A few helpful tips when shopping for your professional wedding videographer:

Visit the Better Business Bureau website, www.bbb.org to check a company’s business report and see if they are also a BBB Accredited business BEFORE you do business with them. The BBB was founded in 1912 and it is the nation’s authority on trust in the marketplace. Today, the BBB serves communities across the U.S. and Canada, evaluating and monitoring more than 3 million local and national businesses and charities. BBB Accreditation is an honor – and not every company is eligible. The BBB is a private, non-profit consumer protection organization whose membership is by invitation only. Membership in the Better Business Bureau is subject to a rigorous company evaluation and background check and is based on a business’ established reputation including a history of high ethical standards and a dedication to customer service excellence. (When checking the company(s) BBB accreditation, also be sure to take note of the evaluative rating assigned by the BBB, A+ being the highest awarded to only a select few distinguished BBB members). For a small annual membership fee, any honest reputable licensed and insured company or business that also guarantees their products and/or services in writing including having a history of very few or most likely no consumer complaints and/or pending lawsuits, are most likely eligible for BBB membership. Considering its well established, (94 years) fine reputation as the national leader in marketplace trust, nominal annual membership dues and important business consumer confidence benefits in membership, there are no acceptable reason(s) or excuses why any reputable licensed and insured company or independent business owner should not be a BBB member unless they are ineligible for membership for reasons they most likely won't share with you! If any company or independent business owner you are considering doing business with is not a BBB member and can’t give you any good reason(s) why not; to avoid any potential product(s) or service disappointments or disasters, I highly recommend that you be very careful BEFORE you sign any contracts even if they do a have an impressive website, flashy literature and/or a great sales presentation. A recent national Gallop survey showed that 85% of consumers would prefer to do business with a BBB member. Companies who are eligible and choose to accept a BBB membership and continue to be active members of the BBB are demonstrating their commitment to business ethics which are more important now than ever before.

Meet with and verify a videographer's professional legitimacy: After researching the professional videography market including viewing websites and communicating with several "videographer candidates” by email and phone conversations, the next and most important step is to arrange private studio consultations to meet them in person to see their workplaces and watch some recent samples of their work. Before making a final videographer choice, regardless of how impressive a website and/or sales promotion literature looks or even how "friendly" and knowledgeable phone conversations seem to be, it is most important to visit those videographers in their actual studios or other workplace(s) to have the opportunity to meet them face-to-face where your visit should also include a brief tour of their modern video production office/studios. When visiting, you should also see on display; their important professional videography membership certificates including their current WEVA certificate & BBB Accreditation that all reputable videographers should be able to show you. In addition, if they are genuinely skilled and talented professional "video artists," you should also see a number of local, national and/or international video awards that clearly display the name(s) of the winning videographer(s) you are actually meeting with. Lastly, if you love the full-length, (not demo tapes) wedding video samples you watch including seeing a legitimate state-of-the-art video production office/studio, it is perhaps even more important that you genuinely feel comfortable with and trust the videographer enough to "invite" him or her to your wedding. After all, your videographer, photographer and other professional wedding vendors will be spending most of your wedding day working closely with you and your other family members and guests. I believe it is very important for all of your professional wedding vendors, especially your chosen photographer and videographer to be not only professionally talented, but also highly personable and pleasant with everyone in attendance. You can never make that important evaluation based solely on websites, phone conversations and/or sales literature you received in the mail. If at all possible, be sure to meet with any and all professional wedding vendors before you employ them.

Ask any videographer you are considering hiring; "Are you a full time professional wedding videographer?" If they only do videos part time because they have other unrelated, "day jobs", it is likely they are either amateurs or incapable of producing high quality video products because of their other "career responsibilities". It is also possible they are not true professional videographers themselves but only salespersons that contract out their wedding video business as supplemental income only. After your wedding is over, I spend an additional average 40+ studio post-production hours meticulously editing each and every one of my wedding videos to create an elegant, highly emotional and very entertaining wedding video DVD you and your loved ones will enjoy for generations to come. This would not be possible if I was also working full time in a different career. Also, after you meet with a videographer whose sample full-length wedding video DVD’s you love, be sure to get a guarantee in writing, that whoever videotaped and produced the videos you watched is also the one who will show up at your wedding! Some companies will show you some very impressive demo-tapes to excite your interest into signing a contract but on your wedding day, they send a contracted "camera operator" to shoot your wedding who may or may not have experience or know what they are doing. If the videogrpaher or company sales representative tells you something like, "I’ll be sending one of my associates or available videographers to shoot your wedding", be very cautious because the end product can be a huge disappointment.

Hire a Wedding Video Specialist. Be sure to ask any professional videographers you are considering hiring if they specialize exclusively in wedding videography. Not every professional videographer can successfully videotape a wedding ceremony and reception unless of course they are talented wedding video specialists with years of experience. Unlike a Hollywood movie and many other special events as well, in wedding videography, there is no room for error and especially no "second takes". A wedding is an ever-changing and often fast-paced event that requires a very alert experienced videographer who not only has the "eye of an artist" but is also a confident technician who thru years of videotaping many different weddings, understands and anticipates the important sequence of events. It often requires years of exclusive wedding videotaping experience before even talented/trained videographers are able to produce beautiful award-winning wedding video DVD productions. Therefore, it is very important that your videographer is also an experienced wedding video specialist, not someone who videotapes "everything under the sun", with weddings being only a small part of their total business. If you visit a videography website and have difficulty locating the wedding video products because they are lost in all of the other "stuff", it might be wise to continue shopping elsewhere. When surfing the web, ideally look for wedding video sites that obviously specialize exclusively in wedding videography.

Never base a wedding video contract decision solely on a mailed sales promotion package including special effects enhanced demo-tapes commercially produced to impress & hopefully persuade you to purchase their products. Instead if possible, meet with several videographers in person to actually see their work places and watch some of their recently produced & delivered wedding video DVD’s. If you are pressured in any way to "leave a deposit to reserve the date", I highly recommend you walk away and find another videographer, especially if you are the first couple to inquire about the wedding date. Any competent/honest professional videographer will politely extend the courtesy of temporarily reserving your wedding date for at least one week until you have had an opportunity to discuss it with other family members and/or decision makers before making a final decision to hire them. I never ask for any commitments or deposits at our initial consultation but instead after showing you recent samples of my work, give you a comprehensive folder of videography information to take along to share & discuss with other family members. If you then decide to employ me as your professional wedding videographer, I will send you a personalized wedding videography contract for your review and approval. If you choose to accept the contract, your wedding date will be officially booked only after I receive your signed contract and deposit.

Referrals from happy family members, friends or even co-workers who love their wedding videos are also a good source, especially if you have seen and also love their completed DVD’s. Also be sure to ask about their wedding day working experience with their professional videographer. Some videographers will even offer special discounts and/or other sales incentives for referred clients. If you have already hired your photographer, he/she might know some talented videographers they also enjoy working with.

Why it is important to meet with prospective videographers:

This is an excellent opportunity to meet them in person to ask direct questions, view samples of their work, and see their studios/workspaces where important professional association membership certificates and videography awards should also be on display. Anyone can conveniently mail you flashy sales literature & clever special effects enhanced demo-tapes and/or pay someone to design a website, but true professionals will also be willing to take the time to invite you and/or other family members or friends to their studios to give you the special opportunity to meet them where they work. Even if they work out of their home office as I do, it should also include a completely separate video office/production room dedicated exclusively to professional videography. Be sure to also ask to see their separate edit suite when you meet with them.

It is never a good idea to simply book a videographer sight unseen based on literature, a demo-tape or a phone conversation and hope for the best. Meeting prospective videographers in person will also help you decide if you genuinely trust and feel comfortable working with them. After all, your videographer & other professional wedding vendors will be working closely with you and your other wedding day guests during most of your wedding day. I sincerely believe it is very important that you trust them to be not only highly professional & unobtrusive but also genuinely pleasant and personable to everyone in attendance. You are truly taking a big risk if you don’t know who is going to show up. Some larger video companies today even hire inexperienced "camera operators" to shoot your wedding because they usually work for low wages and it is much more profitable for the "company owner". Even very creative post-production editing cannot fix poor quality camera work although some companies try by delivering a bunch of special effects gimmicks minus the missing quality video coverage including clearly focused & well composed steady video footage and clean audio.

Lastly and most important, when meeting with prospective videographers, insist on seeing only copies of fully edited real wedding video DVD’s, (not demo-tapes), that were videotaped & produced by the videographer who will also be working with you! If you are told someone else produced the DVD's, request that only the responsible videographer(s) also be the one(s) who show up at your wedding. Be very cautious if you are told something like, "I will be sending one of my associates or other available videographers, (you haven't met), to shoot your wedding". The end result can be disastrous. Because I take great pride in both videotaping and editing each and every one of my unique "wedding video masterpieces, I never sub-contract my work out or send someone else you've never met to shoot your wedding.

In conclusion, I always advise couples to be just as selective or even more so with their professional videographer as they are with their photographer because as most couples I've had the honor of videotaping their weddings during the past 10 years has told me, you and your loved ones will most likely enjoy & watch your wedding day DVD video much more often than you will look at the pictures and over time it will become even more valuable to you. And of course as with photography, it is also a very good idea to visit with several professional videographers before making a final selection.

Please email or call me at 410-757-0582 if you would be interested in learning more about my award-winning wedding video products or would like to arrange an informal meeting to watch some of my recent wedding DVDs in a comfortable home theater setting. I will also be happy to give you a comprehensive package of information and a recent wedding DVD sample to take along to share with other family members and friends.