HOW TO HIRE · PHOTOGRAPHY & VIDEO · CHECKED OCTOBER 2026
How to hire a wedding videographer in the UK
The checks, the questions and the paperwork.
Wedding videographers need no licence in the UK. Here is who owns the film, the music question, and what the contract must say.
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THE 60-SECOND VERSION
Hiring a wedding videographer in five steps
- Watch a whole wedding filmNot the three-minute highlights reel only: ask for a full ceremony and speeches edit from one real wedding.
- Know what you are buyingHighlights film, full-length edit, raw footage, ceremony and speeches in full — each is a separate item.
- Ask about the musicCopyright in a song belongs to its owners. Ask what music the wedding videographer uses and on what licence.
- Read the contract firstDate, hours, who films, delivery time, cancellation and illness, the licence — before any deposit.
- Agree the sound planMicrophones on the officiant, the couple and the speeches. Bad audio is the most common thing that cannot be fixed later.
BEFORE YOU BOOK
Check before you book
No register applies
Filming weddings needs no licence in any UK nation, and wedding videographers have no register. Anyone can sell wedding films, so a full sample, references and the written contract are the checks.
Ask for one complete wedding film and two recent couples to ring.
Copyright, music and your licence
For a film, section 9 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 makes the producer and principal director its authors, and section 11 makes the author the first owner — so the wedding videographer owns the copyright in your wedding film and footage. It only passes to you by a written assignment signed by them (section 90); otherwise you get a licence. A song is protected by copyright, and putting a film online is a communication to the public restricted by section 20 of the 1988 Act. A wedding videographer who sets your film to a chart song needs the rights holders' permission; without it, the film can be muted or taken down online.
Read the licence clause: can you share the film online, give copies to family, keep the raw footage? Ask for a written assignment if you need the copyright. Ask what music library or licence the videographer uses, and whether the film is cleared for posting online. legislation.gov.uk →
Your privacy right in commissioned films
Section 85 of the 1988 Act gives anyone who commissions photographs or a film for private and domestic purposes the right to stop copies being issued, shown in public or put online. The wedding videographer owns the copyright but needs your permission to use your wedding film in a portfolio, advert or competition.
Agree in the contract whether your images may be used, and where. legislation.gov.uk →
ICO data protection fee
A wedding videographer keeps your contact details and hours of footage of you and your guests, which is personal data. A business or sole trader processing personal data must pay the ICO data protection fee — £52 or £78 a year for most small businesses — unless exempt, and is then listed on the ICO's public register.
Search the business name on the ICO register and ask how long the files are kept. gov.uk →
VAT
Filming a wedding is standard-rated, with VAT at 20% on the coverage, the highlights film and the full edit. A business whose taxable turnover passes the £90,000 registration threshold must charge it and show it as a separate line on the invoice.
Ask for the VAT number on the booking contract, and see the wedding film package and its 20% VAT shown apart. gov.uk →
A good answer: A complete edit from a single wedding, with the ceremony and speeches, so you can hear the sound as well as see the pictures.
A good answer: A name, written into the contract, and a clear answer on whether a second person films.
A good answer: Small microphones on the officiant or the groom, a recorder on the speeches table, and a backup recording.
A good answer: Music from a licensed library, or a clear explanation of what you may and may not post online.
A good answer: A highlights film of a stated length, a longer edit if included, the formats, and a delivery time in weeks.
A good answer: Yes or no, and a price if extra. Raw footage is rarely included unless agreed.
A good answer: A named arrangement with other videographers, not a promise that it will not happen.
A good answer: Only with your consent, recorded in the contract — section 85 lets you say no.
Getting the quote right
- Who actually attends the wedding with a camera — the videographer you met, any second operator, employed or subcontracted
- Hours of coverage, the start and end points, and the overtime rate
- Who films, named, and whether a second camera operator is included
- Each deliverable listed: highlights film length, full edit, ceremony and speeches, raw footage
- The music: licensed library or cleared tracks, and whether the film can be posted online
- The licence and whether the copyright is assigned
- Travel, the deposit, the balance date, cancellation terms
- The VAT number, and VAT on the wedding film as a separate line
Walk away if
- Only highlights reels, never a full wedding edit
- No plan for microphones on the vows and speeches
- Chart music promised on a film you want to post online, with no word on licensing
- No written contract, or nothing about illness or cancellation
- Delivery time left open
- Terms that let them use your film in advertising without asking
What a wedding videographer costs: £1,000–£3,495 per wedding
Wedding videographers price by the package — hours of filming, a second camera, and which edits are delivered — with travel and raw footage often extra. Wedding Videographer price guide →
Guide prices compiled by the Locufy team from published Irish and UK provider price lists and 2026/27 cost guides. Updated 2026.
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Wedding videographers near you, with the badges that matter shown
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- Meet and watch a full filmIn person or on a call; one full wedding, then the contract to read before you pay.
- Plan the dayTimeline, the venue's rules on filming the ceremony, and where microphones will go.
- The weddingFilming from the agreed start, with sound recorded at the vows and speeches and a backup running.
- Backup and editFootage copied to two places the same night; editing to the delivery time agreed, with licensed music.
- DeliveryThe films in the formats agreed, on the date in the contract, with the licence terms set out.
- Highlights film
- A short edit of the day set to music, usually a few minutes long.
- Full edit
- A longer film covering the ceremony and speeches more or less in full.
- Raw footage
- Unedited clips straight from the cameras; rarely included unless agreed.
- Lapel microphone
- A small clip-on microphone used to record vows and speeches clearly.
- Licensed music
- Tracks from a library that grants the right to use them in a film posted online.
- Second shooter
- A second camera operator filming other angles.
AFTER
When the job is done
Hiring a wedding videographer: questions people ask
Wedding filming is unregulated across the UK. The contract, a full sample film and references are your checks.
The videographer. Under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 the producer and principal director are the film's authors and first owners, unless they assign it to you in writing. You normally get a licence.
Only if the music is licensed for that. Posting online is a communication to the public under copyright law; ask the videographer which music they use and whether it is cleared.
£1,000 to £3,495 a wedding, typically around £1,900. Hours, a second camera and the number of edits move the price. Package prices by hours, cameras and edits are in the wedding videographer price guide; enter your town above for videographers near you.
Usually not. Filming booked for a fixed wedding date can fall under regulation 28(1)(h) of the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, which takes date-specific leisure services out of the cancellation right. Your protection is the cancellation clause in the contract, so agree it before the deposit.
Tell the videographer in writing. Where the day cannot be refilmed, the Consumer Rights Act remedy is a price reduction, which can be up to the full price; small claims is the last step.
MORE GUIDES
More hiring guides in photography & video
Wedding videographers near you
Sources — checked October 2026
- Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, section 9 — authorship (films: producer and principal director)
- Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, section 11 — first ownership
- Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, section 90 — assignment
- Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, section 85 — privacy of commissioned photographs and films
- Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, section 20 — communication to the public
- gov.uk — pay the data protection fee
- Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 49 — reasonable care and skill
- Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 55 — repeat performance
- Citizens Advice — more help with a consumer issue
- gov.uk — make a court claim for money: court fees
- Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, regulation 28 — exceptions to the right to cancel
- VAT rates — VAT rates for goods and services: standard rate 20% on most goods and services
- GOV.UK — Register for VAT: when to register