So you’ve decided you want a wedding video to remember the most important day of your life. That’s a good first step and a smart decision. Now,the harrowing part –how much is this going to cost me? Well,let me give you some general ideas.
You can scour an online site like craigslist and find someone willing to do it for $200-$500,but you are likely to get someone skimming the bottom of the barrel who is more of a hobbyist trying to break into the business,or someone with a home movie camera trying to make some extra bucks so the quality will likely no better than Uncle Harry can do for free. But you should let Uncle Harry enjoy himself so it may be worth it. On the other hand,you may get lucky and nab an extremely talented college student who is looking to start a nice portfolio and you will be the beneficiary,but honestly this is a long shot. More than anything,I’d worry about reliability and someone actually showing up for you wedding day in this category.
Next comes the $750-$1000 range. My experience with this group is that you will get a large company,maybe even national who subcontracts out your wedding for $15/hour to college students. You meet the salesperson,but have to wonder who will show up on your wedding day. To me,this group may be scarier than the craigslist group because with the latter group you will likely meet the person who will actually be at your wedding.
The third group is the $1200-$3000 group. This is a broad range,but in Baltimore this is where you are liekly to find most wedding videographers. This tends to be a talented group who you really just need to meet and view their work to see if you like their personality and shooting style. You are just as likely to get someone great on the low end as you are on the high end so it’s a personal choice,but I would budget in this range.
The fourth group is the $3000+ group and there are several in the area. This is also a talented group who does A LOT of weddings so they have the experience. But they also have a lot of overhead which explains their higher prices. They likely have nice bricks and mortar and full-time employees. Not a bad situation if you have this in your bidget,but my biggest caveat here is that again you are likely to meet the owner and have to wonder who will show up on your wedding day.
So I hope this is helpful. This is just meant to be a general overview of wedding videography prices in the Baltimore area based on my research. Do your own research,look at many different companies and see what you like based on your budget.
