Supplier Profile || Vidiyou

To this day, my one regret from our Wedding is that we didn't have a videographer. The day went by so quickly and I know I missed out on so much when I was getting ready in the morning and while we were having photos taken after the ceremony. I wish we had a video to watch with the kids, I wish I had a video to look back on myself. But like everyone else - the budget was the deciding factor and other things took priority. 

I was taking part in #WeddingHour on Twitter a few weeks ago and I came across Vidiyou, a company from Greater Manchester that send out camera equipment so that you and your guests can film the wedding yourselves. The camera's are then collected by a courier and returned to Joshua Hughes to be edited, and what you have at the end if your own wedding recorded by your family and friends and professionally edited footage.

I love the concept and I haven't come across another company offering this service before. I really wanted to find out more about how it works because I think a lot of our North Wales Bride & Groom's might find this type of videography a lot less obtrusive than the traditional method.

1. When did you set up your business and what inspired you to do so?

I started Vidiyou a couple of years ago in the hope of doing something a bit different. I had come out of film school with my editing qualifications and was desperate to do something exciting and new. Do
I go and edit for a production company or do I try and make my own way in the terrifying world of self-employment?

I got told about a company doing 'film your own wedding' videos that rented out their camera to the wedding party, they filmed their own wedding and the footage was edited in to a fun, professional wedding video. I loved it! A little bit of research told me they were the only ones doing it and the more I thought about it the more ideas were running through my head about how to improve this amazing idea.

I spent 3 months researching equipment. I wanted to do things my way, with my own ideas and my own passion.

I bought one of the best fully automatic HD cameras you could buy, I bought the best lightweight tripod you could buy, the best microphone, the best camera bag. Everything was chosen specifically to be used by people that had little to no experience. It needed to be light, small, and incredibly easy to use.

I really felt I was on to something and that this was the future of wedding videos!

My first wedding video was for my best mates brother. He was getting married in Jamaica! I convinced him to take my equipment with him as hand luggage and try out this crazy idea. He was gone for a week and I sat nervously hoping that this amazing business could work.

It did!

It went above and beyond anything I ever imagined. The footage was beautiful and fun and a really lovely story of their whole day. I let them choose all their own music and I decided to make them a handmade case using recycled Kraft cardboard and decorated with ink and watercolour to make it that little bit more special - and I still do that to this day!

The reviews were amazing and the rest is history!

2. Where are you based and what geographical area do you cover?

I'm based in Cheadle, a little village in Greater Manchester.

The amazing thing about what I do is that it can be taken anywhere. Wherever you are, my cameras will be sent to you by courier 2 days before your big day and then picked up again the day after your wedding and shipped back to me! It has no limits, not just in the UK but in the world. I've done wedding videos across the country and across the globe! The camera equipment comes in a travel friendly, hard wearing backpack that even fits on a flight as hand luggage!

3. How would you describe your style?

Every editor has a different style and I like to make videos that are fun and fast paced. Ultimately though the style of the video is all down to the couple! They choose all their own music and so the songs very much dictate the style of your wedding video, which I love as it means that every single wedding video is completely different! 

4. What makes you different to your competitor?

It is very different to a traditional wedding video. Traditional videos tend to be a lot more formal and professional. We don't do that.

These videos are your own personal documentary of your wedding day, professionally edited and lovingly crafted to include all the personal touches.

The unique thing about these wedding videos is the complete access you get that only your friends will have. When the bride and bridesmaids wake up, you start filming, so you see everyone getting ready and all the pre-wedding nerves that you wouldn't usually see, right up to the last ones still partying the night away at 4am. It's all there and it makes for a great memory of your day, exactly as it happened!

5. What do you like most about your job?

The creative freedom, variety and new ideas!. Every single wedding video is different because it's always different people filming it. The best thing about this is that there is no right or wrong way of filming. Without me saying anything people tend to get quite creative! I love having something in there that I've never seen before. One of the first wedding videos that I did had arranged a Blues Brothers tribute band and had their first dance to them performing live. After the wedding the Bride and Groom had some cool mobile phone footage of the first dance that one of the guests had filmed that they wanted me to put in the video, it gave me a great idea to use the footage as a second camera angle and cut between both my camera and the camera phone and it looked great! I now include camera phone footage as an extra package in my wedding videos. You can now submit up to 15 minutes of camera phone footage from any number of camera phones for me to put in your wedding video!

I'm always up for trying something new and crazy so if you have any ideas for your wedding video then just let me know!

6. What sort of Bride/ Couple do you think you attract?

I think Vidiyou will attract a couple that want something a bit different but that also want a fun, original way of remembering their day.

If you ask people what they think the most important thing to have at a wedding is they'd say a good photographer, but I would argue that it's having a good wedding video! Photographs are a great way of remembering your big day but imagine having a documentary about your wedding day that you can watch again and again!

7. What would be your ideal wedding to work on?

The ideal wedding to work on would just be something out of the norm. Going abroad always makes for a crazy wedding video but even a wedding closer to home can be equally spectacular. I'm secretly hoping that we get a celebrity wedding at some point!

8. What’s been your proudest accomplishment so far?

Can I have two? Ok, I'm going to tell you two. My first one has been launching my website a few months ago. I wanted it to be incredibly easy to use whilst looking great and I'm incredibly proud and excited about what my web developer Florin Cristea and web designer Max Robinson created.

The Second proudest moment would be displaying Vidiyou at one of the biggest wedding fairs in the country last year. It was my first ever wedding fair and I thought Vidiyou should start big by going to The North West Wedding Fair in Manchester's Event City! There was over 150 exhibitors on display and I won the runner up to the best stand! It was amazing, it gave me a great platform to launch my business and I loved every minute!

9. Can you give me some information on your pricing structure

Of course!

Prices start at £750 for the Vidiyou Wedding package. With this you get the full equipment bag including Full HD Canon camera with professional microphone and a GoPro camera that you can throw around and have fun with (it's waterproof and drop proof so have fun with it). The Canon camera comes with a lightweight tripod and you get a small GorillaPod tripod for the GoPro that attaches to almost anything!

You get 6 hours worth of footage on the Canon camera and 4 hours on the GoPro and spare batteries and chargers for everything! You get to choose all your own music, every wedding video comes in a handmade, personalised eco-friendly Kraft cardboard case, all decorated with ink and watercolour and all videos take 8-12 weeks to produce and deliver.

There is also a Vidiyou Abroad package that gives you the cameras for 1 week and gives you more recording time, this comes in at £1125.

Last but not least there are 3 different Vidiyou Asian Wedding packages that gives you the cameras for either 1 day (£750), 3 days (£895) or 1 week (£1125) as we know Asian Weddings can vary in length and this includes all your wedding events including Nikah, Mehndi and Walima.

We are also adding a Vidiyou Anything package soon where you can request anything from us and we can customise you a package! We recently did a 1st Birthday party that was lovely! 

You can visit the Vidiyou website or you can find them on Facebook and Twitter.

ps. I know they're not based in North Wales - but as they courier the equipment directly to their customers that is irrelevant.