When I got married – a long time ago – wedding videos were very popular. We had a videographer come and shoot an hour or so of video of my finance and me walking, talking, hugging, kissing, etc.

The video production company was at our wedding and wedding luncheon and shot a whole bunch more footage. They spent the afternoon furiously combining the footage with some of our favorite music in order to have a 30 minute video available at our reception that evening. I thought it was great back then, but I watched it the other day and it was so sappy.

But, the wedding video combined with our wedding album is what we have to remember our wedding by.

Fast forward almost 20 years and you have additional options. Of course there is the wedding album…that is a foundation of the wedding memories. Combined with that is the wedding video. Digital recorders and the drop in price in video production tools has made that very easy to learn and include as part of a wedding package.

But let’s look at some other options that you could use as a photographer to differentiate yourself from your competition.

What about taking the video that you make as part of the package and provide his/hers video iPods or even iPhones or Blackberrys with the video and slideshows of the wedding pre-loaded. You could even “wrap” the ipod with an image of the couple together. This is a great idea to pursue with the parents of the bride and groom as a surprise for the wedding couple. With all the different iPods out there that handle video, this could be an inexpensive add-on to a wedding gig.

Just a couple of ideas to round out your ala cart menu for a Wedding Package.

Best of luck and keep shooting