Oh gosh @Onward, I was just having the same thought. My D is getting married next summer and we’ve been researching photographers. I am floored by some of the prices. I understand that photography is an art form and these folks do beautiful work. However, these photos aren’t going to be hung in a museum. Also, they all seem to offer 8 hours of service. I honestly don’t think we need a photographer hanging around that long. I also don’t think we need to chronicle every moment of the day. Another photographer bragged about the quality of his albums. Once again, I think this is more than we will need. The album will likely sit in a cabinet (like ours), not the Library of Congress.
I think I need to find some “B” level photographers that will suit our needs and our budget better.
I think you can spend from a few hundred to a few thousand for photographers. And what region of the country you are in may matter as well.
S and DIL found a local photographer who had a series of packages from 4 hours of shooting time (and all photos edited and then turned over to you electronically for your own printing) for $550 to packages with more than one photographer, 12+ hours of shooting, engagement photos, etc. for closer to $1800. D1 is maid of honor here in Ohio at a friend’s wedding in August where they will spend $3000 - and that doesn’t include video! (which to me is not important and S and DIL chose not to have)
They landed on a package for $950 that included:
1 photographer
Initial consultation
Up to 8 hours of shooting time (he actually spend a little more time with them between church and reception and did not charge them more)
Unlimited number of edited photos delivered on CD or DVD or flash drive and/or download link via email (hosted online).
We don’t have all the photos yet but he sent a few edited photos to wet their appetite the morning after the wedding and they looked great!
In the DC Metro/NoVa area, $3K for a wedding photographer would be something of a bargain. My kids budgeted more for the photographer than for any other expense except for the venue and caterer. NOT saying that everyone ought to do that, of course. We’re glad they made that decision because the entire family has had a lot of joy in looking at the photos. For each wedding, we downloaded all of them (and there were several hundred) onto flash drives for the grandparents and great-aunts, who were thrilled to have so many, and who say they look at them frequently.
I haven’t looked at my own wedding photos for years. They’re probably crumbling to dust in a very 70’s wood-covered album. There weren’t many photographers doing magazine-quality wedding photos back then, and our guy would not have been among them in any case. It was mostly standard group shots. The candids weren’t any better than I could have done (and I suck at taking pictures).
8 hours of coverage sounds like a lot but the getting ready photos can be lovely and sending the couple off at the end of the night makes for nice pictures, too. Some folks might prefer to spend more for music or flowers or any other aspect of the big day, as they should if that’s their preference.
S and FDIL want to put their parents’ wedding pictures on the table that will hold the reception seating chart with their engagement picture in between. I started looking through our album and realized we had no 8x10s and only 2 5x7s of us alone! It was 85 and very humid, so my hair is a mess. The photographer cost $800, which was a lot in 1982.
S and DIL are spending a lot of their budget on photos/video. 2nd after the reception.
We went the cheapie route 30 years ago. Had 1 photographer, no video. She was at the ceremony and reception. Took a lot of candids and some posed photos. It suited our purposes. I didn’t need or want an expensive photo album, etc.
BIL got married a few years after. Easily spend 15x the price we did on a photographer. Beautiful album, very professional. He burnt it a couple years later when he got divorced. A lot of money up in flames.
I know a recent couple who went all out with the 20 minute film made of their wedding. Production quality, aerial footage, the whole works including footage from pre-wedding events. Very glossy and professional. I can’t even imagine how much that package cost. http://fullframecinema.com
D2’s budget for the photographer (I assume this is in line with what the person is charging) is $3500 in NYC. In terms of video, he will just shoot the ceremony as that is all they care about for video for memory’s sake. Everything will be photographed. They had no engagement photo session.
D1’s budget for photographer, also in NYC, is $3,750, but I am not 100% sure if this is the final figure or just what I have laid out so far (don’t have the final tally yet from her recent wedding). They had one professional photographer for an engagement photo session in NYC. They had a different professional photographer for the wedding day which included the preparatory phase, the ceremony, and a photo shoot in Central Park, but not for their small intimate reception. In fact, they apparently just got the photos back and I can’t wait to see them, but have to wait!
our wedding photographer was a National Geographic photographer. He did a great job, of course, but I don’t really think he did any better than any other trained photog would have. But anyway, his price was reasonable, he wasn’t a diva at all. Very nice guy.
@dentmom4, that’s a lovely idea. My d2 and her fiance collected wedding photos from family members ahead of time and put them on a table next to the seating chart - there were maybe a dozen in different sizes, ranging from 1950s-era pictures to ones taken at their siblings’ weddings just a few years before. The table looked beautiful, especially with the grandparents’ wedding pictures. It was time-consuming to get them and frame the ones that weren’t already framed, but the guests enjoyed seeing them.
Just got back from Nashville about an hour ago. We had a wonderful event and bride and groom were as happy as I had ever seen them. A meaningful ceremony was followed by a great reception with an excellent live band that was a bit too loud since I lost my voice trying to speak loudly enough making conversation with friends at times while they were playing. A few glitches. I’m hoping the one that has me mad now and generated my migraine driving back might get solved, but maybe not. I gave daughter a delicate handkerchief that had belonged to my mother and that my mom gave to me to wrap around my bouquet when I married. Saw the handkerchief yesterday wrapped around her beautiful bouquet and it was one of the few times when I teared up as I thought of how she would have loved seeing D married. I assumed (big mistake) that wedding planner would get bouquet from display in a silver pitcher on the bourbon bar at the end of the evening. After all, he and his helpers had made a big deal out of keeping boxes for ring bearer pillows etc. Those items were truly trivial to me. This morning I find out bouquet is gone and family keepsake with it. It may have gone back to florist when floral arrangements in containers were retrieved by florist staff at the end of the night. Cross your fingers for me!
Moral of the story: Wedding planners can be helpful, but make sure YOU have plans for any sentimental keepsakes, etc. Wedding planners attitude was indifferent - oh, too bad. He has dropped the ball several times recently and what we once considered to be good value for the money has changed in our attitude (both mine & D’s) to we got what we paid for - slightly above average, but some gaps in performance.
A special moment to share, particularly with @frazzled1 whose D was in my D’s pledge class. After the ceremony, which at West End United Methodist Church directly across from Vandy admissions, the bus taking family and wedding party to the reception made a quick stop so D, S, DIL, and other members of the wedding party with Vandy ties could be photographed on steps of Kirkland Hall, a landmark VU building. I can’t wait to see how those photos are going to turn out. And a big thumbs up to DIL who had S & D pose under Vandy historical marker on West End Avenue just before they got back on the bus while they flashed the VU sign. She said she knew I would love it and I did love seeing it from the bus:)
Those are going to be wonderful photos, @2VU0609! You have a lot of fingers crossed here for getting back the handkerchief and bride’s bouquet. Glad it was a beautiful wedding!
I checked out the Nashville weather yesterday, thinking of your d’s wedding, and saw it was sunny and 90-plus. I’m sure it didn’t wilt a thing. =D>
I’m thinking that that bouquet IS somewhere and it and the hankie will be retrieved. The bridal bouquet is pretty important and I would think that anyone responsible for it would think to ask the bride if she wants it. Chances are it will “show” in the next day or two. Crossing fingers!
Thanks for sharing such a lovely story, @2VU0609. I have several photos of S on those very steps. Those photos will be priceless for them - and for you. Crossing fingers and I will continue to pray to St. Anthony that the special handkerchief comes back to you. What a sweet idea for you and D. I believe that your mom did love seeing your dear D get married - her view was perfect.
Well, DD has told me that the wedding invitations went out on Wednesday a.m. She has a wedding web site with an online RSVP form. So I guess it’s going to happen.
@calmom…yeah, it starts to feel more and more real when the invitations are out (D2 recently sent hers out too and they also have a wedding web site for online RSVP).
So the only request my DD1 wanted for her wedding this Saturday was a photo booth which I booked months ago and just confirmed this morning. Lo and behold a few hours ago I get an email saying due to a computer glitch they are cancelling the photo booth! After tons of frantic phone calls I was able to book another company,of course at a premium price, but at least she’ll have her photo booth. Even though the original company said it’ll refund my deposit, I’m not holding my breath and still not buying a computer glitch that can’t be fixed in six days.
My husband is a professional DJ and rents photo booths out for weddings. His question is “do you have a signed contract?” If so, you have legal recourse to sue. Be sure to sue for the amount you had to pay out for the replacement photo booth plus damages.
Unfortunately, anyone can advertise a photo booth. And the quality of the booth, the photos produced, and the attendants provided to man the booth make a huge difference in the atmosphere at your event. The old saying “you get what you pay for” is very true for photo booths.
For others looking at photo booths in the future, ask for sample photos. Ask what kind of machine they use, and how many attendants they provide to run the booth. Some booths are completely self-service. Ask for references.
It takes a huge amount of photo paper to take all those photos, so be sure to get that written into the contract. And ask if they can bring extra paper to have on hand just in case. (Extras will cost you extra, but you don’t want to run out at your event and leave guests unhappy.)
Ask for referrals from other recent brides. Word of mouth advertising from happy customers means a lot.
We are not buying the excuse you got, and you shouldn’t either. A professional would be searching for a replacement for you, if they really had an issue. This outfit probably double booked, either accidentally or they took a higher paying event.
Hope you can get past this problem and enjoy the wedding.
