A few bits about yourself we didn’t know?
Born and bred in Germany, I grew up around my parents’ cine and video cameras. It would be fair to say that from an early age my holy grail in life has been to create. Words or things, anything at all. I would make it, alter it, adapt it, deconstruct and re-assemble it, redesign it, paint it or style it. I once built a Hanomag Henschel van (Mercedes before it was Mercedes) single-handedly and completely from scratch into a fully insulated camper van – and that’s before VW campers were even cool…
I also rode my motorbike, a Yamaha XS400, from Germany to Wales in one go to work in an art pottery for a bit.
I love England so I moved over for good in my early twenties and have lived in Surrey ever since. Filming had always been a hobby until a friend asked me to film her wedding, now over 20 years ago. We are still friends so I must have done good and the rest…well it’s history.
When I’m not filming weddings you can usually find me at ballet, yoga or pole dancing and I also spend an inordinate amount of time training my two editing morale officers, Klaus von Fluffenchops and Pippa. (cockatiels, in case you were mildly concerned.)
Do you have a favourite Wedding Venue?
I do love quite a few venues: Oaks Farm, Botleys Mansion, Kingswood Country Club and Silvermere but that very special place in my heart goes to Highclere Castle. It’s just amazing!
How many weddings do you do a year?
Only around 15, I like to keep the numbers small so I can dedicate more time to each. Quality over quantity, every time.
Do you have insurance?
Yes, I am fully insured with professional indemnity and public liability insurance. I have been in this business for over 20 years now, so I’d say I have proven myself 🙂
How much does it cost?
Full coverage for the day, including a full length film plus a separate highlights edit is between £1575 and £1770. There is a price list you can download here.
Are there any hidden costs, like VAT?
No, all our fees are as stated with nothing added and there is no VAT, either.
How would you describe your wedding videography style?
Creative, personal and natural – I strive to make it look like you felt it was – with a massive cherry on top!
What is your working style? Will you have an assistant on the day?
Unobtrusive stealth. I like to let your day unfold to its own rhythm with minimal interference. I have a very experienced camera team and we will never make anyone do or say anything – unless they want to, of course. We work extremely well with Wedding Photographers, I have known and worked with quite a few of them myself for over ten years.
Will you need food on the day?
Yes, please. We don’t expect to sit down with your guests but since we will be with you for a very long time (usually in excess of 10 hours) and don’t get a chance to break for lunch we do require a meal for each of us.
(…if you don’t want your footage to be shaky 😉
Do you shoot in HD? What format will the final version be in?
Everything is shot and edited in full HD and final delivery is either online (for short highlights), as well as DVD or HD files on USB.
What parts of the day do you usually capture?
We offer all day coverage as standard but, depending on budget or preference, am always happy to look at tailoring bespoke solutions if you had something more personal in mind.
We like to keep things fairly simple so don’t have a confusing array of options. We mostly cover the whole day, either with or without bridal preps, up until shortly after the first dance. Then there are a few ‘pimping options’, like extra coverage in the evening, pre-wedding shoots or love stories.
Do we get to choose our own music?
For the main film, yes. We have to purchase licenses for all music we use and can do so for your DVD version. All you need to do is send us a list of songs you love…and watch us do the rest.
There is currently no affordable way of licensing original music for online video use. For your online/ highlight version therefore we use music especially written by a bunch of extremely talented songwriters and licensed via this amazing site: The Musicbed. It will be original to your wedding film and you can consider it ‘Your Song’ from then on…
How long does it take you to edit?
We take our edits seriously and lavish obscene amounts of time on these. Each edit takes between 7 and 14 days, depending on the type of wedding, and I do all the final edits myself.
How long will the final film usually be?
This depends and can vary wildly – we offer two different edit styles: a contemporary Short Form, which is a highly edited and well-paced type of edit using voice-over and time-shifting techniques for added interest and includes the ceremony and speeches in full as a separate edit.
As the name suggests, this type of film is approximately 20 minutes and the ceremony and speeches are…well, as long as your ceremony and speeches.
The second option is the more traditional Documentary Edit, where your whole day unfolds chronologically, with the whole ceremony and speeches included in full within the main edit.
This type of film is approximately 1h15min – 1h30min long but, again, ultimately depends on your type of ceremony and length of speeches.
How far in advance should we book?
The longest advance booking I have had was nearly two years, the most short notice one 5 days. On average, I do get booked up six months in advance, but there are always one or two dates every year – and different ones each year! – that seem exceptionally popular for some reason. Earlier rather than later, if you want to make sure you get first pick of everyone (that goes for all of your suppliers). You can always just reserve the date without having to make any monumental decisions about coverage or editing styles. You can save that until much later.
What information do you need from us before the wedding day?
Just a rough schedule of the day; we are fairly flexible and do have eyes in the backs of our heads but a bit of a heads-up about anything particularly important to you would be good, we’d hate to miss anything momentous! We would have a chat with you about this closer to the date.
Will we get to meet you before the day?
It’s up to you, I’m very happy to meet up for coffee and a chat, if logistically viable; if not we can chat over phone or skype. But chat we will!
What are your favourite trends?
Stone baked pizza ovens and/ or crepe stations wheeled onto site, live band karaoke, mis-matched bridesmaids dresses, wedding picnics, unusual and quirky venues
What are you expecting to see more of in the next year or two?
Online or file based delivery of wedding films, unplugged weddings. Definitely unplugged weddings!
If you were getting married, how would you choose your wedding videographer?
We didn’t have one (ooops!) – but then, we eloped to get married on a glacier in Alaska with a distinct lack of wedding videographers available 🙂
If I was to have a ‘proper’ wedding here in the UK I would make sure first of all that I liked their style, that we got on well on a personal level, ascertain who would be filming on the day and ask to see a whole wedding film rather than just 3 minute highlights. Anyone can do decent highlights but you really want to see how the whole film of one couple comes together.
Ok…but we are still not sure we really want a wedding film…
I have converted a few grooms who didn’t want a film – they now say it’s the best money they spent. I’m flattered, of course and I have NEVER had anyone say they wished they HADN’T had a video…just a few who didn’t and now wish they HAD.
Don’t just take my word, though, have a quick look through my history of Testimonials…
