I was a little shocked at the prices. Some folks did on the cheap cause their friends did it, but some of these professionals seem kind of expensive. Is it possible to get it for less than a 1500?
firstly congrats... yeah you can. I got mine around 2000 but thats four 4 people (2 photographer and 2 film person） i got mine through the wedding planning company which tends to get a good deal.
I believe we paid around 2k for ours, but we talked him down from about 3 (didn't include some things we thought unnecessary). I will say this, you do get what you pay for. Of course, there are some that cost 1k that are as good as ones that cost 3k, and vice versa. But in general, the more expensive photographers do take better pictures.
Not getting married, just trying to help someone else. I don't think I can afford it (or too cheap) with some of these prices. I think it is a minimum of 50k and that is with a not so great wedding + reception.
Wedding photography can really run the gamut with the average probably around $2500. That's including the $500 all day photographer you find on Craigslist who shows up with their first DSLR and kit lens. And that includes the high end photographers who charge $8k+. But you do tend to get what you pay for. Go on the cheap and you'll have the single photographer who has no backup camera and a single large flash card that might fail and lose all your pictures. Best way is to just check our the various blogs and see if the style fits and the price fits.
Just don't have a friend do it to save money, even if one offers. You'll be doing him/her a favor. I offered to photograph a wedding many years ago for two good friends of mine that were getting hitched. I have little memory of the ceremony, being too busy trying to get the best shot, as well as being a nervous wreck in the process. Oh, and congratulations!
Weddings are one of those things that have insane margins on everything. Just lump it and pay for a good photographer. And ask if they do wedding night video.
A wedding photographer can range anywhere from low one thousand to about 10k or even 15k... depending on all their services. Shop around and look for a style that suits you best or that you would like for yourself and your fiancee, then ask for prices. I've seen people pay exorbitant amounts for things they didn't need or want, and I've seen people pay little money for awesome photography, so it's one of those things that doesn't have a comparison charts... and it's never going to be the same service charging the same amount everywhere... Are you looking to do video and photography, or just photography? A straight answer to your question is YES.
Find a chinese photography place. they usually throw in extras that others don't like free makeup and tux rental. at least thats how it is in NY anyway
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My wife is a professional photographer and she turns down 1-2K wedding gigs all the time. Not worth the pain for her. Having to chase down a million people who rather drink and party, in difficult lighting situations, while having only one chance to catch certain moments is something she doesn't like to do. She will do pre wedding pics where the couple will show up in their wedding outfits for a 2-3 hour photo session, but she won't do weddings.
we paid about 5k for the photography...we budgeted for this. photography was more important to me than my own dress which was $400. there are tons of photographers who charge $$$ but their end result is amazing! Just google Del Sol photography.
As others have said you will get what you paid for when it comes to photography. I am with Lady_Di on this one. I am very big on things that will always stay with you and the photos and video will be something that will never change and you don't get a second chance at it. I paid a hell of a lot for them but I don't regret it one bit. The pictures we got are something that people talk about till this day and i would do it again and pay even more if they asked if I knew what the pictures of that day would come out like.
I agree with Stack24. You get what you pay for. Lo barato sale caro. (cheap things end up costing MORE) I will respect your wife's decision... and (here comes the 'but'), speaking from a photographer's stand point, if I may, I'd rather take the challenge and work with the client to ensure that they are happy with my work, instead of walking away from it. It's definitely worth the pain for me. Controlled lighting is a piece of cake even for someone who has never worked in photography. There are comfort zones for everyone, as humans, from which we don't like to get out. It's OK if someone says "I won't do a certain type of photography", but you have to take some challenges every now and then. It's the different lighting and "getting out of the comfort zone" situations and how they handle them that make photographers better.
Definitely one of the mistakes we made was hiring a photographer that was a coworker of the wife. He had a portfolio and everything and it looked great. But when it came to our wedding, he only took black and whites of the reception and it took forever to get the pictures. But I think you can find a very decent photographer in the 1K-2K range...ours charged WAY below that. Also make sure you ask about getting all the pictures on CD and whether or not the photographer will sign over the copyright to the pictures for you, so you can make whatever copies you want and use them wherever you want. I'm of the mindset, that if you're paying thousands of dollars for these pictures, then they should be yours to keep and do with whatever you want. BUT, you have to secure the copyright in order to do that, because it is still technically the photographers work. If you're thinking about doing video, you might choose to go all out for the photographer, then hire a student crew to get the video. Save you some money, and you still get really awesome pictures.
