Wedding charge? « Videomaker Community Forums

heatohio
Member

Please tell me what is fair to charge a couple to do a wedding video. I am not an established person so I know I can't get top dollar. Any price range will be great.

Posted 6 years ago #
compusolver
Member

A fair charge for your first two or three wedding videos would be $0.00

And that's exactly what I got. But, hey - I made $50 on the third one!

And that's after having several years of video production experience. It takes "wedding experience" on top of video experience. (And the fact that I'd been married twice didn't really count!)

Posted 6 years ago #
Jonathan Decker
Member

The average is a couple thousand depending on quality. If you're just doing your first, Hank's right, charge nothing. They'll get a great deal and you'll then have something to show people who challenge your credibility when you hand them a bill later.

Posted 6 years ago #
Davecam
Member

Depending on your knowledge, I have a friend who videotapes the couple preparing for the wedding (dressing rooms within reason), the wedding and reception. He has a multiple camera setup. There's editing to do and he uses two (2) VCRs to edit the tape. When he is finished, (titling the wedding, etc), he charges $300 just for one wedding.

Posted 6 years ago #
Endeavor
Member

Check out other videographers websites. You can compare your work to theirs and then see what they charge. It can vary by area and some are better bargains than others (like me :D ) for the quality. I agree with doing a few free first. Get a potfolio then you can justify charging. Plus if you screw up your first one (not saying you will) you dont have to give a refund. lol

Posted 6 years ago #
lonestar
Member

I'm in yorktown VA, prices from Richmond to newport VA are 1,300.00 to 3,500.00. Most guys will shoot the video and hand the couple the raw video unedited and say bye for 2,500.00 with no titles , graphics or music. i think that sucks for the couples that paid for their memories to be saved. My opinion of them is they need to be horse whipped, i will put still pic, titles, graphics, music. a couple paid 2,500.00 for raw video and they had no idea what to do with it. it look like a drunk taped it and there were zooms in and out all the time, not good. heck their old grand mother could have shot that and paid nothing. always give a client a little extra so they will tell others about you. include the first tape with the cost anything after is 20.00 ea. I charge 50.00 per hour for shooting and 100.00 for editing for other projects. do what the market sees they can handle. 8)

Posted 6 years ago #
Endeavor
Member

I agree that giving raw footage is crap. I will NOT give anyone raw footage! That's my image their getting! I don't want my name on something like that.

Another bit of advice:
I have come to the realization that I have been priced wasy too low. Granted, the market I live in is on the low end of the scale but here's what I discovered: People will mentally classify your quality as the same as those priced in your range. If you're too cheap they will say "what's the catch?". If you're good, price your services accordingly. Those who can afford a good videographer can afford the best and those who cant will not hire you anyway.

Posted 6 years ago #
compusolver
Member

Raw video? Unheard of. We do three camera coverage with two camera people, full editing with animated titles, menu DVDs, etc. from $250 !

Posted 6 years ago #
Endeavor
Member

Wow. That's like less than minimum wage! What's the catch?

Posted 6 years ago #
compusolver
Member

I just figured it out and you may be right. I estimate about $8 per man/hr.

We're trying to get this business established and rather than spend ten grand in advertising (which I don't have after dumping that much and more into equipment and software), we're trying to build things up with incredible deals, partnering, guerrilla marketing techniques and using a search-engine-optimized website.

We are planning to put prices back to normal (running at 1/2 those rates right now) around February, maybe sooner. But that's still a pretty darn good deal. We have a lot of competition in the Tulsa area, but we're going after them with low pricing, more features and better quality.

We just started doing weddings in July and we only had one weekend not booked for October (this coming weekend) - and actually that one was almost booked but they decided at the last minute that they couldn't afford us. We almost offerred to shoot it for free, but then figured we could use a break.

Posted 6 years ago #
Endeavor
Member

Sweet! I hope things keep going well as you increase your rates. After all, you put alot of effort into this business and you deserve to make market rates. I just started this year too. I'm also kinda broke but after doing a few free jobs for friends and aquaintences (sp?) I went a different route. By this spring I should be priced among the higher end of the market. I am booking less jobs but I prefer getting what I am worth and slowly building my referral business. Seems to be working so far, I estimate I will be booked solid (by solid I mean probably 30-40 weddings) for next year. That may be a generous guess but as long as I am getting steady work I will be happy. After all, you get in this business because you love it right? Heck, if I could afford it, I would do this for free!

Posted 6 years ago #
jwood
Member

Charging nothing? wow, you guys are far better people than I. Well I guess too that i had a great reputation before I did my first two, I charged 225 for each to cover expenses and a little bit of time. I will be raising my prices as well, but I don't see charging a grand yet with the equipment I use. But as soon as I get the camcorder I want (canon xl2) I will.

I easily put 50-100 hours in each tape, used atleast 3 cameras for each and worked alone. My turn around was 2-3 weeks. Which was delayed because the wedding were in consequitive weeks and I was working 40 hours a week. (I'm not trying to be cocky or anything, just telling it how it was, and I wouldn't change a thing :) ) I love being busy.

How does this compare to you guys?

Posted 6 years ago #
compusolver
Member

Why would you choose an XL-2 for weddings? The Canon cool colors and poor low-light performance would seem to place this cam on the bottom of a wedding videographers list.

Posted 6 years ago #
Endeavor
Member

Especially since it sounds as though you would only have one. I would go with a set of 3 matching lower-priced cameras for a better overall video.

Posted 6 years ago #
compusolver
Member

Excellent point!

We use 2 2100's and a Panasonic. We always have to make sure that the Panasonic goes wide from a totally different angle (back of chapel, usually) to avoid the color differences. Even then, we sometimes have to tweak colors.

Who'd a thought that a guy with no mouse pad could come up with such good points?

Posted 6 years ago #
jwood
Member

I wouldn't be using it soley for weddings. Thats not my aim at all. I was just saying that When I get nicer equipment I will charge more. Frankly, I haven't looked at camcorder specs in months so I don't know exactly what I'm looking for. I'm only a college freshman I won't have money for quite awhile yet, so by time I save up the money to buy a nice camera I will have gathered tons of information and know exactly what I want/need.

Endeavor, thanks for the idea of getting multiple cheaper cameras, that is a good idea and I'll keep that in mind.

Posted 6 years ago #
jwood
Member

With that, the look I'm wanting to pursue is that of film (by that I mean shoot in 24 fps), so forgive me for this question but in your experience do you think that that would work well with weddings, or would you all recommend shooting in the normal 30. Everything I've done has always been 30, so I don't know if the look of 24 would be fitting for weddings.

Posted 6 years ago #
compusolver
Member

Too subjective a question - beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but more importantly - as a business question - is a "film look" even going to be noticed by the average client? Compared to low-light ability, which has a tremendous effect on the look and WILL be noticed by everyone, I think it is way down there on the list.

If you had a "heart to heart" with yourself, you may find that your camera choice is being affected by your personal (non-business) "wants" and not by what would be best strictly for wedding shoots.

Posted 6 years ago #
jwood
Member

Thanks for the tip. I really appreciate it. I'm just bouncing some questions of you guys that have been down the road before.
Forgive me if you read my questions and think that they are junvenile or what not, but just starting out, I want to get a bunch of ideas together so that I can make the best possible product I can.

Posted 6 years ago #
compusolver
Member

Not juvenile - you should see the pile of toys I've bought by convincing my wife (and myself) that they were needed for business! :) (Well, if it IS a little juvenile, I'll never admit to it.)

Posted 6 years ago #
Endeavor
Member

Haha. I'd say all the "toys" that ARE business related are quite fun anyway!

Posted 6 years ago #
jwood
Member

Compusolver,
I was checking out one of your websites, what do you use to record audio during weddings, a minidisc recorder? I've wondered about that myself, but thankfully both weddings I have done I have been able to get good audio from the camera but I want to invest in getting an idependent recorder for that and wanted your advice.

Posted 6 years ago #
Endeavor
Member

One thing I always try to do (if possible) is to plug into the house audio (if they have someone running a mixer). Talk to the representative from the church in charge of audio. Most churches will be using much higher quality equipment than I can afford and the audio almost always comes out very, very good. If you go this route, make sure you have a backup. Use a MD recorder or at the very least a good shotgun mic. I've never been burned by the house audio but you never know. This also means that you are banking on the operator knowing what they're doing. (You should also try to provide any cables you will need instead of asking the church to do what is really your job).

Posted 6 years ago #
Endeavor
Member

**oops**

Posted 6 years ago #
Endeavor
Member

**sorry**

Posted 6 years ago #
jwood
Member

Thanks, I've have used a shotgun mic but would rather use an independant MD recorder. Sound equipment isn't an issue, I own sound stuff (for my band). Now, how do you guys go about getting the bride set up with a mic? Do you just have one on the groom and hope that it picks up the bride or do you mic her seperately?

Posted 6 years ago #
compusolver
Member

I apologize for being so late with this..

Shotgun and on-cam mics are not the way you want to do a wedding. Our first wedding, we didn't have a lot of gear, so we mic'd the groom with an Azden WMS-PRO and used shotgun for backup. Well, the groom repositioned his hanky which was in the same pocket as the transmitter.

Anyone familiar with this model will tell you that it is just too easy to move the switch from F1 to F2 or Off, and that is exactly what happened.

The shotgun was within twelve feet of everyone and by using sound software (mostly Audition) I was able to make it usable, but it got all the coughing, throat-clearing, baby crying, etc. just as well as the minister's spiel and couple's vows.

The couple were thrilled with their video, which was otherwise OK (and we did it all for FREE) but we learned a valuable lesson. We immediately ordered an Azden LT100 UHF true-dimension set and have since added a 500 model as well.

The PRO series occasionally gets dropout and interference. It always has a low-level hiss sound that you have to remove, but our batting average is only 500 with this model, due as much to that %@# switch as anything else. We've relegated it to the bride's father so we get "Her mother and I do." much more clearly than the groom's mic gets it.

You need a receiver with two antennas to avoid dropout, which I have found to be a problem about 25% of the time with our VHS set. They call these (with 2 antennas) "true diversity" receivers.

As for plugging into sound systems, as a general rule you will not get good quality sound plugging from the headset receptacle to your mic input. You need something to add some resistance. A Beachtek adapter has inputs for Line as well as Mic. But even so, I don't trust the house sound system because I've been unplugged too early, too often and there can be differences between systems.

What I do now is use my Canon L2 (Hi-8 with 2hr tape) about six feet in front of a speaker. It gets great sound and I don't get unplugged or have to worry about compatibility issues.

So, we mic the groom, the minister and the bride's father as well as micing the loudspeaker. We still use that shotgun for backup though. I use a digital voice recorder set to its best quality setting as backup on the groom - but I've never had to use it's sound.

Posted 6 years ago #
gavinholt
Member

I was also in college and did videography in clubs. Now I'm starting my own business and I did the first two weddings for free, which was invaluable to learn the ropes. Now I charge $1500 to start, and as I learn more I add more options or bump the price up. Realize that the lower the price, the more people you can attract in the beginning. Later you can narrow down when you are booked.

I use an XL1s and it's awesome for low-light shooting, while using a GL2 as a B camera. I think the camera matters for getting the base footage (low light for example), but one thing that matters is how good are you at videography? A good videographer could make a great video with a camera phone. That really should determine your price, though many people might not see that until after the video is done. I've seen it plenty times where a videographer wastes a $5000 camera rig with bad videography.

You can see my pricing at http://www.gavinholt.com/wedding_video_package.html

Posted 6 years ago #
compusolver
Member

Gavin,

You have a very nice website and your stylistic treatments and artful editing show that you are very talented. But because others who may be thinking of entering the wedding video market may be reading these posts, I feel obligated to point out a few things..

You state that your XL1's are great in low light, yet even though this wedding was apparently shot outdoors, the color saturation is weak, which is often the case when a camera is pushing its low-light capabilities. The stats on XL1's and 2's indicate they are not nearly as low-light capable as VX-2100's and PD-170's which are the preferred wedding video instruments.

Also, while expert videographers can get away with hand holding while doing zooms or following moving subjects, etc., (and you did an excellent job of hand holding), hand holding is NOT the way to go while shooting a stationary scene for twenty minutes which is about how long the average ceremony is.

I would urge all new wedding videographers to use tripods, at least during the ceremony. I would hope that those who are not new in this business would not need this advice because they always use tripods during the ceremony.

You've already stated that you'll use lapel mics in the future, so I'll leave the topic of audio alone.

As for the stylistic treatment - While I think you did these very tastefully in this video, I have seen others who thrusted themselves so forcefully into the video with stylistic camera moves and editing gimmicks, that I can't imagine the bride and groom ever feeling that this is "their" wedding video - it becomes more of the videographer's self-expression.

Again, this criticism is only to help those who are new to the field, or considering entering the wedding video field, I think you've shown considerable talent and promise in this work.

Oh, and as for a great videographer being able to produce good stuff with a camera phone - let me ask this:

Could Mario Andretti have won races in a Pinto?

I have to say that I feel such thinking is indicative of a videographer's attitude that his video is all about himself - which is fine if you're producing your own work. But when you're hired to shoot someone's wedding, the video should be about THEM and not about the videographer. Or, at least, that's my opinion.

Posted 6 years ago #
Endeavor
Member

gavinholt Wrote:
I was also in college and did videography in clubs. Now I'm starting my own business and I did the first two weddings for free, which was invaluable to learn the ropes. Now I charge $1500 to start, and as I learn more I add more options or bump the price up. Realize that the lower the price, the more people you can attract in the beginning. Later you can narrow down when you are booked.

I use an XL1s and it's awesome for low-light shooting, while using a GL2 as a B camera. I think the camera matters for getting the base footage (low light for example), but one thing that matters is how good are you at videography? A good videographer could make a great video with a camera phone. That really should determine your price, though many people might not see that until after the video is done. I've seen it plenty times where a videographer wastes a $5000 camera rig with bad videography.

You can see my pricing at http://www.gavinholt.com/wedding_video_package.html

Hey gavin! Congrats on going full time! You've obviously put alot of time into this. Isn't this the life?! Anyway, just wanted to compliment you on your site and everything. Did you design the site too or have it done?

Good luck! You will do well in this business!

Posted 6 years ago #