First thing I see go from a budget is the videographer. And I get it. But I don't. Before I got married I thought it wasn't important. I even wrote a blog post about it and a ton of people said they don't ever watch theirs. It can be rather expensive and if you have a photographer, why do you need both?
I hired someone from Craigslist to shoot it and had it edited. 2 years later. I don't watch it a lot, but I still cry every single time I do. A video brings about such a different set emotions. I have looked at my wedding photos so many times (and don't get me wrong, I love them) but I can go through the whole day in my mind based on those photos. The video has something more, something different. There are edits of a few of my friends laughing together. Edits of me while my dad is giving a speech. People looking for their escort cards (which I admittedly cared way too much about, so I was happy to see people hanging in that space!). Things I experienced and a lot of things I didn't.
And that's the point. You don't get to be everywhere. In fact, you get to be on a schedule from practically the moment you wake up until about an hour before the end of the event. You don't get to sit and hang with people as much as you wanted, and you truthfully don't quite get to enjoy the day like the guests do. (Obviously you get to enjoy it, but in a very different way) The video brings it all together, and allows the couple to experience it in different ways.
But there's more!
I've been to a lot of weddings. Heard a lot of great speeches and seen a lot of wonderful moments. I've never walked away thinking, "that wedding didn't need to be filmed". These memories are extremely special, and having a way to look back on them in 30 years, I guarantee you won't regret having had a videographer at your wedding.
I went to a wedding a few weeks ago and the groom surprised her by singing her a song on the guitar. The groom's brother also had one of the best speeches I've heard. Groom's surprise brides. It happens! So be prepared.
I'll leave you with a little surprise from my husband at our wedding. See, I'm really glad I got this filmed.
Ian's Wedding Proposal from Allison Silber on Vimeo.