Happy Wednesday loves! What a week its been already! I’ve been swamped over here in the Emma Loo Office trying to get my head wrapped around working out the details for a new website! Yes! That’s right! You heard it correctly! In a few short weeks, I’ll be releasing my ALL NEW website and blog site!! I simply can’t wait to share it with y’all very soon! Stay tuned! I’ll be releasing the Live Date soon as well as get ready for 2 weeks worth of giveaways & contests! (I’m SO excited y’all!!)

Well…today is Wednesday! SO that means it’s WEDDING WEDNESDAY around here! Today I’m sharing what our BIGGEST wedding planning mistake was and tell YOU how to AVOID making the SAME mistake we did! You ready for this?! It’s the BIGGEST MISTAKE we made when wedding planning…and SO MANY of my Brides & Grooms make the EXACT SAME MISTAKE!

Our number one BIGGEST WEDDING MISTAKE was NOT HIRING A VIDEOGRAPHER!!!  As crazy as that sounds, it has been my BIGGEST regret of the ENTIRE wedding planning process! While I knew photographs were super important (so important in fact, that we spent way over our wedding photography budget on our photographer! But photos were WORTH it to me, obviously! Our photographer, Cheyenne (& Geoff!) Schultz, did a FABULOUS job so we can’t complain!)  The only thing I wish we had was a videographer to capture our day! Photographs are super important to me, but they can only do so much…as much as I LOVE seeing our wedding photos framed and hanging in our home, it would be SO special to sit down and WATCH our wedding day! A video of our day would allow us to relive that special day over and over again!

If I could go back and do it all over again (and working in the wedding industry, sometimes I wish we could get married over and over again!) I would have pulled money from the decorating budget and put it towards a videographer! I spent so much TIME, MONEY, and ENERGY on making the table centerpieces so charming and unique….and for what? For a couple of pictures and boxes and boxes of the centerpiece details just SITTING up in my Mom’s attic?!!? Our wedding guests, families, and really even US really DIDN’T CARE about the centerpieces or the other decor around our venue…we were all about having a good time and our venue alone was pretty! It didn’t need MORE added to it! It was pretty enough! But noooooo! There I was months before the wedding day crafting buntings and pennant banners, making framed signs, hand painting wood signs, and collecting little jars, old books and teapots to make our each of our 30 table centerpieces all different (& CRAZY stressful for our wedding day coordinators!) Oh, if I could just go back in time and tell my excitedly anxious Bride-to-be self to not stress out about the LITTLE things and take that money to put towards a videographer…I SO would! It’s SO worth it!

Don’t get me wrong, adding little details to your wedding day IS so special…but only if your wedding budget can afford it! Don’t do like we I did and pour lots of money into the little things when there was one (major) big thing being left out! Believe me, those little details will fade away after the wedding day is over….but a video of your entire day will be cherished forever!

So! To all of my Emma Loo Brides who are reading this and for those who HAVEN’T hired a videographer yet, PLEASE DO consider it! It’s been THE ONLY regret from our wedding day! Don’t make the same mistake we did! Being in the wedding industry now for 4+ years, I’ve worked with my fair share of videographers…and just like photographers, there’s good ones and bad ones! You DO get what you pay for when it comes to video (& photo!) so make the investment and INVEST in a GOOD, professional videographer! Read up on reviews using Wedding Wire or The Knot, or ask your vendors! I’m always giving out the names of videographers I’ve loved working with in the past or those who I haven’t been lucky enough to work with but LOVE their work!

Here’s my recommendations for videographers in the Charlotte area:

Crown Alley Films (My TOP choice & who we would’ve hired for our wedding! I’ve worked with them before and LOVE them!) 

Life Stage Films (Haven’t worked with them yet…but LOVE their work!) 

Two Cents (Love their work! I literally CRY while watching EVERY. SINGLE. VIDEO! Their use of music & different takes on shots…oh my! Stunning!) 

Olive & Oak Films (Haven’t worked with Olive & Oak either…but their work speaks to me! I love their take on wedding films! Gorgeous & vintage looking!) 

Some others I’ve had the JOY of working with…(however, I can’t find their websites at the moment!) Michael Lee, Ladybug Video, Adam Clayton, Hayzen Productions.

Brides-to-be…make the important decisions to HIRE a VIDEOGRAPHER!! Don’t make the horrible mistake we did! Hoping this helps all of my Brides who are considering hiring a videographer! It will complete your day & believe me, you won’t have ANY regrets! Happy Planning! XO!

Images from our own wedding provided by Cheyenne Schultz