What questions should you ask a wedding videographer before you book?

Which questions matter most before you sign?

Meet two or three videographers and ask each one the same list. The answers are easier to compare that way, and it is quickly clear who has done this many times.

1. Are you free on our date, and who will film it? Get the name of the person who will be there.
2. Can we watch a full ceremony edit or a long film from one wedding? Not only a trailer.
3. Which films are included, and how long is each one?
4. How do you record the vows, readings and toasts?
5. How many cameras and how many people, for how many hours?
6. What happens if a camera, card or recorder fails, or you are ill?
7. Will you fly a drone, and is that allowed at our venue?
8. What music do you use in the film?
9. When will we get the films, and in what form?
10. What is the deposit, and what costs extra? Overtime, travel, parking, a second shooter, raw footage.

What films will you actually get?

Videographers package their work differently, and the names do not always mean the same thing. Ask for a list with the running time of each film.

Also ask how the films are delivered (a download, an online gallery, a drive), how long the link stays live, and how many rounds of changes are included.

How will they record clean audio for the vows and toasts?

Good video with poor sound is the most common disappointment, and it is hard to fix after the fact. A careful videographer will explain a plan like this:

• A small microphone on the officiant, and often on one partner, for the ceremony.
• A separate recorder at the lectern or near the readers.
• A feed from the sound system used for toasts, or a recorder placed next to the speakers.
• A backup recording for anything that matters, in case one source fails.

Ask them to talk to your DJ or band before the day about the sound feed, and ask how they handle a venue or house of worship that limits where they can stand. You can find entertainment in our entertainment chapter.

How many hours and cameras do you need?

Start from your timeline, not from a package. List the moments you want filmed, add travel between sites, and ask the videographer to price that span.

• Getting ready. If you dress in two places, one person cannot film both. Ask whether a second shooter is included or extra.
• The ceremony. Two or more cameras let the editor cut between your faces and the wide view, and keep filming if one angle is blocked.
• The reception. Make sure coverage runs through the toasts, first dances and any send off you care about.
• Travel in the city. Traffic and parking between a ceremony and a reception in DC can take longer than the map suggests, so build that time into the hours you book.

Can your videographer fly a drone at a DC wedding?

Usually not without special permission. The FAA says the airspace around Washington is more restricted than anywhere else in the country. A Special Flight Rules Area covers a 30 mile radius around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, and flying a drone inside its inner 15 mile ring is prohibited without specific FAA authorization. That inner ring covers the city and many close-in suburbs.

So if aerial shots matter to you:

• Ask whether your venue is inside the 15 mile ring before you pay for drone footage.
• Ask the videographer whether they hold an FAA remote pilot certificate and how they get authorization, or whether they skip drones in the DC area.
• Ask your venue whether it allows drones at all, even where the airspace does.

For a ceremony at a memorial or on the National Mall there are separate park permits for the wedding and for photo and video work outside it. Our guide to getting married at a DC memorial or on the National Mall explains them.

How do the videographer and photographer work together?

Both need the same moments from the same few good angles, so they have to plan together.

• Ask whether they have worked with your photographer before. If not, ask them to talk before the day.
• Ask where each will stand during the processional, the vows and the first dance.
• If one company offers both, ask whether the two are a regular team.
• Give both the same timeline and the same family list.

What music will be in the film?

Songs are protected by copyright, and a highlight film set to a popular track can run into copyright claims when you post it online. Ask:

• Do you use licensed music, and can we choose from your library?
• Can our first dance song appear as it was played in the room?
• Will the films play everywhere we want to share them?

The US Copyright Office explains that copyright protects original works, including music and recordings, from the moment they are fixed. The same idea applies to your films: the videographer usually owns the copyright, and the contract should say what you may do with them.

What should the contract say?

• Who films, how many people, and the hours, with the overtime rate.
• Each film by name and approximate length, and the delivery date for each.
• Backups: two copies of the footage until delivery, and a replacement if they cannot attend.
• Usage: what you may post, share and download, and whether they may use your films in their marketing.
• Raw footage and how long they keep your files.
• Travel, parking and permits, which matter in DC where parking is tight and some sites need park permits.
• The deposit, payment dates and cancellation terms.

When you are ready to compare, our Washington DC wedding videographers chapter lists them with facts from their public business profiles. The venues and planners chapters help with the rest of the team.