Questions to Ask Your Wedding Videographer
How do I find the right wedding videographer?
Are you getting ready to hire a wedding videographer to capture all the beautiful moments of your special day? To make sure you find the perfect match, we have compiled a list of 40 essential questions to ask potential wedding videographers. These questions cover various aspects of their background, style, budget, planning, logistics, and deliverables. Before you commit to a videographer, ask them these questions to ensure they align with your vision and can provide you with the best wedding video possible.
You may also find my post Should We have a Wedding Videographer? useful.
I recommend having a professional wedding videographer at your nuptials so they can document the candid moments that your photographer might otherwise miss. Your videographer will need to be around for the duration of the wedding, so make sure that you feel completely comfortable and relaxed working with them.
The best way to ensure you find the perfect wedding videographer is by engaging early on and discussing your vision, which is why I have curated the top 40 questions to ask a wedding videographer during your research stage, along with some insight for each question. There are many more questions you could ask; however, the forty following questions will help you decide if the videographer you are considering fits with your vision — before you make any financial or contractual commitment.
Key Sections Covered within this Blog post:
✅ Wedding Videographer Questions About Planning And Logistics
🎥 Wedding Videographer Questions About Background and Experience
❤️🔥 Wedding Videographer Questions About Inspiration and Style
🏦 Wedding Videographer Questions About Budget and Packages
📦 Wedding Videographer Questions About Deliverables
On your wedding day there will be a lot of activity and key moments, so it is most important that you ask key logistical questions ahead of booking, which will ensure you are comfortable with what happens after signing an agreement. Taking a pragmatic approach, will mitigate against any misunderstandings. The last thing you want on the big day is to be worrying about anything related to deliverables from suppliers.
Once you have a shortlist of wedding videographers, use the following list to help in your decision-making process.
Wedding Videographer Questions About Planning and Logistics
1. Are they available for a no-cost exploratory call?
Check your preferred wedding videographer’s website to see if they offer this and use one of their contact methods as the first step.
At this early stage there should be no cost, and no commitment. You are only committing to any service provider when you confirm a booking and sign an agreement.
We strongly recommend you engage early with the wedding videography business who you are hopeful to book for your special day.
2. Are they available on our wedding date?
It may seem obvious, but before booking a wedding videographer, be sure to check their availability for your wedding date. If you're looking at a preferred wedding videographer and they are already booked, that is going to be a problem – unless your wedding date is not yet set in stone.
You may not have a fixed date, so asking this question for the dates you have in mind is an essential step.
3. Ask about food and drink requirements. Does your videographers’ team have allergies?
At a wedding there is little time to go off and grab food and drink, therefore it is common good practice to include food and beverages for you photographer and videographer.
Don’t offer alcoholic beverages, as these are working people who may also have to travel after they finish the day with you. Also, alcoholic beverages tend to dehydrate, and you don’t want a photographer or videographer upstaging you by passing out.
Do ask if there are any preferences for beverages and cover the potential for food related allergies early on.
4. What is your policy on travel, do you work anywhere or just a limited radius?
Ask your wedding videographer about the areas they cover. Do they provide destination services, and what is the radius they work within before travel or other associated costs are incurred.
5. Do we need to provide accommodation?
Once you have established the travel policy. Confirm if you are outside the radius covered and be sure any agreement is covered in the contract. Depending on your wedding timings, accommodation may be essential. Cover this with the wedding videographer and your photographer early on and ask more about their expenses policy for travel and accommodation if it is needed for your wedding.
6. What is your policy regarding extended coverage?
Ask the following question, If, on the wedding day we would like to extend coverage until later into the evening, is this possible? At Sinclair Wedding Films we are more than happy to accommodate extended coverage and can provide the cost – if any – for this.
Ideally this should be covered ahead of booking a wedding videographer. If you want to use their services for an extended period cover this in your initial consultation or raise it as a possibility to gauge their reaction.
7. What is your backup plan on the wedding day if something were to happen to you or your equipment?
Even though you are hoping for the best, it's wise to plan for the worst and have a solid backup plan in place. Sinclair Wedding Films encourages couples to ask about what backup plans a videographer has in place should something unforeseen happen or go wrong with their equipment during the wedding.
8. What is your process for ensuring the content filmed on the wedding day is secure?
What is the backup process for footage? Does the wedding vendor have a solid system to ensure nothing happens to the footage?
9. What does your camera and lighting/sound equipment look like?
Gone are the days of bulky and noisy camcorders, intrusive lighting, and cables. Most videographers work with modern cameras, which are no bigger than the equipment your photographer will be using.
However, ask the question, so you know what to expect and the quality you will see in the end film. Another good question to ask. What style of microphone will be used during the wedding ceremony and speeches — will it be a handheld or a Lavalier (clip-on) microphone? Are these discreet? What if we don’t want the ceremony and speeches to be recorded?
10. Will you be the one filming our wedding day?
This is a particularly important question if you love the style of a videography company who employs lots of professionals. You'll want to make sure that the person you are speaking to will be the one who will film your wedding — or that you can engage with the person whose style you liked before committing.
It is essential to hire a videographer that you and your partner get along with, as they will be at your side for most of your wedding day.
11. Will there be a second camera operator, a stationary camera, or any other backup cameras for our wedding?
Depending on your vision, the package you have selected and several other factors a second camera operator, or ‘shooter’ may be required. Cover this during your consultation and ensure it is covered in the agreement. Will the process of filming be intrusive?
12. What is your cancellation policy?
This is a question that many couples forget to ask, but, especially in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, it remains an essential one. What happens if you need to cancel or reschedule your wedding? Is there a cancellation or postponement fee, and if so, how much is it? Does the company offer any cancellation period and what are the terms. Sinclair Wedding Films offer a 14-day cancellation period, should you need it.
We recommend taking out Wedding Insurance to cover unforeseen events, such as illness or anything that might impact your wedding day. We don’t have any recommendations for this. However, a quick search will return a varied list of suppliers, and you may find your venue has some useful recommendations to cover this.
13. Do you use Drones? Are you ensured for drone filming? What Drone do you use for filming?
Drones are a relatively new trend in wedding photography and videography. These mini arial cameras can provide breath-taking aerial footage of the venue on your big day, but they do require training to operate. Ask your videographer about their experience with drones, if they think they'd be able to use one at your venue, and how much it would cost. They should also have special insurance in case of unforeseen incidents.
Piloting a drone requires knowledge of the environment. Be sure to ask what risk assessments are undertaken prior to flying drones, and be mindful that weather, and other restrictions, may prevent drone filming at your wedding, which is outside the control of the drone wedding filming services provider.
14. Will you be filming any other weddings on the day of our wedding?
If your videographer has several events to shoot on your wedding day, you'll want to be sure they have time for your wedding. Ideally, you'll have your videographer exclusively for the entire day, but big wedding studios often schedule and manage multiple weddings per weekend.
So, in some cases, the person you speak with may not be the person filming your wedding. If that's the case, schedule a meeting with the assigned videographer to make sure their style meshes with yours.
Once you have established availability planning and logistics you can dive deeper into other areas. At Sinclair Wedding Films we actively encourage all potential clients to ask questions that we may not have listed here. My view is, no question, whatever it might be, is a poor question, or one you should feel you can’t ask me. It is better to cover everything, even the awkward questions, than assume anything. I prefer this approach, as it avoids any misunderstandings, and I can incorporate any key points into the agreement if required. This has worked well for us at Sinclair Wedding Films, and I believe our couples prefer this approach too.
Wedding Videographer Questions About Background and Experience
Your wedding videographer is going to be with you for most of the wedding day. Like your photographer they are tasked with creating a wedding heirloom. In short, you want the right person for this important role, someone you trust and feel relaxed and comfortable with. Understanding their approach, experience, and background, is a good starting point for your research.
15. Can we see examples of your current wedding films?
It is important you like the style and vibe of the work created by the creatives you ultimately choose to capture and immortalise your wedding day. View samples of the different types of films produced. Videographer’s may offer full-length films in addition to shorter teaser films and even Instagram or TikTok specific content. Looking at these examples in aggregate will help you understand how they are likely to edit together footage from your wedding day.
Side note: At Sinclair Wedding Films we put the audio we capture through a thorough editing process to create the best and most realistic output.
16. How long have you been filming weddings? How many do you do per year? Will we be the only wedding booked or do you do multiple weddings on the same day?
For many years to come, you'll look at the video of your special day, which will invoke core memories and aid in remembering all your favourite things from the wedding day, so you want someone who will capture the essence of your big event. Hiring an experienced videographer is one of the best ways to ensure this happens.
As a professional filmmaker with a decade of experience. My focus is to produce the best possible cinematic film in a documentary style using the latest equipment and Hollywood grade editing, and colour grading tools.
Unlike the work I undertake in a film studio a wedding has its own challenges. You can’t do retakes or spend a day capturing footage for a two-minute segment. Instead, you capture content in real-time. It’s more akin to a stage production, where everything runs to a schedule and any hiccups should never be spotted by the audience. The same applies for wedding couples and their unique event.
17. How would you explain your approach when working with other vendors on the wedding day?
Experienced wedding filmmakers will be used to working with a wide range of professionals and know all too well that this is an essential part of the filmmaking process. Choosing visual artists with similar editing styles can help in this process and asking questions like: How will you work alongside our photographer and photo booth team to capture our event? are useful questions in the process, although not an essential requirement.
18. How do you handle shooting in low-light or challenging conditions?
Look at examples of the wedding films already created by the videographer’s you have shortlisted. This will give you an idea of how they deal with rapid changes in light and how they deal with audio. The right equipment at the right time makes a vast difference to the content captured at source. While some elements can be resolved in the studio, it all comes down to the skill and knowledge of the team capturing your wedding. Don’t take a risk that can’t be fixed later.
19. Have you ever worked with my wedding photographer?
As covered previously, a follow-up to asking more broadly about a vendor's teamwork, you can also ask the prospective wedding filmmaker about their experience with a specific group of professionals who you are curating for your wedding day.
Ask: Have you worked with our photographer before? If yes, where, if no ask what the approach would be. You do not want a family member with no experience standing in front of the camera lens as you walk together down the aisle - ruining a seminal moment in time. I have experienced this on several occasions, and while we have contingency plans, it is essential to understand how this can be a problem.
The photographer and videographer will have to work closely throughout your event to capture all your moments in the best way possible. If they have worked together before, they will most likely collaborate well again. If they have never worked together before, that's fine too, but it is important they have an opportunity to meet beforehand to talk about their approach, and how they will collaborate to ensure you have the best chance at capturing key moments.
20. Have you shot at my wedding ceremony or reception venue before?
Any professional videographer will know how to find the best lighting, place cameras in strategic points in each room, and will have high-spec equipment to deal with changing light conditions. If they have worked with another couple at your wedding venue before, it will already be a more natural environment for them, although not essential.
A time and location crib sheet are a great way to assist your creative team. Just as you plan the speeches and may provide your photographer with a list of people to organise for group pictures, it is worth considering the same approach for your videographer too.
21. Are there any other wedding vendors in the area you recommend and love working with?
Professional wedding videographers tend to be well connected. And, if they've worked well with someone in the past (like a photographer), you may want to hire that person too.
22. Ask your Videographer if they have a ‘Supplier Recommendations’ page.
As covered in the previous point, a professional wedding videographer will likely have worked with a range of other vendors, and so it is a good sign if they have a recommended supplier list. At Sinclair Wedding Films we only recommend suppliers we have worked with and found to provide an excellent level of service. Click Here to see our current list of recommended suppliers. This is a growing list, and not a definitive list by any means.
23. How do you handle privacy concerns from wedding guests who do not wish to be filmed?
Asking this question early is important. If you know you have aunts and uncles who refuse to be filmed this can present problems when editing the footage if your videographer was never made aware. There are ways to deal with this, such as blurring the subjects face – although not ideal in a wedding film.
If you know there are people who object to being filmed, providing a list to your videographer is a good first step, and covering this early in the engagement process is essential. If later you may find the videographer does not have the technical skills to resolve at the editing stage but could have dealt with privacy issues on the wedding day, it could ruin some otherwise beautiful footage.
Wedding Videographer Questions About Inspiration and Style
After asking your wedding videographer questions about their experience, you can delve deeper into their perspective as a professional visual artist. The following questions will help you better understand them and their natural approach to filming.
24. How would you describe your style as a filmmaker?
You want to understand the style, vibe, and whether the types of videos they create are aligned with your personal wedding vision.
This is one of the most important questions to ask your wedding videographer. Not only do you want to get a sense of the style your videographer uses (cinematic, documentary, vintage, curated or something else), but you also want to make sure their vision and style aligns with yours.
If you want a romantic video, and you and your videographer don't have the same idea of what that means, you could end up paying for a video you don't really like. Watching samples of their previous work is essential and will give you a sense of how professional your videographer is and the styles they create.
Conversely, don’t ask for a style that does not fit into the way a videographer works. This is not a wise move, asking a creative to be more like someone else in their style is just destined to fail.
25. What is your philosophy on capturing a wedding day?
In addition to understanding a filmmaker's style, you also want to gain insight into their general philosophy and approach to their work. You've seen their what, now you want to learn about their why. From my perspective, providing a positive environment and calming presence far outweighs any desire that we must create something in a ‘cookie cutter’ style. Magical video moments would mean nothing if captured in a way that detracted from the organic and natural nature of the wedding.
Knowing what motivates your filmmaker will help you understand them more and benefit your short but essential working relationship.
You need a good insight into how they will interact with guests that are camera shy. For the past 10 years, I have honed my approach in making actors, models, and anyone being captured by the lens relax. I am also an experienced film director, which when aligned with my approach to filming results in imagery that allows for everyone’s unique personality on camera to shine through.
We take this very seriously at Sinclair Wedding Films, as it is a question often asked by couples. Unlike a film set you don’t have the option to do multiple takes, everything must happen in real-time. I like to build a rapport with my couples and have captured some stunning footage of people who really did not want to be filmed, but forgot the cameras were around! Priceless.
26. What do you need to do your best creative work?
Expert filmmaker and wedding videographer Spencer J. Sinclair encourages couples to ask the following question. Are you going to be able to roll with the punches and unexpected challenges on the day, and still create great results for us?
Rapport is essential, is the videographer going to bring an uplifting vibe to the overall day or does their creative process necessitate a more sombre mood? Understanding the kind of environment that your filmmaker needs to thrive will help you know if they're a good fit for your big day and your guests.
27. I am nervous in front of cameras. How can you help me relax?
It's natural to feel a bit nervous, so cover this early on and ask how your videographer will make you feel like your best-self in front of the camera lens. We encourage couples to relax and act as normal, forget the cameras and not be afraid to move, dance, laugh, play and just be normal – we can edit any bad behaviour later, so no need to worry about being caught on film.
Filming a wedding differs tremendously from photography in that we are not looking for poses we are capturing movement in moving frames, and this is a more fluid and dynamic process. We want to capture genuine moments, that may be otherwise missed, and we then weave these together in the studio editing suite later.
Wedding Videographer Questions About Budget and Packages
You should already have a good idea of the wedding filming packages your short-list of wedding videographer’s have advertised. If there are no prices advertised you should lock this down early on, and ask questions about cooling off periods, the deposit amount required, payment structure, and when your full pre-wedding consultation will take place. This is an ideal time to best understand what videos they will be delivering from your investment and how they will be delivered to you.
28. How does your pricing work?
Videographers typically charge a flat rate based on an amount of time. Others offer pre-set packages that also include other add-on options. Even if you are just buying a standard package, it's important to run through what's included. And if there is something you are hoping for — be it a short trailer to share with family or a special video for social media — ask about it and ensure this is covered in the contract. Sinclair Wedding Films Wedding Planner is a free and useful tool for research and budget planning for your wedding.
29. How many hours of filming do your packages include?
A wedding videographer's packages likely include a certain number of hours of filming on your wedding day, anywhere from four upward, and possibly over several days. The more time your videographer spends filming your wedding, the more you'll pay, so you'll want to make sure that the amount of time and cost aligns with your specific needs and is within your budget.
30. How many days / hours do clients typically hire you for?
Getting a sense of what a vendor's most popular offering is may help you if you are struggling to decide what level of service or package best fits your wedding.
31. What isn't included in your packages?
Never make assumptions about services—it is always better to ask more questions up front, so that everyone is on the same page with expectations. Asking what isn't included is a great way to make sure no important information or details are overlooked. The way the wedding videographer responds to this can also be telling and a good way to judge if the service provider based on their attitude to this reasonable query.
We are seeing more interest in capturing parts of the wedding day on analogue film, which adds a unique feel to an already special occasion.
32. Can we book a post or pre-wedding film?
More and more couples are asking if they can capture a family event post-wedding, or in some cases pre-wedding. Ask you videographer if this is something they can cover and how they would go about this. This will of course be dependent on their filming schedule and availability, so be sure to cover this earlier in the process.
At Sinclair Wedding Films we are seeing more couples asking about filming the day after their wedding to include family and friends. During the summer capturing fireworks or sparklers after sunset is popular, which in the summer these events magical moments occur after the natural end to a wedding filming day.
Wedding Videographer Questions About Deliverables
Your wedding photographer will deliver a gallery of imagery with a certain number of photos included after the wedding. But what does the videographer deliver? The options for videos are much more varied so it's critical that you are all in agreement about the deliverables that are expected.
33. How will you choose music for our wedding video?
Music can really set the tone for your wedding day—and your wedding video. When it comes to using popular music in a wedding film, things relating to copyright become tricky. Because popular songs are copyrighted, it can cost a lot of money to use them in a wedding video —and if you use music that is not correctly licensed and then post your video on social media, the video can be taken down and you and your videographer can be fined. Many wedding videographers use licensing services to help them access high quality music selections for your video.
Typically, you have narrowed down the choice of your preferred wedding videographer based on their style, which will also include the way they edit, and the music they have used. Ask if they would create a 1-minute Instagram Reel to a preferred selection of music available on the Instagram platform.
At Sinclair Wedding Films we typically request two or three preferred songs for Reels, and then select the best option from your choices that fit with the vibe and feel of your day. You can see an example Reel on our Instagram page – Click Here
34. Can you explain how your editing process works?
As you learn more about a videographer's style, you'll also want to ask about their editing process. How does the videographer take all the footage they gather on your wedding day and splice it together into a short video (usually three to five minutes for a highlights film and 20 to 30 minutes for a full wedding film)? Do they use live audio or mostly music?
35. What's your usual turnaround time?
Editing a wedding video takes time, especially during peak season. Most wedding videographers take about three months to complete their final film, but it can be longer or shorter than that depending on the videographer's schedule. It's important to ask this question to set expectations.
36. How will the final wedding video or highlights video be delivered?
Your final video should be presented to you as a digital file, which will make it easy to watch and share with loved ones. At Sinclair Wedding Films we use VidFlow, which can be watched anywhere, and the original files can also be downloaded. This is a very effective medium, as content is stored in your personal and secure VidFlow directory for many years (currently 10) and can be shared and played on most modern devices, without the usual hassle of matching devices, ports, or finding cables.
37. Are you open to edits/feedback from us?
Talk to your videographer about how the feedback process works, and if additional rounds of edits are included in your package. Ask what the process and cost is for edits outside of any agreed in the contract.
38. Ask how you go about providing a testimonial or the preferred medium for a review.
Be sure to let other couples know about your experiences with wedding videography, which will not only save them time, but may help them if they are unsure about whether to have a wedding videographer, or if it is even a worthwhile investment.
It will also help them in their research process and will be truly appreciated by the professional you work with.
39. What input do you want from us, and what do you prefer to have final say on?
Many videographers view each piece they create as an artistic endeavour, not just the story of your wedding day — so they have a specific vision in mind that could be at odds with yours (you might want a particular song in the video, for example, while they might be against using it). If you trust your videographer completely, this shouldn't be a problem. But if you have a certain idea of what you want in your wedding video, you may want to talk that over with them before you sign an agreement. Be sure to cover logistics and any key people to engage with on the day.
40. How do you organise an introductory call? If we book what are the next steps?
It is important to know how you will interact with your chosen wedding videographer. Questions to consider: Will they schedule an initial call or a video call – can you see them to judge how they interact with you. What is the process after an initial ‘Check Availability’ request, which is typically an email or Web Form submission. What is the process to secure your services? What happens once we have signed an agreement? What are the key dates ahead of our wedding day?
At Sinclair Wedding Films we respond to initial inbound enquiries with an email and use Calendly for scheduling a call that aligns with our prospective wedding client’s availability. Once you confirm you wish to book our services, we will send over an agreement for you to review. The agreement details all we have discussed, key dates, payment milestones and our terms and conditions.
Ahead of your wedding day we will schedule a mutually agreeable time to meet with you go over everything. We prefer to do this in-person, although we have had on occasion to cover this at site with the venue and without the couple – However, the end film was stunning. The day before the wedding we will drop you a text to confirm all is still well and proceeding as planned.
In Conclusion:
Remember, hiring a professional wedding videographer is a significant investment that will impact how you remember your big day for years to come.
By asking the questions relevant to you, you can ensure that the videographer you choose is best placed to capture your wedding day in a way that aligns with your vision and creates a beautiful keepsake you'll cherish forever.
Take your time to find the right videographer who not only fits your budget but also understands your style and makes you feel comfortable.
Sinclair Wedding Films have curated a useful Wedding Planning checklist and a Wedding Seating Planner.
