Should I videotape my wedding/special event?
The biggest regret couples have after their wedding is not having a professional video created of their big day. In fact, couples that do get professional video, from us at least (especially those couples on the fence), wind up finding it was BY FAR the best investment they could have made on their wedding day. You can read their comments yourself in our Feedback area. Only video allows you to relive all of those special moments as they unfolded. Hear the vows, see the kiss, experience everything all over again. Think about this: Would you like to see a video of your parent's, or even grandparent's wedding? Not just a video, but a cinematic presentation of those events? Sure you would. Would your kids or grandkids love to see a cinematic video of your big day one day? You bet. We've all been around the table during a holiday with family going through the old photo albums of yesteryear. How cool would it be to pop in a DVD of some weddings from that era? You're not just documenting the couple's biggest day of their lives, but you're capturing the rare occasion of two families coming together. That doesn't happen too often in life.

Why shouldn't I just have my Uncle Charlie do it for free?
Although Uncle Charlie has the best of intentions, does he have the proper equipment to do the job right? Does he have the stamina, know-how and experience when it comes to filming a wedding? Can he anticipate the important events and know what to film and when? With all due respect to Uncle Charlie, more than likely, the answer to all of those questions is no... and those questions are just the tip of the iceburg. If you reallly think about it, capturing, producing and creating professional video in the editing process is much more demanding than photography, by far. Why then wouldn't you just let your Aunt Betsy take your pictures on the day of your wedding? For the same reason you shouldn't bank on Uncle Charlie doing a good job on your wedding day with video. Your wedding day is too important to chance when it comes to photo or video services. It's a one time thing and should be left to professionals.

Why do you charge as much as some photographers?
In reality, many photographers rates start much higher than even our most expensive package. Many couples have the common misconception that video isn't that important when it comes to wedding planning. If those couples read the feedback we receive from virtually all of our clients on the Feedback page, they would probably have a different view. Professional video has come a long way in 10 years, and well produced video is quite simply priceless. That aside, a typical project from preparation to shooting, from supply expenses to editing can take up to a combined 60 hours of work to execute. Average the package cost out over that time frame with a percentage of yearly equipment and maintenance costs factored into each wedding we shoot, you'll find the payoff for us is modest to say the least. The real payoff is knowing our work will touch a countless number of lives. In that, we take great, great pride and have an absolute passion for what we do.

Are you experienced with different cultures?
You bet. We're experienced with any denomination of Christian faith, from Catholicism to Presbyterian, frequently handle Jewish ceremonies and are also experienced with Muslim, Indian and traditional Asian cultures such as Chinese and Japanese weddings.

How do I know which videographer is right for me?
Well, it depends on what you want out of a videographer. Do you want bright obtrusive lights? Do you want video people and their equipment getting in the way? Being obtrusive? Interviewing guests? Directing the show? Ignoring the photographer? Do you like cheesy graphics? Music? Effects? Do you want VHS tapes with a single DVD sold as a hundred-dollar add-on option? What if the person that you've been dealing with sends some dude off the street that has little to no video experience? Shoot us an email, we'll give you some references for those kinds of videographers.

If you don't want all of that, you've come to the right place. I try to make the decision making process as easy as possible for our clients. I coach those clients on what to expect from us leading up to and including your wedding on our Preparation Page. We 're not going to have bulky equipment, wires or ourselves reaking havoc. We're not going to be in 'competition' with your photographer. We're not going to get in your way or make your guests feel uncomfortable at any time by shoving a camera in their face. In fact, we strive to be invisible and pull that off rather well, as you can again read up on in the Feedback section. Furthermore, we're not going to to try wooing you with being a part of this this video association or with what awards we've won. We don't have time to piddle-paddle. Our work speaks for itself and can be found all over this website. If you don't have a high speed connection, shoot me an email and we'll get together.

What separates Buerhaus Design from the rest?
Besides what I've already talked about above, we're not a large video company that has many different shooting and editing crews. I personally oversee just about all of our shoots and do all of the editing on all of our projects. My mother Sandy is my primary 'go-to' videographer on days where I am personally already booked. We work with a regular pool of two or three other family members of whom I've trained with the same eye for detail I've attained through many years of training as a Graphic Designer. I'm also young and generally cater to the same age group ... whether it be of the body or mind!

How do you prepare for our special/wedding day?
That's easy! Go to the Preparation Page where I've outlined the whole nine yards for you!

Will bright lights and long cables overpower our special event/wedding?
You've felt like it, I've felt like it, and just about anybody who's been to a wedding recently as a guest has probably felt like it too. What am I talking about? That feeling of being a deer in headlights at a wedding reception thanks to the nuclear blast type lighting some videographers use. What about us you say? We use a very discrete setup, involving no cables or overpowering lights. The digital video our cameras and editing software produce is better than the current High Definition standard and our cameras do an excellent job of picking up quality images in very low-light situations and we use a low wattage light only if necessary. It's safe to say that it's rare to see us using a light at all! Actually, some of your guests won't even see us at all for that matter!

What about catching our vows clearly?
On all shoots we use professional UHF wireless microphones on the groom. That one mic picks up whatever anyone says around him for dozens of feet. We add a second MP3 recording device, similar in size to an 'iPod Nano', as a backup on the groom as well. All anyone would notice of that set-up, if they notice it at all, is a tiny piece of black foam on the groom's lapel. Every now and then we'll have a couple that doesn't want their vows to be heard in the video for whatever reason and we would be happy to honor requests not to use the wireless mics. After the ceremony we always remove the wireless mic from the groom.

How do you work with photographers?
Our goal in working with your photographer(s) is to cooperate closely with them and other wedding vendors to smoothly capture all the events on your special day. We do our best to stay out of the way during the ceremony and reception. Each of us are working in YOUR best interest and we make it a point to know what we expect from one another and how we can support your photographer throughout the day. Simply put, we stay out of their way, but all too often find some photographers that are always creeping into shots. I'm pretty good at editing stuff like that out, but when I can't we have to accept the fact that your photographer is a part of your day. 95% of the time this is a non-issue, but that's because most photographers are professionals and respect other professionals around them. The other 5% are amatures or just ignorant, so make sure when hiring a photographer you can get assurances from them that they'll work well with videographers. If they say they can't, they're not professional. A list of some of our favorite photographers can be found toward the bottom of this page.

What's the benefit in having two videographers?
Two videographers come in handy, most importantly, during your ceremony. If you have one videographer, which would be me personally (Sandy- mom- always works with two videographers regardless of the package), I would have to attend to two cameras during the ceremony... one stationary and one in my hands floating around when I'm not manning the stationary camera (usually located at the back end of your ceremony location). With a second videographer, it makes it much easier for the person not manning the main camera to be more flexible and discreet with the 'floating' camera as that person does not have to worry about the main camera as a second videographer is already on it. During your reception, the second videographer basically becomes an 'extra' videographer, mainly there in a support role to set up montage equipment if you so have that option in your package, keep batteries charged and ready, and to film from time to time to capture random footage for your raw footage disk if you have that as part of your package. When you have raw footage as a part of your package, we'll film more of your reception (random dancing) outside of the important stuff (toasts, special dances, etc.) and the second videographer comes in handy during those times. As we only use one camera during the reception (why film the same thing with two cameras and get in the way or be obtrusive?), that second videographer, when we need to film more of your reception for package purposes, comes in handy when it comes time to give your main videographer a rest every now and then. Imagine holding a videocamera on your shoulders for several hours straight!

How many hours of footage do you shoot?
On a typical full day shoot, we'll wind up with anywhere from 3 to 6 hours of raw footage. Each event is unique however, and this could widely vary depending on the schedule of events within any given day. That doesn't mean we're only with you for 3 to 6 hours. With all of our Wedding Video packages, we arrive an hour before your ceremony is expected to start and are with you up to 9 hours on the day-of depending on the package you book with us. Additional hours can be tacked on based on hourly rates if necessary.

What should we expect with editing?
You should expect to laugh, cry and in most cases, be totally blown away with the quality of editing we provide for your video. It's one thing to just film the wedding, but the real art lies at the editing stations. All of our videos come with a cinematic introduction montage of events leading up to the wedding itself. The 'main events', like your ceremony and reception, are presented in real time with what appears to be multiple camera angles. We like to get the ceremony in full on the video, but in some cases we cut out 'down time' to make room for other goodies throughout the day. With some of our premiere packages you get all of your raw footage on a separate disk so if some of those down times aren't in the fully edited video, you'll find them on the raw disk (which can also be purchased as an extra in our lower-tier packages). All of our videos are also capped off with our popular 'Spotlight Video' or 'Classic Highlight Video', which are great to show folks who don't want to sit through your entire video, and we artistically edit other events like pre-ceremony activities and your formal photo shoots.

How long will you take to finish our video?
2-12 weeks depending on the season. Average turnover time is about 4-6 weeks. It is not uncommon for other editing studios and even photographers to take in upwards of 6 months or more to deliver a final product!

Do you do DVD, VHS or both?
We give you four copies of DVD video. DVD has the greatest picture quality and gives you chapter markers to skip from important scene to important scene with a click of a button! VHS has gone the way of the dinosaur. In fact, the major manufacturers don't even make VHS players/recorders anymore. The only market they see in VHS is transferring old VHS to DVD, so you'll see DVD/VHS recorder combo units out there, but even those will be gone by 2009. With your four copies, I also recommend keeping one in a safe place like in a safety deposit box. In the event your other three copies get devoured by the dog, I keep a copy of your disk in our archives and on a hard-drive with all of the artwork for the covers too that you can purchase at any time for a very reasonable cost of $30-40 (single/double disk). In the event our archives get blown up for whatever reason, you have a disk in that safety deposit box that any professional can make copies of!

How soon before our wedding should we book with you?
Popular summer and fall dates fill up quickly. We recommend booking as soon as possible as it is not uncommon to book six months to one year in advance. Being a small company, we only work with one or two couples per weekend. With that said, we operate on a first come, first served basis. We also work with a professional pool of videographers in the Maryland area that we can refer you too if we are already booked for your date.

We require 50% due at contract to hold your date. If for whatever reason you cancel your date, as long as we can re-book that date you'll get your deposit back. If you simply need to re-schedule, as long as we're free for your new date, your fine!