Wedding photographers...

sara~b · #1 December 28th, 2009, 01:34 PM

I REALLY want a great photographer for our wedding. (We're tentatively thinking 6-18-11.) I have a really great idea of exactly what I want but I am STUNNED by the prices! The cheapest I've found so far is like $3,500!

Are prices like this normal? What do they usually include? I mean for that much it has to be like more than just they take pics and then you get to choose 10 or something right? Please help!

Oh, and if you want to see what I'm working on so far I have a thread in Wedding Planning!

*krista* · #2 December 28th, 2009, 01:42 PM

Goodness yes, good wedding photography is so expensive. That is the one thing we splurged on because I knew it would be worth it. I didn't care too much about getting photos from the photographer so much as getting rights to the photos so I could print them myself (photos from the photographer can be really expensive).

sara~b · #3 December 28th, 2009, 01:45 PM

Krista - Were the rights included in your price? Or were a certain number of photos? I mean WHAT am I paying that much for if I can't get a full wedding album out of the deal without paying MORE?!

*krista* · #4 December 28th, 2009, 02:02 PM

I got the rights and all full resolution (some will not do full resolution, keep an eye out for that) photos on a disc. No printed photos/albums. She traveled and stayed for two days in a hotel to take my engagement and wedding photos.

In my area, I couldn't find decent photography for under $2000. And it really is a situation where you get what you pay for, usually. I paid somewhere between $2000 to $2500, so it was a little on the cheaper side, but then again it didn't come with any photo albums.

Bre might be able to tell you a little more about what goes into the price, but from what I understood, I was paying for travel expenses, her time at the wedding and engagement session, and I'm sure many hours she spent touching up the photos (there were 600-700 pictures, so that's a lot to touch up) and adding special effects to some of them. With many of the more expensive ones you get TWO photographers for your wedding so it is covered from every angle, and just in case they have a problem with the equipment.

I searched for a LONG time to get a good photographer at a good price. There are definitely some out there that you can pay much more for, but I was looking for a good value. Worth every penny, I love my wedding pics.

*JenJen* · #5 December 28th, 2009, 04:20 PM

I spent 1/4 of my $8,000 budget on my photography-engagement, bridals, and wedding day. that included all my prints for my invites, my guest book photo, a large bridal print, a collage, ALL 1000 photos from the wedding on CD(print resolution with rights), all bridals and engagements on CD as well, and our 75 page custom wedding album and 75 proofs. I had 2 photogs on the wedding day. I got a steal of a deal because I booked with a photography company that was just starting out, but I looked at the work of the individual photographers and loved what they did, so I got a bargain in exchange for giving them permission to use my photos in advertising. By the time my wedding came around 8 months later the package I had purchased had gone from 1700 in price to 5000.....simply because they were more known by then.

Definitely be willing to give a new photographer a try, you may find an amazing deal. I would definitely look closely at their portfolios first, and also make sure that you get some client references from other weddings they have done to see how the clients felt about them as well.

midnight_starr · #6 December 28th, 2009, 05:33 PM

We paid right about 2500 for our photographer, this included an engagement session, bridal session, cd with copy rights to the pictures, a flush mount album that included 80 pictures, and an album of all the proofs..

Shop around, get price quotes from many photographers and go sit down meet with them and look at their work!! Hit up some bridal shows!

Mars · #7 December 29th, 2009, 06:14 AM

Check with Breanna, she might know.

JediRach · #8 December 29th, 2009, 07:39 AM

We paid $2900 for our package which was a bargain in San Diego. We got 3 photographers all day on our wedding day, an engagement session, online viewing, a GraphiStudio album with leather cover, a flushmount picture, and all the full resolution rights to our pictures from both the wedding and the engagement session.

bittersweet · #9 December 29th, 2009, 08:19 AM

The websites of the photographers you are looking at usually have packages listes and their prices. So you can see what you are getting. You have to check with the specific photographer on their prices and what you will get. Paying $3500 to one guy might get something totally different than what another guy charges $3500 for.

We spent $700 (this was in a rural Michigan city) for just day of wedding photography. This included an hr prior to ceremony start through 2 hrs into the reception. We bought a full resolution disc and printed our own photos. The photographer did a really nice job, especailly for how little we paid.