how we picked our videographer

Screenshot from Kiss the Bride.

Wedding videos! Back in the '80s, this meant propping up your camcorder on a tripod in the corner of the church and praying that a majority of the words were caught on tape. Then, 12 years later, the sole surviving copy was recorded over when your kid really wanted to see the season finale of Full House. But hey, maybe it's not such a bad thing that there's no surviving evidence of that puffed-sleeved and beaded wedding gown. I bet the first dance song was SICK though.

Now, we are in the 'Teens. (Sidenote: is that was they called it in the 1910s? I find it hard to imagine anyone from the cast of Downton saying the word "teen.")  And hiring a videographer, though not a necessity the way, say, a groom is, is still a pretty great addition to your wedding day. Gone are the days of static camera shots and clunky equipment. Today's videographing teams strive for anonymity while capturing your special day with cinematography worthy of Michael Bay. The explosion scenes are generally not included in the basic package, but, come on, it's your WEDDING day. Isn't it worth springing for a bit of fireworks during your first dance if it means getting in the Times?

In all seriousness, wedding videographers take their films seriously. You can choose packages with multiple cameras and a variety of hours. Want to include your rehearsal dinner? They can do that. What about your first night together? Well, I also know videographers that can do that, just might be a slightly different type of filmmaker...

Another screenshot.

ANYWAY, my point is that videographers have come a very long way since their first incarnation, so don't write them off as a totally unnecessary vendor until you've had time to explore some of their work. Being the wedding sap that I am, about 30-90% of the sample videos made me near tears. For reference, so does the opening theme to Downton. I did not cry, however, during any part of Beasts of the Southern Wild (Mike did), if that gives you any sort of indication of what kind of heartless B I might be. So, yeah, wedding videos? That pulls at my heartstrings the way videos of sleeping kittens do.

Like my photographer, I found my videographer through New York Magazine Weddings. I combed through every single videographer, narrowed down my list and then reached out for pricing. I was very pleased to see that one of my top choices was both in our price range and available on our date. I mean, they better have been available: please remember that I've been engaged since October 22nd of 2011 and been booking vendors since about October 23rd.

We went with Kiss the Bride Films, who do really, really beautiful work. And bonus! they work very closely with our photographer, Lilian Haidar. After emailing, I met with someone on their team to see more videos in person (there may have been a CELEBRITY in the mix), which only cemented my decision to hire them. I'll admit I've been scoring my own as-yet-non-existent wedding video since I saw the lovely ones on their site. A whole other post about that later.

You can see one of my favorite videos of theirs here.

And NYMag's full list is here. Pretty much everyone that made the cut there is fantastic.