Videography HELP PLZ?!?

Question

Hello i am looking to book my videographer. Now our chirch has their own camera crew and i asked the head guy in charge if he could shoot my wedding. He took us in the office and showed us sample work. WE LOVED IT!

His crew will follow us EVERYWHERE (salon, barber shop, ceremony, reception, pics, hotel...EVERYWHERE. and he told me that he has no set price and for me to go online and search prices then come back to him with a price. He said if it's not good for his crew then not to worry and that he will take care of them. The only thing is I dont want to be rude about it. i dont know how much to say.

Whats a good price to give him?

Whats the average price of videography?

*I will also be tipping the crew that night*

Help me please

He books really fast and wants me to call him ASAP. He's booked for all of June and my wedding is JULY.

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

He doesn't have a set price?  Well, what can your budget allow?  I think I paid about $800 for mine after negotiating with the videographer.  He typically charged much more.  

Some things to consider - how many in crew?  How many cameras?  How many hours will he be with you?  Will he be doing all editing?  

Start calling your local agencies to get their prices.

Answer 2

That's a really stupid thing to do.  

Sure, it may be a "religious" camera crew, but you're left in the lurch, without any idea how much to pay.  You don't want to offend, but you don't want to overpay.

Stupid!

I'd say that you should expect to pay $40per hour per person... that should cover the guys, the equipment, and the expendibles. So, for two guys (the likely contingent), you'd be paying $80per hour.  For a 10 hour shoot (it seems like it should be that long at a minimum), $800.  Plus at least 4 hours' worth of editing (which would likely be much longer, since the editor will have 20 hours of video to get through.  So $10000.

Plus $50 tip per guy for good service.

Answer 3

Wow, I've never heard of that before (And I'm a wedding videographer myself).  Typically they will quote you a price beforehand.  But for what he's offering, you're looking at $2000 minimum, the editing time will probably be close to 60 hours for his team, so I'd start with that. If he's any good, he has a price already set out in his head, he might be hoping you over-quote him and pocket the difference.  Very unusual, never-the-less.