Wedding Photographer and Videographer Thoughts and Reviews
February 4, 2024
Tips for myself if I could redo my wedding
(1) When choosing your photo & video, definitely start with what kind of shots you have in mind (bright & happy, cinematic, moody etc). This will allow you to quickly narrow down the suppliers to choose from. I highly recommend going bridal fairs too so you get a chance to talk to the photo video owners themselves
(2) Have a photo prenup (if the budget allows)! This is helpful in giving you a sneak peek into your photographer’s personality and capability. Make sure to ask for the output after. You can also use these to give feedback to your photographer on what you like and dont like PRIOR to the wedding. On my end, I was glad I only did a photo prenup and wala ng video prenup – tbh, having a video team during the prenup would have added more time and I was soo tired already from just the photo prenup (we did three outfit changes and I was sooo ready to call it a day)
(3) Make sure call times are clearly communicated so that you aren’t waiting in vain. In our case, the groom photographer arrived late! So the groom and his groomsmen were just twiddling their thumbs.
(4) Clarify specific shots you want taken. Josh & I were both super chill, but we really wanted our family to be in the photos – not necessarily the staged shots, but even the candid shots. So we were pretty sad when we looked through and saw konti lang footage, esp of our grandparents! In retrospect, this made sense coz the photog and videog team really tail the bride and groom. Eh syempre, the old relatives, they don’t really rush to be with the couple right? They just chill, stay seated sa side. But that meant, they were barely in our photos. If I could redo, I’d request to include time to snap pics with older relatives (for me, more impt than entourage even, coz these guys are old already. So it could be our last few memories together), as well as request the coordinator to really set aside seats in front for grandparents. Coz during the ceremony, it was so full! Our grandparents kind of just sat wherever nalang
(5) Request for shots of the set-up! Especially of the lobby, the food stalls etc. I don’t know. As the bride, I poured in blood, sweat and tears to plan this wedding, and yet 50% of the time, I’m cloistered away! Like pre-ceremony, I wasn’t at the lobby receiving guests… so I didn’t see the registration setup. During the cocktails, Josh & I were having our post-nup taken, so also didn’t see the cocktail setup, etc etc. I just want to see how everything came to life you know?
(6) Definitely clarify timelines – when do you get what deliverable. For example, I knew we’d only get to see our prenup SDE on our wedding day, but I requested access to the edited prenup shots ~1month after the prenup. For the photos and videos, our coordinator handed over a hard drive post-event so we could get all the raw footage (note: best to have 2 hard drive so you speed up the file transfer). 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
(7) Zero regrets choosing a wedding film (~10-15 mins long) over the SDE. I loove our wedding film! One of my pet peeves with SDEs is it sometimes feels formulaic, since the videographer is pressed for time, medyo hirap to craft a story talaga, it becomes more a montage of shots throughout the day. Plus all the speeches during the reception won’t be captured anymore. Versus the wedding film – talagang may storyline! I love it. And it showcases the whole day – all the important moments and lines. Although, gets ko why people go for the SDE, kasi a lot of Filipino guests here don’t attend the church, and just go to the reception. In our case, since it was in Tagaytay, thankfully ~90% of our guests were already present at the ceremony itself. But we also had our wedding photos SDE shown nalang din as a refresher haha!
My Supplier Reviews
GJ Esguerra Photography
Link: https://www.facebook.com/gjesguerraphotography
Peso Power: Php 75,000 (Deluxe Package) + Php 5,000 (Prenup) + Php 5,000 (Tagaytay OOTF)
Inclusions:
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3 photographers, 1 assistant, 1 driver
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Edited images and all images of the day (couple to provide hard drive)
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Onsite Wedding SDE (slideshow)
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4 hours prenup shoot
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Prenup Slideshow (shown on wedding day)
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10×10 40 pages wedding album (around 100-120 photos)
Going into the supplier search, the only thing I knew was I wanted bright & happy photos – none of those dramatic shots as it just didn’t reflect the personality of both of us as a couple. We wanted our photos to capture the essence of who we are and the essence of our marriage – something that brings joy! We were considering a couple of photographers, but in the end, we went with GJ on the basis of friend referrals.
Prenup day: First time to work with GJ, and he’s really a very affable guy. Initially we were rather awkward, coz it’s weird having people be around you and just.. stare at you? But GJ gave us some directions then he left it up to us to get comfortable. It was pretty chill. I think it also helped that we chose a venue (Meteora Tagaytay) that GJ had shot in prior so he already had ideas on the angles etc. We also sent him a moodboard of his previous works at Meteora, highlighting what we liked and didn’t like
On the wedding day: GJ and his team arrived promptly on the bride side, but they were ~45mins delayed on the groom side. Initially they told us the groom photographer would be there by 9PM, as they’d drop him off first before going to Arocarria (where I was), but they changed plans and didn’t inform us! So the groom and his groomsmen were waiting around, without realizing the photographer would arrive later… I think lack of communication talaga – both on the photographer and on the coordinator side.
During the prep shoot, quick shots lang. In hindsight, I should have just done entourage shoot in gown already – wala ng prep shots. Instead, I could have used this time to take photos (candid and staged) with my relatives instead.
During the wedding ceremony, I barely noticed them. Too focused on getting married haha. But nice shots naman! Post-nup was quick lang din – 30minutes in the garden, then GJ cloistered himself off to start working on the wedding phot SDE!
For the reception, we went table hopping so we’d have photos with every table and all our guests. Medyo nawawala photographer namin minsan (not GJ, but someone from his team). Good thing I had a photoman (from M&M with us also), so for some tables, photoman shots nalang kami! Medyo fail. I think nag CR kasi iyong photographer? Pero ang tagal, and ideally, he got someone to sub for him because we really didn’t know where he was 😅
Post event, we got all the shots – raw and edited. Overall, GJ was lovely to work with. Just very chill. We can’t wait for the photo album (6 months timeline from when we send him the 100 photos we’ve chosen). But I do think it would be best practice to give him a specific shot list (who or what you want captured) and have this clearly documented.
Ghe Consolacion
Link: https://www.facebook.com/GheConsolacionEventFilmMaker
Peso Power: Php 90,000 + Php 7,000 (Tagaytay OOTF)
Inclusions:
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3 videographers + 3 staff
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10-15 minutes Wedding film
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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