Wedding Photography and Videography: Which One Should a Bride Choose?

Ollie Mattison

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Your wedding is one of the biggest days of your life, and every bride wants to ensure all those precious moments are captured. Preserving those memories will allow you to relive them – for yourself, your soon-to-be-husband, with your children, or even grandchildren.

Of course, videography has become steadily more popular in recent years, so many brides wonder if it is the best option for them and their unique situations – specifically, is it within their budget? In this article, we look at both these options to inform brides of key differences in them.

• Part1: The essence between them – still and motion
• Part2: Usage scenarios
• Part3: Different way of shooting
• Part4: Preservation
• Part5: The final tips

Part 1: The essence between them – still and motion

The most obvious difference between wedding photography and videography is that one takes still images, while the other captures motion. In this aspect, one is not necessarily better than other. Rather, it is a personal choice of the bride as to which she most prefers.

Part 2: Usage scenarios

There are certain situations in which wedding videography or photography stands out as the better choice, but all of these will be present in each celebration.

For example, videography is the much better choice if you’d like to capture your wedding toast, first dance, vows, or your march down the aisle with clarity. Photography is preferred for those beautiful portraits you wish to display, as well as getting clear images of the wedding party or reception.

Although some people are under the impression that a frame can be extracted from a video to create a photo, this isn’t quite right. While it is possible, the photographs garnered from this method are of abhorrent quality. They are blurry, grainy, and sometimes so poor it is impossible to tell what the image was supposed to capture. If you want to have photos, it’s better to simply do photography and save yourself the stress.

Part 3: Different way of shooting

For the digital artist you’ve chosen to help capture your day, there is a very distinct difference in how each of these methods are carried out.

A photographer is more like a director. Although many artists like to allow the wedding party a lot of freedom in their shots, they must still direct them in making the shot better. For example, they may tell someone to smile, tilt their head, or move out of a shadowed portion of the image.

A videographer is more like a documenter. They are simply documenting the moments that naturally arise. This takes a certain amount of knowledge, and a lot of guesswork as to when something will happen so that nothing noteworthy is missed.

Part 4: Preservation

When it comes to preserving these moments, there are two distinct options: wedding photography or videography. Each has their own distinct strengths when compared to the other, although since they serve the same basic purpose they are often confused as the same thing.

Photography captures moments which can be displayed on your walls, wallet, family albums, or your office desk. They are easy to pull out and require no special equipment to display them to your friends and family. This option is usually (but not always) less expensive, as it takes much less processing time.

Wedding videography, on the other hand, captures the whole moment, and not just a still frame of it. You get a much more thorough experience. Beyond visual, you can hear what people are saying or the music which is playing. Videos have a habit of sucking you in, so you can almost feel, smell, and taste the sensations of your special day.

Part 5: The final tips

If you only have enough in your budget to choose one, think hard on what you most want. Ask yourself the following questions:

• Do I want a moving documentation of my day, or still frames I can put on display?
• Is it important to me that items like the wedding march and speech are documented?
• Does either videography or photography fit better within my budget?
• What options are available within my wedding venue’s service area? (You will want to ensure there is a company to service either option.)

It’s important to note that if you have the budget available, it’s best to choose both. Together, they work flawlessly to give you the most thorough documentation of your important day. Your video will bring you to tears when you watch it on your first, tenth, and twentieth anniversaries. The photographs taken will be easy to share with loved ones and can be put on display for all to see.

Conclusion

In the end, it is up to the bride and groom as to which they prefer. Whether you decide to choose videography, photography, or both, ensure that the decision is a well-informed, extensively thought out one. The last thing you want are regrets in how your wedding day was documented.

Ollie Mattison

Ollie Mattison is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Ollie Mattison