I feel quite compelled to write this article due to the amount of rubbish I am reading on websites at the moment on how to save money at your wedding. One of the most talked about ways is cutting down the cost of your photography and the ideas put forward are quite simply ludicrous. Here are three common ones:-
Hire a student to take your wedding photographs
Although some students may be very competent budding photographers they are far from ready to tackling a wedding. As we all know the majority of students do not work in shall we say, a fast manner. Most are a little laid back. Weddings are fast paced live events and you do not have the luxury of being able to spend 1 hour to get one shot.
Wedding photography is about anticipation, seeing the light, great composition, creating depth in an image and great timing. None of these come without experience. It takes about 3 years doing it full time to become proficient (some never do!) in my opinion.
Students do not have back up equipment (I take 4 cameras to each wedding) or have insurance. What happens if it all goes wrong on the day or their equipment breaks down? It is your priceless memories lost forever for the sake of saving a little money.
Get you guests to take the photographs
This is even worse than students. Yes you might have a friend who is an amateur photographer with all the latest gear but that means nothing. If I sat you in an Formula One car you would not be a professional driver and it is doubtful that you would get 10 metres in it. Richard Hammond didn't...
If you are happy having snapshots then the above two options are fine. Think about it - when was the last time you picked up a magazine and saw a Prada advert that did not look amazing. There is a reason that companies use professional photographers costing thousands and thousands of pounds - because there is such a difference between what we do and what an amateur or student does.
Think about it - would you let your friend build you a house just because they can build a brick wall? No - you would get a professional builder.
Make your own album
This is certainly an option for all the budding scrapbookers out there. But do you really want a scrapbook to showcase your album? Professional quality albums are only available to professionals and as they are handmade and custom designed they do cost a lot of money. But it is worth it. Your album is an heirloom that is not just for you but your childrens and future generations. A lot of time and thought goes into each design to make it individual to you and making it as timeless as possible.
The reality is that to book an competent photographer with a nice album with 24 sides will cost upwards of £1750 - more in London. You might also expect to pay more after your wedding as the amount of your package may well be an initial investment. This works well for you. You know you have a package that has say 24 sides in. But what happens if your wedding is amazing and there is no way all the fantastic images will fit into the 24 sides? You will hopefully have the option to purchase more sides if required and the budget allows. A number of photographers (me included) will pre-design your album. That is to say that although you have paid for 24 sides in your package, the design I show you might have 50 sides in. It is then your challenge to resist buying the extra pages or going for it and having the perfect album!
This works really well as it means I am always on the look out for great images which I hope you will buy (this is a business as well as a passion!). You then have far more amazing images from your wedding to remember so we are all happy.
Please remember that your wedding photographs are priceless. They are cherished memories of your day and most importantly your families which may never be together as one again.
I often hear that people are upset with their wedding photographs (not mine!) and ask why. They explain in detail that images were out of focus, there is no emotion or they are all dark. I then ask how much they paid. Almost without fail they had a really low budget and the end result reflected that. They are deeply upset as a wedding is an unrepeatable event that cannot be repeated. The moral of the story is that you do get what you pay for (but beware of cowboys!).
Ultimately follow these three rules and you should be ok:-
1. Love the photographers work. Look at multiple complete weddings to see their consistency.
2. Like the photographer. They will be with you for a long time. Are they the type of person you would invite to the wedding?
3. Be happy with the price and sacrifice other items to be able to afford the photographer you really would like.
EDITED TO SAY - It is interesting that these same publishers do not follow there own advice. Surely it would be logical for the magazines to employ student photographers and journalists to create their magazine as it will be at a far lower cost... I think not somehow so why should they suggest you have cut priced non professional services for your once in a lifetime day?
Don't mess about....get a professional to do your Photos, you get what you pay for and if the photos are mucked up you can't get that day back...even if you did get dressed up again to re-create the day....you'll know it wasn't. I'm not a photographer...Nikki McLeod did my Wedding Photos and I can't fault her. I know people who tried to skrimp on their Photos(Memories) and they've regreted it.
Posted by: Adrienne Sloan | February 18, 2009 at 23:43
The more cock-ups, the more it makes us pros look good, so bring on the amateurs, that's what I say. I juts feel sorry for the B&Gs who get rubbish pics of their weddings. Well I don't really - they should have booked me...
Posted by: Rob Munro | February 13, 2009 at 17:44
YAY!!! So so so so SO true - thank you :)
Posted by: Hannah | February 11, 2009 at 18:45
Steve, I love your comment
" So please please anyone reading this book a professional its not as easy as we make it look."
Another point I think couples often over look when questioning the cost is all the time that is put into pre and post production.
ie: although the photographer may only spend 6 hours with you on the day. There is meeting with the clients before and after the wedding, editing and producing albums and reprints
Greg
Posted by: Greg Coggiola | February 10, 2009 at 02:25
Well written, I agree with all said........
Posted by: Nikki McLeod | January 28, 2009 at 21:00
God how I agree with you , having been in full time photography for over 20 years now I have lost count in the number of times I have been contacted by a tearful bride asking me to fix the photos she had taken by an amatuer or friend. In my lifetime I have completley re shot 4 weddings that were so bad or didn't even turn out .The last couple we reshot, got married in Turkey, they asked for a price for us to go with them but they said the price was too much, so they hired a local unknown guy in Turkey costing over 1200.00 you know what happened, NONE of the photos turned out, in fact they couldn't even find the guy they hired.
6 months after they came home, they hired a venue, cars, suits, bought a cake and flowers and we reshot the wedding, how much did this cost in total 5000.00,on top of the 1200.00 already paid, if they hired us in the first place it would have only cost them 1000.00 on top of the 1200.00.
But as long as the bridal mags continue to tell you to cut costs with photography this will happen again and again.
Posted by: Duncan Boyd | January 28, 2009 at 17:09
Interesting Post. I shoot weddings and agree with your points entirely. When my youngest daughter got married several years ago, we thought it'd be fun to leave a couple of disposable cameras at each table for additional candid shots (we hired a pro too).
Each of the 40 odd cameras had a nice very specific note attached to please take some nice pictures of each other and leave the cameras in the decorated baskets by the exits when leaving the wedding...
Not a single camera was left behind.. People treated them like party favors and, well, took them. This isn't so much a rant about my thieving relatives as it is about the unintended consequences of leaving things to chance. If we hadn't had a pro covering the wedding we'd have nothing from the day.
Posted by: ed w | January 25, 2009 at 17:34
All good points, David.
Posted by: Mark | January 24, 2009 at 17:19
Hi David
I really get where you are coming from. I cannot blog my story for fear of upsetting 2 clients. 1 was married abroad ( it rained and the photographs are terrible. they have come to me as I did their Friends wedding last year and asked if i can do anything to help them out.
The other wedding is even worse same story I did their Friends wedding and the groom from the wedding i shot decided he could photograph this one. OMG i have yet to find a shot in focus, Its that bad that today I re shot some pics for them costing the couple the re hire of a suit plus my time and design work. I wanted to blog this story but I as I said I cant, I don't want to upset these two couple. So please please anyone reading this book a professional its not as easy as we make it look. Another point the couple here would have paid less if they had booked me to do the wedding rather than put someone Else's work right.
Steve.
Posted by: Stephen Sutton | January 23, 2009 at 00:07
Fantastic advice David. Really couldn't agree with you more.
So many people do not realise the value of good photography. I wish I'd taken so much more care in choosing the right photographer for me when I got married 10 years ago, and if I could do it all over again, I would spend much much more on photography and less on something else..
Posted by: Melanie East | January 22, 2009 at 20:46
Well done David. I particularly like your point about magazines - they want a quality product and therefore use qualified, talented staff. Yet they say it is okay for the bride to use untrained, unqualified photographers for the most important day of their life!
Posted by: lynne kennedy | January 22, 2009 at 19:57
Spoken Genius as usual Mr P!
Posted by: russ | January 22, 2009 at 18:14
Thank you for this really good advice David. A lot of people think photography is expensive, in fact it's priceless. Often we hear the first item to be saved from a burning house (other than the kids of course) is the photograph album. The problem is many people don't realise the value of wedding photographs until long after the day. I can include myself in this, I'm a wedding photographer but couldn't afford a good photographer for my wedding many years back (I wasn't a wedding photographer back then). Instead I had a friend take the photographs, what I'm left with is a few snaps in the bottom of a draw. They are of such poor quality that I never bothered putting them in an album. 14 years on I really regret not having a lovely album full of memories from my wedding.
Posted by: Simon Atkins | January 22, 2009 at 16:11