Videography is one of the most lasting and memorable ways to preserve your wedding as the years roll forward. At the click of a button, you can see yourselves with family and friends in a way you could not appreciate on the actual day.

Until recently, the wedding video typically tried to create an historical document that was, in a word, rather boring, especially after repetitive viewings. Recent developments in multimedia technology have altered this pattern of recording, making the wedding video or DVD more meaningful and movie-like -- highly stimulating to watch, as well as more, relevant, entertaining and moving.

For a start, the advent of DVD technology has dramatically improved the lifespan potential of videography, taking it from an average of 25 years on video to a form of preservation on DVD that has virtually no expiration date. This technology also allows viewers to surf the wedding by chapters. If you want to bypass the sermon and speeches, for example, you can now do it with a click of the button, rather than pressing fast-forward on a VCR. Those chapters also provide a place for bloopers, unedited footage and anything else you chose to include in your final video.

What many couples don't realize is that the art of videography is comprised of ten percent equipment and 90 percent talent. For this reason, getting your uncle Sam to record the wedding on his video camera is no substitute for the services of a professional videographer. So if you're trying to cut costs and stretch your budget, be forewarned that videography is not the place to do it.

The good news is that Greater Vancouver is home to some of the best videographers in Canada, artists who are stretching the limits of what's traditionally been accepted in a wedding video, and making it ever more creative and entertaining to watch. In addition to the wedding video, some couples request a multimedia presentation that can be shown to guests during the reception, and that tells the couple's story, – how they met, how they fell in love and what brought them to their wedding day.

The industry average for professional wedding videography in the Lower Mainland starts at approximately $2,500. And though you might perceive that price tag as costly initially, remember that you're paying for invaluable memories, and a means of preserving them well into the future.