Ep. 044 - Building a Wedding Videographer Brand with Soul with Chris Spice

In this episode of That Wedding Videographer Podcast, we sit down with the talented Chris from Spice Wedding Films, a filmmaker who has transformed his career by finding deeper meaning in the weddings he films. Chris shares his unique journey—from shooting 50 weddings a year without emotional connection to rediscovering the joy and soul in his work after planning his own wedding.

We dive into:

• How the COVID-19 era changed Chris’s approach to weddings.
• The importance of balancing fun, joy, and emotion in wedding films.
• Building strong client relationships to enhance the final product.
• His experience winning major industry awards and why persistence paid off.
• Insights into running a wedding industry podcast and hosting workshops.

This episode is packed with actionable tips, heartwarming stories, and a healthy dose of laughs. Whether you're a wedding filmmaker or just starting out, Chris’ story will inspire you to rethink your own approach to storytelling.

The discount code that Chris provided during the podcast is TWVP30, offering 30% off any products from his Shopify store under the "Education" section on his website. Specifically, this includes a wedding videographer contract written by a solicitor, which Chris highlighted as a valuable resource​

The discount codes from our sponsors and their respective offers are as follows:

1. Vidflow
   Discount Code: TWVP10
   Offer: 10% off any of the pro plans, including their white-label service​
   .
2. Bride & Groom Video
   Discount Code: TWP75
   Offer: £75 off your first order, specifically designed to help wedding filmmakers clear their backlog while maintaining high-quality edits​
   
   

Sponsored by Vidflow
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Sponsored by Bride&Groom.Video
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Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

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Transcript

Danny (00:00:00):

Jason,

Jason (00:00:00):

Danny,

Speaker 3 (00:00:01):

How you doing

Jason (00:00:02):

Buddy? Week before Christmas. Feeling good. This is the time of year where we're like the Christmas day deadline that everyone just makes up is happening and we're a week away from that. How are you feeling about that?

Danny (00:00:14):

Yeah, yeah, I mean it's been a pretty busy year, so I've probably, in terms of my delivery times, I am getting close to that. I've never really been that close to my delivery times before, to be honest. I've always delivered well ahead schedule. Having Brody in the middle of the wedding season was no joke. And yeah, it's come down to the wire for a few of them, but everybody's been really sound and supportive. I think a lot of it's mentally right, because you put the mental, sometimes he'll be like, oh, she's liking my story posts, she's checking in or whatever, or he's liking my story post and he's checking in. But I think you just make that up in your head kind of thing. But no, it's been good. All my couples have been really, really sound and supportive of me and said, don't worry, take your time, kind of thing. So I actually feel all right.

Jason (00:01:11):

Yeah, totally. I mean, it is just down to communication. At the end of the day, if you can let people know that this is when it's going to be done by, I mean, I'm sitting with a bunch of projects that are pretty much good to go. I just need to have that final finesse. That one is over, and then I'm free to send them off and I'm still confident that everything should get done before Christmas, but things just keep popping up that get in the way of my plans for that day and I would just like those things are popping up to stop so that I could actually just focus. Yeah, I apologise. Oh no. It's just a lot of work going on, but I'm still confident all these things are wrapping up now and I'm going to just have lock myself away and just get things done.

Danny (00:01:52):

Yeah, I appreciate everything you do. You have been taking the lion's share of everything,

Jason (00:01:57):

But it's not just the podcast. Life gets in the way. I had like an, oh man, I got caught speeding last year, right? I got caught speeding. I was doing a 46 and a 40. I was overtaking a lottery and I got three points in a licence and I may, or

Danny (00:02:10):

Is that the same day that I was speaking to you about it? Is that that one?

Jason (00:02:13):

Oh, working. You did the same journey.

Danny (00:02:15):

I ab obeyed the speed limit.

Jason (00:02:17):

Yeah, you were there before me and then you didn't give me the heads up. That's what happened. You passed it. It was big an hour before me. It's

Danny (00:02:22):

A big sign. It says 40 miles

Jason (00:02:23):

An hour. The same thing happened to co by the way, you guys drove down to Birmingham, right?

(00:02:28):

And there was a speed trap. A little heads up. I didn't get caught, but a little heads up, just don't speed, don't break the law. That's all you need to do. Four, six. So I've taken a lottery, you know what I mean? Right. So anyway, I got three points of licence, may or may not have forgotten to tell my insurance about it and they were about to invalidate my insurance because they obviously do the checks and I was like, oh yeah, I need to tell 'em about that. So I tell them, oh yeah. So that's what happened. Okay. Yeah, 300 pounds more a year on my insurance, so I had to deal with that yesterday as well. That was an oil task. That's a life admin gets in the way right when you don't need it to.

Danny (00:03:02):

So if you want to donate to Jason's GoFundMe, please go to

Jason (00:03:08):

Let Jason Drive.

Danny (00:03:20):

We have another lovely, phenomenal filmmaker on the show with us today as a special guest, which we're very excited to bring on because not only is an awesome filmmaker, but he's also a film podcaster, which I believe, oh no, we had Adam. I was basically, it's our first podcaster on, but I forgot Adam also does the podcast. But yes, we have the lovely Chris from Spice Wedding Films. How are you doing, mate?

Chris (00:03:49):

Oh good, thank you guys. It's honestly, it's a pleasure to be invited on. I think what you guys are doing has been incredible. I've listened to most, if not every episode, and you guys are absolutely smashing it, releasing every week, getting the summit out and everything. So yeah, just a pleasure to be on. Yeah.

Jason (00:04:06):

Do you like being introduced as the lovely Chris space, by the way? Yes. It's lovely. It's lovely. I'm lovely, man.

Danny (00:04:12):

He's so lovely man. We spent time together, we bonded.

Speaker 3 (00:04:16):

Here he is. Yeah, we got drunk together. I think there's a nice swooning music for that.

Speaker 5 (00:04:21):

Do that.

Speaker 3 (00:04:22):

Yes, he's lovely.

Speaker 5 (00:04:23):

He's a lovely guy.

Speaker 3 (00:04:24):

He is.

Jason (00:04:24):

Yeah. I think you're a lovely man, Chris.

Speaker 3 (00:04:27):

I'll take it. I'll take it.

Jason (00:04:28):

Yeah, it sounds like kind of like a nineties wrestler. Lovely, lovely Crystalized. What do you want me to say?

Speaker 3 (00:04:35):

The extremely bitch what? Just lovely. We'll take Lovely.

Jason (00:04:44):

You're a lovely guy,

Speaker 3 (00:04:45):

Mate.

Danny (00:04:46):

Waring the tone. Waring the tone. But no, thank you very much me, and it's lovely to have you on and to have a bit of a chinwag with you about all things waiting films.

Chris (00:04:57):

Yeah, definitely. I mean, I'm just here to find out how to run a podcast.

Jason (00:05:01):

Oh, mate. Well, I dunno if you saw all of the Spotify wrapped, but just something I wasn't actually prepared for this year. You see all the Spotify raps come out every year where people are listening to stuff, but this year people kept sharing the podcast they were listening to and there was a consistent number one on that. Dunno if you saw that, Chris, but I saw that your podcast Wedding Capture Co was

Danny (00:05:25):

Has captured the nation.

Jason (00:05:27):

Yes. Wedding, capturing the heart's. Cool.

Chris (00:05:32):

Who would've thought It's weird, isn't it? It's when it's just you guys in a room and then when it comes to Christmas and the wrapped and people are posting and saying they're your top listeners and things like that, and you're kind of like, oh, people actually do listen. Then I know you get your analytics and things, but it is hard to imagine, isn't it? Yeah,

Danny (00:05:48):

You can see the numbers, people are listening and you can see the growth and stuff like that. So it's growing. People are listening, but yet it's nice when, because you would've been the same at Coda, just people coming up to you and chatting to you and saying, oh, love the podcast. And it's like they know you, but obviously you maybe don't necessarily know them kind of thing. And it's an interesting dynamic when that happens,

Chris (00:06:08):

But

Danny (00:06:08):

It was quite humbling

Chris (00:06:09):

Actually. Yeah. But it's a nice feeling.

Danny (00:06:10):

Yeah, it was really nice feeling. Really nice feeling a lot of nice comments and stuff. But yeah, your guys' podcast, brilliant man, and was listened. Your new episode was out today, so thank you very much at the time of recording was out today. Thank you very much for the shout out on the summit. It was very kind, obvious. Yeah, it was a nice, I was having to figure out how to trim it down as well so I could share it to stories. It actually went, it was like two minutes a shout out. I was like, oh man, you guys are awesome. Thanks

Jason (00:06:39):

So much. Yeah, it's quite good because a lot of my journeys are really long, I don't tend to do things usually within half an hour of my wedding, so it's always quite good to just have a conversation. It just kind of zone out as I'm driving and forget how I got to the destination. I've just been so involved in the conversation. So yeah, it's good having your podcast out there. So

Chris (00:06:58):

That's what a lot of people say, isn't it? On the way to a wedding, they listen to it and it's nice that, I mean, we sort of ramble, but sometimes it's not as deep as going to a wedding and just getting education just fired at you. And sometimes it's nice to have a little people chatting. That's why I've always enjoyed the loss, the creative commune and things like that because a bit more relaxed and sometimes you'll get education from these podcasts. Sometimes you'll just get a laugh and a chat and that kind of thing. Yeah, yeah,

Danny (00:07:26):

Exactly.

Jason (00:07:27):

That relatable content.

Danny (00:07:29):

Exactly. All those to keep people company on a journey to their wedding, isn't it? Yeah,

Jason (00:07:35):

The UK is well spoiled now with voices keeping you company.

Danny (00:07:38):

Exactly. It's all about, it's coming and that's what it's all about. Exactly. Yeah, totally. Community over competition. So yeah. So I guess for our listeners that maybe haven't heard of you or don't know, would you be able to give a little bit of background about you when you started, a bit about the business and stuff and yeah, just be a bit insight into all things Chris Spice.

Chris (00:08:03):

Yeah, sure. So the company I run is Spice Wedding Films. Spice is my surname in case you hadn't gathered already. Obviously run the podcasts with my good friend Tom, and that's called Wedding Capco. I've hosted a couple of workshops this year as well. So it is been quite a busy year as well as winning the award and things like that. I started pretty much like everybody else, but I don't think I started for the reasons that everybody else started. I think that the only job I ever had before this was Debenhams. So literally the first job that you get was the only job I ever had before this. So I've not really known what it's like to work in an office and that kind of thing, but it sort of stemmed from, so 2015, I was coming out of uni my last year of uni and in every sort of story, a friend of a friend asked me to film their wedding. I went along to film it and absolutely hated it and thought I've never done this again.

(00:09:06):

But then after looking into it, what my sort of aim was at the time was to come out of university and create a corporate videography business, create an agency, have people filming for me and stuff like that. So my aim was basically to get out of Debenhams as quickly as possible, make as much money as possible so I could get out of there and then start this whole corporate thing or commercial work. But then, so after doing that one wedding, I realised how much you can make from it basically. And I was like, okay, well I'll just do as many weddings as I can so I can get out of my full-time job and then I'll slowly phase them out so I can get more into commercial stuff. But what actually ended up happening was the weddings went so well that the commercial stuff sort of fizzled out and the weddings sort of came in.

(00:09:55):

But for the first couple of years, and I'm quite honest about this on our pod as well, is that I've always seen, for the first couple of years I saw it as a business and it was very much, I don't think I had the, I don't want to say emotional intelligence, but the attachment to weddings and things that made me think about moments and how long this video is going to last. It was very much analytics driven, I'm going to take this many weddings, going to make all the money I can, that kind of thing. And it took a while before it took a while for me to love it. So in 2019 I did 50 weddings and I just didn't like it. I just hated it. I come back and I was like, yeah, this is all for the greater good. Eventually I'll be getting out of this and doing something else.

(00:10:36):

And then covid hit and just something I think over, I was planning my own wedding and something clicked during that time. I think obviously planning your own wedding, you see things in a different perspective and maybe it changed the way that I look at weddings and now I see things in a completely different way in that it's so much more about the couple and the experience and what they're going to value in 20 years time and family members and friends. And that all came from just covid having time to think about what I was actually doing with my life and sort of having my own wedding and seeing the photos and videos from that and knowing what I appreciate has changed my business quite a lot. So yeah, a bit of a life story, sorry. But a lot has changed in the last few years and I feel like that's, it is taken a bit of a turn, which I quite like.

Danny (00:11:25):

Yeah, I've had that. Yeah, and appreciate obviously the honesty there. I'm not sure everybody would be quite as honest about that, but I guess there were so many negatives, I guess to come out of Covid and that is such a positive one that's had such a positive impact on your business. And I guess probably if you look at it, your longevity in this career, I would imagine if things had kept going the way that it went, you would maybe be looking to get back into that corporate world or looking for that exit. And here you might not have won your award you just won.

Chris (00:12:07):

I definitely wouldn't. I always say that if it wasn't for Covid, I wouldn't be doing this anymore because at the end of 2019, I was on the same trajectory again and I was like, I'm going to quit. So January, 2020 said to my wife, I'm going to quit. I'm going to look for a job. And then when March hit and lockdown happened, I didn't find the need to look for a job. So it was a case of finding those covid weddings to get you through.

Speaker 5 (00:12:29):

And

Chris (00:12:31):

I think everyone just appreciated things a lot more during Covid, they a lot more of the good things like weddings and things like that. And it really opened up the emotional side to what I do and I changed my style a lot and things like that. So I enjoy it a lot more now because I know that you can target the couples that you want to target and not just do everything just like, oh yeah, that's a bit of money there, a bit of money there. So you target the couples you want to target and you can have your own values in your own film. You don't have to sort of cater to everybody.

Jason (00:12:59):

Yeah, I mean obviously most people who start videography start for the creative, the love, obviously starting with yourself, the mindset that this is the business, there's definitely different ways that you approach couples and the day itself. How have you found that your approach has changed from thinking that this is the business to now loving it? What's some of the biggest differences that you think now going into shooting a wedding that you approach a now compared to when you started?

Chris (00:13:30):

I think it starts with probably how many you take a year. I feel like taking less has allowed me obviously the head space to do better with what I've got with the weddings that I've got and obviously improve the couple experience for the people I have got booked in. But I think on the day what people say, it's not about what you say, it's how you make people feel on the day. I think I'm a lot more involved now. Sometimes I'll turn up to a wedding, I'd just be the guy with a camera in the corner, but now I feel like I'm much more engaged with my couples when we have our prew call, it lasts a bit longer because I feel like our couples know us a bit more because I'm more into, I'm sending WhatsApps to them and things like that and trying to get to know them a bit more.

(00:14:21):

Whereas perhaps before Covid, they were one of 50 couples and they just had to get that ticked off and done. Now I feel like I'm just listening a lot more, finding out what their thing is, what makes them tick, that kind of thing. And so on the day I feel like I already know exactly what they're going to, what kind of music they're going to want in their films, who they're going to want captured, and it's just being tuned into who they are. And you can do that a lot better if you're just more emotionally attached to it, I guess.

Danny (00:14:53):

Yeah, oh absolutely. If you're more present and take the time to try and build a proper connection with someone, ultimately you'll make a better film. And I've said this before, not only will you make a better film, but in the say the unfortunate instance of maybe something goes wrong, audio for instance or whatever, one of the mics doesn't record, they're going to be more open to forgiving that mistake, for instance, if you've built up some connection with them rather than if you are just very business guy in the corner, don't really give 'em much chat, you're just there to film a wedding, they've got no connection with you and they're more likely maybe to make a complaint or a grievance on that fact. So

Jason (00:15:45):

Yeah. I also think when you are closer with your couples, the response that they give you when they love that matters more. Obviously when you're excited about delivering a film with a couple that you got on so well with, obviously every film matters, but you look forward to hearing the response from people that you're closer to and that's what gives you back the love for this. So I've definitely been in positions where I've taken on too many wins that year and I lost that raw connection with every single one of my couples compared to yours when I was quieter. And it's definitely something that I'll be looking at going forward, but there's such a joy to having a connection with the people that you're working with because you are ultimately responsible for providing them memories for life. And it's a privilege that can be taken for granted. If you take on too many,

Danny (00:16:33):

Well, you just don't have the time. You don't have time to invest. You're chasing your tail.

Chris (00:16:40):

Yeah, a hundred percent. A hundred percent. Yeah. It's a small touches that really matter to people. And like you

Danny (00:16:44):

Say

Chris (00:16:45):

Now more than ever now I get messages after the wedding. Thanks so much. You made everyone feel really comfortable. And then when the film is delivered, you get an amazing WhatsApp, whereas perhaps before I wouldn't have got that the film would be delivered, I'd get a thank you. Cheers. We love it. And then that be the end of it. Dress a thumbs up.

Speaker 3 (00:17:06):

Yeah,

Chris (00:17:06):

Nice

Speaker 3 (00:17:06):

One. Nice one, mate.

Danny (00:17:11):

Where's my USB until next time. Yeah. So do you feel as well then that by proxy, your actual style for instance, so do you do much directing in terms of, because we looked, obviously watched some of your films. Cuomo one by the way was shit hot, some of the shots, some of the shots in there. There was two really standout ones that the one with the gimbal movement is they're just about to go down the steps. And I was like, oh my god, Jason, it looks like the

Jason (00:17:42):

Light light was

Chris (00:17:44):

Ridiculous.

Danny (00:17:44):

It was a fucking movie.

Chris (00:17:46):

Yeah, a happy fluke. But yeah, I like that

Jason (00:17:50):

It was calculated. The other one was that wide drone shot where it's just obviously not the composition, the steps are angled and you're just

Danny (00:17:58):

The composition on that bad boy.

Jason (00:18:00):

It does take time. I was thinking that, how patient do you have to be because were you shooting that wedding by yourself?

Chris (00:18:10):

No, it was with my wife. Yeah,

Jason (00:18:11):

With your right. Yeah. Yeah. I take it was someone on hand just capturing fit, maybe footage behind them while you go, right? No, just give me two minutes. I need to get this right.

Chris (00:18:20):

No, luckily this would never happen in the UK with when my couple was over here, but they were very into their couple stuff that was, I mean, we had probably an hour and a half of it and there were points where I was like,

Danny (00:18:33):

I remember you saying on the pod, yeah,

Chris (00:18:34):

There were points where I was like, I don't need any more of this, but I don't feel like I can say no because maybe this is what they want more. And then Kate's obviously with the guests getting candid, so I don't feel like I'm missing out on too much. But yeah, that was a case of we did the shots of them by the gate and then I sort of said, can you give a couple of minutes to take the drone up and get the shot? I promise it'd be worth it. That kind of thing. And they were just up for it. So that worked really well. The shot was, and then I've got them just sort. Yeah, I love that shot.

Jason (00:19:02):

Yeah, they with destination weddings, is that usually the schedule is compressed, so that's why I was looking at the level of shots that you managed to capture in that day and go, that's really difficult. Really difficult to do.

Chris (00:19:15):

It wasn't compressed, it was a 12:00 PM ceremony.

Jason (00:19:18):

Wow.

Chris (00:19:19):

And so it was literally like midday ceremony in August in Italy it was. Chris was a cooking.

Jason (00:19:27):

I did see the fans going during the ceremony. I could see the fans going away, but

Chris (00:19:31):

Wow. Not as much as the groove though he was cooking.

Danny (00:19:35):

I'll bet. I'll bet. But yeah, no, that film was unreal. So do you feel then that obviously with everything that you were talking about obviously before, just about being more emotionally invested and obviously building up more connections and stuff that has then impacted, for instance, your style on the day to direct more or do you feel it's had an impact?

Chris (00:19:57):

Yeah, so I feel like pre covid, I couldn't have told you what my style was. I could have told you as was a wedding videographer and that's pretty much it. Afterwards I sort of identified that I wanted to be a bit more fun with it and approach it from a more like, okay, what do I like about weddings? I like the party elements, so let's target people that that element and want to get together and do prosecco sprays and running with bridle parties and things like that. And I think I lent so far into that that I got to a point where when I didn't do that, I kind of felt guilty that I hadn't tried to direct more fun things and forced fun things. And that was only probably a couple of years ago really, when I kind decided actually do I really need, is it really this that I want?

(00:20:39):

Is it really that kind of, don't call it forced fund, but when it's not in 20 years time, that stuff is not what you're going to value necessarily is the shot of you all just popping a prosecco together. The stuff you're going to value is the other bits, the older family members and the children and those tiny little moments. And so what I've sort of done now is I've tried to focus on keeping that balance where my films are still full of joy and soul and everything, but they still have that sort of filmic look to them in a way. And I think joy and soul are two words that I quite like to describe it. And a mother of the bride messaged me the other day because she still watches my other films, even though her film's been delivered and everything, the brides film.

(00:21:31):

And she said, your films are just so full of soul. And for someone who's in the older generation to still the kind of films that I make means that hopefully this film is going to last the test of time because I'm focusing on happy people. I'm trying to capture atmosphere and vibe and really pick up on who are these people, what sort of music do they enjoy, what guests do they value, do they really want to party or are they just so close with their family that they're just spending all their time with their parents and things like that and picking up on those things. And I feel like I'm so much better at that now. So where two years ago I call myself an energetic fun videographer, I'm now a joyful, I make films full of joy and soul for fun loving people. Does that make sense? It's now a balance between those things. Yeah,

Jason (00:22:23):

Hearing it and thinking there's hope for me yet at the stage now where you were two years ago. So maybe there's hope for me, maybe that's the direction I can go for twe,

Chris (00:22:33):

But you have to want to, don't you? That's the thing though. But you can tell you really enjoy it, that element to it. I just feel like I'm not that guy who, I'm not the big hype man on the day. I don't have that personality. And so when I wasn't quite in the frame of mind of these people aren't going to enjoy me putting on a speaker and shouting at people and telling them to run around and do crazy things, then if I didn't, like I say, you might be, I take that bottle of tequila, I

Jason (00:23:06):

Don't care that you waiting, do

Chris (00:23:08):

Do it. And I love that stuff, but it has to be natural.

Jason (00:23:10):

Yeah. When you were trying to be that the hype person, was there a videographer or a videographers that you'd seen online that made you want to influence that? And was there anything, any videographers that influenced you to change into who you are now?

Chris (00:23:22):

I don't think there was a videographer in particular, no. That it was more a case of when me and my wife were planning our wedding, we wanted people to have fun because, and that was the main word that we were going for when we planned our wedding. And by that, by fun, I mean we had unlimited Prosecco and that kind of thing and a bouncy castle. It just like we wanted a bucking bronco, but I dunno if that was going too far. So we didn't do it

Danny (00:23:51):

Health and safety,

Chris (00:23:53):

But essentially we just, some weddings you can tell the guests may be a little bit just waiting around for the next thing to happen. And so we wanted it to be like, okay, people to come out of our wedding and be like, that was a fun day. And so I guess it was that made me sort of say, okay, I'm going to try and make everyone else feel that after they're in a wedding sort of thing. And that's where the fun element came from.

Danny (00:24:20):

I think there's definitely something to be said of someone who's maybe recently been married or that has recently been through that process that you just have. I feel like you can have that conversation sometimes with them because when I started, I'd been married maybe two years, so it was still kind of fresh. So I was still able to connect on that kind of emotional level now to be bit further down the line, but obviously I'm in it now. So I think having that connection as well would probably help. I mean, you're the same, you just get married earlier this year, so you know what that process is firsthand, the whole planning stages and everything you can relate.

Jason (00:25:03):

Yeah, there's definitely an advantage to it. Totally. Mindset changed before and after being married myself of what was important, and I'm definitely more focused on people now at the wedding rather than trying to chase those dreamy shots. I'm like, I can sacrifice that because I want to get these people being happy and enjoying the drinking

Danny (00:25:21):

Section. Talk at Coda over again. I mean you were at that at Coda, you heard Bronte's talk. It literally had me in tears. It was really powerful. And so right on the money that it's not the flashy shots and all that stuff, it doesn't really matter. It's about those raw moments with family members that you won't get back. So

Chris (00:25:51):

That's what makes the film timeless I think is those moments. I think that the word timeless is thrown around quite a bit, but what makes a film timeless is having those moments in there more so than moments that people might not appreciate. And obviously it varies from couple to couple, but things like detailed shots and the fancy couple things, it's those things that you would sort of skip over to get to, oh, there's a photo of Nan or there's a video of Nan moving and things like that.

Danny (00:26:20):

Yeah, exactly. I mean if you look at it in terms of what a photographer, for instance maybe would deliver, I know from us that when we got our galleries, all the detail shots, I was just like, skip, I just wanted to see the faces. And it's the same kind of thing. Obviously some people value it, they have different kind of priorities when it comes to that. But for me, certainly it was I wanted to see people's faces. I wanted to see them having a good time. And it's the same thing. And I think that also helps influence my films. I don't put a massive amount of detailing stuff in there. There's maybe a sprinkling of it, but I'm just focused. I want to focus on the people. I want 'em to see their people that are there, what's going to get them going.

Chris (00:27:02):

Yeah, I feel that's exactly it. It's about the moment and you can't pretend to something you don't like and you're going to attract people that what you like. So you can't pretend that if you wanted to suddenly turn editorial and pretend that you wanted to do two hour couple shoots, you'd feel like you're missing out on those guest shots and the things that really matter and so your heart wouldn't be in it.

Jason (00:27:24):

Yeah, I mean even last year after it was last year, I thought I kind of want to be a bit more cinematic and go down this route, and I found myself just leaning back into the normality of what I do. I was trying to change a style, but not necessarily I thought that was the right thing to do, but then I was like, I just want to go over here and just have fun with these people and you lean into what you like to do and that is reflected always in your films,

Danny (00:27:52):

And it's okay to do that as well. Okay. Not to be that one size fits all. I think that's something as well. They want to please everybody. And it's like it's actually you deliver a better service to your couples if you try and hone in on that thing that you really, really enjoy. For instance, a loose example, but I had couples get in touch about maybe video guest messages and stuff. I'm like, I don't do it, I don't like it. I don't want to do it. But I would rather you go to somebody that actually enjoys doing that because I'm not going to be able to do a good job for you. I cringe watching it just, just not me. So I think, yeah, it is okay, for instance as well say no to things if you feel like it's not a good fit. I think that's another thing that people certainly struggle with is being okay saying, I don't think I could give you the best service possible, but here's somebody that I think that can based on, I know I've had inquiries that I know is an after goal film, and what they're asking for one of them is, so do you think you'd be able to do something?

(00:29:01):

And it's more like the office. And I'm like, no, but I know a guy. I know a guy that would love that

Chris (00:29:12):

Good as well, that you've got people to send those over to as well. It does help, doesn't it? We all have slightly different styles. So if you have someone in the bag that you've like, well actually I don't think I'm right for you, but here's someone that would be perfect fit

Danny (00:29:25):

And stuff like that, that's right up your suit,

Chris (00:29:27):

Right

Danny (00:29:27):

Up your shirt,

Chris (00:29:29):

Bring it on. At the same time, you can make small changes as well. You are always going to change your mindset on what's good and what's not. And just over a year ago I would've told couples, I don't really do couple shoots and that I don't focus on that at all. But then I ended up getting couples that didn't want to do it at all. And I realised I actually quite having that little bit in there. And when I was turning to up to weddings and the couple were like, actually, we don't really want to go out and get a couple shoot. I was like, what? And yeah, so then you sort of dial it back a little bit, put some more of that in your films, then you start getting those people back again. Yeah. Alright. So a good practise as well is to, if you have your consultation call, if you're not sure what your couple is and you have your consultation call, if you have a consultation call before you book a couple is ask them why they picked you and why they've contacted you and why they're on a call with you.

(00:30:21):

Because you get so much insight into what other people think about your films that it's really interesting to see because if people pick whenever I ask, it's always, we went through a lot of films, we're seeing a lot of the same stuff, but we can tell that yours is really down individual to the couple full of that happiness. It just made us really happy and had that feeling when we watched it. For someone else, it might be, we love how every bit of lighting framing is on point, your film's like a movie, that kind of thing. And that gives you an idea of what other people think of it so that you can be like, okay, I didn't realise I included too much of this when I perhaps don't want enough of that. If that makes sense.

Danny (00:31:04):

Yeah, yeah. No, that's a great shout. A great shout. Then it's almost, it's like market research on why people are wanting to speak to you in the first place so that you can go, okay, I'm doing that. Well,

Jason (00:31:18):

Maybe

Danny (00:31:18):

Not doing this well. Yeah.

Jason (00:31:19):

Helps you lean into exactly what is working and why individually people are picking you. So

Chris (00:31:25):

Yeah, so obviously as style changes, like I said, there was a point where I didn't really want to do it. I didn't find it that important, but now I quite enjoy the moments of the couple as I'm working probably more with editorial photographers now, which it definitely isn't my style, but I can work with them because you kind of get longer with the couple and the couple are expending expecting, sorry to spend more time in that shoot because they've booked a photographer like that. Does that make sense? But yeah, when I'm talking to a couple beforehand, I say to them that I do think this is quite important for you guys and for the video, but what I want you to do is be you and I'm going to put you in a position that looks nice around the venue or wherever it might be at Sunset, and I want to get you guys just to talk to each other, embrace. And I use certain words that aren't specific, so I'll be like, rather than be like, oh, can you do your hands here and hands there and things, I'll be embrace and then see what they do and just film it because then they're going to do it in whatever way they do it naturally at home and then they're not going to be thinking about it too much.

Danny (00:32:37):

That's a great tip actually, because sometimes I had one recently, I was like, just maybe do a bit of grab her underneath the bum and then he's just grabbed it. I'm like, I know to pick her up though, pick her up. You're not just grabbing her bu what you do.

Chris (00:32:55):

He's got a firm grip

Danny (00:32:57):

Guy. Exactly. It was almost, it was magnetic, so it was like, and I was like, no, lift and spin. That's a great tip. Yeah, going to instead of maybe doing something that they then feel a bit awkward with or whatever, because you see it sometimes when I can see it from memory when I've done it and I say something that's like, they do this kind of weird thing and I'm like, oh no, don't do that. Don't do that. Stop doing that. Just hug.

Chris (00:33:24):

Yeah, touch each other here and do this and it. Yeah, I don't want 'em to be doing anything that they wouldn't want to look back on. And I guess with photography it's slightly different because I guess if they've put that type of photographer, then I sort of have to be there and film that and kind of be there, fly on that wall anyway. But I think the main thing is depending on the type of photographer is how much I get involved. So if there's a photographer who is likes the facing to camera or doing stationary things, you obviously have to get a bit more involved and get some movement in there. But it's always a case of finding out what makes the couple tick. Recently, I had a couple who I'm going to try and mention this without because mentions as another supplier involved, but essentially they had a donut cake tower thing and one of their donuts they wanted based on their cat, so they wanted to be a cat donut.

(00:34:22):

And it turned out and it looked hilarious. It was really funny. And when the couple walked into that room, all they could do is just laugh at this. And they loved it, don't get me wrong. But then, so we're out on the couple shoot, it is just like we're doing some posy bits and whatever, and I was like, all I could think about is the donut of your cat. And from then onwards, they just relaxed, they chill, they were laughing at it. We were just talking about it for ages and finding out what makes them tick and what makes them laugh. And just using, even if it's self-deprecating stuff, like the way you're walking, or half the time you're in a bush, aren't you trying to capture a shot and just like,

Danny (00:35:05):

Well, that's it.

Chris (00:35:05):

Yeah.

Danny (00:35:06):

And that is what you were talking about earlier about making the relationship with them by building that relationship up over the time. By the time you get to the wedding, you're comfortable enough that maybe how, maybe cheeky or whatever that you can be with stuff or tongue in cheek kind of stuff. If you've not done any of that and you're just meeting them for the first day and you've got no connection with them, you're having to try and build that trust and connection up them over what, 10 hours. Whereas if you've put the graft in before, you will definitely have a better experience on the day and then you'll get more from the couple on the day as well.

Chris (00:35:50):

Yeah, a hundred percent building that relationship and that trust as well. And half the time the photographer has an advantage of that anyway because they get engagement shoots. So they've already been there and found out a little bit more about the couple and send them in person and they've already had the camera pointed at them by that person. So yes, all the things you do before the wedding and just knowing if they've got a pair and what kind of music they like. If the photographer or we bring a speaker, I don't really tend to bring speakers, but if the photographer does, it's nice to know those little bits of information that can make them tick. And just again, just, I'm not that fussy on details, like fluffing out the dress every time they stop and things like that. It's just because it stops interrupts the moment and that's when it becomes the photo shoot. And again, I get that photographers kind of have to, and you probably should as a videographer, but I don't want to make it feel like a photo shoot, just like we are having a walk and we're going to stop in certain bits and you're going to talk to each other about who's the worst dressed today. And that's it. Yeah,

Danny (00:36:52):

That's good. I'll need to steal that one. That's great. Chris, you won T, you did it third time. Lucky you smashed it. Talk to us about that. That must be some feeling.

Chris (00:37:09):

Yeah. Do you know what? Ever since I first heard of Twitter, I was like, I need to win that. At least the regionals. I haven't set my goals on the nationals, but the regionals, I was like, I need to win this because it just, I'm not very competitive, but I'm competitive with myself. And I feel like especially going the first year and getting highly commended, I was like, okay, well now I need to win because I've got this close to it that it needs to happen. And so yeah, been persistent third year, won the region and it feels really good. Obviously ecstatic on the night, but I think what really stands out other than that is just the sheer amount of messages I got afterwards from suppliers and future couples, past couples, just all, I got so many messages, it was really overwhelming. But also I was just sat there pretty much the whole day just replying to things like the day after and just that love and support and also just sort of validation in the way that you're doing the right thing. I say this year that I'm making the best films that I've ever made. And to have that validation of, yes, you've got an award now, so clearly you are. It's a nice feeling. Yeah.

Danny (00:38:15):

Yeah, it a good, it just continues to egg you on a bit and just give you that kick up the bum that you might need towards the end of the season, which is always good about the awards being at the end, you don't look quite, you're tired. It's been a long year. And to have that and go right, do you know what the blood, sweat and tears that I put into this year, it was worth it.

Chris (00:38:38):

Yeah, definitely. It's a good time for it and it's definitely motivated me to carry on with my edits for the rest of the year as well.

Danny (00:38:45):

I'll bet. I'll bet. But no, I'm assuming the Cuomo film, was that one of the ones that you put forward?

Chris (00:38:52):

That was one I entered. Yeah, I had to do that.

Danny (00:38:54):

Yeah, I thought so. I thought so. The winner, it was fucking beautiful.

Chris (00:38:58):

It filmed itself. I had to tell the story, but everything just looks great when you point a camera in a place like that.

Danny (00:39:06):

Yeah, I know. But the shots and stuff like that that you had, don't do yourself a disservice here. The shots and stuff like that in there, that takes thought planning and skill. So no, it was very well executed.

Jason (00:39:17):

Yeah. I'd guarantee I'd messed that up.

Danny (00:39:19):

That's what he said when he was watching it. He's like, man, everybody's done, Como. He's like, I guarantee you, I'd go there and I'd fuck up. I'm

Jason (00:39:26):

Like, if someone did a Morocco shoot earlier, I did Morocco in March and someone else did a Morocco shoot later this year. And I'm looking at their Morocco film going, why doesn't mine look like that? How can I mess that

Speaker 3 (00:39:39):

Up? You didn't mess it up. Your Morocco thing was quite,

Chris (00:39:42):

You do it in your own way. Yeah. I mean I looked at someone's film. Yeah, I looked at someone else's film with the same venue and I was like, it's so much better.

Danny (00:39:48):

We we're all just hyper self-critical of ourselves. That's the problem. Yeah, you've done good. Cheers, man. Done good. Cheers, man. But

Jason (00:39:56):

Anyway, it's not about you right now. It's about Chris. A hundred percent. And the Coba fill was amazing. And the final ticket, is that in January eight in London?

Chris (00:40:04):

Yes. It's January eight.

Jason (00:40:05):

Yeah. Yeah. So quite a lineup coming up for that final list. It's amazing to be in that little group because Christ the UK has got some talented videographers.

Danny (00:40:14):

No, you should be really proud of yourself, man, for that. And yeah, third time is the charm.

Jason (00:40:20):

Yeah, especially going, especially because it has been your third year, you've been consistent with it. It's always good to see that progression and get the validation that you truly deserve. So yeah, hopefully we'll see what happens in January. We'll be watching very intently to see. We

Danny (00:40:36):

Will,

Jason (00:40:38):

We'll definitely be inviting the winner back on to say, we've got the best in the uk, so we might get you back on in January.

Danny (00:40:44):

Oh, Chris cre. So what have you done in the last month that we can talk about? Nothing

Chris (00:40:50):

Editing, waiting for the awards, having a good night out. But no, it's really nice, obviously looking through that list of names and being like, wow, I'm amongst these people, and a little bit of that. Oh my God, that's just a crazy good list. And thinking that you'd be part of that. And so for me, now, as much as I don't want to sound too humble about it, but I'm just quite happy to be there and my hopes aren't pinned on winning this. I'm just really happy to be in that list of people.

Jason (00:41:22):

Yeah, a hundred percent.

Danny (00:41:24):

Well, mate, I think everybody that's won, and that's a good thing about two, isn't it? It's everybody that's one in the different regions and highly commended and stuff. It's like a worthy person that's won it. You can see why that person has won. That's the good thing about Tya being maybe unlike some other awards that we maybe know of that aren't quite as, they're not judged, they can tell it's maybe not being judged properly. And Tya is just that one that if somebody's won for the region in Tia, you know their films are shit hot. And that's the good thing about it. And as a person for receiving the award as well, we let you know, okay, it's been judged properly by looking at who the judges are. It's been judged properly, so I know that, okay. Yeah, it's like proper validation of your own work.

Chris (00:42:14):

Yeah, it's your industry peers, isn't it that judge it. So that makes a big difference. Yeah,

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Danny (00:43:19):

It'd be good to maybe just get touch on. So in terms of your packages and stuff, obviously you've got details on your website and stuff, but good to maybe talk us through your package structure and stuff and what couples get for that. Always find that bit really interesting when people talk about that we all do things a little bit

Chris (00:43:41):

Differently. Yeah, of course. I mean, packages are the context to what you do, so there's no point in talking about what you do unless you know how much that person charges compared to other people, if that makes sense. So yeah, my packages, I've got three, I stick to the three package system and I've always had this purely because I sort of read about the psychology one of it once, and I'm obsessed with the psychology of it and how it can point you towards certain directions or picking certain packages. But also I just want to give options. We push, I very much push people to two videographers and that's why the brand is Spice Wedding Films and not just named after me because I want Kate to have a face there. So if people do go for two videographers, they don't feel like they're getting me in a faceless name sort of thing.

(00:44:27):

Just somebody else that might be random. They know they're pretty much mostly getting Kate, although that is changing a lot with weekday weddings and things like that. So from, my packages ranged from two thousand three hundred two thousand nine hundred. The first package is a six to eight minute film and just one person, the second package, which is 2,700 is a two to three minute highlight and a 10 to 12 minute film. And then the top package is a two to three minute highlight and a 15 to 20 minute film. And those two, the middle and the top package are both with two videographers as well. And throughout that they get the full ceremony and speeches full day up until pretty much the first dance or sunset, whatever's latest.

Jason (00:45:16):

Yeah, I remember looking at your packages online and I really liked the film structure of them because I think it's a challenge for a lot of videographers to understand exactly how much they should be giving because for a couple to be looking at videographers outside of the visual element, sometimes the only compatibles are what the deliverables are. So, oh, this person's giving me a six minute film, this person's giving me a nine minute film. What is that difference? But I like the mix of your films because I think, I dunno if you mentioned it, but was I right that your first package also comes with a one minute teaser?

Chris (00:45:53):

Yes. Yeah, I did mention that. Yeah, it does. Yeah.

Jason (00:45:55):

So there's a one minute teaser and a six to eight minute highlight, but your second package comes with a longer teaser, but a full on a six to eight. It's a longer highlight. Yeah. Yeah. So there's a good mix there. Either way. Sometimes I think a lot of videographers feel that they're not giving enough, but as an experienced videographer, I know that that's more than enough and they're getting a good mix from there. So do you get people often asking for anything longer than that? Or is that something in that experience?

Chris (00:46:25):

No, never really. I'm someone who changes my packages quite a bit to do what I enjoy, but also if I find that people go in for certain packages rather than others, then I'll make them even a little bit more accessible or add something to them or change the film lengths and see how that reacts to things. But as a general rule, the middle package is what I would absolutely love. I would be happy doing 30 of the middle package. The bottom package is, the first package is the lowest amount that I would want to earn from a wedding, and the highest package is the most effort I would want to put into a wedding. So 15 to 20 minutes is probably the most I would ever do. I don't get anybody asking for longer films, but I also, I'm, I keep reminding couples that we do have a keepsake edit.

(00:47:17):

So essentially uncut footage, all I do is when all the cold footage that sits on the timeline, I'll then put that in order into its own timeline, cut out all of the junk, make sure I'm not talking in the background of stuff and then send it out to them. And that is kind of like the home movie version of what I do. So if there are times when, if you've got a 10 to 12 minute film and there's two of us, but there's so much going on the day that you feel like, oh, you kind of feel like the couple was shortchange and you could have made the film a lot longer, but if you did that for every couple, you'd be doing yourself day. So it is nice to be like, well, here's your film. I've got loads more footage if you want to see it and you've got 12 months to come back and ask for it if you wanted to get that keepsake edit. And it's a little bit of an upsell, but also, I kind of want to make sure these couples know there's plenty more if they want it.

Jason (00:48:16):

I think it's a great upsell. It's something I do as well, and I call it the formal edit essentially. But it's a nice easy upsell, especially when all these Black Friday deals come out for each of their own. If people want to do Black Friday deals, it works for some people. But a really good Black Friday offer is to all of your existing couples that year to go, Hey, this is normal, this price, but your Black Friday, if you want to seal that in, get ready for Christmas, it's there, ready rocks. So yeah.

Danny (00:48:42):

Yeah, I've just done it there for Black Friday, first year doing it and five booking from it.

Chris (00:48:51):

Wow.

Danny (00:48:52):

Five uphill.

Chris (00:48:53):

That's for the FOMO edit.

Danny (00:48:55):

For the FOMO edit from Black Friday. Yeah.

Chris (00:48:58):

Yeah.

Danny (00:48:58):

That's a good topup isn't it, on the income as well?

Chris (00:49:00):

Yeah, absolutely.

Danny (00:49:01):

And also they get all the footage from the day that they've not seen kind of thing. But yeah, I was surprised at how I think as well, because I'd put the raw footage price up by a decent amount just to cover storage, plus the actual time it takes to go through everything, going through every single clip. It's not an insignificant amount of time. So I felt like I was probably, because I don't want, I'm not one of these people, when I say roughage, it's not a case of just buying it everything on a hard drive and then ship it off. So I will go through it and put it on a one big timeline and stuff and take out some of the kind of, like you said, junk. But so it meant that with it being up a little bit up higher, I was able to put on the 50% discount on, for instance, for Black Friday, but still a decent amount of money.

Chris (00:49:54):

But what I've been doing recently as well is just saying, if I know I've got a lot of footage say for it is just me. For example, in the six to eight minute film isn't a lot, and there are quite a lot of times where I'm like, I've actually captured more than I could probably fit into that. So upselling a longer edit as well often helps. And just being like, look, I've got lots of footage, which is going to be left on the table, so you've got the year to order your keepsake edit or phone murder. But if you wanted to just include it all in the film, and don't get me wrong, if it is going to be nine, 10 minutes, I'm not going to upsell that to 'em. I'll just do it. But if they want it to be longer, I can offer them that for an extra X amount. So it is just a case of, obviously it's still a business, but I want them to get as much as possible. You filmed it, so it is really a shame to leave it on the table.

Danny (00:50:46):

Totally. Yeah. Again, it's all those little moments that maybe for instance, in that first call or whatever, that you maybe think, oh, don't really like that shot. You're maybe being about picky with it, but to them they're going to be, oh, that's my Uncle Davey, or whatever that I grew up with, or something kind of thing. So that's what I do like about those edits because when they get back and they're like, oh, it was just so nice just to see everything on the day. And there was so much that, because ultimately when you're having to trim that down to even a 12, 15 minute film, we capture so much on the day, especially because you just hit record and just let it run out. But yeah, that's always the comment that I get is just so good just to see everything. It's not like everything in Capitol layers

Chris (00:51:36):

And untampered with as well, natural audio, that kind of thing. It's really hard when you have gone.

Jason (00:51:42):

Yeah, no, sometimes during the drinks reception. On that note of pressing recording line go, I will sometimes just do a 10 minute recording just walking around the room because sometimes seeing a cut and then cutting someone else, if they do go for that formal edit, it's quite nice to see the room visually like, oh, this group was standing together and then this group was over here, and it's just like they were taking a walkthrough and seeing all their guests just doing, it's not necessarily the most cinematic shot, but it's just someone, it's just allowing you to be back in that room. So I like that 10 minute drinks reception shot. I do it every wedding.

Danny (00:52:14):

You might be wondering if you're watching this or if you're now, if you have been listening to it and wondering why you don't hear Jace anymore. Jace was here, but now Jace is now an empty chair because he's had to dash home to rescue his wife because she has locked herself out the house. So just going to be you and me, Chris, from now on unless it gets back, but let's crack on. We'll be grand. So I guess I wanted to talk to you a little bit more about the podcast, a little bit about background. I guess about, again, for our listeners that don't know, Chris runs another Wedding Industry podcast, came to photographers and videographers. You are obviously the representing for the videographers and Tom obviously for photographers. So I guess a little bit of background about, I guess when did you start and what was the idea for starting and I guess that journey that you've went on?

Chris (00:53:13):

Yeah, so I guess it all started at the end of 2022 when there was a kind of moment where my wife was getting home from work and she's always having a good time with her friends at work. And then she'll go out drinks afterwards and actually be like, oh, what I've done today at lunchtime with friends and whatever. And I was like, do I really want to be in this job where I literally just sit in my office all the time? And as much as I love, I now love that the weddings and going out when it comes to winter time, there's a lot of isolation and if you're working on your own a lot, it can get a bit like that. And I'm an only child, so I'm quite independent anyway and don't need a lot of that. But I feel like that thought crossed my mind, which is like, do I really want to be doing this for the next 10 years or whatever?

(00:54:02):

So I'd already had an idea of creating some sort of educational thing, whether it's a YouTube channel or podcast for videographers. And I approached Tom and just said, you want to do you fancy doing this podcast? I think it could be fun to see where it goes, but also just an opportunity for us to catch up once a month and just hang out and force ourselves to do something outside of sitting in the office. And luckily, so he was also planning something called the Wedding Cove, which not to confuse things, wedding Capture Co and Wedding Cove, but essentially the Wedding Cove is sort of like a monthly coffee. They do monthly coffee mornings for wedding suppliers, and then they do a summer party and they've got a Christmas party coming up next week. And so they organise that so wedding suppliers can come together, they can co-work network or just hang out and have a chat, and then they have a summer party in the winter party. So he was clearly already thinking in that way of we need some community, we need some activity in our area between the suppliers. And so the Wedding Capture Co was born. And also it was nice to have that perspective with a photographer and a videographer because when we started it, I was like, one of my favourite parts of a wedding when I get to sit down, it's like

Danny (00:55:44):

My favourite part when the photographers burst in their eyes doing group shots and we can

Chris (00:55:49):

Just go, oh, canopy. Love that. No, when you sit down for dinner and you got the photographer, your table and then with the photographer, and then you just get to have a chat. And whether you know them or not, you tend to just talk the world Tourettes about weddings and what do you do in this situation or what's the worst dish you've had and that kind of thing. And I love that conversation between the two people. And so I was like, if we can replicate this lunch, this dinnertime conversation, but over our podcast, and then that's the goals we want to aim for. And every now and then, we'll in a bit of serious education, but we'll try and keep it mainly conversational.

Danny (00:56:29):

Yeah, yeah. No, I think that that dynamic of it is I think key for podcasts so that it's not just all kind of business, it is just a bit more conversational. It is the format that works for it. But yeah, no, you guys definitely, you bounce off each other really, really well and it is, it feels just like you're just sitting there listening to the two you on the edge, the fringes of that table, just having a bit of a blather and a nater and I am writing team, you don't really cut much out, do you? It is just record and just let things go kind of thing. Yeah,

Chris (00:57:14):

Yeah. So yeah, it's pretty much we set up, we record and we don't really have a target for episodes. We tend to get higher and higher and they get longer and longer, and then we say, right, we need to cut 'em down again. So they go back down to 45 minutes and then they get longer and longer again. But at the end of the day, we don't want too much outside of the day of recording. We don't want to give ourselves too much work because the aim of this was just mainly just to have fun and have that sort of conversation rather than to build anything from it, which we kind of have built some stuff from it, but the aim was always to do as little as possible. So in the edit is we keep pretty much a hundred percent of it in unless something changes in that time. Between that recording and posting, then it goes in. And

Danny (00:58:01):

I guess on the back of it all, because it's been going a while, obviously you've got a good core audience, as we've seen from all the Spotify unw wraps. You guys were in the number one spot for a lot of people. So you've built up what appears to be a decent and loyal kind of audience there. But on the back of the podcast, you've also arranged some kind of workshops and stuff of that as well, haven't you?

Chris (00:58:26):

Yeah, so we have hosted two branding workshops this year. And again where we've not wanted to, we kind of want to do our own thing in terms of the education space and things like that, as a lot of people do. But for the workshop things, it is like a passion project. Do you think? We are both very passionate about branding and hopefully that's come across and how you can present yourself and target ideal couples and things like that. And I think in the glamorous world of actual filmmaking workshops and practical things, I think what I really enjoy is that the business side and creating the website and making sure you get the right people and changing your business and that sort of thing. So we created the marketing and branding workshop, which we hosted the first time in May and the second time in, or last month, I think it was in November.

(00:59:27):

And they were only very small ones, so I think it was seven people per time. And it was just really good to be able to pass on some of that knowledge. But also after the first one, I redesigned my own website because I was actually, a lot of the things that I preach, I'm not sure if I'm quite doing so I need to up my own game as well. So after the first one, I redesigned my own website and that's helped dramatically for me as well. So this kind of passion project has escalated into it, is actually helped us as much as it's helped the people that were there and bought tickets.

Danny (01:00:02):

I mean, I feel you on that point because Jason and I will talk quite often about making sure, make sure you're posting on Instagram, make sure you're spending time to go and do it. Even in the latest podcast that we release today at time of recording today, that it's the same kind of thing. But if I look at it, if I look at my November, it's probably one of the lowest amount of leads that I've had in quite some time. And the reason for that was because I haven't really been posting because I've been quite busy between editing and stuff like that. So I think the podcast is also good for us as the podcasters to go, okay, yes, I need to practise what I preach and get my arson gear to actually go and implement these things that I'm talking about. So yeah, it's definitely a good way to keep you in check. But that's awesome that, and to be honest, for those workshops, the type of workshop, that's probably a really good number to be honest, that you can actually spend the proper amount of time with each individual a full day, isn't it? It's like a day show, you have a dinner and stuff like that included, don't you?

Chris (01:01:07):

Yeah, it is a full day. It is hosted at place called the Cosy Club, and it is very cosy. So you're literally sitting on sofas, just hanging out, and we sort of encourage the conversation so that everyone can sort of ask each other things, they can ask us things and stop us at any point in this presentation. We're not here just to talk to you for a day. We can have conversation about it. And then at dinner time you get everyone gets food and we sit down and we have a chat at dinner as well, a little bit more informal. But yeah, and it's nice to, like you say, focus on individual people, especially when we're doing website reviews as well. So we have people's websites in front of everyone on the projector, and we'll go through and we'll give them feedback on what they could do to either improve or if they don't want to improve their website just to improve their brand and start targeting the couples they want.

Danny (01:01:58):

So yeah, I think the whole branding and website thing is definitely something that I have noticed, especially since starting the podcast and maybe looking more intently at I guess all the filmmakers that there are, that it's definitely something that's not always, sorry, I'll rephrase that. It's something that I see as a common trend with people that is, it's something that they can maybe put a bit more work into or a bit more spice put into their, see what I've done there, just to finesse it a little bit more to make people want to inquire. I definitely seen a shift when I made changes to the branding and hired somebody in to do the branding, the copywriting and the website. That was a real shift for me in terms of not only the amount of inquiries, but the quality of inquiries in terms of my ideal couple started coming to me rather than me trying to find them, they were actually coming to me. And it makes such a difference, and I think people can look at it sometimes. I mean, listen, you don't need to go and spend thousands upon thousands of pound on a website. You could make it yourself. But when you get that advice and when you get people looking at it and giving you actual feedback on it or hiring people in to help you with it, it makes such a difference. It just gives a massive boost to the quality and therefore the weeds that you actually get in

Chris (01:03:37):

A hundred percent if you know what you're doing. And I'm not saying my website's perfect, I did it myself, but it is much better than it was, and it's targeting the people that I wanted to target, which shows in I've not necessarily got more leads. It has been a bit of a strange year with leads, like bookings have come in nicely, but leads are a bit strange. But if you're getting lots of inquiries and not converting them, then maybe people aren't quite getting who you are, if that makes sense. Or your inquiries come in maybe from the wrong place, but if you set expectations with your website is I do this, I make this, and also what you don't make and what you don't show, then the inquiries that you do get should be hotter as I would say, more likely to book once you reply to 'em.

Danny (01:04:28):

Totally. This man that was sitting here, an

Chris (01:04:31):

Invisible man,

Danny (01:04:33):

Man, right now, he's a prime example of that because he doesn't get that many weeds. But that's obviously by design, because if you watch Chase's films, they're very different to what the majority of the market are putting out there.

Chris (01:04:45):

Yeah, he's ing down. Yeah,

Danny (01:04:47):

Yeah, very, very niche. So by default, he gets a lot less inquiries than for instance, maybe you or I get, but I would bet, I mean his conversion is certainly much higher than mine, and I would say it's probably more higher than most people for that reason, because he's going, this is me, this is what I do. There is no getting away from what you're getting here, this is it. Do you want it book? And normally when they inquire, it turns into a booking, which obviously for the majority of people that are maybe delivering a more, well, we'll call it traditional, but more of maybe what the market is looking for, then there's more options, isn't there? But with, for instance, the invisible man over here, there's not as many.

Chris (01:05:30):

Yeah, exactly. If you're doing quite things quite similar to everybody else, then they're going to be shopping around as well. But like you say, when you watch his films, you know exactly what you're getting. Go on Instagram and watch through his films and no one's expecting anything else other than that. So by the time they've inquired, they know that's what they want.

Danny (01:05:50):

Exactly.

Chris (01:05:50):

And there's not, probably not a lot of people that do that in the area they're after.

Danny (01:05:55):

There's not. There's not. But yeah, I wouldn't like to edit one of Jason's films for him because I'd be like, actually, I wouldn't even know where to start. What is the blueprint for this? It's like chaos.

Chris (01:06:10):

There was a point where I wanted to do films like that, but then I realised I was giving myself too much editing and I was like, do you know what? I'm just going to go back to quiet, normal films.

Danny (01:06:21):

Sure. One question that we do like to ask as being a long time listener of the pod is just what is your biggest balls up at a wedding, if you can think of one?

Chris (01:06:33):

So I've been thinking about this since you asked me to come on, and I think there's kind of two answers. One of them is that I don't think, there's not a lot that you can do that you can't recover from. So of course I've had audio go wrong, A groom take off his jacket with a lapel on and then you completely lose his audio because, and I've not realised, or I've forgotten to mark up a reading press recordings record twice during a confetti shot, that kind of thing. All of those things have happened. There was even one occasion where I used to plug into PA systems and I plugged into the PA system, got this perfect audio, and I was like, amazing, don't need to mic over anyone up. I've got this amazing audio. And it was in a drawer. And what happened? Someone closed the drawer and my wire popped out of the pa.

(01:07:24):

It was like it got caught and popped out and nobody noticed. So no audio from the PA system. Luckily it had something on the tables, which I managed to sort of recover audio from. But that was pretty not great. But I'd say my worst mess up was probably outside of wedding, but it could have easily happened for a wedding, is that I once did a shoot, a corporate shoot. It was actually photos and video and I had two different cameras go in, I think, I dunno, it was one for each or not, or I sort of mix in between, but it was, again, I don't think I can go into too much detail, but it was a shoot that you couldn't repeat, let's put it that way. It was almost an event. And essentially I had these two SD cards and my keyboard running out of battery at the time.

(01:08:17):

So what I was doing, I was copying SD cards over, but I was using command C and command V to copy. So what I had, I had both SD cards in there. I could see you cringing already had both SD cards in there. I pressed control C copied one over all good, went to the next one, pressed command C and command V, but obviously the command C hadn't worked. So what had happened, it copied the same SD card twice and I was like, yep, all good. I can see there's two SD cards there both full of footage. That's all good, ejected it. And yeah, about my life format, had the cards ready for the wedding and everything. And then back to editing it, I was like, oh no, I've got the same footage twice. Where's the rest of it? And it turns out it hadn't copied the second SD card, and luckily it wasn't something which wasn't a business ruiner, it wasn't a wedding, and they still got stuff from the first SD card, but now I make sure when I copy stuff over, I literally right click and get info and look at how many gigabytes and how many items are in there, and then I go for it on the camera as well and make sure that all those clips are in.

(01:09:35):

So yeah, it was a pretty big mess up to be honest. And yeah, I hated myself for it for a while, but I think it's just learning from those things, isn't it?

Danny (01:09:44):

And I think that's the reason. Well, that is the reason why we ask that question as well, because there's always learning to come from making mistakes is great. If you're not making mistakes, then something's probably wrong, then you're so perfect. Yeah, exactly. Oh my god, you're so perfect. But that's the thing, because I know the things maybe that's happened to me and I've went, okay, I'm not going to do that again, because you get burned from it and it's ingrained into your brain. So yeah, the footage thing has never happened to me before, but because of listening to other people's mistakes and things that have happened to them, I know to go and do exactly what that is. When I transfer the card over, I double click on the card, I have the two windows open, and I look at what the first clip is of each of the folders, make sure it looks the same, and I do control a and a right click and make sure, okay, there's 52 items here, there's 52 items there, okay, we're all good. And nothing's went ski with. And then checking the actual gigabyte of the file sizes as well just to make sure that that issue doesn't occur.

Chris (01:10:56):

And that's exactly it, and that's what I wasn't doing. And clearly that's what you should be doing, say yeah,

Danny (01:11:01):

Exactly. For me, I have this system, I dunno about you, but when I come home from the wedding, regardless of whether I've got a wedding the next day or not, I need to make sure that I just get everything started backing up so I get the cards, get it all in, even if it means I go to bed a bit later just because I've got this system and this order of how I do things. So I think if I wasn't to do that, it would throw me off and that's when I would make a mistake. So

Chris (01:11:27):

Yeah, you want to make sure everything's done and onto a hard drive or to as soon as you can basically, so that it's not like you don't pick up the camera format and be like, oh wait, have I transferred that? And it's like, yeah.

Danny (01:11:39):

Yeah. I mean for me, getting back Blaze was a massive thing for me in terms of the peace of mind for that because I know I upload it to the hard drive and I know by the time I wake up in the morning that all the footage is backed up so that I'm fine to wipe the cards and it just gives you that peace of mind.

Chris (01:11:59):

No, that is good.

Danny (01:12:00):

But not everybody's as fortunate to have as fast internet as I do, and I really hope because we're going to have to move soon. So see if we move to somewhere that's got archaic internet, I'm going to be like, oh my God, it needs to be a minimum like 500 upload or something like that, which

Chris (01:12:13):

That's really hard to get as well. I used to have a gigabyte up and a gigabyte down and it was great. And now I've got like 30 upload speed, so I've no chance of so moving. Really? Yeah,

Danny (01:12:26):

It is. Having all those hard drives just sitting about, and it's not only that it's really expensive, all the hard drives that's like I remember

Chris (01:12:36):

I've been trying to upgrade my backup hard drives to SSDs, and I'm starting to regret already now, now that halfway through because they used to be the big drives that are plugged in and spinning, and when you plug them in, they take a while to spin up and get started, and you're kind of like, how long are these going to last for before I can't rely on them anymore. So I've got some SSDs and I was like, this is going to be expensive to transfer all this stuff.

Danny (01:12:58):

Yeah, because I looked at NAS as well, NAS drives and stuff, but yeah, the reason actually I didn't go for it was to back up an as drive was a way more expensive, and I was like, nah, I'm fine with just backblaze for just now. But yeah, hopefully when we move, I don't get really slow internet. I'll be really sad and I'll need to pay BT email or something. Yeah. Well, Chris, thank you so much for coming on the pod today. Both Jason and I, the invisible man would have loved having you on, and it's been great to just have a bit of a chinwag with another awesome filmmaker, a lovely man, Jason, what you got to say about that? Lovely,

Chris (01:13:38):

A lovely man. Yeah, you got nothing to say now.

Danny (01:13:41):

Exactly. Bit quiet now, aren't you? Prick?

Chris (01:13:44):

But yeah, no, it's been a pleasure. I've really, really enjoyed it. Again, you guys are doing bits. We'll have to return the favour and have you on ours soon as well to talk about the summit.

Danny (01:13:53):

Yeah, that'd be awesome, man. That would be awesome.

Chris (01:13:55):

So yeah, to find me on my website, it's spice wedding films.com. Instagram is at Spice Wedding Films, and if you want to find our podcast, wedding Capture Co is just on Instagram wedding capture.co and you should be able to find it on any podcast platform as well, Spotify, apple Music, and even on YouTube as well.

Danny (01:14:12):

Perfect. Yeah, it's a really, really good podcast guys. Go and go and check it out. Just another good lesson on your journey to weddings. I believe as well that you said that you might have a wee cheeky, cheeky offer for our listeners on some stuff that you have up for grabs. Chris, if you could let us know about that as well.

Chris (01:14:33):

Yeah, so at the moment I'm sort of building a Shopify store and have a couple of products available and hopefully that's going to grow over the next year or so. But at the moment, whatever's out when this podcast is released, I want to try and give a discount to listeners of your podcast. So if you go to my website, spice Wedding films.com, click on education, that would take you to my shop and if you use Code TW VP 30, you'll get 30% off any of our products.

Danny (01:15:05):

Sure. As you know, as wedding videographers, we do need wedding contracts between our clients and us to protect both of us. So Chris does have on his website at the minute, a wedding videographer contract that you can purchase using that code TWVP 30, and I believe that there are other products due to be coming onto the site in the very near future. So keep an eye out for that.

Chris (01:15:27):

Yep, exactly. The contract has been out for a while now and it's something I'm quite passionate about. I've got it written by a solicitor in 2020. Hopefully you won't need it, but I feel like having something which you can really get behind and send a couples would be really confident about, rather than just a list of points, which actually don't really mean anything if push came to shove, that it makes the industry seem a little bit more official and hopefully makes you more confident should something ever go wrong.

Danny (01:15:56):

Thank you so much for coming on. It's been, as I said, awesome speaking to you Jason. Also really enjoyed it. And again, thanks everyone. Guys, that's been that Wedding Videographer podcast. I've been Danny, that was Jace and that's been Chris. Cheers. See you.