Married PSers - do you regret how much you spent on your wedding photog?

[ringster]

i''m looking at different range in prices for photographers and i must say choosing one is difficult. i have prices that are on the low end, mid and high end. the high end photographer is AMAZING but the price eek. but i look at pictures like gingerbcookie''s and think hmmm it''s so worthwhile!

i know it is really about what my priorities are for my wedding but in the interest of trying to sort this out - i ask you, after the wedding, did you have any regrets about your photography choice either budget wise - spent too much, spent too little, experience, etc?

any tips on questions to ask photogs when i am interviewing them are also appreciated!

 

[xiuying]

I only have time to make a quick comment (eek!) but I wanted to chip in and say I had the exact same problem! I pored through SO MANY photographers in my area and, for the longest time, couldn''t find one I liked that was under $2000! (And this is NOT in an expensive area.) The one I liked best was $3500. I FINALLY got lucky when my dad, who was helping me, managed to find a photographer that is very experienced, but JUST starting out in the wedding business, so he''s charging us roughly $1500. He just did our engagement photos and I love, love love them!

If you''re very concerned about price, I''d say keep looking... you might get lucky and find someone who''s super for cheaper!

 

[surfgirl]

Our photog was the most expensive aspect of our mini wedding/elopement and we felt that it was worth splurging on. The photos are what you have to look at for the rest of your lives, and your kids (if you want them) will look at them after that, etc. Yes you have "the memories" of the day, but honestly? If I were to do it all again, I''d splurge on this aspect, we dont regret for one moment the amazing photos we have now of our special day. I think it''s worth it! Nobody remembers the cake or what it tasted like. Or what type of wine or drinks you had. Nor will they talk about the food for decades to come. But they WILL talk about what a pretty venue it was, or how you looked, etc. And to be able to share those photos afterwards is really priceless. Go for it, and choose a photog whose work you love and who you''d want to spend the most important day of your life with.

 

[musey]

We used the same logic as surfgirl when we chose our photographer. Ours will be about $4000 after tax & tip - it''s the biggest "splurge" item in our budget.

 

[aljdewey]

I don''t regret a penny I spent. I''ve looked at my pictures quite often; when I do, they evoke memories for me of:

the gorgeous temperate weather that day,
the smell of the ocean and the flowers
the sound of the park and the flute player as I walked down the aisle
the memory of everyone smiling as they watched my dad walk me down the aisle
how I felt when my husband looked at me as he said his vows
how surreal it felt to actually be at my wedding!!!!!!
the sound of everyone laughing and happy
how great the food was
the absolutely delight I felt inside because I was marrying my husband.

That day was magical, and seeing the pictures bring back all those things for me very vividly. If my house were on fire tomorrow, it''s the first thing material thing I''d grab.

My photographer was fantastic and she was willing to offer a solution to fit my non-traditional needs (no need for reception pictures on our cruise). I paid her hourly rate for 3 hours of coverage, and then two years later I paid $800 for a 40-page album. When I add those two figures together, my photography cost was about 22% of my total budget, but I didn''t have to pay it all out in advance.

I''d GLADLY spend that money again. In fact, if I were to do it over again and elope with just me/hubby, I''d STILL pay that amount to have the pictures.

 

[sumbride]

It was money well spent, but when I really think about it, I wish I''d spent MORE. Why? Because I hired a mid-priced guy who was really good, but in the end, there were things that I wish he''d done better. His second shooter was kind of average. He didn''t get a lot of the "must-haves" of family and that sort of bums me out. When we negotiated the contract, I booked him for the max window of time I could and then said "we''ll probably want to add on a couple of hours to make sure you''re there till the end." he said "ok" but then the DAY OF THE WEDDING he said "how long do you want me to stay?" and I said "until the end" and he said "I can''t!" He had to drive home (5 hours) and pick up his daughter. Ummm.... thanks for letting me know??? So we were lucky in that we had a "backup" photographer in one of my bridesmaids who graciously stepped up and took some of the reception pics and the going-away shot, but I can''t get a "beginning to end" album from him because he wasn''t there.

He was great with the candids and such, but the "tried and true portrait shots".... Meh. Not so good. Didn''t bother to tell me that I''d had the exact same pose in the last 10 shots and could I maybe switch it up a little so I didn''t look like a cardboard cutout? Didn''t get individual "bride and bridesmaid" shots that I was counting on. Just didn''t. I don''t know why.

So in the end, I wish I''d splurged more because these images are all that is concrete now that the wedding is behind us.

Don''t skimp.

 

[TravelingGal]

We only spent about $2200 on our photographer, which is cheap for L.A. If we had to do it over again, I would have paid more for him to be there the entire wedding (he left about an hour or two shy...I only had him for 5 hours I think) because there were some great moments that happened at the end that I would have loved to capture.

I didn''t care about posed photos...did a few but specifically requested he just document the day photojournalist style. And indeed, those are the pics I just love. The posed ones are nice, don''t get me wrong, but I look at the pics and think the candid ones will be a lot more interesting to my kids in the future because there are stories behind them, and not just a photographer saying, "SMILE!"

 

[Independent Gal]

My mom hired her friend''s friend for WP1. He is not a wedding photographer - more an event photographer, but has done weddings and the pics are gorgeous. She refuses to tell me how much she is paying him. OooooK.

For WP2, my bff/moh''s sister is doing the pictures. She is only charging us $500 (+dinner) including some prints and all the negatives + digital images on a CD. She is mostly an artist, but again, she''s done about a dozen weddings, and the pics are ga-orgeous. And very photojournalist-like which I prefer to the posed stuff.

 

[sumbride]

Date: 1/10/2008 2:13:33 PM
Author: TravelingGal
I didn''t care about posed photos...did a few but specifically requested he just document the day photojournalist style. And indeed, those are the pics I just love. The posed ones are nice, don''t get me wrong, but I look at the pics and think the candid ones will be a lot more interesting to my kids in the future because there are stories behind them, and not just a photographer saying, ''SMILE!''

I agree but there were a few family members that didn''t make it into a single candid pic and I would have liked a pic with them. I specifically asked for one with my mom''s housekeeper, who raised me from age 6 months, and it didn''t happen. She''s in her 80s and never thought she''d "live to see the day" that I got married. She did.

 

[ringster]

thanks so much ladies for your feedback!! we are not having an elaborate wedding but i think the location is very nice and there will be little touches here and there that i''d like to capture. plus we are having a great band so would like to capture that too. and of course all of the family and guests.

and i guess a great photographer could probably make sh*t look like gold whereas with a so-so photog it''s kind of like the sh*t might look like sh*t.

what % of your budget did you spend on photog? if i go with the high end it will be almost half!!! but my parents are going to contribute money so i could go with mid level photog with their contribution and not dent the budget or go for high level where we would need to kick in the difference making the photog % ~ 30% of our budget. i guess i''m trying to decide whether to go mid or high end.

 

[ringster]

Date: 1/10/2008 2:32:13 PM
Author: sumbride

Date: 1/10/2008 2:13:33 PM

Author: TravelingGal

I didn''t care about posed photos...did a few but specifically requested he just document the day photojournalist style. And indeed, those are the pics I just love. The posed ones are nice, don''t get me wrong, but I look at the pics and think the candid ones will be a lot more interesting to my kids in the future because there are stories behind them, and not just a photographer saying, ''SMILE!''

I agree but there were a few family members that didn''t make it into a single candid pic and I would have liked a pic with them. I specifically asked for one with my mom''s housekeeper, who raised me from age 6 months, and it didn''t happen. She''s in her 80s and never thought she''d ''live to see the day'' that I got married. She did.

i agree with you sumbride. i really hate when i go to a wedding and i want to have a picture with the bride and groom but can''t because they are too busy or there are too many people around them having pictures.

this is another thing that i need to see if i can work out for my wedding - i would like to somehow make sure that we get our picture taken with all of the guests individually/paired (if they want to!) in addition to the group pictures and candid shots. i don''t know if that means i will have to put aside a set time that everyone knows they can get their picture with us. i''d like to include that picture in our thank you card to them.

 

[mjso]

Date: 1/10/2008 2:46:51 PM
Author: ringster

this is another thing that i need to see if i can work out for my wedding - i would like to somehow make sure that we get our picture taken with all of the guests individually/paired (if they want to!) in addition to the group pictures and candid shots. i don''t know if that means i will have to put aside a set time that everyone knows they can get their picture with us. i''d like to include that picture in our thank you card to them.

One of my coworkers had something like this. They had a photographer set up on the way into the reception and instead of a recieving line, all of the guests/couples took a picture with the bride and groom. They were very posed shots - think in front of a white backdrop - but then at the end of the night, we each had a photo with the bride and groom in a temporary matting to take home with us.

 

[Selkie]

No regrets at all, and I spent far more than I had ever planned to. I was questioning the decision right until the day of, in fact! We almost decided not to hire a photographer at all because our wedding was so non-traditional, and we had several skilled amateurs among our guests. And while they did indeed get great shots, when I compare them side by side with the pro shots, the difference in quality is INSTANTLY apparent. We actually had the majority of our posed photos (both by ourselves and with our families) taken before the ceremony, as guests were arriving, so we ended up having more than an hour in which to get all the "must have" shots. You might want to consider that, if you aren''t opposed to seeing each other before the ceremony. We enjoyed it, it helped put us at ease and was actually a lot of fun. And we are beyond thrilled with how our photos turned out, too.

I specifically looked for photojournalistic photogs, and ended up only interviewing one, who ended up being THE one. I could tell as soon as I saw her photos that I loved her style, and then when I met her, her attitude and demeanour sealed the deal. She was professional, calm, had a sense of humor, and was FLEXIBLE. That was key since we had a giant thunderstorm that forced us at the last minute to change the location and order of events entirely.

Definitely ask how many proofs you will get, and whether they''ll have a second shooter (if you want, we didn''t) for the guest shots you want. Also be sure to closely compare the packages you''ll get. You may find that the highest price one offers more features. And you should be able to negotiate if a package doesn''t meet your needs, so don''t be afraid to ask.

 

[april diamonds]

The first thing we did when we got engaged was call up our photographers and find out what date they were free so that we could book them. They did our friends wedding and it was purely amazing and they were wonderful to work with. I know now that they are definitely on the high side (at $5000!) but we both agreed that pictures were the one thing (besides the rings) that we were totally ok with splurging on.

It was really important to us that we had some beautiful tangible memories of our wedding day. (Also since I am an avid scrapbooker, I''m just dying to get my hands on our potential photos -- already thinking about the pages I want to make!) I made one for our friend using her photos and everytime I look at hers I can really remember her wedding day. So we thought it was a no brainer to splurge.

After researching, I kinda felt we should have looked around for maybe a cheaper set of photographers, but in the end we 1) already knew that their photos were amazing and 2) knew they were excellent to work with, professional, efficient, reliable so if I had the chance to do the booking all over again I would still choose them.

 

[kcoursolle]

We did a cheap package and have no regrets at all. THe entire package was $1400 + tip and basically he gave us only digital copies and permission to print them as we like. I don''t mind at all that he didn''t do a lot of editing to them. I like the flexibility of doing it myself.

 

[Elmorton]

We spent about $2500 (photographer and some prints, album) and I don''t regret a penny of it. I love our album, having our photos around the house, and seeing the photos that our family has around their houses. Our photog captured beautiful pics of our family members together and those are absolutely priceless. Having a good photographer, one who has an eye for detail (for us it was how she captures expression and light on people''s faces) is such an excellent thing to spend the $$ on, IMO.

But I think the most overwhelming argument for the photography is that your memory is on overdrive on that day. When I look at my pictures, I remember how absolutely beautiful I felt, how absolutely happy I was, how happy my parents were, and I love how our photographer captured my husband before the wedding - when I hadn''t seen him yet. All really good stuff.

I say shell out! Good photography is so completely worth it.

 

[gtn]

sorry for the double post.

 

[gtn]

Thanks for asking this question ringster. I was wondering the same thing.

Thanks everybody for sharing your experiences.

--==

To add to the "posed" shot thing. It is a tradition in my family not to have a "receiving line". Instead, we have a picture line. That way, you get a shot with most of your guest (at least those that come on time.) The wedding party also goes table to table and take pictures with each table. That is when we give the wedding favors too. That way you have two chances/guest to get pictures with them.

 

[ringster]

wow - thanks for all of the great insight! and glad this thread is helpful to you qtn - hope it helps others as well.

what you said elmorton really made me think :

But I think the most overwhelming argument for the photography is that your memory is on overdrive on that day. When I look at my pictures, I remember how absolutely beautiful I felt, how absolutely happy I was, how happy my parents were, and I love how our photographer captured my husband before the wedding - when I hadn't seen him yet. All really good stuff.

i'm decided that i'm probably going to use my parents donation for the photography. i will be meeting with some of the photogs this weekend and week so it will help me make a decision about the high end photog.

thanks again ladies!!

 

[somethingshiny]

Okay, I know this sounds completely crazy, but here goes.

We spent $150 on our photographer. He''s been a friend of the family for years and does photos on the side. He only charged us for film. We were on a tight budget (our whole wedding (including dress) and reception for around 200 people (including bar) was around $2000.) HOWEVER, if I had to do it over again, I would have gotten a "real" photographer. The photos are all you have after a few years, and I don''t enjoy looking at mine. The only bit of salvation those photos have is that my mom was a photog assistant so she knew how to pose us properly.

So, I think $2000 is totally outrageous for a photographer, if you split that amount up over the many years you''ll enjoy your photos, it works out to a lot less.

 

[chiquitapet]

We spent $200 on a photographer, with the deal being that we provide the rolls of film and that we develop the films as well. We had a small wedding on a beautiful sunny day in the botanical gardens and the photos turned out just beautiful. Put together with photos that guests have taken as well, I had very many wonderful photos to choose from to put into our album. Then after the wedding, we bought a nice (and expensive) wedding album and i have spent about 4 hours making the album. It was great experience going through the photos again and reliving the special day. The album looks really professional and is more special to me and my husband because we know i have made it. So I definitely don''t regret spending so little on a photographer.

 

[Pandora II]

We''re not spending a lot on our photographer - he''s a friend, a professional photographer that I use a lot for my work and I feel comfortable with him - ie I''ve told he he''ll get a hard stare if he even things of getting me to pose on bonnets of cars or similar.

He''s also coming for the whole day - around 12 hours, plus I get full rights to all the negatives etc

Best of all, he''s going off to look at our venue a coule of months in advance - which is a 7 hour drive from where he now lives - so he can have an idea of all the best locations and ideas for outside photos.

A few people have asked if I feel comfortable going with someone who isn''t normally a wedding photographer (he does sports, politics and photo-journalism) - I''ve seen the wedding photos he did for 2 of our friends and they were good enough for me, and I''m picky!

 

[DMBFiredancer]

Date: 1/10/2008 1:47:41 PM
Author: aljdewey
I don''t regret a penny I spent. I''ve looked at my pictures quite often; when I do, they evoke memories for me of:


the gorgeous temperate weather that day,

the smell of the ocean and the flowers

the sound of the park and the flute player as I walked down the aisle

the memory of everyone smiling as they watched my dad walk me down the aisle

how I felt when my husband looked at me as he said his vows

how surreal it felt to actually be at my wedding!!!!!!

the sound of everyone laughing and happy

how great the food was

the absolutely delight I felt inside because I was marrying my husband.


That day was magical, and seeing the pictures bring back all those things for me very vividly. If my house were on fire tomorrow, it''s the first thing material thing I''d grab.

thank you for this. it made my eyes water. i''ve been having a bad attitude about spending so much money on things for my wedding and i needed something like this to read today. i was saying "we dont need a photog. plenty of our friends have cameras!" even though all of my friends (and my FI) told me how important it is.

just wanted to say thanks for the kick in the butt!

 

[LaurenThePartier]

I had a package wedding deal at the Bellagio, and the photographer was very generic, and IMO, somewhat inexperienced. We did get 2 or 3 photos from the "day" (we only had access to her through the wedding for an hour afterwards) that I love, but most of the pics are mediocre at best.

My hubby and I ended up doing a TTD session when we were in Hawaii in October, and we LOVE every single one of our pics, and we only spent $400 for all digital images and ended up with 3.5 total hours of photography and an underwater session!

If I had to do it over again, I would have hired an additional well known photographer who did plenty of post processing for our wedding. It''s probably the only thing about my wedding day I wasn''t 100% thrilled with.

 

[E B]

Absolutely not. It was the best decision we made.