I have a really crazy weekend. I’m talking the kind I tell people not to have. Every minute is booked. Now, everything I’m doing is really fun stuff and I’m looking forward to it…but I’m also a realistic person and know that I won’t be able to blog. Since it’s the heart of wedding season, I thought I’d give you some wedding posts this weekend! Enjoy!

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Today’s post comes from Matt Buerhaus of Buerhaus Design, LLC. I met Matt a few years ago through K&B Bridals and have really enjoyed getting to know him! He was even my groom model for the style shoot I did with K&B! This just goes to show how hard Matt works to help his fellow vendors!

Between shooting, I grabbed this quick shot of him with his fiancé (who is also a total sweetheart)!

Without further ado, here’s Matt!

What is one thing that would surprise most brides about your business?
The time it takes to produce a video… an average wedding video takes about 40-50 hours to film, edit and produce.

Walk us through what a bride will typically experience working with you.
Brides will typically experience a personal level of communication with me personally. I coach them on the ins-and-outs of video and what to expect, which is also explained in detail on our webpage, and our entire crew is family, so they know they’re getting a personal level of service and not a ‘cookie-cutter’ experience.

What is your favorite thing about weddings?
The fact that I know the documentation of each wedding we film will be around for generations and touch hundreds of thousands, if not millions of lives eventually, long after my time is up. Imagine having a well produced video of your parents or even grandparents (or great-grandparents) wedding? It would be priceless to see what the family was like, or relive times with folks that we’ve lost. That’s very powerful to me and I take a lot of pride in the fact that we provide these memories for dozens of couples every year.

Do you use lots of cables or a ton of lighting at the wedding or reception?
Our goal is to blend in and not be a distraction to the guests. In fact, if one was to read reviews for us on our website (www.buerhausdesign.com) (in the Feedback link) or on Wedding Wire, a common theme will be “we didn’t even know they were there!” To answer the question specifically, we leave a very small footprint, and will use dim lighting only in very dark reception halls. No video camera can film in the dark! In moderately lit halls a light isn’t even necessary in most cases, and if we use a light at all, it’s just bright enough to light up the subject matter right in front of us (and not the entire room).

Since this is a blog more about marriage than the wedding day, what is one piece of advice you’d give to future brides and grooms?
Don’t overspend on things that will be gone once the reception is over. Going overboard on favors, centerpieces, food, lighting, etc. will kill a wedding budget… which usually forces cut-backs on photo and/or video. What’s ironic about that is, photo and video is the only way to relive the most important day of one’s life. There should be an emphasis on those two services when planning. Why have all of this elaborate stuff when you’re not going to have professional documentation of it?

At the same time, be careful to not let photo or video blow a budget, either. Just because a photographer or videographer starts at $4000 or more, doesn’t mean their work is better than those that start in the $1000 range. It’s a cut-throat industry, and a lot of vendors get away with murder with what they charge. We could charge a lot more than our current rates to reflect what some other companies charge, but we like to sleep at night knowing we’re not ripping anyone off. We’re not the cheapest act in town, our rates are ‘middle-of-the-pack’, but we feel what we produce is the best video work in the region and offer all of our clients a real value.

The biggest mistake I see couple’s make all the time is overspending on a lot of things. There’s deals to be had within reason, and with those deals, you’ll probably get more bang-for-the-buck.

What is one thing that has surprised you in planning your own wedding so far?
What some vendors charge! We look at one dress and it’s 8k. Then we find one for $500 that looks exactly the same. No brainer. Same holds true of cakes, flowers and just about anything else. Why is one cake-maker charging $1500 for an average wedding cake, but our local bakery is charging $300 for basically the same thing? Again, no brainer here either. More expensive DOES NOT mean better.

Would you like to offer any special deals on your post?
If a bride mentions this blog, Buerhaus Design will give you $100 off regular in-season rates.

This is a great deal, so head over to Matt’s site now to make an appointment!