Charge policies for Use of Media Services at Weddings

[mlmsr1]

We are a year into using our media presentation center and have many weddings, funerals, special programs, as well the regular Sunday worship services under our belt. We are considering adding a charge for media services for weddings at the time the sanctuary is reserved, especially for outside congregation couples depending on what is being provided...audio, audio/video recording, Media Team coverage, etc.
Does anyone have examples of your current policies, media use charges...anyting associated with compensating the media team for operational & production time commitment for 1 to 3 hour practice & 1 to 3 hour wedding service, media supplies (CD/DVDs, use of wireless equipment, batteries, etc) general wear & tear.
I would appreciate any help in this respect. I plan to forward this information to our Trustees who are considering action on this issue.

[boltd]

Our forms and wedding policies are at http://www.whbconline.org/officeforms/

Typically our A/V guys get $75 for the practice and the service. Not a lot of money but mostly we're there just to protect the gear and make sure it will work on the Sunday morning after the wedding.

Note: Our sanctuary does not have any video projection capability so our guys are focused only on audio and lighting. We are also responsible for moving pulpit furniture back and forth (with help from the wedding party)

Dave

[petereit]

For the past two years, our media department was a one-man show -- me. I had only been approached once to shoot video for a wedding. My response was that I was a ministry volunteer -- not a wedding videographer -- and that their needs would be best served by hiring a professional.

Basic projection services (their names and engagement photo inserted into our standard wedding template) are included in the facilities rental. If someone wants to create a PowerPoint, Keynote or video for them, it's their responsibility to work out the details with our creative staff. It has to be plug-n-play with our systems. We require that it be displayed in its full length at the rehearsal and our pastor has the right to reject it for any reason (or for no reason!)

If the wedding couple wants something special created for them, we let them work it out with our creative staff on their own time. Our only requirement is that it does not interrupt our regular media production flow.

[katanna]

Due to a few recent events at our church where the AV guys were not properly reimbursed, we are currently working on the same thing.

What we have come up with is that for any non-ministry related event that needs media help (examples would be weddings, funerals, graduations, etc.), the charge is $75 for the first hour, $50 every hour after that, for each sound guy, as long as they are there (not how long the event is). This does not include any production (IE: videos, slideshows, etc.), but it does include getting songs and liturgy in ProPresenter/on screen.

Matthew

[zactommo]

It might also be worth considering, if your church charges for use of the venue, that you charge also for the use of equipment. Any use of the equipment equals wear and tear, plus depreciation, so there is no reason why the church shouldn't expect a return on events that are not part of the ministry. I would suggest charging people industry rates, but find a nice middle ground between giving it away, and scaring people off with high prices.

[rcourtney]

The prices mentioned seem fair. Most of the time you find the money being donated back to the church for gear and media supplies (dvd and cd blanks!)

The tech is responsible for preparing for Sunday service. Custodian, organist, host,
etc. get paid for their time.

I agree with some couples saving money not using the church but hiring the pastor
that we don't want to overcharge.

[Dmwc]

I hate to drag up an old thread, but I am thinking about putting together a list of policies for weddings and other special services along the same lines as what has been discussed here. We already have a list of guidelines for use of the building, but it doesn't really include any sound/media specific guidelines.

I have only done sound for a couple of weddings at the church, but I was sort of surprised at one of them when I was asked to pop a tape into the sound room video camera (which is typically just an "overflow" camera, sending video to the nursery and such) and just let it record during the ceremony. I did it, because it was a long-time church member, we had no written policy against it, and also because I'm just terrible at telling people no. This tape became the couple's "wedding video."

I do wedding videography in addition to working at the church, so I am definitely biased, but I feel that the church should not be competing with professional wedding videographers and photographers, and that we should not do this sort of thing when asked. I know of other churches in the area that will do things like that, and I have been told, as a videographer that someone was considering for their wedding, that they did not need my services because the sound guys at the church were going to do it for them, most likely for very little money or free.

So I am considering making this one of our policies, that our tech team will not videotape weddings from the sound booth if asked, and that it is the couple's responsibility to find and hire a videographer if they want one. Being a videographer, I feel like its almost a conflict of interest for me to even write such a policy, but the policy would not really favor me (as they are always free to hire any videographer they want), nor does it exclude them from hiring me as long as another sound tech is available to run sound.

Does anyone have a written policy like this? Any thoughts on it? Are there any other media specific policies that I should consider besides charges for sound techs, equipment fees, etc?