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Should I Hire my Wedding Photographer and Videographer from the Same Company?



This is a tricky one. It really depends on the company that you would like to hire for your wedding photography and videography. I will give you an example: Company ‘A’ is only a photographer who specializes in wedding photography and sub-contracts a separate wedding videography company to take care of the video portion of your wedding day. In this case the wedding photographer is going to charge you more than if you had just found the videographer on your own and paid him directly: cutting the middle man, so to speak.


Now let’s consider another scenario. Company ‘B’ does both wedding photography and wedding videography under the same roof. There is no sub-contracting of a 3rd company, and there is no middle man involved. In this case, not only you won’t be charged an extra fee, but you may also find that you are eligible for discounts for getting both the wedding photography and the videography services using that same company.


Another advantage that company ‘B’ has over the first scenario, is that all the crew work under the same company and they all share an equal responsibility to make your wedding pictures as well as your wedding video look amazing. However, in the 1st scenario where the videographer was simply as sub-contractor under the wedding photographer, he may or may not have the same motivation to keep you, the bride, happy and satisfied. After all, his name and reputation is not on the line, he’s just a sub-contractor for the photographer and in the worst case scenario, he will not get hired by the photographer for the next gig.


And finally there is a 3rd scenario in which you hire the two services separately from two different companies. This is by far the worst choice. In this case either company wants to go along with their own agenda, and more often than not interfere with each other’s work. It really depends on the level of professionalism of both parties, but more often than not, either the photographer or the videographer steps on the other team’s toes. For example, in a recent wedding in which we were hired to shoot the video only, the photographer (I won’t name names, but they’re a big name wedding photographer in Bethlehem, PA) jumped right in front of our main camera for the kiss during the ceremony and completely blocked our shot. Thankfully we had another camera running from the side so we gave that footage to the bride and groom, but it was quite disappointing to miss such an important shot from the center aisle angle, all because of a careless wedding photographer who only cared about his own photos, as opposed to making sure every service that the bride paid for, would go smoothly.


I have been in the industry for quite some time and have seen it all. Be it in the bigger cities, or in the smaller ones such as Bethlehem, you more often than not run into the companies that subcontract, or worse, companies who only care about their own product. My advice is for you to be smart about your wedding photography and videography. On your wedding day, all vendors need to work smoothly together to make your dream wedding come true, but this is especially true for these two services as they are quite intertwined. If you decide to have your wedding photographed AND filmed, be sure to look and hire the same company that does both services “in-house.” Here in Twilight Photo Video, that’s all we do. That is what we have been doing since our first day in business in 2010, and that’s why we chose our name to be what it is today.



For those of you who are short on time and want to skip to the point:


Summary

  1. Some companies offer both photography and videography under the same roof, with dedicated staff that work specifically for those companies. These are the best choices to go with for booking both photography and videography. They cost less to book with bigger discounts for both services, and provide you with the best possible products.

  2. Some companies offer only one service (photography or videography) and sub-contract another company for the other service, usually without your knowledge. These are not the best choices, usually cost more for the same service, and may or may not provide you with the best result.

  3. Some couples choose different companies for either service. This is the worst case of the ones previously mentioned, and usually results in less quality for either services.

Stay tuned for more insights on how to plan your perfect wedding. Have a great weekend everyone!

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