Pro/Amateur Wedding Photographer?

Point out to him how his sister should be a guest, enjoying the ceremony sitting with family, eating, having a good time. A wedding for a photographer is high stress hard work. A wedding for a VIP family member should be full of fun and enjoying each others company. Those two things do mix. Maybe that angle of not putting a burden on his sister will help. ETA: I'm 100% anti "my day, my way" attitudes, but I'd put my foot down on this. You are not willing to make family work at your wedding. You are not having amateur photos.

We used an amateur for our engagement pictures and were planning to use her for our wedding as well. She had never shot a wedding but we didn't feel like we could afford a professional. Our engagement pictures were nice but the process was so awkward. We went to a local nature preserve and she did not know anything about it and kept asking us where we wanted to go and how we wanted to pose. I felt so awkward and uncomfortable. We decided to splurge and get a professional photographer. It was the best decision! We chose a mother/daughter team who had photographed hundreds of weddings. We did pricing by the hour and did 3 hours - some pre ceremony, formals, ceremony, and first hour of reception. They made the process SO easy and comfortable. They knew what pictures to take and how people should pose. It worked like clockwork and our pictures are beautiful! I highly recommend finding a professional. We spent $1200 and it was totally worth it! I can't imagine how stressful the day would have been if we had gone with the amateur photographer!!

My FSIL used a friend/amateur photographer for her wedding. Pictures took forever because she didn't know how to pose people and wouldn't speak up. They didn't get through the requested shot list at all. My FMIL told me to make sure to get a professional photographer, at least for the ceremony and portraits, because they were disappointed with their friendor.

Personally, when FH and I first started talking about budget I told him the one area where I do not want to compromise on quality is photography. Luckily he agreed. But after one of my good friends/bridesmaids took the pictures for my other friends' engagement shoot, FSIL's maternity shoot, as well as the pictures of our proposal, I'm thinking that she's a phenomenal photographer and she could really do some great work at a wedding.

I like your proposal of doing at least 3 hours with a professional and then the rest can be amature no problem!

Everyone can tell when people use amateur photogs. Tell him that!

I hired a pro for my wedding, but I can tell you about my experience starting out in this industry.

I was so excited to start in weddings. I was a recent college graduate with a photography degree and had been doing portraits for years. I didn't realize how fast the day would go by. I couldn't do all of the things I wanted to because I had no idea how wedding day timelines worked. My flash died in the middle of the first dance and I didn't have any spare batteries on me, only in my bag in a separate room. I didn't know to check the venue for a great portrait location, and in the rush of things, I just brought them outside to a not-so-great spot. I didn't know how to dance around the crowds of people with their cell phones high in the air. I didn't know how to speak up during the family portraits when tons of extra people kept butting their way into the formals.

That's the thing about just starting out in weddings. There is so much an amateur will miss because weddings *are not portrait sessions.* They are huge, long events that you can't do over. If you missed something big, it's gone. You have to know how to get the shot and move on. I hope you're able to reason with your FH. It would be a shame to dislike your wedding photos for the rest of your life.

Pro all the way! There are other places you can save money/cut from your wedding. The photographer is not one of those places.

ETA: words.

OP - If you want to read about bad photographers, log into WW on your desktop and search bad photography on the forums. You'll find plenty of examples

This goes with almost everything but especially wedding since it cannot be REDONE.

I told me husband re: alcohol that....

"I would never stop you from doing something that was important to you like videographer and since we can afford it I don't mind since it's our wedding day. But I would hope you respect my desire to serve alcohol and ensure that what I also want and we can afford is also acceptable and done..."

It worked...and it should work with yours too....

In the end, you get one shot at it and pros have a much higher chance to capture you in the best way and you will have those forever.

Do not skimp. This should be the next most important budgeted item after Officiant, Venue, Food/Beverages. Go on a computer and search this forum for all the horrible photographer problems people have had by using friendors, or inexperienced pros, or those services that assign you a photog from a pool, for a discount rate. We actually pushed our entire wedding out so we could afford a reputable photographer.

My first wedding we didn't hire a pro and it was my biggest regret. (

Go pro!

Professional. Photographer was the main vendor I really splurged on

I don't mind amateur but honestly his sister should be able to enjoy the wedding.

Don't cave on this one. $1000 is pretty reasonable for 3 hours and all rights. Go pro, for sure!

My friend just had a wedding a few weeks ago and "hired" his sister to capture video (on her professional camcorder) - the sister forgot the camera at home and it was a destination wedding over 5 hours away.

I have a pro and an amateur. The amateur is our second photographer who has done several weddings as the second photographer. He does great work. He is building his portfolio and learning under a couple different professionals. So I do feel confident. Since he is still considered an amateur his cost was much cheaper so we really lucked out on pricing for two photographers.

Amateurs need to get their practice with street photography and portrait work before delving into a no do over event like a wedding, it's not a practice run and nor can it be redone. Too much they don't know about the structure of the events, the psychology aspect and human subjects, watching for human interaction, and on the fly focusing and technical settings. Personally, I'd rather spend $3000 well, than waste $1000.00 when in the grand scheme of things, it's a one time investment you can recupe faster than grief from "meh" photos...or worse yet, one who backs out and has no contract.

A nice camera doesn't make an amateur a photographer any more than the antique surgical tools I photographed for a private client, would make me a surgeon.

I don't have experience with an amateur, but I have seen amateur photos on wedding sites and I could absolutely tell; it looks like someone took them with an iPhone. I've also read stories on this particular forum about people whose photographers have completely missed important shots - one woman came on here and said she didn't have a single picture of her and her husband.

Another one was still waiting for her photos 6 months later.

Originally my H wanted to use a friend's father who works for a studio, but I saw the pics and they looked amateur. What I did to convince him was sit him down beside me in front of our laptops, open up the browsers with his laptop showing the amateur's, and mine with the pro.

I think we only got through 5 pictures before he said, "I get it. Let's pay for the professional photographer."

Update: I have talked to fiancé again and he said whatever. I will be booking my pro photographer for 4 hours on our wedding day, which will cover the first look, wedding party, family, ceremony, cake cutting, and the important dances for just over $1100.

Mine? Always awful. They are slow, inefficient, in the way of every other pro working, and they just don't know how to work as a team. Plus, she's family; she should be relaxing, not working.

You are in prime season. I know I say this over and over, but most pros want to book prime dates at their highest going rate. It may be difficult to find someone to do three hours.