Fine. So I want to tell you all the things you can expect to know throughout the process of booking a wedding videographer. My name is Jason Monroe, and I own highway 61 films in Chicago. We’ve been making wedding videos since 2009. So after a couple initially books with us, we will do what’s called a discovery session. And this is a time we take in person or over zoom, and we generally just get to know a couple. They get to know a little bit about us. We find out about their history, where they met, a little bit about their families, generally all the questions that we would need to know to help inform us and how to make a better edit for their wedding. And then two weeks before the wedding, we would get a schedule of events. And this is kind of a queue sheet on where to be, when and what time. And it helps us also to know throughout the day what kind of approach to take to each moment in each section of the day. So we’re informed all across the board and then after a wedding day is over with the things that are happening leading up to an edit, going online is us letting you kind of know next steps, how long it will take to process and edit each of the videos. And then we’ll also give you an opportunity after it’s online to make any changes, to request any reedits or anything like that. So we always want people to be fully comfortable and very happy with the edits that we end up putting them together for them. It’s only fair for you to be able to give final approval on everything. And then after that next step, we will allow downloads online. And so those videos will always live online at those URLs in Perpetuity. And we’ll also build like a showcase where it will live online and all of the videos, feature, trailer and Toast will live together.
Here are some tips and tricks to film a great video that stops the scroll:
You’ve got 3-5 seconds to stop the viewer’s scroll. Be creative… start with a phrase like:
We’ll put your name and bio in the title and links, so you can say something more general like:
Give them your hot take, and don’t hold anything back.
check out how Sal nailed it in this video and so did Megan in this one and Nichole told it straight (from her car).
Do you feel like the industry charges more “because it’s a wedding” and they know it’s an emotional purchase?
Do companies think that they can charge more for weddings since the bride and groom may be willing to spend more on their dream wedding?
Hey wedding pros – is this higher price tag justified? Why? Do you charge more for your service if it is a wedding?
This is a taboo topic, whispered but not discussed… until now.
Welcome to The Uncorked Project!
2 comments
I have been asked this so many times... does the wedding industry inflate prices when they hear it's a wedding?
Here is my honest answer (as a former wedding photographer)... NO. Did I charge more for a wedding than a 50th birthday party or a family portrait session? Yes, absolutely. I charged A LOT more for a wedding.
Was I taking advantage of the emotional sell? Absolutely not.
The main reasons I charged more for a wedding were: the unseen amount of work involved in the 12+ months leading up to the wedding, the skill level needed on the day, the INTENSE pressure to create perfect "portfolio level work" no matter what the reality of the situation- but mostly it is to compensate for the time AFTER the wedding in post production.
Little known fact about wedding photography - the real job is sitting at a computer editing photos. Photographers spend many hours behind the computer carefully selecting and editing photos. They make adjustments, crop, and adjust colors to ensure each image it's best. Don't forget the time it takes for batching, renaming, importing, exporting and uploading the photos and preparing them for delivery.
Do you think this justifies why photographers charge more for weddings than for other types of shoots?
Couldn’t agree more! And on the videography side its an absolute ton of data + editing discipline.
Its a double sided coin- weddings are extremely high pressure but also high reward when we nail it.
Our products (photo video) in particular are the only thing that genuinely will last forever . Having fun and ALSO nailing the product is worth the price of entry and frankly more.