Wedding photographers are typically one of the first vendors booked in the wedding planning process. We book up quickly, especially in this crazy season of COVID and reschedules. I’ve talked before about why I believe photographing your wedding is a big deal. I didn’t hire a photographer for my wedding and to this day I wish I did. Those are moments you just don’t get back. Now it’s my full time job to make sure others don’t make the same mistakes I did.

While working in the industry I’ve met some amazing vendors. One vendor I feel like doesn’t get talked about enough are the videographers. I typically have brides come to me who are a handful of months away from their wedding undecided on whether or not they’d like to hire a videographer. Instead of trying to come up with all the reasons why photo and video are such an amazing combination on your wedding day I went ahead and asked my favorite videographers in Iowa. Here’s what they had to say..

Graphic Formation Films

“Life is all about making memories. Preserving memories will allow you to remember how a certain place, person, or day made you feel. Your wedding will be one of the most emotional days of your life. Unfortunately, memories fade over time. Preserving memories in a way that allows you to relive them is one of the most valuable things you can invest in. Yes, photography and videography are expensive, BUT it’s one of the only things you’ll have left when your wedding is all said and done. Imagine 30 years from now reliving your wedding day with your children, or grandchildren, and seeing them smile and feel the emotions of your wedding day, too, as they watch your wedding film or look through a photo album.

Photos and videos are the best ways to preserve memories. How are they different? Well imagine this; you see 3 pictures of your first look: you approaching your significant other, your significant other’s face when they turn around, and you two hugging. When you look at those photos your mind will sort of fill in the gaps between the photos; your anticipation, your nervous ticks of excitement, your heart fluttering out of your chest, and finally the awe and sudden relief of seeing the love of your life in front of you. Photos are probably the easiest way to preserve memories. With video, you can get a little more of an experience and can fill in more of the fine details as you relive the moment while you watch it unfold in front of your eyes after the fact. Try to imagine the same first look but with video. A shot of you taking a couple of footsteps towards your significant other and you see your face smiling with excitement as you look down at your feet and then up at them. Then you see an angle from their perspective and you can hear a sharp intake of breath as they are so excited to see you. They are smiling and fidgeting with their fingers. Wide-angle shows you touch their shoulder and when they turn around you see their face go from curiosity to shock in a matter of moments. You hear the rustle of the leaves and birds in the trees, and see the warm sun on your faces so you can almost feel what it felt like at the moment. Rather than filling in the gaps of what happened, your brain can fill in the emotions you felt and focus on the finer details to allow you to relive that day.

The last thing I want to emphasize is to make sure you do your research on vendors. Don’t just look at one video and say, “I want that videographer.” There is a lot more that goes into a vendor beside the quality of their work. There’s the overall experience, their personalities, and the mindset regarding you as a client. It can be exhausting, but sometimes your other vendors may be able to help you find a videographer that they’ve worked with in the past that they have worked well with. They can also tell you who they haven’t worked well with. We like to start out as a vendor and end as friends with couples because that’s how we truly feel. We’ve just captured your entire wedding day and watched first hand the love blossom between you and that is such a sacred and special honor.” – Ben Libby

Look at Graphic Formation Films Website!

The Creative

“We’re Austin and Jessica; a husband and wife, best friend, filmmaking duo! Austin is from Iowa, Jessica is from England and we fell in love over FaceTime and iMessage whilst living 4,711 miles apart!⁠ Jessica was living in Townsville, Australia and Austin was in Kona, Hawaii. We really mean it when we say we want to be your friends! We are in this to celebrate your love, document it forever and give you an experience that you’ll never forget! We keep our videos up beat and fun, while still capturing your personalities, quirks, emotions and all the feels from the day you’ve been planning and dreaming about for the last several months, or years! ⁠We film weddings because we think your story deserves to be told, and there’s nothing more precious than capturing the big moments, the little moments and every little wink, laugh and tear in between, for you to watch over and over together, and with your grandchildren in the future!” – Austin + Jessica

Look at The Creative’s Website!

Cicada Video

“Cicada Video is a dynamic couple duo who takes all of the guess work out of how to capture your big day! For many couples, videography isn’t the first thing that comes to mind, and photography rules that domain. However, Cicada Video emphasises doing both for couples! With state of the art videography and couple photography packages, you’re sure to capture every moment! Cicada Video found a gap in which many lack, and took a different approach to combining our team to capture your big day with video and photography at the same time! Our goal is to capture every moment as it happens, and to help you see those moments brought to life on screen! We know those small moments can go missed, and to hear those you love again, every kiss, every tear, and every hug, mean the most. We are determined to get to know our couples and ultimately become their friends! We love to have those relationships with couples and see them light up on their big day with friends and family. Raw emotion and that pure instinctual happiness is what we aim to capture every time!”  ⁃ The Cicada Team, Cat McCombs + Evan Grooms

Reed Shepherd Films

“We want to capture YOUR story and help you relive your wedding day for the rest of your lives. We want you to FEEL like you are there again every time you press play on your video, by hearing the emotions, the laughs and cries, the vows and toasts, by seeing the venue and details, the way you looked, your friends and your family, and by capturing all the “in-between” moments that bring YOUR video to life. We capture personality and authenticity. We don’t want to make another cookie cutter wedding video, we want to make YOUR wedding video.” – Reed Shepherd

Look at Reed Shepherd Film’s Website!

Leah Rose Productions

Masterson Media

“There is one thing that a videographer can capture during your wedding that nobody else is going to: audio. When you combine beautiful visuals with emotional dialogue captured from your day, the impact is incredibly powerful.

I love it when our couples get to see and hear the groom’s reaction during the first look, or the father of the bride struggling to get words out during his speech about his daughter. Your video will transport you back into the emotions of that moment in a way that is very unique.

The wedding films we try to create aren’t just for our couples. They are also an investment that can become their first family heirloom. Imagine your children or grandchildren being able to sit down and your voices as you exchange vows and share beautiful moments with your family and friends. A great wedding video will be appreciated and treasured with every passing year, and we are so grateful we get to be a part of creating that for our couples and their families.” – Aaron Masterson

Look at Masterson Media’s Website!

Milestone Film Co.