DIY Videography: Worth it or No way?

Never done it, but for the December holidays, we bought my dad a video camcorder and I will ask him to take videos of the ceremony that way. If anyone's birthday or something is coming up, you might want to consider buying them a camcorder (around $100 or so).

My friend recently had her wedding, and went with the wedding app idea instead of hiring a videographer. She had this lovely choreographed first dance that she only has recordings of on terrible quality cell phone videos. Later in the evening, a traditional dance was played that had nearly every guest at the wedding dancing together, but anyone who would have been interested enough to record the dance was already up on the dance floor. These are the kind of moments that you risk missing out on recording if you leave it up to a guest to do the recording. Not trying to be a negative, but its something you may want to consider.

If you want a video and you are on tight budget, I know some people who will hire a film student. This has its own risks, but at least then you have a single dedicated person. Depending on your guests, crowd sourcing the wedding video may mean missing out on a lot.

I thinking of asking someone who I know doesn't dance or generally participate to capture some footage for me. I'm a video editing hobbyest so I can edit the footage myself as long as I have some.

I chose to go with a "no name" guy. He has done videos before, but never a wedding. I got a super deal! $750 for beginning to end coverage!

He was a local kid who I went to school with. So maybe you can try and put feelers out on FB, someone may have a passion and be willing to do it for you, for a decent price! Same with my photographer $750, she's a local girl trying to get her name out there.

I would go with an uncle or someone related but knows technology pretty well to do the recording. Then after there are a bunch of free tools to edit videos ie. windows movie maker and just add music.

We had a very small ceremony back in july (at our mothers insistence) and both of our dads TRIED to video tape it with cameras they owned. His dad basically ruined the entrance because he couldn't get the thing set up. Fiancé and I were waiting in the hall to walk in together and they kept yelling, "No, not yet. We're not ready!" and then the song we wanted to walk down the isle to ended and we ended up walking in to silence after they yelled "Okay, come in now!" And then for some mysterious reason, my Dads camera didn't record any sound.

I would definitely make sure the person filming knows how to use the equipment 100%, inside and out!! Ive never heard of these rental companies but maybe get the camera early and have the person who is going to be using it practice, practice, practice before the wedding! I totally understand wanting to save the money but its high risk. If you'd be crushed if it turned out bad, you might want to consider hiring a professional.

We didn't opt for the cheapest package our videography offers, but it was still reasonable, and a lot less than a lot of people spend. I just wanted our wedding captured on video. I didn't need the movie star treatment.

As long as you have reasonable expectations, it doesn't sound like a bad option.

We hired a professional, so now we wouldn't/aren't doing DIY videography. I feel like it's either all or nothing in that category. Hiring a film student is more promising than having a family member/friend be in charge of video.

I looked around for hours, read a ton of reviews and found someone who was really reasonably priced and I am so happy I went with it. I know there are going to be things I'll see and thinking "oh my god that happened" lol

Personally I think I am going with a pro. Between it and pics will set me back about $4k , BUT at the end of the day, all you have left is video and pictures. I was going to go DIY more and find cheaper alternatives but the venue I chose has some lighting issues and I really want my friends and family to just enjoy our day, not be working it.

I don't trust these take video with our cameras, send it back, and we will edit it. So you will get shaky bad angled video and then someone who wasn't even there to experience everything will edit it together? No Thanks.

You really have two options.

1) Hire a professional (and by professional I mean someone who has decent equipment, knows basic skills like positioning, exposure, etc.)

2) DIY - where you have a family member or friend take video.

Obviously there are numerous problems with the second option, including not having this person enjoy the wedding since they are so busy taking video, simply not getting good quality video, getting a bunch of unedited video etc.

If you really want a good video that you know you will watch at least a few times, hire a professional. If you want video just so you know, ok if I want to see at least some part of my wedding video in video form and I really don't care if it's not that great or able to be shown to friends, just ask a few friends to take 1-2 min clips of key moments - like you walking down aisle, first dance, vows. etc.

Your best bet is if you have a friend that does video/photos as a hobby. Their product will at least be better than Cousin Jimmy just randomly taking video of whatever.

I personally wouldn't do the DIY video because I really want to have video of my wedding to look at and cherish. This is the one thing I knew from the start I really wanted. So I wouldn't take the chance of it not being done right.

I have people in my family that have camcorders but I opted not to even ask them because they might get to caught up and stop filming or I might end up with video of the floor or ceiling...lol

I think if a pro videographer is not in the budget, than DIY is better than nothing. But, don't ask a parent or other close relative to do it -- let them enjoy the ceremony & reception.

Heck, most people using their phones don't even realize they should turn it sideways to shoot video, rather than straight up and down.

The big issues with filming a wedding are:

It won't sound good and (probably) won't hear your vows. We have to put a special microphone on grooms to make sure we get them and avoid a crying baby or coughing uncle.

Any camera needs to work in low light (which isn't as dark as you'd think) to be worth a darn, especially during the reception and first dance. With a DSLR, this means a specific lens that can have a wide open aperture. The lens that comes with his DSLR won't be good enough. For video cameras, even a $2000 one will struggle in the dim light.

Shaky cam is exciting during an action movie, but not a wedding. A $40 tripod is NOT for video, and is really difficult to move at all (as in, panning to follow you walking down the aisle). So unless you're OK with just 1 camera from the back that never moves, it's going to be a problem. Our tripods cost about $300 a piece so they pan smoothly.

Good wedding videos demonstrate various emotions like intimacy. It has a lot to do with the eyes. For instance, a close up of the bride's face during her vows, preferable with the background blurred out so you only see her, like she's the only person in the world in that moment; then show his face the same way. It makes it feel intimate and powerful, and avoids seeing the bored groomsman or ringbearer in the background.

Its similar to the way a good photographer makes you feel things from a picture you didn' even realize but that would be obvious when you put them side by side.

Basically, if you go the DIY or Uncle Bob route, don't bother with the apps or DIY companies. There is almost no value. Get a basic camera from the back. If you really want a real wedding video, you'll have to hire somebody who knows what they're doing and a single camera from the back of the church isn't good enough there, either, and you say you want more of a candid video, which *some* do. It's a pain, though, since to make a good candid wedding video takes a LOT of filming. For instance, when we film the 'getting ready' part of the day, we shoot around 2 hours of footage with both the bride and groom's groups just to get a nice 10-20 minutes which means a great 5 minutes. The cameras have to be always rolling to try and catch all those fun, random moments.

If you do opt to look at videographers, here are some tips to help find the right one for you:

http://rnbweddings.com/rnb-weddings-dj-and-videography/wedding-videography/finding-a-good-wedding-videographer/

Thank you so much everyone for your responses! They've been very helpful!

Have your guests shoot video on their phones and post it online to Facebook. You'll get all the videos and be able to see all the moments throughout the evening. Have your DJ remind people to shoot the video. Same thing with vine or any of the other video sharing services, have everyone use a hashtag. Will be fun to see each moment throughout the wedding through each guests eyes and you don't have to pay anyone to do it for you.

Videographers can somewhat ruin the feeling of the reception by shining crazy white lights on everyone and just like magic everyone scatters from the dance floor

Have someone setup a camera for the ceremony so you can capture it. Really it's just for you both to remember it by.

Repeat the feeling that you want guests to capture their experience at their wedding and share it with everyone. Keeps everyone connected after the event and you'll have some cool shots of the event for your guests perspective.

We're thinking of having a DIY tripod video cam for the ceremony. I splurged on our photographer and we have no budget left for video. I didn't even know that people did videos when I was planning. FH didn't even want a photographer, so lol. Anyway I am happy with just having photos if our DIY doesn't work. I don't really care or want photos of the reception. I would feel super awkward about having someone video-taping me dance.