What to do for Videography?

Knottie1469382413

I'm friends with one of the best videographers in Iowa. He was going to do a video of our wedding for free so we didn't figure it in our budget. Long story short, he ended up double booking us even though we had the date first, so we're trying to decide what to do now. I absolutely want a videographer to re-watch our vows, toasts, first dance, etc. My fiance on the other-hand could care less. He thinks we should just go without or buy a few Go Pros.

For everyone who had a videographer, are the extremely good ones worth the extra money if you're only going to watch it a handful of times, or is any video sufficient. We have some different options across the board and need help deciding which to go with. 
A. Do we hire a similar experienced professional which would be $2,000 
B. Buy a few Go Pros and rent microphones
C. Our photographer has a video camera (he's just getting into it but can't do both at the same time) and just have him set it up stationary for the important stuff
D. Use a video app for guests to upload videos 
E. There's a guy who's been doing it for a year and is willing to do it for $700. He's decent but not even close to as good. He will have multiple cameras and microphones, and edits a full hour 

We can afford an experienced one but it would put us over our budget. Even though we can afford it, I'm just extremely frugal and trying to decide if it's worth it to spend the $2,000 or do with a different option. Could always combine options like B, C, and D. Idk I'm indecisive. Help! Thanks!

cowgirl8238

Knottie1469382413 said:

I'm friends with one of the best videographers in Iowa. He was going to do a video of our wedding for free so we didn't figure it in our budget. Long story short, he ended up double booking us even though we had the date first, so we're trying to decide what to do now. I absolutely want a videographer to re-watch our vows, toasts, first dance, etc. My fiance on the other-hand could care less. He thinks we should just go without or buy a few Go Pros.

For everyone who had a videographer, are the extremely good ones worth the extra money if you're only going to watch it a handful of times, or is any video sufficient. We have some different options across the board and need help deciding which to go with. 
A. Do we hire a similar experienced professional which would be $2,000 
B. Buy a few Go Pros and rent microphones
C. Our photographer has a video camera (he's just getting into it but can't do both at the same time) and just have him set it up stationary for the important stuff
D. Use a video app for guests to upload videos 
E. There's a guy who's been doing it for a year and is willing to do it for $700. He's decent but not even close to as good. He will have multiple cameras and microphones, and edits a full hour 

We can afford an experienced one but it would put us over our budget. Even though we can afford it, I'm just extremely frugal and trying to decide if it's worth it to spend the $2,000 or do with a different option. Could always combine options like B, C, and D. Idk I'm indecisive. Help! Thanks!

That really sucks that your friends double booked and cancelled on you.  I presume you don't have a written contract with him that would outline what would happen in this situation.  (If you do, check it and see) As far as what to do...

A. Since you say that you can afford it but it puts you over budget I am not sure if this is your best option.  Only you and your FI can decide HOW important a video is...when I got married, we didn't want to spend the extra money and skipped it altogether.  2.5 years later and no regrets.

B. This seems equally expensive as the first option without the ability to move them or make adjustments should someone inadvertently knock into it/block it/etc...

C. Same issue as above, an unmanned camera doesn't seem like the best idea to me.

D.  This is going to be very hit or miss depending on your crowd.  Some guests may participate but you cannot force them or rely on them to capture what you want and it will not likely be of a very good quality.  I love my friends dearly but only one or two guests took any pictures of our wedding that I thought "wow that's a great shot, I want to frame it/put it in an album/whatever".  Most of the shots were "meh" to me.  I had 75 guests and not a single person took a single video of any part of our wedding...

E. This sounds like the best option given your current budget.  But again this comes back to the first one, how important to you (and your FI) is it to spend the money and get "the best of the best".

By the sounds of your initial post I think you have two main choices A or E...the others will probably not leave you satisfied with the results.  It sounds like video is important to you but in my experiences few people even do videography at their weddings anymore and the friends that have don't watch them anyway.

ETF: Turned my D : into a LOL!