My Weddingographer Days Are Numbered

[Scott F]

Thanks Chris, that is the one I was thinking of. Now, I'd love to see it. I don't see any info on how to buy a copy on their official site.

he announces to the audience that he was the only other man in the room that has slept with the bride

Hahahahaha, classic. Ejected, I love it. Recently I shot one where the couple met via computer. The drunk best man said something like, "it's the first time he talked to a girl online with both hands on the keyboard." That got quite a few groans around the room.

And yeah, I'm still holding out for seeing a fist fight on the big day. It's gotta happen sooner or later. :grin:

 

[wbrock001]

Ha ha, try having to shoot them and edit them! Your head would explode! That's why I diversify, weddings, corporate promos, events, sports...not as easy to get burned out. But then this is my full time gig, so I don't have to go to a day job then give up weekends and try to have time with the family. It just sounds like you're taking on too much for the quality of life you want to have...welcome to the USA!

 

[j]

Wedding videographers are often considered bottom of the totem pole in the film world.

I disagree, for those that do it well and do it for a living I have more respect than hollywood feature DPs Directors and Producers. It's the toughest of all production environments and often the toughest of clients. You've got everything working against you with the possible exception of production design and even then you are not allowed to light the set as you would want or get the cameras into the optimal positions - that's rough.

 

[Hawk Teflon]

Wedding videographers are often considered bottom of the totem pole in the film world.

I disagree, for those that do it well and do it for a living I have more respect than hollywood feature DPs Directors and Producers. It's the toughest of all production environments and often the toughest of clients. You've got everything working against you with the possible exception of production design and even then you are not allowed to light the set as you would want or get the cameras into the optimal positions - that's rough.

AND you only get one take. There's no, "Guys the framing was a little off on that. Let's try it from the top. Bride, back to one. Groom, can we get a little more emotion when she walks in? You look like a piece of wood. Bridesmaids and groomsmen set? Ok, standby..."

 

[Ryan Patrick O'Hara]

Why don't you just hire some talented young shooters, and contract them out? Be a wedding videographer pimp.

 

[j]

Probably because it takes a lot more than being a good shooter. It's mostly about client management and those skills are hard to come by.

 

[Ryan Patrick O'Hara]

There are plenty of people out there who are talented and you could sub-contract. Let's be honest here. Shooting weddings takes talent, but it's not impossible to sub-contract employees to gigs. Especially if you're like the OP here and is about to either quit or jump off a bridge.

 

[Scott F]

Why don't you just hire some talented young shooters, and contract them out? Be a wedding videographer pimp.

:undecided Hmmmmmmm……..I'm listening. Tell me your plan.

That's basically the route the guy I work for is going. Each year his business has increased, and he's no choice but to hire out a bunch of younger folks to work for him. But you hit it, I'm gonna jump off a bridge. Best I just get out of this type of work altogether and let someone else be the wedding pimp. :grin::grin:

 

[Ryan Patrick O'Hara]

:undecided Hmmmmmmm……..I'm listening. Tell me your plan.

That's basically the route the guy I work for is going. Each year his business has increased, and he's no choice but to hire out a bunch of younger folks to work for him. But you hit it, I'm gonna jump off a bridge. Best I just get out of this type of work altogether and let someone else be the wedding pimp. :grin::grin:

I'd say do what you love. If you have had enough of weddings, and have the money to explore your true passion... I'd say do it. That's all that really matters.

 

[filmguy123]

I've only done about a dozen weddings and I think I reached the point you're at only a few in... I think YOU'RE that guy with fortitude you mentioned Congrats on being done, life is way too short to throw away every Saturday of a summer doing something you hate. Spend more time with your kids, and limit yourself to doing videos you are passionate about doing if possible. Happy early 40th bday!

 

[ethan cooper]

This thread has been good therapy for me. I'm shooting my last wedding this weekend after doing them full time for almost 4 years. I didn't have a second job, no other real source of income & I began to hate it so much that I just stopped booking them with no real fallback plan. Luckily I've been able to nail down some fairly steady production clients to keep me from having to get a job at a production company again which is where I started years ago, you get use to working for yourself.

For me the real pain of weddings wasn't the shoot, it was the edit. I got so backed up on edits that the stress of feeling like I was disappointing people due to being slow & knowing the next person was waiting once I was done really got to me. No matter what I tried, the edits began to feel repetitive & stale. Sure the clients liked them but I couldn't stand to see the same thing over and over and over with no end in sight. Couple that with the endless stack of tapes I knew were waiting once I got a project out the door & I simply quit.

The most important piece of advice I can give anyone going into weddings who plans on doing 30+ a year is to pay someone to edit for you but be sure to build that into the package price so you can still turn a profit. The edit is what broke me both in time and in spirit to the point where I quit on a profitable & growing young business after fighting to make a name for myself as someone who could turn out quality work.

 

[Scott F]

I've only done about a dozen weddings and I think I reached the point you're at only a few in... I think YOU'RE that guy with fortitude you mentioned Congrats on being done, life is way too short to throw away every Saturday of a summer doing something you hate. Spend more time with your kids, and limit yourself to doing videos you are passionate about doing if possible. Happy early 40th bday!

Thanks for the post and the rest of you as well who are on the same page as myself. Haha, feel free to use this thread as "therapy". As I mentioned on page one, I've been freelancing news for the last year, it's something I did full-time in 2004. While it's not my true calling, with a job like that I feel much better at the end of the day. With the weddings, I'm packing up my f'ing gear ASAP and sneaking out the back door. At the end of a news shift, I'm inclined to hang out for 20 minutes with co-workers shooting the s**t. That speaks volumes. We all have to find our way in this world, I'm still trying. rogar-Shock(DBG):

As for Saturdays thrown away, yes the money has been nice. But I've missed quality time with my young kids…I've missed parties, concerts and family gatherings. And of course, I will keep shooting. If you go to my Vimeo page you will see the videos I'm passionate about. Some for profit, some just for fun.

 

[ryan brown]

Wow, ALL negativity on the subject!?!? I've been doing weddings as my main income for 8 years now (about 70% of my income), shooting on average 40 a year for mostly high-end (200K+ weddings) clients, which can often be the hardest to work with. I can relate to almost EVERYTHING that's been said in this thread... but c'mon, it really aint' that bad.

I'm the creative, and the owner of the company is the business. I can make a grand or more on any given weekend, and do quite often, and that's not even including the edit which could be an entire salary in it's own. Can't beat that. I get fed well, get to meet lots of cool people, hot brides maids usually in my age bracket (I'm 31 now), get to be creative while getting paid, and if I want, pass on the edits to someone else and have the entire week to do whatever the hell I want.

The one thing I can agree with completely is what ethan cooper said about the edits. I, too, feel the edits get repetitive and stale. I'll sit on one for WAY too long and just can't force myself to finish.That being said, I can pass it along to someone else and we're all happy. As long as you have really good footage to start with, the edits are hard to F up. That's also why I always shoot these myself. I've gone through probably 20 shooters over the years, and not been able to find ONE that can get quality, consistent footage AND AUDIO day after day like I can.

Every time I see one of my shooters complain that he'd rather be working on a "real movie", I say, "yeah, maybe, but I'd rather be doing this than working in a cubicle every day". They usually see where I'm coming from.

Every time one of my film industry buddies tries to look down on what I do, I say, "yeah, but my day rate is twice what yours is, and while you're there at 5am till midnight, I'm working less than half that". They usually see where I'm coming from.

Do I want to do weddings forever? Hell no, and to be honest, I'm almost finished myself. My house is going on the market next month and when I move, I won't be doing weddings anymore. BUT, in the long run, the wedding industry has been good to me, so I can't complain about any of it. When that same song comes on for the thousandth time, or that drunk groomsman constantly jumps in my shot shouting bullsh!t at the camera, I try to remember this is a very important day to all these people here, and if I take it seriously and do a good job, they'll have something memorable and moving that can stay with them for a very long time.

Now if everyone could please raise their glass, I'd like to toast... the... wedding videographer

A shot of me doing what I do:

 

[Scott F]

Well, thanks for your 2c, Ryan. You raise valid points and I see where you're coming from. (especially from a single, early 30's point of view) :thumbsup:

The one thing I can agree with completely is what ethan cooper said about the edits. I, too, feel the edits get repetitive and stale.

I'm not kidding and I feel horrible about this. I shot a wedding for my buddy last July. The footage has been sitting on my hard drive for well over a year. I just opened it up to start playing with a rough edit. I CANNOT be bothered to do this! I mean I will, unless he really wants me to hand over the raw footage. But man, it is painfully boring and hard to stay focused. The content I usually edit is TV spots and web promos. Anything longer than 3 minutes scares me! :shocked:

So back to topic, the wedding industry has been good to me as well…..but I'm beating a dead horse at this point. I do enjoy these posts. Keep the funny stories coming.

 

[wbrock001]

I used to batter my creativity by trying to come up with new ways, new looks, etc to edit the video and that really really slowed me down. I wanted each video to be completely different. Well guess what, they inherently already are different by the fact that its a different wedding. So I chilled and let the footage speak for itself and that has made things much easier to edit over time. It can get tedious just because they're so long, but that's why I diversify. I have enough different other types of projects that I don't get overwhelmed with weddings...nor do I have another full time job to bog me down either. I think that is a big part of why people burn out, its because all they do is the same thing and/or overwork themselves by not getting enough recreation/chill time. So it sounds like its a work life balance that needs to be struck... And that is true of any career you choose...all work and no play...

 

[groveChuck]

Scott- I did news for 20 years, and have now done only a handful of weddings (contemplating whether to try to do more).
It's interesting you think weddings are more stressful than news, and are the ultimate "one chance to get the shot" type shoot.
I was wayyy beyond burned out in news (even though a good bit of it was in Special Projects and News Magazine), but I do know I couldn't do weddings every weekend without burning out, but as supplemental income... perhaps?

I'm trying to keep my business as diversified as possible, to protect myself in this turbulent economy.

ethan and ryan- how long so you guys spend, on average, on the edit?
And what do you give them? (trailer, ceremony, etc)

 

[ryan brown]

ethan and ryan- how long so you guys spend, on average, on the edit?
And what do you give them? (trailer, ceremony, etc)

1) Anywhere from from 2 to 10 days depending on how well it was shot, and what all the couple ordered (which package). That's if I'm being efficient. The last year and a half I've really got burned out on editing weddings, so I've been passing them along to my other editors. I'll take my time and finish one every two to three weeks these days.

2) Most of my clients go with a pre-ceremony highlights, full ceremony and highlights of reception. That's it. 5 minutes of edited footage of getting ready/artsy shots cut to music. Leads right into the ceremony which runs in real time cutting between the angles. Then on a separate menu item, the reception. Highlights of the entire thing, with all important events running in real time (Intro, cake cutting, toasts, first dance, etc).

Finished DVD = average 20-30mins for ceremony. 45-60mins reception.

 

[ryan brown]

P.S. Chuck, I've actually been thinking about getting into news. I may PM you with some questions if you don't mind.

 

[NVentive]

We did weddings long ago, back when we were young, energetic, and hungry. We did some really nice ones and made some decent money, but I can soooo relate to the negative feelings in this thread...... We've got some great stories, but - even with the improved equipment we have today - I'd hate to have to do another one.

 

[ethan cooper]

1) Anywhere from from 2 to 10 days ...

I think Ryan and I are offering similar things. If I'm taking my time on an edit to get it right then from capture + tanscode + sync + edit + color + de-noise + audio fixing + render + output + compress + authoring + case design + printing + backup can be anywhere from 1 - 2 weeks, depending on how motivated I'm feeling. It's often longer if I've got other things going on since my multi-tasking skills are terrible.

Admittedly, I'm slower than most which colors my feelings about hiring out editors. I never charged enough to justify sending my projects out for edit. I tried a few times & even found a guy who wasn't bad but I couldn't afford to do it enough to make a real dent in my workload & honestly couldn't pay enough for someone to show the level of attention I'd like on a project.

My finished product consists of the ceremony & reception both cut between multiple angles & with the fat trimmed out. It's almost always a Catholic ceremony which runs a good hour or so & the receptions cut down to an hour or two depending on how good the party was. For the fancier stuff we do a short form which covers the prep, into the ceremony, into the reception which runs 3 songs or so & comes out anywhere between 10 - 20 minutes depending on how much ceremony is included which usually depends on how good the priest was. We also provide a highlight that runs a single song so 3 - 5 minutes.

I'm not saying to avoid weddings at all, just be smart about it. Plenty of guys are making a good living doing weddings & some guys are doing beautiful work that can't be considered a lesser form of video production as was the past perception of weddings. Right now I've had my fill but the lure of extra cash may bring me back sometime in the future. If I do more in the future I'll apply the lessons I've learned the hard way & keep my bookings down to 5 or so a year. If I have to do 30+ again to make ends meet I'll just get a real job & be done with it.