I understand why most people don't hire a videographer to document their wedding. I've always thought of a wedding "videographer" as your fiancé's best friend who secretly has a crush on you and ends up only videotaping images of you, ruining the whole thing (Okay, fine. I totally stole that from Love Actually). I only recently learned that there are some AMAZING videographers who can take your 12+ hour day and turn it into an abbreviated love story that will make you laugh and cry in 3 short minutes.

I've swooned over far too many wedding videos at this point to not have our very own. Now it's a matter of deciding which is the best and most economically sound option for us.

Go All Out

Hire one of the many talented cinematography teams out there to document your day and edit it to perfection without any worry. Someone like Kiss the Bride Films in San Francisco and New York or Shade Tree Films in Los Angeles can turn your big blip of a day into something you can relive over and over again.

[embed width="590" height="331.875"] http://vimeo.com/31097286 [/embed]

P.S. I think I've watched that one a million times. It's my favorite. 'What Luck' by Shade Tree Films.

À La Carte

Hire someone to just do the filming, then after you financially recover from the wedding, pay to have it edited. Or if you know someone who is great with the camera but knows little about editing, you can send a company like Well Spun Weddings the raw footage, and they'll edit it for you.

[embed width="590" heigh="331.875"] http://vimeo.com/20255584 [/embed]

D.I.Y. Video + Professional Editing

A nice affordable option is to work with a company like Wedit or Storymix. They will send you the cameras for your guests to capture all of the important (and unimportant, but equally awesome) moments of your wedding, then you send the cameras back to them, and they do the editing for you!

[embed width="590" height="442.5"] http://vimeo.com/14491520 [/embed]

Do It Yourself

Have your friends and family send you anything they record on their phones or cameras, and use an editing software like iMovie to create your very own video, the way YOU want to remember the day.

[embed width="590" height="442.5"] http://vimeo.com/31070563 [/embed]

I've decided to cut my $5,000 photography budget in half, and use that other half for videography. It's been a struggle to find both a photographer AND videographer who will fit my budget and suit my taste, but I know it can be done!

What are you doing for your wedding? Did you hire a videographer for your big day?