Hiring Jeff and Larissa from Cinema Four40 to be our wedding videographers was the best decision my wife and I made for the following reasons:
1) Quality videography: Their wedding videos are among the most polished I have ever seen. They have... multiple videos on their website to get a great idea of the shooting style and DVD menu format they use. Although there are definite stylistic similarities among their wedding videos, each—including our own video—has its own unique features so that you don’t feel like you are getting a cookie-cutter product.
2) Narrative skill: Larissa and Jeff spend quite a bit of time learning about you, your personalities, and your relationship. They ask you for your priorities, and manage to weave together different sequences into an absolutely fantastic and truly representative story in the “highlight reel,” which I think is the crowning jewel in their packages and honestly the item that we will return to most frequently. Their music selection for the highlight reel is also fantastic and enhances the scenes.
3) Professional behavior: Jeff and Larissa arrived on time with their intern who was in training. They asked beforehand for our permission to allow the intern to be a third shooter. They set up very quickly and moved their equipment efficiently to the different areas for shooting. Based on the video they provided, they were able to get amazing shots for many of the important events in our wedding, without being aggressive or too intrusive in their positioning. My wife Alycia was especially appreciative of how supportive Larissa was when she was getting dressed—she reminded Alycia that it was her day and that her comfort should be prioritized, even getting her water during an especially busy time. Finally, at the end of the night when our pre-selected hours ran out before dancing began (due to unavoidable delays in the wedding schedule), they gently asked us if we wanted to purchase additional shooting time. We did not feel pressured to make an immediate decision, and after careful consideration, agreed to additional time. Now, we believe that was the right decision given that so many of our guests were captured on the dance floor!
4) Excellent Value: Their packages are on the more expensive end of the spectrum of videography, but if you have room in your budget, the product is of very high value. My wife and I decided to go with Cinema Four40 because we knew we would not watch a wedding video where you had to manually scroll to different scenes. Their DVD-style menu allows us to immediately and easily go straight to our vows, the Chinese lion dance in our reception, or even to a scene as specific as the recessional of our ring ceremony. The secure website link also makes it very easy to share with friends and relatives. As promised, they included every bit of the ceremony (which meant the whole hour of the Indian ceremony and half-hour of the western ring ceremony). Finally, the multiple angles and panning shots on a gimbal really lent a cinematic quality. The use of drone footage for an aerial view of the city was also a nice touch!
***Summary: Cinema Four40 is a wonderful and exceptionally skilled couple-run videography business. They make fantastic wedding videos, and we cannot recommend them highly enough! If you have room in your budget, their service is an excellent value.