We were BEYOND disappointed with NST. It is likely that since we ordered one of the less-expensive packages, that we were given a cinematographer that was inexperienced or new or honestly, stupid. First, we never got to meet Nick before the wed...ding. NST assigns you someone but you don’t meet them until the day of, which should have been our first red-flag. Then on our wedding day, we were in the middle of pictures and someone said, “Do you want your video guy here for this?” When I replied, “Where IS our video guy?” someone went and got him, and sure enough he was there already, having never come over to introduce himself to us. We didn’t even know he had arrived. Next, we have ZERO footage of anyone walking down the aisle. NONE. Why on earth would someone hired to shoot video of a wedding think that it was unnecessary to capture, at the very least. the BRIDE walking down the aisle? It seems like a no-brainer. But no, no video footage of aisle-walking at all. On top of that, the beginning of our first dance is missing. OUR FIRST DANCE! How do you not shoot the entire dance? You know it’s coming, they literally announce it at the beginning. That’s cut, as well as the beginning of our best man’s speech, and we have zero footage of the speech that my husband and I gave at the wedding, which was directly after our cake-cutting so I know he was there as we have footage of that. It's amazing to us that Nick didn’t think he needed to film some of these moments. It’s a WEDDING. Those are literally the most important ones. Not to mention we had ordered a rough cut of the ceremony, dances & speeches, so that alone should have told him that those were important parts to shoot in their entirety. Additionally, most of the shots we have from the video are from one spot, as if he set up his camera and left and got whatever he could from that angle. When we were lifted in our chairs for the Hora, our backs are to the camera, for example. That was the angle that was dominant in all of our footage. I thought he was experienced enough to walk around with the camera at least for the moments he could see were important. Nick never said goodbye either. That worked out, as we had a tip set aside for him but he left before we could give it to him. Thankfully, as he definitely did not deserve it. I don’t know what his actual story is, but it feels as if he had literally never done this before and NST hired him to do an “easy” job. We will never know.
I am sure NST has much more experienced and seasoned cinematographers in their employ, and seeing as there are a lot of positive reviews I can only assume that those clients got one of the good ones. But I would be wary about not meeting your personal cinematographer before your big day. As with any vendor, it helps you to get a feeling for them and to get on the same page with your vision for the evening. All that being said, NST runs a well-oiled machine. Their customer service department (which feels 100% separate from the filming staff) is good. We mostly dealt with Jennifer, and she was responsive, communicative and apologetic. Still, she can only do so much, as she was not there on the day of our wedding. I hope, moving forward, that the company will only send in people that have more experience to shoot weddings, as this is a super important day, and not having those moments captured, that we PAID to have captured, is something we can never get back. And that is why we are giving NST Pictures only one star.