The latest hot-button issue in the wedding photography space? How to keep the peace between your own wedding vendors. That’s right: not only do you have to deal with the stress of, you know, planning a wedding, you also have to worry about whose emotional outbursts are going to usurp your wedding day (besides your crazy cousins, but you knew that already).
The tension between photographers and videographers is a big enough issue in the wedding industry right now that it’s become its own recurring conversation, with a WeddingWire thread literally titled "Photographer clash with a Videographer?", an article asking outright whether photographers and videographers secretly resent each other, and even a viral debate over something as small as where a photographer should stand during a ceremony.
If deciding whether to hire the same wedding photo and video team, or hire separately, feels like one more thing to stress about, you’re not alone.
As an Orlando-based Central Florida wedding photographer and videographer studio, our #1 priority is keeping your wedding day stress-free, which is why we encourage booking photography and videography together (spoiler alert!). If you’re still on the fence, here’s our honest take on the pros and cons, no matter what ends up being the best fit for your wedding day.
What causes photographer/videographer tension on your wedding day
While any two wedding vendors can clash on a wedding day, it’s especially problematic when the two who are facing conflict are essentially competing for the same role: to document the client’s wedding day without the other being in frame.
That doesn’t mean separately-hired photographers and videographers inevitably clash. Plenty work together beautifully, whether it’s their first wedding together or their fiftieth.
So, do wedding photographers and videographers get along? Most of the time yes, but when conflict happens, what’s usually at the root?
Often, wedding vendors are meeting one another for the first time on the day of the wedding itself. Not only is everyone trying to keep the day flowing successfully and stress-free for the couple, they also have to navigate different working styles, interpersonal communication, and physical movements on one of the most important days of their clients’ lives. Even two professional, thoughtful, and respectful vendors can experience tense moments from simple actions such as a video tripod parked in the aisle, a photographer wandering into a wide shot, or two people quietly competing for the same three feet of space (all while trying not to be disruptive to the guests or newlyweds). Because the roles of photographer and videographer overlap so closely, this kind of friction is rarely about someone being unprofessional but more often two people in similar roles trying to guess in real time what the other one is going to do next. There’s a lot of wordless wedding day vendor coordination involved, which takes multiple experiences of working alongside one another to build, and a wedding day is a challenging environment to begin that journey.
Pros and cons of hiring separate vs. hiring team wedding photographers and videographers
We firmly believe that not every situation is one size fits all. Your wedding day is as unique as your love story, so what works best for you may not be what works best for all others. That being said, here are the pros and cons we’ve seen for both hiring separately and hiring a team.
Hiring a wedding photographer and videographer separately may be best for you if:
You’re particularly attached to the portfolio of a specific photographer/videographer who works independently
Your venue contract requires you to use their preferred photographer and videographer, who are often separate (more on navigating this below)
You only need your wedding videographer for a shorter amount of time on your wedding day (such as only wanting the ceremony recorded), or vice versa
Hiring a wedding photographer and videographer separately may not be ideal if:
You’re concerned about different shooting and editing styles clashing in your final gallery and video
You don’t want to be the one managing communication or smoothing over conflict between vendors on your wedding day
You’re looking to maximize cost savings (in most, but not all, cases)
Hiring a wedding photographer and videographer team may be best for you if:
You want the best chance at a seamless wedding day experience, with vendors who are comfortable working together as one team
You want a cohesive approach and visual look to how your wedding photos and video are documented
You have a tight or busy wedding day schedule, which requires vendors to act in unison and with efficiency
You’d rather have one point of contact for contracts, payment, insurance paperwork, and logistics
You’re unsure if you’ll want videography right now, but want to leave the option to add it on closer to your wedding day if you change your mind
Hiring a wedding photographer and videographer team may not be ideal if:
You strongly prioritize choosing the specific members of your wedding photo/video team (less guarantee of all team members being available on the same date)
You like the idea of two independent vendors bringing their own creative perspectives of your wedding day vs. a unified approach and tone to your final galleries
You prefer to hire vendors that are hyper-specialized in their specific craft (either photo or video)
Why hiring photography and videography as one team works so well
Is it better to hire one team for wedding photo and video? Here’s where we’re going to share our bias: we think there is more to gain from booking these disciplines from the same studio than hiring separately. When you choose a team to handle your wedding memories, you’re hiring a photographer and videographer who already and consistently work together, instead of two individuals who are meeting for the first time on your wedding day.
At Author Made, that’s exactly how we do it, and our approach is even a bit unique among other combo studios. Our team is the same six people rotating among our weddings, not a pair assembled the week of. Each one is trained in not only our signature style but also our approach to handling a wedding day beyond the camera. (Curious how our team model works? Read more here.)
We’ve shot dozens of weddings together, and we’re friends outside of work too, which means nobody’s spending your wedding morning explaining themselves to a stranger. We already know who moves where during the processional, who stays put for the vows, and who’s covering the exit.
This familiarity carries over to our equipment, too. We move efficiently as a team on wedding days because we know how to set up each other’s lighting and sound, or because nobody’s standing around while the other is finishing rigging or troubleshooting a spastic flash unit. More of the day goes toward actually covering your wedding moments instead of packing up equipment.
Many of our team members even split disciplines when needed in order to get the perfect shot. Michael, our studio founder and primarily a photographer, has worked closely with Rob, mainly a videographer, since the beginning of our studio. (And yes, they’re friends outside work too: car rides to and from weddings always involve lengthy discussions about their favorite European football teams.) The two have swapped cameras mid-wedding more than once, handing gear back and forth depending on who's actually in position for the shot: at Sydney and Jim's springtime wedding at Lake Louisa's Chateau in Clermont, at Kaitlin and Josh's modern, Wes Anderson-inspired wedding at the Orlando Museum of Art, at Alex and Conner's morning micro wedding at the Walt Disney World Swan Hotel, and at Diana and Ricardo's traditional Catholic wedding with an outdoor reception at The Yardery. Both team members are experienced in, and familiar with the gear of, the discipline they don’t primarily specialize in, which allows for a back-and-forth dance of two individuals working together instead of competing for the shot. It’s this kind of seamlessness that happens when the same people work together long enough that “whoever’s in the right spot gets the shot” stops being a strategy and just becomes how you do things.
So ultimately, hiring a photo/video team flows so beautifully because the two work together as one, moving efficiently through shared understanding and working styles built through years of familiarity. This results in less friction between individual vendors, less points of contact for you on your wedding day, and a team that enters your wedding day with a collaborative mindset of trust with and for one another.
What it actually looks like on your wedding day
In practice, this synchronicity between photographers and videographers from the same team shows up in moments you'll probably never notice. A silent handoff during the first look, where whoever's better positioned just takes the shot, no words needed. The videographer knowing to give room during a private vow reading, and the photographer knowing to circle back for portraits once it's over. The exit, the toasts, the last dance all covered by people who already know how to share a small space without stepping on each other (literally or figuratively). That's what seamless wedding day coverage actually looks like: you won't be the one relaying messages between your photographer and videographer about where to stand or what's happening next, because they'll already know—and will probably already have a shared, unspoken form of communication.
If you do choose to hire photography and videography separately
As we mentioned above, some couples really do benefit from hiring a separate wedding photographer and videographer. Here are a few questions to ask before hiring a wedding photographer or videographer separately, so your individual vendors are best set up for success:
Introduce them to each other before your wedding, whether over email, phone, or a video call. Allow them an opportunity to communicate with one another directly leading up to your wedding day.
Before hiring a vendor, ask them directly about their working style and how they handle sharing a wedding day with the other photographers or videographers. Listen for any red flags: any dismissiveness towards the other role, or a lone wolf mentality such as “we just like to do our own thing”, is a concern worth taking seriously.
If you’ve already hired one vendor first, ask who they genuinely enjoy working with or would recommend for the other role. The wedding industry even in large cities is actually a rather small world, so chances are very high that your photographer or videographer has formed genuine relationships with other professionals of the opposite discipline.
None of this recreates the shared experience of a standing team built over dozens of weddings together, but it goes a long way towards how to avoid wedding vendor conflicts on your wedding day.
So, should you book wedding photo and video together or separately?
If you're still asking whether you should book your wedding photographer and videographer together or separately, our honest opinion is, of course, to book together. A smooth wedding day is about more than hiring a great photographer and a great videographer. So much of your wedding day experience happens behind the lens, behind the scenes, with differing styles or conflict dramatically impacting the way you remember your wedding.
That said, we know not everyone starts out ready to book both at once, and that's okay. Our packages are flexible enough that you can start with photography and add video later if you change your mind, and we'll bring in the right person on our team when you're ready, without starting from scratch. If you're comparing a full wedding photography and videography package against piecing it together yourself, we'd love for you to consider us for both. Our unified studio approach allows us to add videography onto any wedding package for an affordably low rate without sacrificing quality. At the end of the day, you shouldn't have to manage your vendors on your wedding day. That's our job, and it works a lot better when we've already been doing it together.
Hi, we’re Author Made, a wedding photography & videography studio based in Orlando, FL. If you’re looking for a wedding photographer or wedding videographer who believes weddings of all sizes and budgets deserve stunning images to cherish forever, we’d love to have the honor of capturing your wedding day.
If you’re interested in capturing your wedding photography or videography with us, please contact us - we would love to help your special day be all it can be!
