding the special attention it deserves.
For more tips on hiring a photographer, read this!
I like that you said to discuss a wedding photographer’s preferred collaboration style. My wedding is coming up next month and I want to hire a wedding photographer to take some awesome photos of me and my wife. I will need to speak to a professional to help us decide which wedding photographer would be the nearest and best for us on our special day. Thanks for the article!
Thank you for explaining that it’s important to choose a photographer and videographer with similar styles and goals. My daughter is looking at some videographers right now and has been wondering how to narrow down some of her options. I’ll be sure to mention this to her since she already has chosen a photographer, so maybe she could ask about their goals and style and see if she can find someone who can match that.
Great tips!
The photographs and video of your wedding will become permanent reminders of what should be one of the best moments of your life. These photographs and videos have to capture not only the ceremony, but everything, including the guests, the mood, and the ambiance.