Hiring a Creative for your Big Day.
I dearly love this place that I call LAVCINEMA.
This is one of the best places you could get for wedding photos and videos, but I will leave it up to you to decide.
I have been creating stories for the wedding market full-time since 2007 and have yet to look back.
I have been assigned to create wedding stories by couples from New York, Los Angeles, Paris, Venice, Milan, Westmount, Saint-Anne-des-Belle-View, Bois-Franc, and Mont-Tremblant!
Sometimes even from Laval and Montreal ;-)
If this is the first time you hire a creative for an important event, I will give you some pointers and directions.
I was a judge on a few photo-video contests in my life, so I know not only my take on wedding photo and video but also what and how numerous judges think, and going to share some VERY USEFUL stuff with you.
1. Focus on Style & Creativity.
There are a lot of different offers on the wedding photo and video market these days.
So when you start looking for the wedding photo or video for your Big Day, first, you have to ask yourself if you like what you see. Simple, right?
"Do I like it?
Do I think it is nice?
Do I feel this pictures and videos?
Does it flow nicely for me? Is the style that I want my memories to be preserved in? "
Let me get more specific here.
Say you landed on the website of some wedding photographer or videographer.
Take a look at any picture or video you see.
Look at it and imagine it will be you in this picture or video.
Let your feelings flow freely and see what they tell you.
There are a few things that may happen.
1. You may not be the type of personality to do this experiment, so you will be like, Hmm… I'd instead ask my fiancée to check it out (my mom, my sister, etc. - your mind will quickly retrieve the best candidate to do it for you).
In which case – great! Just ask that person to help you out!
2. If you have some emotional feedback - use it as your guiding system.
Take a look at a few more images and see if you can or can't easily associate yourself with the vision of this particular artist.
Make sure the process is easy and enjoyable. If not – something is missing in the art of this particular company… My advice - move on! You don't have to decode what's wrong or missing!
3. The essential things to know are these: the wedding day consists of the following chapters:
Bride Gets Ready,
Groom Gets Ready,
Ceremony,
Family Portraits,
Together Session,
Cocktail,
and Reception.
There are also numerous details: jewelry, shoes, dress, reception hall, and a lot of stuff in it, like centerpieces, printed menus, table cards, etc., food, flowers, and décor.
Have this list of "chapters" above in front of you and see if images from different categories are present on the website so can know if you like how other parts of the day are represented by this particular photographer/videographer! Make sense?
4. Also important! Some couples are more into portraiture, some more into nicely taken candid moments.
Which category do you think you are in?
It can be a mix of the two, for sure. What's more important for you? Be specific! It'll help you to land the right company!
A helpful warning: Wait to start digging into more detail!
This quick scanning process should take you at most an hour or so, which is totally worth the time researching.
Once you have allocated about 3 companies, use the following step-by-step instruction to give the company of your choice:
Step 1: Send them an email asking them for their price list or at least find out about their basic packages to see if they are within your budget.
Step 2: Once you receive the answer from them and are happy with the preliminary numbers, schedule a call or just call them and see if you like the spirit of this company while you are on the phone.
When you call them, this is what you should do: first tap into their creative process. Ask them how their day is structured, what they do, and how you can help the production, see what they say and how they will be saying it. If they will go over the day with you and start asking some good questions and giving some valuable suggestions and be excited about photographing you or creating a movie for you and overall authentically enthusiastic about their craft – you will feel it right away. These vibes are contagious and can't be faked!
You will also immediately feel if the company is a dud or rude or looking down at their clients or not really answering the question and trying to sell you something instead etc.
Make sure it is a match on the creative level first.
Once you feel comfortable, you can get down to pure business and discuss different options and details of your package.
Always remember – quality over quantity. It is better to have fewer but higher-quality products than kilograms of pictures that you will not even want to look at.
If, at the same time, you will be choosing your Wedding Videographer (or wedding cinematographer as they are often referred to in the last few years), you also need to consider this:
Many couples and even wedding planners think a wedding photo is a must, but taking a wedding video is optional and only if your budget permits.
I will not expand on this crazy belief and tell you if you should take a video – it is entirely up to you.
Video gives a much more involving experience and is the best available way to re-live your Big Day and share it with future generations. You may not know it yet, but you will discover it soon: your future generations (your kids!) are your most loyal audience for your wedding photography and videography! They will be watching your vows countless times, your tears, your crazy dances, how your best man helped you get dressed, your dad's tears, your laughs, etc.!
I know it may sound old, but at the end of the day, it's not flowers, food, or centerpieces, not the limo or the party and DJ, but wedding photo and video that will stay with you.
Producing a flawless wedding video takes an exorbitant amount of experience and skills, so you need to watch the final works of the wedding videographers of your choice. There is no way around it.
But since you are in the business of custom movies, ask the video company of your choice to show you somewhat more relevant videos: taken in the exact location that you chose or have the same theme or from the same culture (Jewish, Arabic, Lebanese, South-Asian, having tea ceremonies, etc.)
Montreal is almost 2 million people city.
But when I show my Arabic, Italian or Jewish, or Vietnamese Feature Films, usually couples find some people they directly or indirectly know in these movies.Montreal is a big village! I know it for a fact ;-)
Suggestion #1:
Make sure that photo and video companies or departments of the same company have similar styles.
It is rare to find a company in which photo and video share the same vision of the day and can work together in great harmony.
This is one of the traps I don't want you to fall into: one part of the company mastered a truly photojournalistic style, they don't give many directions, while the other part of the company needs 7 retakes of the exact moment of putting on shoes or zipping up the dress. This will be a waste of time and a potential source of frustration for you.
Some parts of the day need staging, like Together Session or portrait session. Some moments do require guidance to look their best. But done correctly, it is usually a lot of fun for everybody.
So, ask both photo and video companies how they will deliver and how they see the flow of the day. Make sure their style is similar and they have good communication with each other.
At LAVCINEMA, we have a fantastic integration of both photo and video.
I will be happy to show you Feature Film and the album from the same wedding so you can see and judge how many styles resemble!
Suggestion #2:
[ I am sure you will have a lot of fun with this one!!!]:
Turn to the video department or video company and ask them this:
"What do you do in the Pre-production stage?" or "Explain me, please, how will your pre-production stage be arranged for our movie."
Aha! You heard me right!
Use this specific term "Pre-production stage" and ask them steps they take in their pre-production process ;-)
I will not be surprised if they will have no idea what you are talking about ;-)
But what you are asking is this:
The typical Pre-Production Checklist translated into the situation of the weddings MUST include the following:
1. Some knowledge about you.
Here at LAVCINEMA, I will send you a form to complete way before the wedding day with some absolutely essential information about you that I need to know. At one point during our meeting, I will ask you simple things: how did you meet, what do you like to do together, and how did you [talking to a groom in a most typical case, but not always ;-) in modern society!] propose – things like that, which give me a good basic understanding of how to translate your personal story into my shots.
2. Specific planned shots.
Location-dependent shots on the wedding day, your personal story-related shots, props available, preferences, and wishes translated into shots, like: "I want shots of myself working out in my gym in the morning, or I want the shot of my groomsmen playing poker and me" - etc.
3. Locations that are unknown or may cause problems must be scouted by the company – another time-consuming task.
Imagine how many times I have shot in Old Port? I still scout it if I suspect new constructions or some new blockages due to events, etc., may appear at this particular time of the year at the spots I want to shoot you during our Romantic Together session before or after your ceremony.
Places, especially tourist places like Montreal's Old Port, change all the time.
4. Equipment-related questions.
As a groom, ask equipment-related questions. We talk a lot about this part in the Geeky groom section of this website. Start the equipment-related conversation with the company even if you don't know much about it [yet!]; see how excited they are about the whole thing. If they are pros – they usually do. Also, this question will show why they are buying new equipment and what was lacking in the previous equipment they owned. Have fun learning about the people who presumably will create unforgettable memories for you.
The wedding day flies fast. There is no extra time for "thinking ."A lot of this thinking had to be done in pre-production, and professional companies are well aware of it, have plans, and know how to do it.
Here at LAVCINEMA, we spend half a day to a full day just planning your event, visiting locations if necessary, and creating a game plan for different parts of the day.
We plan shots that take time and know who will perform which roles during the day – all in advance.
We ensure you get to the point with us where you are super comfortable with our photo and video approach and stop worrying about shots that will be taken or their quality of them, or the flow of the day.
Once you are happy with everything, it is time to start speaking about the numbers and details of your customized package.
Pricewise, expect to pay more for the video than the photo.
Filmmaking is a craft; a well-put-together film takes time to think over, prepare, and shoot with much more equipment than photography. It then has to be edited, which takes more hours than the photo. I'm not going to suggest a price since prices vary so much, but yes, expect to pay the same or more for the wedding video.