How much should you spend on a wedding photographer?
Tuesday, July 13th, 2010 at
12:03 pm
How much should we be spending on a wedding photographer??? We have an overall budget of about £12000. We’d love some really beautiful, classy keepsakes of our big day but are unsure of what sort of price is right and also do photographers have to be qualified or can anybody just do it? How do we know if they’re any good??? Thanks!
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Tagged with: budget • keepsakes • photographers • wedding photographer
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Try to take a look to these photographers portfolio:
http://www.joannedunn.it/
They did a greate job for my wedding.
You can pay whatever you afford. I say that b/c you can find some great deals. Our original photog was only 350 package which included 3 hours of the day, engagement photos but her portfolio was amazing. There are some wedding photogs who cost from 1k-5k packages. Once again it depends on what you want, and what you are willing to spend. My photogs prices went up to 800.00 for bridal, engagement, and day of shoots.
I’m running on dollar basics, but we paid $1200 for our photographer, and she was there from 1pm thru 9pm, and took about 850 shots over the course of the day. It will depend on where your wedding is.
But as far as whether they are good or not, a good rule of thumb is when you meet with them, see how much they are willing to show you: if they pull out all sorts of albums, with some raw images and a wide variety of images, then that shows you that they feel confident in their ability. If they pull out a single album with 10 images in it, I would ask, "What are they hiding? What do the other 700 images from that wedding look like?!" Also, take note of things like web-hosting the images for prints, the costs of prints (for friends and family), and if you gain posession of the copyrighted images at the end (Our photographer gave us a disc of ALL images at the end).
And, even if they are talented, make sure your personalities mesh. If you aren’t friendly with one another, it’ll be really hard to share those intimate moments with your new spouse in front of him/her.
Good luck!
Choosing a photographer is one of the more difficult decisions in wedding planning because the photos are so important. They are the only things that you will have after the wedding other than your memories. Not just anybody can take great wedding pictures. So in my opinion, it’s worth it to get a really good, qualified photographer. But that doesn’t mean that you have to spend a lot of money.
It’s very important that you like your photographer. You’ll be spending a lot of time with him or her on your special day, so it is important that you feel at ease. You also should look for someone who is very professional. This includes having back-up equipment and being willing to show you lots of photos from other weddings. Ask to see one entire wedding so you can get a feel for how many of the pictures actually turn out well. You want to choose a photographer with very few bad (or even ok) shots so you don’t end up hating your wedding pictures.
Some decisions you will have to make about photography are:
- What is your photography style? Do you want a lot of traditional shots, artsy shots, or photojournalistic (shooting natural shots and not posing them)? Or maybe a blend of the three? You need a photographer that specializes in the kind of photography you want.
- How do you want your pictures? Do you want the photographer to make an album for you? Do you just want a CD of high resolution pictures that you are allowed to print from?
- Do you want two photographers to make sure that you get shots of everything or is just one good enough for you?
- How long will you need the photographer? Some packages are as little as 3 or 4 hours, while others are for the entire day. There’s no need to pay for more than you will need, but you don’t want to be rushed either.
- Do you want extra things included? Things like albums, bridal portraits, engagement pictures, trash the dress or day after pictures, or fancy editing are things that some photographers will include in their package, while others will require add-ons which increase the expense.
Along with these decisions you need to set a specific budget for photography and try your best not to go over it. Pictures are important, but you don’t want to ruin your wedding budget by choosing a photographer that you can’t afford. I don’t know what a good price would be for you. That’s something that you will have to figure out based on the style of your wedding and the other expenses that you will have.
But http://www.savemoneyonawedding.com can help you to negotiate a great deal with your photographer, as well as save money on other areas of your wedding. Using the tips on this website, you could save enough money to get any wedding photography package you want!
Honestly, spend as much as your budget will allow you to. After the food and drink, photography is high on the list of priorities. And generally, you get what you pay for. Experience, technique and taste level of the photographer are all important. You dont want to hire a freshman and end up with a lot of close-up of flowers, "artistic" angles, bad lighting, sideways shots, and poor composition. An experienced photographer can do it all and not miss a beat, they need to anticipate the special moments of the day and not miss it or get the lighting wrong. Spend as much as you can and look for a photographer that matches your taste level.
Many photographers are willing to wheel and deal.
Ask that the original proof CD be submitted to you as part of the *contract*.
Also, see if you can assign a friend with a laptop, empty external hard disk, and memory card reader so that the photos taken can be downloaded at the end of the event.
If not, then you should state in the contract that the *original* digital files in RAW format are to be burned to CD, not weak JPEG thumbnail shots.
Ask that all rights to the photos be totally released to you.
State in the contract that 60% down payment will be made but the remaining balance will be given when the goods are received.
Have you seen these photographer horror stories here on Y!A:
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AqDFOKSXZV2tfKb08qHVl1EjzKIX;_ylv=3?qid=20091021233113AARelVR
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Ap8H9bfrLqGw0BqIAdOT1FgjzKIX;_ylv=3?qid=20091027115520AA33k8p
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AsBcBTleon25oyv6urhmGX0jzKIX;_ylv=3?qid=20091013193156AABpVBv
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AnIrTHEA0gAQFXmtqT_D9XwjzKIX;_ylv=3?qid=20091014181745AAL7nHe
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=As19Ni4dK2.gT2ZYrZTFO3YjzKIX;_ylv=3?qid=20091012161754AA3HAbM
Be wise. Good luck!
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I may be biased, since I am a wedding photographer, so keep that in mind… the usual rule of thumb is to set aside 10-20% of the total wedding spend for the photography. What is more important though is what you will get for your money. If you get all the basics from a photographer you like and can trust, the price is secondary – there are bargains to be had.
However, bear in mind that a professional photographer earns his living from his craft, so there is a minimum he/she needs to charge in order to come out. If you get a bargain basement price it probably means you are getting a "week-end warrior" – an amateur who may be a good photographer, but is supporting themselves with a "real" job. That is OK, except that it takes about 3 hours editing for every hour spent at the wedding day, longer for an amateur who does not have the dedicated equipment and software. Since they are going to be going to work during the day, that 50 hours or more of hard, skilled work is going to be fitted in to nights and weekends – unless they have another wedding to do. The result is often nice portfolios but just adequate post-processing and no access to professional labs and album makers, therefore higher end costs to you for the important end products: Framed Prints, Canvas Prints, Coffee Table Books, Acrylics etc.
This is why so many offer Disk Only packages: it isn’t to save you money, it is to save them time and expense, and so their limitations never show up;
The minimum coverage I suggest is Bride’s Preparation, Groom’s Preparation, Service, Group Photos after the Service, Bridal Party location photos, Reception through to Farewell. My minimum fee for this, with two professional photographers is about $AU1000. That provides just one framed enlargement and the photos from the day, fully edited and prepared for printing on DVDs.
Most of my clients add various services to this to make a more complete package, and the typical cost is around $AU2,500-$3,500.
If you have a look at my website you can see under PRICING the kind of options you should expect. Under SERVICES you can see in more detail what a photographer will be doing through the day to earn their fee. If your photographer has a good portfolio, can show you examples (not just on line), is a member of a professional association, and is willing to work with you to achieve what you want, the money – whatever the amount- will be well spent.
I never ever had anyone show me dud pictures of their wedding and brag how cheap they were….