Videographer & Photographer Collaboration on Your Wedding Day

Candace Schwartz, Bumble & Vine Photography

The supportive feeling of community is one of the things we love most about being a part of the Saskatchewan wedding industry. It’s been almost a decade since we started photographing weddings and we still get all the feels when we see the end result brought together by a collaboration of skilled vendors mixed with the couple’s creativity.

A successful collaboration depends on each professional working toward the same goal and that goal is the product you are hiring them to create for YOU. You don’t want just a gorgeous photo gallery, or just a breathtaking video - you want both. If a vendor can’t play well with others it will hurt the results produced by everyone on your wedding day team. When bringing a videographer on board with a separate photographer, don’t be shy about asking them if they have worked together before and what that experience was like. If they give a glowing recommendation, you can probably rest easy knowing they have done this dance before. If they haven’t worked together before, you can ask more questions about their experiences with others and how they have solved conflicts that have come up during the day. Did they speak up and search for compromise? Did they stay back and hope they got enough, not wanting to make waves? It’s a strange balance to keep while the day rushes past, carrying you from location to location. When you get four extra people in one small space, each of them with one or two cameras it becomes a production where everyone has to know their part. because of the lenses they prefer to use for the style of video they produce. These situations require more time for photographers to work separately afterwards to get our shots without having the videographers close to you and visible in our frame. It’s not ideal, but knowing this ahead of time allows you to plan to add extra time into the day where you can fit it to ensure both teams can take turns working. We don’t find this scenario happens often, so it’s unlikely to be the case. The majority of videographers we have worked with are very aware of the fact that we are all there to serve the couple and to give them the very best from both, and they go out of their way to shoot further back alongside us while we take turns directing the couple and working with the ideas the other team is throwing out. This approach takes less time and gives more of a cohesive end result since we’re shooting most of the same moments. This scenario is honestly a lot more fun for everyone. The photo on the facing page is a great example; the videographer crossee in front of me as I snapped one behind-the-scenes shot to give to them, and the next shot I took was after he stepped out of frame and is of Layton & Cassie alone. It’s the perfect example of teamwork.

Whatever kind of team we end up working with, the bottom line is that we all want the best results for you, the beautiful couple that we have been hired to document. While my partner and I don’t mind speaking up to ensure we get our shots, not everyone is like that. Whether they’re in video or photo, make sure both of your crews know that you want them to work with each other and encourage them to spend a few minutes at the start of the day or beforehand saying hello.

LAYTON & CASSIE’S AUGUST 2021 WEDDING

BEHIND THE SCENES SHOT OF A VIDEOGRAPHER QUICKLY CORSSING OUR PATH TO GET THEIR FOOTAGE AS WE TAKE OURS FROM FURTHER BACK. IMMEDIATELY THIS SNAP THEY STEPPED BACK SO WE COULD GET A WIDER SHOT OF THE COUPLE ALONE.

THEY WERE AWARE OF OUR POSITION AND TOOK THE TIME TO ENSURE WE WERE ABLE TO GET EVERYTHING WE NEEDED WHILE THEY CAPTURED THE VIDEO FOOTAGE THEY NEEDED. IT WAS A GREAT PARTNERSHIP AND WE LEFT THE WEDDING LATER THAT NIGHT EXCITED TO SEE WHAT WE CAPTURED WORKING AS A TEAM.

- CANDACE, BUMBLE & VINE PHOTOGRAPHY