Wedding Videos: Is the price right?

[Marc Peters]

Budding wedding videographers set prices on one criteria: make 'em lower than the opposition. The internet's awash with £350 prices from both new starters and even the more experienced, but these kind of prices simply aren't sustainable in the long term...

http://www.videoforums.co.uk/reviews..._articleid/227

[The Guru]

I couldn't agree more.

If you think about it... Go to a rental house and hire a camcorder, tripod, batteries, lenses, sound gear etc.etc. and you'll find that it comes to around £350 for a weekend. Then when you add computer time, consumables, travel and so on you'll see that you're not earning anything at all. (Okay, so you own the gear and don't have to hire it, but you still had to pay for it and that has to be calculated as costs, as does wear and tear. )

In other words, someone who's so desperate to work for nothing can't be any good.

Edit: I recommend any budding wedding videographers to click on Marc's link... an excellent thought-provoking article.

[FNG]

Thanks marc for that very interesting article.

I agree that low price's are not sustainable, but i think everyone has to start somewhere. I have read in the past that the first few weddings you do you should do for free to gain experience.

I am starting out, only done 1 wedding so far and i did that for 200 euros. Videography in germany is very very new, and germans and not used to change. They will pay an arm and a leg for a camera guy to take pictures but are very reluctant to part with much money for a dvd of the wedding.

A £1000(1500 euors) is nice to have, but in reality i don't think your going to get that sort of money for weddings. I know my price's are way way to low, but i am of a mind that i can afford to do it at a loss to get my name out there so then i can build up the price. Maybe this is not the right way i know, but its the only way i know.

[Marc Peters]

Would you rather do one video at 1000 euros, or 5 videos at 200? It's a simple answer really, isn't it?

If people aren't willing to pay what you cost, then there isn't a market. But there is a market providing your product meets people's expectations. Yes, you need to gain experience before you can justify realistic business prices, but that doesn't mean doing things for silly prices. By all means charge to cover prices until you gain the necessary experience, but I wouldn't advertise those as your standard prices...

[The Guru]

If you're learning then should you get paid at all? If you know what you're doing then why should you sell yourself cheap?

By offering weddings at €300 you're ruining your reputation and making life difficult for other videographers. As long as there are cheap wedding videographers about, the quality of wedding videos will remain low. More to the point your customer won't appreciate it. If you're earning less than a retard serving at McDonalds, your client won't respect you.

A true story. A couple of years ago I had enough of working for idiots and arrogant clients in the "industrial video" arena. With the freelancers' superstition about turning down work, I had to find another way of avoiding the crappy video work. So I increased my "commercial and industrial" fees threefold. I reckoned that it would stop them hiring me and I'd prefer to be not earning €600 a day, rather than not earning €200 a day.

I was lucky in that I still had my broadcast work to pay the rent.

Surprisingly, since then my "industrial" workload has increased. More to the point, I don't get any hassle. The more people are paying, the more they respect you. When they were paying €200 a day (I'm talking about "videography" type work here, what is often considered semi-professional, weddings and trade-fair dvds, that sort of bread-and-butter stuff.) they considered me their servant, available 24 hours a day and they'd give me loads of "advice" and criticism for a crappy dvd which would only be seen at trade shows. At €600 a day they consider me an expert and leave me to my own devices.

Broadcast and "proper" television is something else, there are standard rates and either you get it or you don't.

Either do it for free or charge a proper rate for the job.

[Marc Peters]

A 'free' fee implies you'd actually be paying them to film. At first that sound ludicrous, but then you don't get paid to attend university! Personally, I don't think you need to cover many weddings to know whether you're cut out for it too, so you won't be losing out on much...

[FNG]

Guru your right, i know that i have been selling myself way too cheap. An d your right that you get loads of hassle from people who think there doing you a favour by giving you ideas that i know will have me sat infront of the pc all saturday changing a same thing.

My wife has been saying that i am putting myself out too cheap.

[Mark W]

Cheap weeidng vids - hmmm, well sadly there are people (not you i shouldnt think fng) who are doing appalling work. I purachased a cam from a guy who had been doing wedding vids and he gave me a load of tapes with some of his work on - hilarious viewing for many reasons.

The shots on the tape are sooo bad it hurts and he shot sooo much footage for each wedding, clearly not sure of what mattered, he had ho plan. He gave me the tripod he was using too - a manfrotto stills one with a boall head onto which was grafted a very cheap and wobbly friction head. The camera was a vx9000 (heavy) and it just wobbled like mad on the tripod. You can also see from the shots that this gimp was clumping around with this big canera and tripod and just getting in the way.

Then, how did he edit it? I kid you not here, using the camera and a video tape recorder.... and he actually had the cheek to charge for this service and amazingly he had done at least 10 to 15 jobs cos i have the tapes to prove it.

He told me he was selling the cam cos he didnt get on too well doing weddings, got sued and really pissed people off I bet.

It is one of my common rants that any plonker nowadays thinks they can be a film maker cos cameras are cheap. Actually i would say weddings is one of the hardest way to earn a crust with a camera - one chance for most shots on peoples most special day, and you have to be unobtrusive and painfully professional, I know I couldnt do it, no siree. Editing the stuff maybe, filming it, never.