Wedding photographers

[citizenthom]

I hope it's all right that my recently-engaged touchas has wondered over to the Married Couples section. I need some rather important financial advice for my upcoming wedding, and I specifically need it from folks who have already had weddings themselves.

My fiancee is handling most of the arrangements (making the invitations, picking out the outfits, etc.) but has asked me to find a photographer within our budget (rather meager). I want to make sure that I save as much money as I can without getting hosed.

So here are my basic questions:

1. How much did you pay for your wedding photographer, and what did you get for that? (how many hours, did that include the CD and printing rights, etc.)

2. What was good/bad about the finished product?

3. If you had to do it over again, what would you focus on when looking for a photographer, besides price?

Any additional help is appreciated!

 

[Redguard]

When I got married in 2003, photographers were still split 50/50 between doing digital and doing film.

We ended up going with a photographer that used film and paid about $800 for him to shoot our early-afternoon ceremony, after-ceremony pics at a park, and then half of the reception.

Like yourself, finding the photographer was my "task". I looked him up on a wedding message board and found that many of his past customers were impressed with his work. The pictures were just "okay". I wasn't blown away.

I asked for a CD of the proofs. There was a bit of a hassle around that. When the time arrived to receive the pictures, I got only half of my proofs and the proofs of someone elses wedding on CD. When I asked for the rest of the pics, he said that his scanner was broken. I never bothered giving him the service of creating a photo album for us. Fast-forward 7 years and we still don't have one. I'm trying to find a way to scan all of our negatives so that they can become digital and I'll make the album myself (yes I got skills like that).

My cousin got married two years later (when most photographers had made the leap over into the digital world) and I envied the service that she got. Waaay more proofs to choose from.

You won't have that problem now seeing as how 99% of photographers are all digital.

I would recommend looking at blog sites of certain photographers for poses and shots that you admire and show them to your photographer.

Here are some of my favourite photography blogs (links to the rss feeds).
http://www.ridoutphoto.com/?feed=rss2 (he shot my father in law's wedding)
Jasmine Star Photography Blog
Dave and Charlotte, Toronto

 

[moonkitty]

I didn't really have a wedding and I didn't want one when I got married. But when it comes to photographers (or any other specialist like that) I think one of the most important things is to get recommendations and referrals from people you know. If you are any where near the central Florida area I could suggest several excellent photographers who range from moderately priced to expensive. (I use to work in studio photography and know good work when I see it. And know many photographers)

Make sure you ask questions about how they price their services, are there extra fees for bring their own lighting, do they plan on using solely natural lighting, do their fees include an assistant.....pretty much find out exactly what you are getting for the quoted prices (here is website with a few questions to ask: Questions to ask when interviewing a Wedding photographer )

From my own experience in photography a wedding photographer can charge anywhere from $500 up to $5,000. The price depends on the skill and equipment of the photographer, and what services and products they offer. Such do they make personalized keepsake wedding albums, or do they leave it up to you to do yourself with little or no help form them. Also ask about copyright of the pictures, will there be an extra fee for you to own the copyright.

 

[Mrs. Luther073082]

We got:

-2 photographers.
-5 hours of photography.
-Professional retouching of images.
-Online viewing of images.
-CD with all images in high resolution.
-Copyright release for personal use and printing.
-4x6 proof box of all wedding images (And the proofs don't have "proof or anything written over the photos so we can actually use them).
-20% off prints ordered

Cost was $1000 +tax

This is the photographer's website:

Wilson Photography | St. Augustine Florida Premier Wedding Photographers

 

[epiclesis]

I paid $500 for our photographer. I'm not the type of person who wanted the best pictures ever and super creative and you just look at her photos and go WOAH, THAT IS AMAZING.... I just wanted pictures to capture the memories.

We got unlimited amount of pictures (but ended up with almost 600 photos), all pictures on a cd, and printing rights.

I was not overly impressed by her. She was quite an amateur, didn't have the best quality camera, didn't have a lot of experience, didn't have any creativity and did not have a very professional personality towards us. But I wasn't looking for any of that when I got her.... I just wanted photos.

So overall, I was not unhappy with the deal we got, though I would have been more upset if I had paid more money than what I had - considering most photographers I looked into charged over $2k for their services.