Thumbing through the vast number of Wedding Videography websites currently on offer here in the UK it doesn't take long to realise the vast majority of video services charge between £900 to £1200, or even higher for a wedding video. But how do you know you are not being over-charged?

Why the big sticker price of some of these services? And is it realistic to believe some others can provide the same for very much less?

The average couple planning their wedding 12 months in advance might spend between £10,000 and £15,000, assuming the families of the Bride and Groom are picking up some of the costs. And this cost includes everything from venue and dress hire, the reception, flowers and all the other bits and bobs you can go through before even arriving at the alter to make your vows. So it doesn't take a marketing expert to understand what price for video services becomes "affordable" mixed with today's economic pressures.

Unlike a professional documentary video producer (which is the style and service we offer), a wedding videographer prefers to cover the wedding event using three cameras - with at least two camera operators. Unless you are hiring family members (as is often the case with some wedding video companies) these operators need paying. As a result, additional cameras and operators have from the start added a significant amount to the cost. It also needs to be kept in mind that if you've got a multitude of cameras and operators, and a photographer with his/her assistant involved too - are you getting the picture, even if they aren't? Unobtrusive? Unlikely. Out of sight? Probably not.

And is often the case, if you've paid the big sticker price, the wedding videographer will want to show you what you are getting for your money by bringing out all the hardware: steadicams, jibs, lighting and the whole nine yards. So just be careful your day doesn't turn into someone else's Hollywood ego irritating the guests and officials.

A documentary video maker on the other hand is very use to shooting a project with just one camera, or maybe a second static camera in the background - being in the right place at the right time - unobtrusive and not disturbing the natural ambience of the subject. So as costs go, we start from a much lower and cost effective point.

The typical start-up cost for a professional video production service can be anything up to £20,000 (as was ours). However, any good business realises if they keep the overheads low they can lower the prices to be attractively competitive and still make the return on the initial investment in a reasonable time while maintaining a quality service and product - recouping that investment over a shorter period of time means the business is in profit sooner.

When we set our prices, it was decided to offer what we believed was a fair and realistic price to match the economic demands of the time. We specifically targeted the average prices, and made it affordable by what the marketing people call "unbundling," that is taking out some elements of the service and making them options - the Bridal Preparation for example, which adds more time to the shoot-day and in our experience an option not in great demand at the moment. As a result, we are able to bring the average price of our standard 9-hour-day service down significantly.

So rather than charge £900 or even £800 for our standard wedding service, we made a business decision to make the base price less, understanding that a wedding video is often something people might only think of once they have budgeted for what are the traditional services - the wedding photographer still being at the forefront of everyone's mind. One reason is that weddings are family occasions, and although a young couple might be into video, it's very likely the older members of the family are not.

For a two-camera shoot, delivering 2 Blu Ray and 2 standard definition DVDs, all recorded and edited in HD (up to a 9-hour day, which does include our arrival and preparation time) we charge just £685. Without Blu Ray, on 2 standard definition DVDs and 2 high capacity flash memory sticks instead, for the same package, the price is just £645. Other options are available. But often, people do not realise that our price also includes up to an additional 5 days of skilled and creative work for editing and post production. With the shoot day, a total of 6 days work in reality.

The phrase, "...you get what you pay for..." is not a truism, but something which stretches the meaning for both the very high and the very low prices. A relatively low price should not be judged out of context, equally the same as a high price is no guarantee of assuring quality. But as to the quality of our own service, our client testimonials and playlist samples are there to be evaluated - along with your discussion with us having first read our Frequent Questions section.

For a video producer with a 30-year background (and more) in broadcast television production (at the programme-making end) we offer great value for money - a sensible and reasoned approach against the grain of a price-inflated industry whose members often consider themselves artists rather than video story tellers.