Can't afford professional photography

A lot depends on how important great photos are to you. I can say from experience that a professional photographer will take better photos than a normal guest, or even a guest with photography as a hobby. At the same time, only you can know how much you will look at wedding pictures in the future, regardless of their quality. If your pictures tend to go into albums you never look at again, then it may not be a priority to get the absolutely highest quality.

If you think you will regret the lack of professional photos, you might check Craigslist or a local photography school to find someone--perhaps a student?--who can do photographs for a price you can afford. Also, consider cutting the hours. If what you want is primarily photos of the ceremony, for example, you may be able to get just that for a lower cost than photos of the whole day.

I couldn't afford a pro photog either so I got two of my friends to take pics. One is an artist and the other one takes pics for fun but has a professional camera. I think they did a great job and I got tons of great pics with 2 photographers for only $300 total (I paid them, seems like the right thing to do ) As long as she is reliable and you like her work I don't think you need a prof! HOWEVER make sure that someone gets video of your ceremony and important moments, wish I would have asked one of them to grab vid lol

For your reference here is the thread with my pics :3 https://www.weddingwire.com/wedding-forums/operation-wedding-success-pics/c2cd1a210b9fe3fd.html

It really depends on what your priorities are & how impt they are to you.

DH & I have been married before. So, we both know that after the 1st yr, especially after babies arrive, there is little time to look at your album. Life gets busy & the album gets moved from the coffee table to a box. 10 yrs post wedding, you will have 1or 2 framed shots. My first wedding album is with my daughter.

For our wedding, we chose to use our DIL because she is a fabulous candid photographer. For our wedding, we had the obligatory posed pics, but had her focus more on candids. I treasure them because they tell the story of our good time. They show the emotion

If your sister is good w/ a camera & there is no room in the budget, do what is best for you. I would suggest having a list of pics you would really like to be taken, so that there is no confusion & a wedding sharing site to get guests' pictures.

Good luck!

Try looking on websites like groupon for deals on photographers. I think it is the most important part of a wedding. Your sister might be great at taking pictures but there is no way she will feel comfortable being in everyone's way to get the awesome shots of the two of you (like the upclose pictures of your hands as you put your rings on). And even if she says she would be honored to do it, it will take away from her participation in your wedding. Don't you want time to enjoy with your sister on your big day? She wont be able to be emotionally invested in your wedding if she's too busy trying to capture all of the important moments.

Like I said I only paid $400 and i think she did a great job. If you want to use your friend that's totally up to you but if you want a professional you can find one that's affordable you just have to shop around and make sure to ask the right questions.

Do you have a friend who is a professional or aspiring to be? Or even try going to colleges near you with students in photography and ask a professor for a recommendation. They would probably work for near nothing just to put it on their Vita!

You all are great! I appreciate your feedback/ideas. I think I'll keep looking before I throw in the towel. I would at least want a professional for the ceremony. I did express to my sister that I didn't want to take away from her fun. She insisted it wouldn't but I think she's just being a good sister. Besides I come from a traditional Mexican family and a pet peeve of mine is family serving food etc instead of enjoying the evening. Lookin back I suppose this would be the same thing. Thanks ladies. I'll keep you posted. And I'll be sure to add a photo soon!

If you get you sis to take pics make a list of what you REALLY want so that she doesn't have to take pics all night. You konw first dance, garter thingy, father daughter dance. No one minds taking pics of that stuff cause they arn't really involved anyways, same with taking pics of people doing speeches all they are otherwise doing is sitting listening anyways. As long as she doesn't have to spend all dinner taking pics or all dancing time taking pics Im sure it is no problem for her. I didn't even ask my sister and she went crazy with pics.

My husband and I could not afford a pro, but we were lucky enough to have a talented family member who shot some amazing photos the day of our wedding. A good alternative idea is to do an engagement/wedding shoot after the wedding in studio. The session fees are much lower for a simple format of some casual and some formal shots. It was charged as an engagement session, and we did photos in studio and on a favorite location of the photographer's. It was a good compromise, and we spent $350, instead of $2000 : )

I'm sorry to hear that you can't afford a photographer. My suggestion would be go to your local community college and/or email the head of the photographry department and ask if there are any students who they felt was good enough to do a wedding? Make it a project for them...Just an option.

Arg.....I wish you could all see the photos I get from my couples on a weekly basis, or even MY photos. (Mine were a cheap pro and they were awful...)

As many people have said, it depends on your priorities. A student or a non pro with a great camera is not going to give you the same results any more than an amateur with a new drill is going to give you a good root canal.Disposable cameras? You'll get a lot of fuzzy photos of not really anything.

Honestly, it is up to you. How important are photos to you? Me and FH decided photography was our number one thing we wanted quality with. We were willing to do DJ Itunes if we had to in order to get the photographer we wanted. Great thing was, we found a great photographer for an amazing price, so we didnt have to cut back elsewhere for it. I second most of the opinions being posted though. I think having a family member or friend is always questionable. What if she sucks and your wedding photos are a hot mess? How would you deal with it? You can't redo this day- and after the wedding is over, photos and memories are all thats left. You want those photos to be great, right? So consider that. Whatever you do, get a contract between the two of you. What she is promising, how she will deliver it to you, etc. Because she might be uncomfortable with it once she realizes how important this is. Also, another story I can share: my friends got married over the summer.... cont

Cont... and they had their brother in law take photos- it was a passion of his and he took great photos. But at their wedding he only took like 50 photos and got none of the guests, missed a couple events, took no shots of all the details she worked so hard on. Why? Because it's a party with his family and he wanted to have fun too! So thankfully another friend of ours is an amateur photographer, saw this happening and took a ton of shots for her. She lucked out but the photos were still not great. So again, if she had a list of all the shots and things he had to get on a contract, it may not have happened that way.

I totally understand times are tough right now, but you may want to consider the following:

If you have your sister take the photos, and anything goes wrong, that's going to be something that will be a point of contention for the rest of your lives. Secondly, it's a lot of work, and I think if you realized how much pressure you are putting on your sister, you just wouldn't. Shooting is just a small portion of what I do, when I get home, I save the images on DVD's and then edit hundreds of images...it takes hours....not to mention if you want a custom designed album.

A pro camera isn't going to give a non pro great results...the camera doesn't take the picture, the photographer does. I've shot pro for over 3 years now...as a hobby before that for 25 plus years, and I will tell you, I still learn a thing or two along the way! I know people think that just because they know someone with a nice camera they are going to take great wedding pictures. Wedding photography...

Cont: ...is a specialized type of photography and you wouldn't want a non wedding photographer shooting your wedding any more than you would want me to bake your wedding cake. I have a nice oven, some flour and frosting...I can do it!!! NOT!!

I'm sure you've heard...after the flowers die, the cake and dinner...and guests are gone, the only thing you will have left is the memories and the photos. Photography should be the one thing you don't allow just anyone to do, and you just need to make it the number one priority! I've seen some of the photos that some of you think are great from non-pros...but they are definitely not pro...and...how much more would you enjoy them if they were pro photos.

As far as cost, the median price in Southern California for shooting and images on a disk is approximately 3,000. A true pro is not going to shoot a wedding for under 1000.00. My base is 2400.00 and when you consider all the hours I spend, it really doesn't come out to much profit.

Newport Light Photography I disagree. Just because a photographer doesn't charge at least a $1000 doesn't mean there not a professional IMO. I think if you find someone who is trying to build their business and is new in the business can do a great job at a fraction of the price. I would agree with you on the fact that photography should be a priority and you should hire a professional I just think there are a lot of professionals out there at a fraction of the cost because they are new to the business and trying to build their clientele. I have a great photographer IMO and I was not charged an arm and a leg but I think it's important to know what to look for and what questions to ask as well.

@ Celia. Our of the 9 disposable cameras I had I had about 24 photos that were crappy (each roll held 27 pics) That said they were from a photo shop not the dollar store and they had flash and my wedding was adults only so no kids were running around taking pics of peoples legs and what not. Guess it depends on wether your guests are smart enough to know how to turn on a flash and wether they read the directions that say soeoe has to be withing 4 meters.

Obviously priorities differ, and that's fine. But whether a vendor is great or not is an opinion that can be made only AFTER the wedding, most certainly not before.