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There are great wedding video professionals out there, but you’ll have to dig them up with a little effort. And since the videographer or camera person you hire to film and capture your wedding has such an important role to play, you need to choose a professional who will deliver a high-quality product.

Of course, you should always ask friends or other wedding professionals for their recommendations and referrals. Word-of-mouth is the most reliable way of finding any service provider. So, try asking your DJ, caterer or photographer if they have any experience with or thoughts about in-demand wedding videographers.

When searching for the ideal videographer, you want someone who will work within your budget, is extremely professional and personable and provides a high-quality, dependable product. But, how do you locate such a person in a field inundated with amateurs?

You can start by asking for referrals or dragging out your area wedding directory, but be prepared to sift through a pile of wedding video pros. And once you’ve come up with a short list, you’ll have to start conducting interviews. To make sure you get the most from each interview, read on for a list of recommended questions to ask any prospective wedding videographer.

Do you have a demo tape or examples of your past work?

By watching a demo reel or an example of their past work, you can evaluate both their filming skills and ability to tell a captivating story that you’ll want to watch again and again. To assess their technical abilities, ask yourself if the footage is easy to see or dark and hard to make out? Do people look natural or do they look white and washed out? Can you hear what people are saying or is the audio fuzzy and hard to make out?

As you consider their story-telling abilities, you should also review their editing. Is this a video that you’d want to watch again? Are you able to capture the couple’s story and their wedding day in your mind? Do you enjoy watching the footage?

Tell me how you’d interview my grandmother or great aunt?

You want a videographer who has great people skills and will be able to pull out fantastic interviews with your guest. You don’t want someone with an overbearing personality who’s going to annoy your family members and put more focus on the video than the actual enjoyment of your loved ones.

By asking them for a demonstration of their interview skills and strategies, you’ll get a clear picture of how they manage both themselves and other people.

Tell me about your equipment and whether you bring backup gear?

The last thing you want is a videographer using outdated equipment that’s going to fail or someone who doesn’t have any backup gear just in case. Steer clear of videographers who use outdated VHS or 8mm cameras.

Look for a wedding video professional who packs either a professional Hi-8 camera, which are great in low-light conditions, or an S-VHS professional camera. Both have professional controls but are well-suited to the low-light and candid conditions of wedding videography.