Wedding Videographer Thoughts and Reviews

Always choose a videographer that you feel comfortable with. Josh & I wanted a videographer that would blend into the background and just capture the feel of the day. No need for direction, just let us be. So honestly for our videographer, we didn’t give him any input prior to the day. Ghe was well-known in the industry for capturing the raw moments, and we just figured he’d deliver. He knew his craft best, and we did want a 3^rd party perspective of our wedding that we could look back on!

Now there are a couple of options you can choose to do with your videographer: Prenup video, SDE (same day edit), wedding film (~10-15mins film of your wedding, pieced together into a cohesive story), and wedding video (a continuous video of your wedding from start to finish)

My thoughts:

• Prenup video: absolutely zero need. Adds extra time to your prenup shoot and just, it’s not needed (for me at least). But of course, if you want to go for it, go!
• SDE (same day edit): This is the most common, especially because in the Philippines (especially Chinese weddings), it’s common for the guests to not go to the ceremony and just show up at the reception. So, it is helpful to have an SDE so that guests can see what they missed out on. BUT, I’m not so fond of SDEs because (1) I find them formulaic, minimal to no storytelling involved because the videographer is time crunched to generate it before the reception is over. So there’s a typical structure to be found for SDEs, (2) SDEs are the #1 reason why the reception drags on, because normally your videographer is not yet done, so the host is forced to stall. As a guest, I hate draggy programs. So given all this, an SDE was a no for us. (Also, we had a budget to stick to and we felt getting an SDE AND a wedding film just wasn’t a good use of money for us
• Wedding film: This, we felt, was Ghe Consolacion’s specialty, so we knew this was what we wanted when we booked him. And it’s really great honestly. Every anniversary, we rewatch the video and it feels like we’re transported back to the joy of our wedding day. I think the reason why it’s good is because the videographer has time (~1 month) to really think through the storyline, determine the most suitable song to match, and choose all the best video cuts to include in the film.
• Wedding video: This is essentially just an end-to-end video of your wedding day, from ceremony to reception. Honestly though, I feel no one will ever rewatch a 3+ hour long video, no matter how much they want to relive their wedding day (especially if it includes EVERYTHING, not just the highlights). So this was an X for me.

I think the best tip I have here is: Choose the best package based on what you know you’ll use (either at the wedding, in the future) and what you’ll want to view in the future. Because ideally this is really something you’ll want to keep watching again and again and again.

Also, on-the-day, make sure your coordinator has a hard drive ready to get all the raw footage (note: best to have 2 hard drive so you speed up the file transfer. 1 hard drive for the photographer and another 1 for the videographer). Actually, Ghe (our videographer) requested to bring home one of the hard drive pa kasi ang lalaki ng files! We ended up getting back the harddrive a week later

And remember, when you receive the final product, never be afraid to request for edits. At first, we felt a bit awkward asking because you know how creative types can be sensitive about their work of art. But it really makes a world of difference, because our videographer missed some critical shots (e.g. of our grandparents & nephew) and we felt that once it was included, it made such a big difference and really just made the whole things more relevant to us. And well, let’s be honest, you can’t expect the videographer to read your mind and know what you want or don’t want to be included. Honestly, even I didn’t know what I wanted, until I saw the video and realized, oh wish this was here, or I think this doesn’t need to be here etc. So just let it be an ongoing continuous process, and trust me, don’t let hiya get in the way of achieving your perfect wedding. After all, you miss all of the shots you don’t take!

 

Our Videographer: Ghe Consolacion

Link: https://www.facebook.com/GheConsolacionEventFilmMaker

Peso Power: Php 90,000 + Php 7,000 (Tagaytay OOTF)

Inclusions:

• 3 videographers + 3 staff
• 10-15 minutes Wedding film
• Aerial footage

Ghe is an artist. Hands down, no questions asked. He was also the videographer at my brother-in-law’s wedding and we LOVED the wedding film he made for them. Super raw, he captured all the emotions from their wedding.

 

Pre-wedding, we requested for a meeting beforehand just to get to know him a bit better. He also requested that we don’t finish writing our vows (formally on the vow book) so he could capture some of these shots on-the-day.

 

During the wedding, true to his word, we never felt his presence! Pet peeve kasi iyan ni Josh, he doesn’t like being directed. Gusto niya candid lang and ninja. Tipong, surprise me! Well, we really were surprised! Kasi swear, I barely saw him (actually I was a bit annoyed hehe, coz when the photographer wants to shoot during the prep, lagi siya nawawala! So in the end, we just shot without him).

 

After the event, we gave him a hard drive to place all the raw films, which he then returned to us a week after. Three weeks after, our wedding film was ready. I found this pretty impressive because the three weeks included the very busy December wedding season + the Christmas holidays. I watched it several times and was actually surprised at how much I liked it. I felt it really captured the emotions of our wedding, without being overly dramatic or emotional. BUT our issue with it was that our family was barely in it (e.g. siblings, grandparents etc). So, we messaged Ghe to request he add certain shots (which we provided – incl. the specific video file) into the film. Initially Ghe said he’d try, but it would be tough because he had a clear storyline already. But two days later, he sent us a revised film and it included much of our requested changes.

 

Overall, would definitely recommend Ghe if you’re not Type A (I don’t think a shot list would work with him haha) and can just trust him for the entire process end-to-end. He’s particularly great for those who don’t want to be directed, and who just want someone to capture the entire event without being obtrusive. He will deliver.

 

Link to our wedding film: https://www.facebook.com/GheConsolacionEventFilmMaker/posts/pfbid0h82CDXmGrtKYHo9qxzGM8iQQGEH1hupwx2AgDE2kucyvaQuSjFt65XmMFNaALFvTl