We went back and forth on whether or not we wanted to have a videographer for our wedding. Not only is it costly, but we’d seen so many weddings where all of the photographers and videographers make the ceremony seem like a formal production in...stead of a special, intimate life event. But at the same time, we wanted high quality video of one of the most important day of our lives. Eventually, we decided to go for it.
We checked out a couple videographer options our Hudson Valley-based wedding planner suggested. They were 25% less than what we ultimately paid with McKenzie Miller Films, but the quality left us feeling like it wasn’t worth the price.
Then, we reached out to our photographer for a suggestion, knowing it was important that she work well with the videographer on the day of the wedding, too. She suggested McKenzie Miller, whose work we checked out on her website and loved. (We were also happy to see multiple same-sex weddings featured, which was important to us.)
We reached out to McKenzie and though she wasn’t available herself, her team was, so we set up a time to chat. After talking with McKenzie on the phone, we were confident her team’s approach to wedding videography was what we were looking for. She seemed laidback and not interested in staging anything, just capturing the beauty, love, and happiness of the day. She sent us two links to videos her team—Jon and Mike—had done and they looked great.
After reviewing and requesting changes to the contract—which McKenzie was easy to work with on and very patient since we had a lawyer in the family going over it—we signed on the dotted line.
About a month before the wedding, McKenzie connected us with Jon and sent us a detailed questionnaire to fill out. When we spoke with Jon on the phone, it was clear he’d reviewed it in depth and had helpful follow-up questions that would help him navigate the day. He was easygoing, but in control and we were confident going into the wedding.
The day of the wedding, Mike and Jon were a bit late, but we were running behind on hair and makeup too so it didn’t matter much. They quickly captured some of our final hair and makeup touches before getting exterior shots of the house we were getting dressed at; detail shots of bouquets, shoes, invitation, dresses, etc.; and strategizing with our photographer for the first look.
They asked if they could mic us so that they could capture all the audio for the ceremony. After trying with my wife’s dress, it proved to be too challenging. But they were very apologetic and had a back-up plan so they weren’t too worried about the audio (or if they were, we thankfully couldn’t tell).
It was really no extra work on us to have them there. Even during the reception and ceremony, we don’t recall seeing them in obvious places and they didn’t show up in any photos. They captured everything, but did it impressively discreetly.
Less than two months after our wedding, McKenzie emailed us our three-minute highlight reel and it far exceeded our expectations. They managed to capture so much of the day—and the emotions that came with it—in such a tight little package. We posted it on Facebook and got hundreds of comments from people who weren’t even there saying how much it moved them. It was incredible to see how well they put everything together.
Ultimately, my wife admitted she was so happy we decided to hire a videographer, and we couldn’t be more grateful that it was McKenzie Miller Films.