Choosing a videographer

1. Be sure you're booking a professional!
Someone who makes their living making films and videos and not just someone who uses wedding videography as a lucrative hobby or something to keep them busy after they've retired. Check if the videographer makes any other sorts of films: have they done broadcast tv or corporate videos, for example? Make sure that if they're using extra cameramen, that they aren't just using students from the local college but properly trained people with relevant experience.

2. View a complete video.
Make sure you ask to see substantial examples of work, not just highlights montages. Most people can shoot enough decent shots during a wedding of several hours to make a decent 3 minute montage. Whilst you don't want to sit through the speeches from someone else's wedding video in their entirety, make sure that you see a substantial part of the ceremony, an example from each of the speeches (to check that everyone was wearing a mic - not just the best man!) Look and listen carefully. Is the picture correctly exposed? If faces are dark, then the picture is underexposed. If you can't see the flow of the fabric on that beautiful white wedding dress, then it's overexposed. Check the colour balance. Is the shot steady or does it wobble? A tell-tale sign of the amateur wedding videographer, is too much zooming in and out. A professional isn't afraid to keep the shot completely still and let the action in front of the camera speak for itself. Check that you'll be getting the person that actually produced the demo DVD you see filming your wedding.

3. Look for qualifications or members of a trade association.
This won't guarantee they have covered a lot of weddings, but it's a good start. Look on the Institute of Videography's website for recommendations. If you book a wedding videographer who is a member of the IOV, for example, you have at least got someone to complain about if it all goes wrong!

4. Check the insurance and licenses.
A professional wedding videographer will have professional indemnity and public liabilty coverage. They'll also get the proper PPL and MCPS licences which are required to film the wedding service & reception venue and to film dances and dub your music later. The wedding DVD case should bear a PPL sticker.

5. Check what's extra…
The overall package might appear cheaper, but many wedding video companies add on extras such as travel, expensive fees for extra DVDs, extra if you want the bride's preparations or extras such as interviews with the guests. All these little charges can soon add up. Compare prices based on what you want not on the wedding video package cost. And remember that the cheapest probably won't be the best. But there's no guarantee that the most expensive company will be the best either.