FAQ's - Saiaf FilmsSaiaf Films

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
(Please understand that due to extensive travel schedules nationally and internationally Saiaf Films may take up to 72 hours to get to your email. We have created this page to help with understanding some of our process.)

Reservations and Refunds

1. Question: How do I make a reservation?

Answer: We ask you for location details, phone numbers and names of bride and groom. A non-refundable deposit is then made to reserve the date and can range from 75% to 100% of the total. This allows us to make all reservations to hold the date for you. You are also required to send your wedding schedule 2 months prior to your wedding. All payments are non-refundable as we have limited slots per day. We appreciate your understanding.

Travelling and Coverage

1. Question: Do you cover all 50 states? And do you charge for travel?

Answer: We cover all 50 states in the U.S. and do NOT subcontract any part of our work. It is the Saiaf Films team that travels and works in the offices putting together your wedding. Weddings in Arizona start at $2,000 and weddings in other states start at $6,000.

2. Question: When do you arrive to my state to cover my wedding?

Answer: We arrive a day early to be safe. If there is bad weather we will fly to another airport and drive by (this has never happened so far as we do arrive very early the day before)

Video Editing

1. Question: When will I be receiving the first draft of my film?

Answer: The first page of your contract should have an estimated date of completion. The cool thing is that we are usually WAY ahead of schedule, so we typically deliver it much faster than it says in your contract. Some weddings take a few weeks to complete, and some take a few months, depending on the amount of hours or days of coverage.

2. Question: Why do I have to do edits, shouldn’t Saiaf Films know what I want?

Answer: You actually don’t have to do the edits. Saiaf Films gives edits as a complimentary gift; you are more than welcome to put your input or just have us do it. There’s a popular proverb that says “too many chefs makes a bad meal” so Saiaf Films is ultimately in charge of what your final product looks like, but at the same time we welcome your input and thus give you complimentary edits. The edits are not there to make it more difficult on you but rather to ensure you are happy with everything before it is shipped out. Our clients typically love this hands on process.

3. Question: What if I do not want any edits and like my film as it is?

Answer: This does happen quite often and you would simply let us know that you have no edits and we ship your package to you within 7 days of your approval.

Photo Editing

1. Question: What kind of editing do you guys do to the photos?

Answer: We typically want the photos to come straight out of the camera looking great. This way we will only do minimal enhancement to each photo. In the event that a photo requires a little more editing, we will put an emphasis on brightness, contrast, saturation and sharpness.

2. Question: What if I want more editing done to a photo?

Answer: You may request edits beyond what we do; the cost for this is $50.00/hour. Some edits take 5 minutes, some take 30 minutes and others might take a full hour. We would simply provide you with an estimate and you can decide if you would like to go through with it.

3. Question: What if I don’t notice too much of a difference between the photos before and after they have been edited?

Answer: If a photo is near perfect then it requires very little touch ups. It might look great on all ends but only require a little bit more saturation, then that is what we apply to it. Our photos are supposed to come out looking great straight from the camera, and they usually do, so this leaves our editing at a minimum.

Phone Calls

1. Question: May we speak over the phone regarding edits?

Answer: We do not allow for edits to be done over the phone whatsoever. All edits must be sent via email as this makes the process more efficient and there is a record kept of everything. The same applies to making corrections, adjustments or purchasing additional items. Due to our travel schedule we won’t be able to remember what was discussed and definitely don’t want to make a mistake. So we encourage all communication to be done via email. We appreciate your understanding.

Choosing Favorite Photos

1. Question: Can you choose my photos for me?

Answer: We tend to recommend that all of our clients choose the photos themselves, so we are sure they are happy with every single image we have taken. We are only allowed to choose a mere 50 photos for you. The typical package might come with 500, 700, or 900. But we typically give all of our clients 30 days to choose their photos. (Starting on July 19th, 2017 some packages will include all photos we have taken and the amount will be in the thousands)

2. Question: How do I choose my Favorite Photos?

Answer: We send you an Online Photo Gallery Link and all of your photos will be stacked on top of each other. You simply take your mouse and hover over any photo you like. You will notice a heart will pop up on the top right of the photo. When you click on that heart, a prompt will ask you to enter your email once. After you enter the email you can continue clicking on hearts over every photo you like. If you scroll to the top of the page, right under our banner, you will notice a heart that has a number next to it. This number represents how many photos you have favorited thus far. (Starting on July 19th, 2017 we will not be using the Online Photo Gallery anymore as some packages will include all photos we have taken and the amount will be in the thousands)

3. Question: What if I like my photos as is and don’t want any editing done to them?

Answer: We get this request sometimes and that is also okay. Simply let us know if you don’t want any editing done to the photos and we would be glad to send you the photos as is.

4. Question: What if I want my family or friends to help me choose photos?

Answer: You send them the RAW online gallery that you have and from the convenience of their own home they can start clicking on the hearts over every photo to favorite the ones they like. The gallery will ask for their email. Now, let’s say your package comes with 700 photos. You can tell them to pick 200 while you pick your 500 favorites. You can do whatever you like. When you and your family finish favoriting the photos we will see on our end that you chose your photos and another email chose their photos and we will enhance those.

5. Question: How do I download my photos from the Online Gallery?

Answer: Once your photos are enhanced we will send you a download pin so you can download your photos in Full High Resolution to your computer.

Shipping

1. Question: When can I expect to receive my package?

Answer: Your wedding gets shipped out 7 business days after you approve everything.

2. Question: Do my DVDs and Albums get shipped separately?

Answer: No, we typically ship everything together.

3. Question: What if I live outside of the U.S. will you ship my stuff to me?

Answer: Yes, we charge whatever our shipping carrier charges us; plus an additional $30.00 for packaging.

Music

1. Question: How many songs do I have to choose for my wedding video?

Answer: 5 songs are required to be sent to us so that it may be implemented into your video.

2. Question: Where will my songs be used in the video ?

Answer: We use the songs in 4 to 5 different places: The introduction of the film, dinner time, family portraits, couples shoot, cake cutting and the Outro of the Film.

3. Question: Can I request where I want the music put into my film?

Answer: Yes, absolutely! We love it when our clients are specific. Simply let us know at what part of the video you would like the song inserted and we would gladly do it.

4. Question: Will the music from the actual event be included in my film?

Answer: Yes, All of the audio from your video still be intact, we only add music over scenes that we know you don’t to listen to the audio of.

Albums

1. Question: How many pages typically come in an album?

Answer: Our Albums typically contain 35 to 85 Pages. This depends on the package you have chosen.

2. Question: How many photos go into an album?

Answer: We typically ask you to choose between 100 to 125 photos for us to place in the album.

3. Question: How many edits may I make on my album?

Answer: You get up to 5 edits for the album where you can ask for a background color to be changed, or for a photo to be switched with another.

Reviews & Awards

1. Question: Why does YELP block the majority of Saiaf Films Reviews?

Answer: We have been hearing this question since the start of our company. (For those that don’t know, over 47 Reviews are blocked on our yelp account, scroll down to the bottom of the reviews and you will see the reviews blocked). Yelp uses extortion to force businesses to pay money so that better reviews can be shown and bad reviews can be blocked. We find this extremely unethical and would not participate in something like this. We recommend looking at The Knot, Wedding Wire and Google Reviews which do not ask us to advertise so that they may alter reviews in any way. As an additional note, back in 2015 we received over 120 phone calls in one month by Yelp associates telling us that if we don’t advertise with them then they will make sure the bad reviews stick and harm our business. We told them “bring it on”. If you take a minute to research something called “Yelp Extortion Tactics” you will find a lot of articles and lawsuits against Yelp for this Mafia-type of behavior. Many businesses across the nation are participating in this lawsuit against Yelp for its behavior. We prefer the integrity presented by Google, The Knot and Wedding Wire. They have never pressured us nor threatened us when it came to reviews. Fun fact: if you factor in the nearly 50 reviews that Yelp has blocked…our average rating is 5 stars. Another fun fact: We’re still booked all year round, Yelp’s behavior hasn’t really made any impact on us. Nonetheless, we hope this sheds some light on this question as we do hear it pretty often. Hope that answers your question!

2. Question: Has Saiaf Films won any awards?

Answer: We’re proud of the fact that for 5 years in a row we have been Customer Connect’s Number 1 Choice for Photography and Videography at all of their event venues across the nation, we are also proud of the fact that for 7 years The Knot has considered us a Brides Top Choice when it comes to Photography and Videography. There’s a lot more awards from Wedding Wire,
June Bug, the Wedding MBA and many others but we don’t want to keep bragging.