How to protect yourself from scams, amateurs, inexperience, and flakey videographers. Here are five simple questions you can ask to weed out the wannabes.
How many years have you been filming weddings?
Imagine hiring someone who had very little experience. Beginners make mistakes and mistakes on your wedding day could be very costly, not just for you, but for everyone will receive your wedding video. I would not hire someone with less than two or three years of experience to film my own wedding. Honing the craft of capturing weddings takes a lot of experience. Newbies are simply not prepared for all the different unexpected things that can happen on a wedding day.
Who will be filming my wedding?
If the company you are hiring can’t tell you name of who will be filming your wedding, run away! Many national companies have sprung up that sell cheap wedding packages and simply bid out videography to whoever will take it. You won’t know who will be filming your wedding and sometimes these booking companies have videographers who fail to show or are simply unprofessional. I never recommend someone hire a company that is not within their home state (or doesn’t specialize in destination weddings). Avoid these booking companies as if your wedding depended on it.
Do you have backup equipment?
Any true professional videographer will have additional cameras and lenses so that they can keep filming moments, even if something breaks unexpectedly. Every videographer will experience an equipment failure at some point. Ultimately, your wedding will suffer if they are not prepared with backup gear.
How many videographers are covering the wedding?
Filming a wedding with only one person is a cheap way to approach capturing one of the most important days of your life. Not to mention, a camera on a tripod can’t think, feel, see, or react to what is happening during your wedding day moments.
Do you have insurance?
Serious business people will have insurance, period. It would be worth considering a different videographer if they don’t have insurance.