Should You Hire A Wedding Videographer?
Hiring a photographer for your wedding is usually a given — but what about a videographer? While it may feel like an extra expense, wedding videos capture something still images can’t: the movement, voices, and energy of your day as it truly happened.
What a Wedding Videographer Actually Does
Modern wedding videographers aren’t just documenting events — they’re crafting cinematic keepsakes. Some work solo, others bring a small team. Most cover:
- Full ceremony footage with audio
- Reception speeches, entrances, and first dances
- Behind-the-scenes and candid moments
- Drone or B-roll footage for visual storytelling
After the big day, they edit your footage into a carefully curated film that tells your love story — often taking weeks of post-production.
Want to make sure your photographer and videographer can work together smoothly? Read What to Expect After the Wedding — Photo Delivery & Disappointment.
The Two Types of Wedding Films
Full-Length Wedding Film
These typically run 60–120 minutes and include:
- Your full ceremony
- Complete speeches
- Reception entrances and key moments
- Occasional documentary-style interludes
Highlight Reel
A 5–10 minute creative recap, set to music and edited for emotional storytelling. These reels are social-media friendly and often just as labor-intensive to create, despite their shorter runtime.
Cost Expectations for Wedding Videography in Canada
In most Canadian cities, professional wedding videography starts at $4,000+, with prices increasing based on:
- Experience and gear
- Team size (solo vs. multi-shooter)
- Coverage time (half-day vs. full-day)
- Deliverables (highlight + full film, trailers, raw footage)
If you’re working on a detailed budget, read our full Canadian Wedding Budget Breakdown to see where videography fits in.
Why Some Couples Skip Videography
Not every couple wants (or needs) a wedding film. Common reasons include:
- Budget: Photography already takes a big chunk of most wedding budgets
- Priorities: Some couples prefer still images over video
- Viewing habits: You may not feel like you’d rewatch a full-length film
Learn how to weigh these decisions in How to Build Your Wedding Budget in Canada (and Actually Stick to It).
Why It Might Be Worth It
While photography freezes time, video brings it back to life. For many couples, videography becomes the emotional time capsule they didn’t know they needed.
- Hear your vows and toasts again, word for word.
- Relive your first dance, your partner’s reaction, and your parent’s laughter.
- Share the experience with guests who couldn’t attend — or with future generations.
Many couples who weren’t sure about hiring a videographer say it became their most cherished wedding investment.
How to Decide If You Need a Videographer
Ask yourselves:
- Do we want to hear our vows and speeches again?
- Would a highlight video help us feel the day more vividly?
- Is there room in our budget — or can we prioritize this over something else?
- Are we visual people who value keepsakes we can rewatch?
If your answers lean “yes,” consider making space in your vendor list.
Need help figuring out what vendors to hire and when? See How Far in Advance Should You Book Your Wedding Vendors? and The Vendors You Need (and the Ones You Didn’t Know You Wanted).
Final Thoughts (From a Photographer’s Perspective)
As wedding photographers, we’ve worked alongside many talented videographers — and we’ve seen firsthand the emotional power of a well-crafted wedding film. While it’s true that not every couple needs video, it’s also true that no other medium captures movement, voice, and atmosphere the way film does.
If your wedding is one of the most meaningful days of your life, and you want to remember not just how it looked, but how it felt, videography is worth serious consideration.