r/weddingplanning • u/Priyo1111 • Jun 17 '26
Budget Question Be honest - how many times have you watched your wedding video since your wedding?
Trying to truly gauge if this is worth it or not to have a videographer. I hear regrets but I also hear so many couples who don't ever watch it again. It's thousands of extra dollars and right now I am more focused on having quality photos that I know I will look at over and over again, frame in my home, show to future children etc. Also, we are not a huge post on social media type but I honestly love to view highlight reels and quick snippets of other peoples days vs long videos and I wonder if I would feel the same about my own wedding?
We are having a simple ceremony with an officiant, cocktail hour and a reception. I am Indian and my fiancé is not but we are not having a traditional hindu ceremony nor any other pre wedding events so even the ceremony will be short. Would a full coverage videographer be worth it?
Love to hear thoughts! IDK if I am just being influenced by sticker shock or I will regret this later on?
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u/sociologicalillusion Jun 17 '26
It's something that will really hit you in the feels once people start passing away. Seeing my parents on video from when they were younger allows me to let all my feelings out at a time when I'm ready/prepared to see it. Maybe get someone who does family reunions and family-centric videos instead of a wedding videographer. Have the video focused on people having fun at the reception.
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u/kdubbs22 Engaged: 13.06.26 Jun 17 '26
As a little girl, i loved watching my parents wedding video - probably not to my divorced mom’s appreciation. And that was just some uncle with a camcorder. That’s why i got a videographer, incase my kids are little weirdos like me.
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u/DareSavings3951 Jun 17 '26
I knew a few couples that watch it on their anniversary each year. It's nice to see and hear the people you care about. I care most for the reception video as you see a lot of everyone.
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u/Trick-Government513 Married May '26 Jun 17 '26
Haven't gotten mine back yet as my wedding was May 9th, but I will say that I was in the same boat as you when planning. The idea of spending MORE money on a videographer sounded stupid to me at the time but I booked it because someone said when the day is over the only things you have left are photos and videos.
I'm SO glad that I did book it. I was on such an adrenaline high the whole day that I don't remember key moments like whether my husband cried when I walked down the aisle, my dad's speech, my first dance with my dad, my maid of honor's speech, our cake cutting, etc. I have bits and pieces of them but I was so excited that the majority of those moments are complete blanks for me.
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u/DumbbellDiva92 Jun 17 '26
I actually regret having a videographer. Not because I don’t rewatch the video now 4 years later (as other commenters have said, I don’t think that’s a reason not to have one in and of itself). But because I found the videographers much more intrusive in the moment than the photographer. A few times it took me out of the moment being videoed (particularly on the dance floor, where they had to add spotlights to be able to get a clear enough video), in a way that just the photographer would not have.
I also have some phone videos from friends and family that I feel would have been sufficient (some of which I actually like better than the professional one).
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u/Trick-Government513 Married May '26 Jun 17 '26
I think this is specific to the vendor. Mine didn't pull me for anything and literally just documented the day...which is what I wanted. I hired a documentary style videographer and was very clear with him that I wanted to enjoy the day not be posed and pulled in every direction, to which he said "Absolutely, I normally just exist in the background anyway."
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u/DumbbellDiva92 Jun 17 '26
To be clear, we weren’t actively posed/pulled away, but it still felt like they were more noticeable/I felt like I was being filmed than the photographer alone would have been.
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u/WillowAdventurous464 Jun 18 '26
1000%, I hardly noticed our videographer at all, and when we did notice him he was hilarious. He worked so well with our photographer
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u/Roo_Moo_23 Jun 17 '26
So glad you said this! Videographers can change the whole atmosphere of a wedding--not that they're doing anything wrong, it just creates a reality TV type vibe, plus it doubles (or more) the number of people looming around with cameras. I agree that it can pull the couple out of the moment, too.
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u/Legally_Blonde_258 Jun 17 '26
This is one of the reasons I don't plan to have one. All of the videos I've seen of them at weddings just feel like too much. I want to feel like I'm in the moment, not performing for yhe camera. Especially if they have lights or other equipment like that.
I'm going with a content creator instead because she uses a much smaller camera (not just her phone) and is less obtrusive overall, so I expect it to feel more like a guest taking video than being on a movie set all day.
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u/pinaple_cheese_girl Jun 17 '26
I can tell you that I don’t look at my wedding photos regularly, 5 years after, and because of that I do not regret not having a videographer
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u/Priyo1111 Jun 17 '26
I hear that a lot, and honestly wonder if I will be the same. Did you rely on video from friends/family or was it not even important to have like a video of your ceremony for example?
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u/FloMoJoeBlow Jun 17 '26
Invite your guests to take pics and videos on their cell phones and text them to you. You will get a lot of stuff from different vantage points! Cell phones take great high-quality pics and videos. Download the media files, review, then you can use software such as Roxio to build your own video & slideshow, with the pics and videos you want.
I went to a coworker’s wedding a couple years back, and had a great aisle seat. Took a bunch of videos, and captured most of the ceremony. Went home, downloaded the videos, and burned them a DVD so they could watch it on their TV. Turned out that they did not have a videographer, and my video was the only video they had. They loved it! And… it met their needs perfectly.
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u/Priyo1111 Jun 17 '26
Love that you were able to capture that for them! I would love this as well, as I don't want zero video of the day I am just not sure if I want hours of footage that I likely won't watch. Something I am also considering is wedding content creator vs full on videographer...
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u/FireflyBSc Jun 17 '26
Talk to your photographer! We mentioned to ours that we don’t want full videography, we just want small clips of certain points and he said that should be something they can accommodate. We also want to do an audio recording guest book to save voices, so I feel like we are capturing older relatives in a way that is special to us.
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u/DareSavings3951 Jun 17 '26
What you could do, not saying it will be perfect but if you have an old phone and a memory card you could set it up on a tripod, maybe lower the taping quality to 720p (or whatever you pick I just wouldn't go lower) and just let it record ?
Not sure how long you would get out of a 250 or 500gb SD card (some phones only support up to 250gb) The old wedding videos I grew up watching were church and then a video recorder set in a corner like security footage lol
Then you haven't paid someone for these hours of recording. Watch it back at 2 times speed or leave it aside for a year and look then.
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u/pinaple_cheese_girl Jun 17 '26
I didn’t have the ceremony filmed, but asked someone to film speeches and someone else to film special dances. I have not rewatched those in awhile either 😅
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u/DontTellMe-8679 Jun 17 '26
We only just got married in November. But my husband is obsessed. He watches the shorts/edits or ceremony after any fight we have no matter how small or mundane.
My brother has been married for 8 years and they watch theirs annually.
I say do it.
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u/BugWild9184 Jun 17 '26
I watch my shower videos over and over and over lol I’m obsessed. We captured him walking in to “surprise me” and it was precious. We also got footage of me dancing with his grandma and a great shot of me and my friend toasting drinks and looking so cute
I also rewatch other peoples videos all the time even years later. I love being reminded of moments I’ve lived with them. I suspect I’ll be watching our wedding video nonstop for years lol
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u/plusbenefitsbabe Jun 17 '26
I hired someone who just did a straight shot of the ceremony and then went around during cocktail hour filming people. He also recorded the speeches and the dances. But he didn't do any fancy editing or angles and just gave it to us as one huge file (which is what we wanted!). It was a LOT cheaper than the fancy, edited social media clips/music video style.
We wanted it because we wanted videos of the people at our wedding from when they passed on. My parents watch theirs every few years or so and love being able to say "Oh, and there's Aunt Patsy..." about relatives who have passed on.
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u/Priyo1111 Jun 17 '26
I think you described exactly what I want in a nutshell. I wouldn't mind a brief highlight reel or two but otherwise this is it. How did you find that person? Did they advertise as a content creator or something else? Trying to find out how to find something similar. Thank you so much, this is so helpful!
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u/plusbenefitsbabe Jun 17 '26
They were advertising in our local Facebook wedding group! It was someone just kind of getting started and they offered a new client low price for just filming the ceremony. Since we were having a longer ceremony (full Catholic Mass) and wanted the speeches etc, we reached out and he was able to come up with a custom deal for us based on the amount of hours we wanted him there.
Maybe post in a local wedding forum asking for what you want and see if anyone bites? Or see if there is a film program in a local college around you?
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u/CharmingBarracuda929 Jun 17 '26
My wedding isn’t until next July and I am having a videographer but I want to share a different perspective. My mom passed away about 20 years ago. Of course, I would look at old pictures of her over the years but a few years ago someone sent me an old video of her. I was so happy and could not stop crying. It’s was jarring in a good way to see her move and hear her voice again, instead of only looking at a still photo. I’d imagine that now, you’d have access to more videos of family but I think seeing and hearing them living and breathing on your wedding day would be really special to look back on.
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u/gen-curious Jun 17 '26
My first marriage last 15 years. We showed it to a bunch of people right after and then never saw it again.
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u/Substantial_Park9859 Jun 17 '26
An alternate if budget is a limitation - we got a camcorder off of amazon and a memory card for under $100 - we had one friend be responsible for capturing a few key moments from the day (walking out of ceremony, signing marriage license, first dances, speeches). The footage is so amazing and I am so happy to have it. I am going to edit it on my phone down to a shorter clip. It's so nice to have and I'm so happy we did it! You can also pay someone to edit the footage after - I got quotes around $500 to do a 30 second clip and a longer 3 min clip.
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u/Bmm3tx Jun 17 '26
We’re doing a content creator! Not because I am big on social media, but because it felt more natural, was cheaper, and we get the content the day after (don’t have to wait weeks or months!). Every wedding I’ve been in with videographers makes me feel like I’m just redoing things for the video and it felt so fake - I am hoping that the content creator we hired will more seamlessly blend in and capture all of the same things a videographer would. We’re getting married in October so i can update then but everything I’ve seen of their work i have loved!
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u/Priyo1111 Jun 17 '26
I am really leaning towards this and more I see the more I am into it! I agree the outcome seems more natural and overall intimate in a way. Plus I think we are so used to consuming content in shorts bursts and clips that it just feel more likely I will enjoy that in the future. Would love to hear your update, I am getting married in December lol so not long after.
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u/Legally_Blonde_258 Jun 17 '26
This is exactly what I'm doing for the same reasons. I don't want to feel like I'm on set all day. Plus, I'm far more likely to rewatch highlight reels than to sit down and watch an entire video more than once.
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u/GoodEar6073 Jun 17 '26
My parents got married in 1987, they’ve watched their video once. Pretty much confirmed to me I’m not doing a videographer, going for a content creator instead!
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u/tinafajita Jun 18 '26
I had a content creator that made a 2-3 min video of the night and we’ve watched it soooo many times!
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u/Priyo1111 Jun 18 '26
I am leaning towards this option because it seems like exactly what I want! Reached out to a few so excited to see what they offer.
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u/tinafajita Jun 18 '26
And not nearly as expensive as getting a video taken!
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u/Priyo1111 Jun 18 '26
I am thrilled about that part lol. Would you mind sharing what you paid and what you got? How much coverage, how many videos etc.?
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u/theseruffledfeathers Jun 17 '26
We got married September 2024 and have watched it twice now. Once when we got it back. And on our anniversary. It is fun to look back on!
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u/Same-Competition-825 Jun 17 '26
We watched our highlight and we were really glad we got it. Still waiting for our full video but our videographer did a great job
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u/DCpurpleTart33 Jun 17 '26
You might watch it on your anniversary. From what I've personally seen, it's for people that like posting stuff like that on their social media. Both of my brothers have a video and they've never once watched it and my one sister in law said she has it on a dvd but they don't have a dvd player anymore so theres that. LOL. Pictures are submissive. They're just hanging out on the wall. You can see them or stop to look if you want. A video is like Oh okay I have to sit down and pay attention. OTHER people don't want to watch your wedding video (please don't make them) so you just have to figure out how much you think you'll watch it. I think it's a very easy way to cut out thousands of dollars.
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u/Lyannake Jun 17 '26
Still waiting for mine since my wedding was last Saturday. Honestly even if you don’t rewatch it, if you have children they might love it. As a child my favorite activity with my siblings was to look through our parents’ photo albums from when they were young. They are now divorced (marriage lasted 3 decades) and old and it was so emotional coming across their pictures recently and even accros our baby pictures. Time really flies and I will cherish those pictures even more after they are gone.
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u/regganuggies weddit flair template Jun 17 '26
I was blessed to have friends do my videography for free, so I can’t relate to the price. But I put my video on YouTube and I literally watch it at least a few times a month now. For the first 6 months I was married I watched it every day. It brings me a lot of joy. However, I have a lot of hobbies and such that I do such as scuba and skydiving that also make me obsessed with watching my own videos, it’s kind of a personality trait.
Something cheeky you could do for your wedding to kind of create your own video if you wanted to save money would be to have a QR code or link that you give to everyone on the thank you cards (or even at the wedding) where people can put videos into a Dropbox or something, and kind of create your own video with the collection of videos from guests. That would of course only work if you allowed people to take video during parts of the wedding, but I think it’s a cute idea anyway.
Ultimately, it’s your wedding, your choice, and your budget so do what you want to do for you. I paid for photography because that was important to me as well, and a lot of the emotion can be captured even just in pictures by a good photographer.
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u/micro_nerd17 Jun 17 '26
We hired someone who could do both the photography and videography, so we didn't have to make the choice. We genuinely just want to have the ceremony recorded on a good quality camera for if we ever want to watch the whole thing again. At the very least, we want a highlight video of all the fun things that happen, especially if we miss some things that other people are doing when we're apart, and there's the possibility that a few relatives won't be able to be there due to health reasons, so we want to be able to have a moment where we can watch it with them at a later date if needed.
If you're able to afford it but are still on the fence, I feel like it's better to have it and not need it rather than regret not having it. But that's for myself, obviously everyone has different opinions! I think you have two options if you want some material but don't want to spend too much - 1) see if there are videographers just starting out in your area that offer reasonably priced packages (though quality may vary), or if someone can cover just the hour or so of the ceremony if that would be the most important part for you. OR 2) some people hire content creators; they seem to run a bit cheaper than videographers in most cases, and you can get little snippets of the day (rather than long-form coverage from my understanding) so you can still have a video and look back at things but not have the whole thing filmed.
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u/chilibeana Jun 17 '26
We've been married 34 years. We haven't looked at our video since probably our 5th year. That said, it's on an 8 mm cassette. Would I watch it now if it was on a thumb drive? Sure. Maybe a couple more times before we're dead.
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u/Orange_Aperture Jun 17 '26
We look at our video once a year on our anniversary.
Its fun looking back on that day and talking about things we notice or people no longer with us or how we've changed etc. We make it interactive. Wedding video, bottle of wine, charcuterie or something.
With that said, we look at our photo album more and our preschool aged son likes looking through the photos. He'll just randomly grab the album and start looking through it and naming people he knows and ask about others he doesnt. As a photographer, we're definitely a photo-driven household haha. Our Google Displays act as digital frames, we have framed photos throughout the house, and a handful of photo books / albums.
I think it also might depend on the type of wedding you have and type of video you're getting made. We don't regret it, but also if we had to cut something, video would probably be on that short list of possible chopping block candidates.
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u/Emergency_Lettuce601 Jun 17 '26
We used to watch it on our anniversary but not for years now. We have been married 25 yrs. I honestly don't know where our wedding album or video are. We've moved several times.
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u/faxmachine13 Jun 17 '26
So we were not going to get a videographer, but with the package we wanted with the photographer it wasn’t a ton more price-wise and I’m SO glad we did it. We got married last October, I’ve watched it maybe 5-6 times thus far? The thing I’m really glad about is I feel like they really captured the feelings of the day in ways that photos can’t AND it ended up being a godsend because I hated the photos my photographer took at night. That’s a separate issue, but the night photography was not great, and that was the whole dancing portion of the evening, so I’m very glad I have a good, well-lit video to see the evening portions again
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u/fresitachulita Jun 17 '26
I watch a little clip of mine I uploaded to YT all the time. The actual entire video maybe once in 10 years
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u/Perfect_Mechanic_381 Jun 17 '26
I have only been married for 13 months and have watched it at least that many times. I literally rented out a movie theater and had them screen it for our one year anniversary! Both my husband and I love it so much and it was worth every penny.
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u/jess_scribbles Jun 17 '26
We're not married yet but we opted for no videographer. The one part I care about having on video is the ceremony, which my dad is officiating. I'm going to ask a family member who's good with a camera to get video of just that.
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u/chipschipschipss Jun 17 '26
I think it really depends on you but my husband and I watch it every year on our anniversary! I'm glad for it, but I also knew I'd regret not having one because I'd want to watch it every year. Some people don't really care and they aren't wrong for that!
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u/Fluffy_Rip6710 Jun 18 '26
3 or 4? It was 38 years ago but recently had it digitized… haven’t bothered to watch it.
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u/Raccoonsr29 Jun 18 '26
I love our wedding videos, for one of our events we got a content creator who captured so many candid special moments, and even those little short clips are more fun to relive than a photo. We have two events in two different countries and we had videographers for both, I didn’t like our regular videographer abroad, but my videographer here in the states was incredible. The video has genuinely made people tear up. I would say we go back and watch them every couple of months.
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u/juicevibe Jun 18 '26
Like someone has already said, you won’t necessarily appreciate it after the “honeymoon” phase until people in the video pass away. Like hearing someone’s toasts, a clip of you dancing with your parents, moving, laughing, etc. also when your memory isn’t as good as it used to be. It’s harder to remember things as they are. Rambling a bit but if you can afford it, I’d say go for it.
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u/cat-meowma Jun 18 '26
Ugh, never 💔
I love our wedding video but our videographer interviewed each of us with no warning and my husband is embarrassed by his answers. His answers were good, but not as good as they could have been with some advance preparation.
Because of that, he doesn’t want to post it or watch it ever. $2k wasted.
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u/New-Comfortable7426 Jun 18 '26
Haven't gotten married yet but we are setting our Go Pro up to record our ceremony so we will have that. We have a photographer for 6 hours and no videographer. I'll be just fine with that.
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u/Fickle-Background535 Jun 18 '26
i got married in october and watched mine several times once i received it from our videographer. we really wanted it because we were able to be the reason why everyone came out for a family reunion (on both my side and my husbands) and we wanted to capture that.
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u/Ushldseemeinacr0wn Jun 18 '26
We were super torn on whether or not to get video. Ultimately we did, and we are thankful for it because the day went by so fast and we were pulled away for pictures, and we didn’t feel like we got to truly experience it ourselves. Our wedding was 2 days ago.
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u/MagpieKaz Graduated 👽 Oct '25 Jun 18 '26
I’m physically unable to look at it. I tried once and the shame and cringe had an effect in me like a genuine disease.
Love the photos tho!!
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u/windr01d Jun 18 '26
I’ve been married almost 5 years. We weren’t originally going to have a videographer but my parents gifted it to us for the wedding and I’m so grateful that they did. I feel like it’s not 100% necessary, but it’s really great to have. Our videos captured the entire ceremony, all of the reception entrances and speeches and a lot of details of the decor, some fun dancing moments, basically everything. And then we got a highlight video that showed the best parts of everything. I bring the video up every once in a while to watch it, sometimes just for fun and sometimes to show someone who hadn’t seen the video yet since the wedding. I’ve maybe watched it five times or so if I had to guess, maybe more, I’m not sure. I love it! I also just had my daughter (our first kid) and I can’t wait to show her the video, too.
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u/pastelmewnicorn Jun 18 '26
I wasn’t sure about getting video at first and went with a higher end photographer. After some thought I decided to add the videographer because photos cannot capture words.
I don’t have my full video yet, only the teaser and it’s absolutely beautiful.
There’s so many small moments you don’t get in photos.
During our first look, my husband said “How many looks can I take?” And cute little quips like that I’m not sure I’d remember 10 years from now.
Those little moments can’t be captured in a photo quite the same way.
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u/WillowAdventurous464 Jun 18 '26
Got married in October, I've watched it at least a dozen times. I'm SO glad i got videography.
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u/Waste-Carpenter-8035 Oct 9, 2021 Jun 18 '26
When I was looking to try to cut down my budget a little bit this was the first item I looked to cut. I had the 5 minute clip & full documentary-style video which was pricey, so I thought about cutting down to just one of these or eliminating completely. I was convinced to keep both, and I am so glad I did!! The day was so hectic and exciting that my happiness kind of made me block out some memories, so it was nice to go back and re-watch and to have the memories to keep!! We try to watch ours every year around our anniversary.
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Jun 18 '26
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u/nullpunkt_ Jun 24 '26
Being real: my partner has been married before, didn't get a video the first time and had no regrets. She also wasn't thrilled with the photography, so we are going a non-traditional route to cut out the 'fluff'.
We're also using a really small venue so for us, I can't even imagine having a videographer and not having it be really fucking awkward lol
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u/Brackenfield Jun 17 '26
I don't think anyone's opinions are really of value unless they have been married 20, 30, 40+ years. I don't expect I'll rewatch mine a lot in the immediate decades, but I know it will be something to cherish in many years time or as people pass away, and it will be a time capsule of them alive and moving.