Photography!!! Advice Please

I didn’t have a big budget but I didn’t want to compromise on photo quality so I just paid for less hours. Not every photographer will give you the option but it’s worth a shot. 4hrs of clear, professional photographs is better than 8hrs of subpar.

We didn't go over budget, but you can't find a decent photographer in most areas without spending "thousands" of dollars. Our photographer is $2500 for 10 hours of coverage, a second shooter, engagement session, album, and 16" X 20" mounted photo. Photography was one of our top priorities. Once the flowers have died, the caterers have packed up, and the dress is hung in your closet, the photos are all that you'll have left. I wouldn't break your budget for it, but I would see if you can cut back somewhere else.

We just had our wedding (9/8/19). I was trying to skip professional photography because of the cost. I figured there would be enough family taking pics and it would be fine, but I still kept that option open in case I ran into someone that was affordable.

Fortunately I did find someone and after I saw how the wedding ceremony and reception party turned out I’m glad I did cuz I want those pics! Also she worked with our budget since we weren’t doing the whole package that was offered so they did discount it.

6-8 weeks we will get our pics back, I can’t wait 😊!!!

I used a photographer my friend used for her wedding after I saw her photos on Facebook. We paid $2,300 for our package, but we would have paid like double the price or more if we went with the photographers our venue recommended. I will say we used a rather new photographer who had only been doing weddings for a year or two, but her work is amazing and I love my photos. If we had waited to book our photographer until this year we would have spent more ($2,800 instead of $2,300) because her prices went up at the beginning of this year. Honestly if you want high quality photos you are going to have to spend a good amount of money especially because photos are one of the only things you have to look back on to remember your wedding day.

Can you try and ask the photographers that you do like to cut hours down? Or ask if they have an hourly fee? Just getting an hour or two of wedding party and your portraits wouldn't be the same but it would give you some beautiful pictures nonetheless.

Check out Snappr they’re very reasonable. They link you to photographers in your city with the availability to do your shoot. You get to see their portfolio prior to booking.

I think if there is anywhere to go over budget, it would be for photography. The photos will be there to show you how you guys and all your loved ones felt and looked that day. It is a very very important aspect to me, so we hired a really great one. Ours was 3500 and includes 8 hours wedding photography, 2 shooters, an engagement session, and lingerie boudoir shoot for me (wedding present for him)

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I wouldn't mind paying $3,500 for everything you just listed! May I ask who your photographer is? The few I liked are all like $5,000+ and as much I would like to be able to pay it, it just wouldn't work for us.

View Quoted Comment She is based out of Wilmington, North Carolina. Her name is Stephanie Axtell and she is AMAZING and works at my venue all the time so it was a no brainer for us 😊😊

We originally planned on $500 but ended up spending $1250.

Yes! We spent $3,500 for 7 hours. Our photos were beautiful.

We spent $3,200 on photography in Denver. It included our adventure engagement shoot with 100+ edited images, 8 hours on our wedding day, 800+ edited images, a print release, and all the pictures from our wedding day (unedited). We are in love with our pictures and so happy with them, I can't imagine not having great pictures. But we are huge picture people and have albums & prints up everywhere.

I'm spending $3000 on photography. It was one of my highest priorities, as these will be the lasting memories of our wedding day. For that price we get: 8 hours of coverage w/two shooters, engagement photo session (we ended up with 120 pictures), an album, print release, and online access to all photos for a year after the wedding (in case any relatives want to order prints for themselves), and digital access to everything. It's a really great package, and even though it's a lot of money, worth every penny, in my opinion. It's so important, in fact, that I'm willing to lower my budget on other aspects of the wedding to afford this.

This is one of those things in life that I believe you get what you pay for. For me, the decision was the first and easiest I made and I'm spending roughly 3500. The pictures are memories frozen in time and I want them to be amazing.

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I second this! I had so many friends who went with less expensive photographers and then hated their photos. It's not something to scrimp on if you can avoid it. Just try to find high quality for less time. I feel like lots of time is wasted on reception photos, when folks don't focus on those as much when reliving the day

I have a very small budget. Luckily I have a coworker that is also a photographer; he does good work, and was 300 for two hours. I really just want pictures of the ceremony, the cake, and then a few 'post ceremony' with the wedding party. I'm not big into the 'getting ready' pictures personally and I'm not having a big fancy reception.

Hun check out Thumbtack, it’s where I found my photographer. You can put in how many hours you need and it’ll give you the price for each one without having to contact a bunch of people.
My photographer’s wedding package is $3200. My budget was $600, so I paid for two hours for my small wedding. You don’t need a full day to get great photos of your wedding, focus on the portaits and ceremony.

A good photographer is definitely worth it! But, to save money cut down on the hours. We skipped getting ready pics (we re-enacted a few to quickly get a few with my gals) then let the photographer go once dinner was served (we didn’t have cake but a plated dessert). I think it was for 4 1/2 hours.

Make sure you love your photographer!!! I totally regret hiring a budget photographer. We got our photos back and I was so unhappy that I ended up getting the RAW files and editing them myself. I should have spent the extra $2000 (she was that much more...) to have the photographer I loved. I will never get the chance to redo them!