Wedding FAQ

When you first contact us we will be able to let you know if your date is available. We would recommend booking at least six months before your date. During peak wedding periods we would recommend booking even earlier. It is not uncommon for clients to meet with us and book more than a year in advance.

Our videographers shoot Philadelphia area weddings and events in a storytelling style creating a final product that you, your friends, and family will enjoy watching for years to come.

Storytelling style of shooting involves capturing the event as it unfolds in a unobtrusive manner and telling the story of your day. Our goal is to capture the real emotions of the day without getting in the way. We don’t interview guests or do a lot of staged shots. Our videos don’t contain a lot of “cheesy” digital effects. We are trying to tell your story.

The wedding video is one thing you invest in for your wedding that actually gets more valuable as time goes on.  Long after the food has been eaten and the dress put away your wedding video  will still be a fresh reminder of the day. Imagine the joy you will have when you show the video to your kids in 10 years or to your grand kids in 30 years.  While your still photographs will capture single snap shots of the day your wedding film will bring you right back to the moment. After all, a wedding is a live event and just like a football game it can sometimes be more exciting to watch on TV than looking at photos.

Your documentary feature film includes all the major moments of your wedding day. It includes the full ceremony using the live sound from the day from the first bridesmaid to process down the aisle to the last couple to recess out of the ceremony. We place wireless microphones on everyone that speaks (groom, officiant, soloists) to ensure high quality audio for the ceremony. We will cut between the available cameras to show you all different perspectives. The more videographers you have on location the more angles we have for the ceremony.

The feature film also includes your introductions, first dance, toasts, and other special dances all in full. We get an audio feed from your DJ or band to capture quality audio along with placing microphones on all speakers. Other portions of the day that we are present for (depending on package level) such as getting ready, photo session, and cocktail hour are in a montage format set to music that you are able to choose and provide us. The run time of your documentary feature film varies depending on how long the ceremony is, how long the toasts and reception formalities are, and how long you have us on location for your wedding. Typically a video with a church ceremony will run around 90 minutes and a wedding with a shorter ceremony at the reception site will run around 60 minutes. There is an additional charge of $200 for all ceremonies over 30 minutes and/or extended reception formalities to account for additional editing time.

We shoot weddings and events several different types of cameras including the Canon C70, Canon R6, Panasonic X180,  and DJI drones. They are professional  High Definition cameras capable of shooting up to 4K video. They are rated for low light making them excellent to handle weddings.

Having multiple videographers adds a great deal of value and we recommend having more than one videographer if your wedding will have more than 100 guests. We like to think of this as adding a 3rd dimension to the video. With a single videographer we are in the back for a wedding ceremony or event and even though we get great coverage of those on the alter or stage, it’s not possible to get many close-ups of your family and friends.  During the reception the additional videographers allow for more angles during your dances, toasts, and other key moments. For weddings over 200 guests we recommending having a third videographer for ceremony and reception formalities.

It’s our job to coordinate with all of your vendors. We like to talk to photographers, DJ’s, and planners ahead of time to eliminate any surprises on the big day. It is our philosophy that videography is just as important to our clients as photography so when we reach out to photographers we ask that they work with us as a team throughout the day to ensure we both get the shots we need. If you are still in the planning stages for your event or wedding let us know. We have worked with many excellent professionals in the tri-state area over the years and would be happy to recommend them to you.

We dress in business casual attire, wearing black polo or button down shirts and black slacks. For reasons of safety and mobility we don’t wear ties or jackets.

Our videographers don’t rely on the camera microphone.  We use Sennheiser wireless microphones to capture most of the audio and we also have small portable recorders that we can place  for even more ambient sound.  We prefer to place a wireless clip-on microphone on the groom and officiant to capture most of the audio at the ceremony. We use the same microphone to capture the best man’s speech at the reception if we are not able to get a feed directly from the DJ or band.

Editing your video  is a very time consuming process, and of course we want to take the time to ensure your final product is as good as we can possible make it.

We edit jobs in the order they were shot and we will be able to give you a good turnaround estimate when your big day gets closer.  For wedding clients wishing to view something quickly, we recommend purchasing our 18 or 24 karat package that include a short 2 minute movie style trailer online within 2 weeks of your event.

We are in constant communication with our clients during the editing process to keep them informed of our progress.

Your trailer and highlight films will be posted both on our blog and our Facebook page to allow you to share with your family and friends.

We understand that some clients may not want this and we offer privacy options at a nominal fee that will ensure your video is not shared outside of our editing staff.

Valley Creek Productions has liability insurance through CNA Insurance, workman’s comp and drone liability insurance through Hartford.

If your event venue requires vendors to be insured let us know and we can provide proof of insurance to them.

All of our wedding videography package prices are listed on our site. Please contact us for a more detailed list.

Please contact us and we can confirm availability.

Please contact us and we will find a time that works for you. Justin does all consultations at our office located at the historic Lukens Executive Office Building in Coatesville, PA.

To book the date all you need to do is sign our contract and provide 1/3 of the balance due as a non-refundable retainer to secure the date. We will be in touch with copies of all the paperwork via email within a few days and about a month before the wedding we will connect again to schedule a time to review all the day of details.

The files on your USB drive are not copy protected and can be copied as you see fit. If you’d like to purchase any additional copies from us we always recommend purchasing at the time of the event. We will have your event video available for additional copies for at least one year after the wedding.

Yes!

We don’t include raw footage in our packages since most couples don’t ask for it. Our documentary film includes nearly all of the good content we capture on the wedding day. Raw footage is available for $175, we will load it onto a separate USB drive. It will be direct our of camera content with no editing.