When planning your wedding there are a few decisions that need to come first. These items are critical as they can make or break the bank. Before you start booking appointments with different vendors and writing out checks, sit down with your fiancé and discuss a realistic budget, your wedding date, possible locations, photography, and filmmaking.
1. Your Date
Unless you have a specific date in mind for a special reason, be flexible with your date. If you have to have that date, it’s highly likely that it’ll dictate your venue choice because of availability. If you’re open to a time of year and willing to move the date around depending on availability you can probably book your favorite venue. Decide what’s more important to you.
2. Your Venue
Popular venues book up very fast, especially ones in big cities, so start your search for a venue early. Your venue will help decide the number of guests, the look and feel, the decor, and many other aspects of your wedding important to your planning.
3. Your Photographer and Filmmaker
An award-winning photography and filmmaking studio in any city will probably be limited to one or two and once a date is booked with them, that date is off the books for anyone else that year. To ensure quality service these photographers and filmmakers take on a limited amount of weddings in a season; and are usually booked 9-12 months in advance, especially if it’s a popular Saturday during wedding season. For that reason, it’s a good idea to reserve your photographer and filmmaker ASAP!
4. Your Investments
Investments in weddings have gone up compared to when our parents got married. If it’s a touchy subject to discuss keep in mind $33,391 as it’s the national average for wedding costs. Whether you’re over or under this number keep in mind that this is a once-in-a-lifetime event and you want to make it the best ever. How much and where to divide your dollars is up to you and your fiancé. Many couples choose to have half of their investment spent on the reception venue, food, and beverages. The rest is divvied up for photography, filmmaking, music, officiant, wedding dress and tux, décor, lighting, floral, and beauty services to name a few. The approximate amount for each depends on its importance to you and the percentage varies depending on the service. Do keep in mind though the national average for photography and filmmaking starts at 10–15% for each.
When deciding on the importance of photography and filmmaking keep in mind that your wedding day is going to be one of the best days of your life. So make it last a lifetime with still and moving images. We promise that it’ll be one of your most treasured memories and the quality of photography and filmmaking from CineCrown will make it through the test of time. At the end of the day, and 25 years later, your photographs and film are the only reminders left of the occasion. What would you share with your daughter before she gets married? Your dress will be in the back of your closet, your flowers a distant memory, and hopefully, your cake isn’t still lingering in the freezer. Your best photographs, wedding albums, and the high definition film will only be the connection you have to remember everything, so make sure you hire someone you like and trust to capture your day as you would want it to be remembered. Make sure to hire CineCrown’s team of photographers and filmmakers.