I had the chance to interview Ami, one of the founders of Wedding Paparazzi.

Here is the email interview:

1) Can you give me an introduction of yourself, when and how did you start out and what is your wedding site about?

My name is Lee Amizadai, and I started The Wedding Paparazzi (www.weddingpaparazzi.com) five years ago. Currently there are 4 people in our team – Blossom, Eva, Mylene and myself. We specialise in videos that are fun and quirky, with strong narratives and storylines.

2) I understand you have been in the wedding-related field for quite some time and is now successful. What do you think is the key factor to your success?

I don’t think I can pin it down to any one thing, but I can give you a list of what I think helped!

a) I guess it was finding a niche and strengthening The Wedding Paparazzi’s position as the go-to people for fun and candid videos.

When I entered the wedding industry, the emphasis was on highly romanticized, classical videos. Not being a romantic person myself, I thought there would be couples out there like myself. The Wedding Paparazzi didn’t try to cater to the majority of bridal couples who looked for romantic videos, but rather focused on a smaller group of select people – funny, savvy, contemporary couples who enjoy a good laugh.

b) Finding and maintaining a good team.

The people on The Wedding Paparazzi team are awesome – they have a skill-set that would make them successful in so many industries. They have experience and confidence in sales, producing, directing, filming and editing – but they choose to dedicate themselves to wedding videos.

Many people see wedding videos as a mere stepping stone on the way to better things. My challenge was to find people who were entrepreunial enough to see the challenge and rewards of working in this industry for the long term.

c) Finding a unique voice

At first it was about establishing a unique housestyle in the way we filmed and edited our videos. A lot of people who view our work comment on how different it is from what they expected a wedding video to be. Coming into the industry, I decided early on not to follow the style of what was expected, but rather draw inspiration from other sources – filming and editing techniques from TV, film and even animation.

But beyond the technical house-style, I also found it increasingly important to have a ‘relationship house-style’, a unique way of dealing with couples, conducting ourselves during shoots and even treating each other within the company.

3) When you are working with couples, what is it that you are most proud of?

I guess it would be in finding the story unique to each of them and executing it so that their personalities and relationships shine through. When documenting their wedding day, we try to be unobstrusive and observant. The resulting video often turns out to be candid and unposed. Many couples tell us they are happy to see so many scenes and angles covered that they hadn’t been there to witness themselves.

4) What is the greatest challenge that you have faced while growing your career?

Staying fresh and relevant. There are always people out there with better ideas and more resources, so I’ve found it important to keep on my toes.

5) Currently, what is the one wedding tip you want to give to soon-to-wed couples?

Spend well. Meaning, spend on the things that matter to you. A lot of times people think splurging on everything is the way to go, but really, it’s wiser to be selective about where your money goes. Once couples can identify what is important to them, they can invest substantial dollars in those aspects of the wedding rather than spread their money thinly across the
board. It also makes their wedding more memorable and unique.

6) What are some of the areas do you think wedding couples always overlook when planning their own weddings? (can be pertaining to your own field – in this case videography)

The quality of their wedding photos and videos. Photos and videos are the only things that have longevity beyond the actual wedding itself, so a lot of thought should be put into selecting the people providing these services.

7) Your final thought and advice for my wedding blog readers?

Don’t expect your wedding to be perfect! Take things in your stride and enjoy the day. In the end, all the small ‘hiccups’ will make for memorable stories!

That?s the end of the interview.

You can view a wedding video at WeddingPaparazzi website here.

*Please note that the picture of the team was snapped by Ray Ong from Photo Language.