Is anyone not getting a photographer?

[Milly848]

We're only having a very small wedding and I'm not sure if it's necessary. It costs £300 for two hours, but tbh I hate having my photo taken and will probably hate how I look. Just wondering if anyone is not having a photographer, or if anyone hasn't and regrets it? I don't want to have any regrets, either way.

[DowntonCrabby]

I’d encourage you to go for it.
I really wasn’t arsed about having photos. Parents and inlaws pushed and I relented. I love that we have them. The thing is if you don’t have any photos, that’s that. If you get them done you don’t have to have any up in view or printed but you’ll always have the choice.

[DowntonCrabby]

Also- you won’t hate how you look. I “knew” I’d look really awkward as I’d know they were being taken but there are so many really natural ones and even the posed ones are great. Professionals do such a good job.

[ChocChipPancake]

I didn’t have one. We didn’t want the posed photos or people we didn’t know at our wedding. I own a digital SLR and we had family members constantly picking it up and taking photos and we still got nice family shots too.

[GreenTulips]

Set up the moments app for sharing photos taken by friends?

Our photographer was £50 inc 10 pics - that's all we chose as very small wedding

Try ringing round or ask for a photography student

[Outfoxed]

We’re not having a photographer. Neither of us enjoy having our photos taken or posing for photos much st all. We have family members on both sides who are keen photographers however, and are happy to have a few snaps taken so parents have keepsakes but that’s about it.

[GinGeum]

We didn’t bother. Everyone said we’d regret it - we didn’t. We got married during the heatwave and I was adamant I didn’t want to be marched about here, there and everywhere in the heat just for some photos. I also didn’t want guests standing around waiting while we had endless group shots taken. We have some really lovely ones that family members/friends took, and that’s all we need. In contrast, a friend of mine got married two weeks later and did have a photographer and has openly said she didn’t enjoy her wedding because of it. She didn’t have as much time to mingle as she wanted because she kept going off with the photographer, and none of us have seen a single wedding photo because she’s so upset about the whole thing.

[LadyB49]

We didn't have a photographer.
We did have a gift of a portrait sitting.
We went to the photographer next day. My flowers were still ok and we'd got an extra buttonhole for dh so it wouldn't be crushed in the pic.

[blackcat86]

We got married 18 months ago and didn't get a photographer. Partly because of the extortionate quotes and partly because I had posed photos. We encouraged people to take pictures on their phones and either upload to Facebook or email them to us. We Then passed them on to people in them if they didn't know each other. FIL has a very good camera and took some pics of the venue and us. They turned out well and I have had a lot of lovely comments about how good the photos look and how relaxed we seem.

[kindnessreins]

Oh no I wouldn't dream of it!

[Phebes]

We didn’t. Plenty of great photos taken on the day by guests for free. I don’t regret it at all. I hate posed photos and all the hanging around that comes with them. Save yourself the ££!

[SheWoreBlueVelvet]

We didn't.We got enough good photos to be happy. I did look up ages posed shots of other weddings so we had a few "tricks".
The real advantage other than cost is that guest aren't left hanging around whilst you get set shots in
Disadvantage is that by the endof the night you have either no shots or blurry drunken shots.
It's great to look back at the photos but to be honest a good marriage is way more important than good memories of the wedding day.Lots of my divorced friends have stunning wedding albums but ibviously it all seems a complete waste of money with hindsight.

[RedPandaFluff]

I regret not having a professional photographer, @Milly848 - my brother has a really good camera and said he would take photos for us as a wedding gift, but it didn't quite work out how we thought. First of all, he's not very creative or artistic, so we have some awkward posed photos that really aren't very aesthetically pleasing, and then he got blind drunk after the meal so we have no photos of anything from then onwards. I'm very sad about it because I'd like to have an album or something to flick through every now and again to remember a nice day, or remember things I'd forgotten in the excitement etc.

[thecatsthecats]

We didn't have one. We had four people with great cameras, some serious amateurs. We have received over 2000 shots from these guys alone, plus some lovely pics from other friends.

It fitted in perfectly with our desire not to have ages standing around outside, or doing forced poses for a near stranger, and our desire not to spend a crapload.

My tips:

• have a separate friend responsible for any particular pics you DO want to get
• if you have someone artistically minded, ask them to sense check the groups you do choose - are the tall people at the back, are they grouped in a good place etc?

My friend saved us from having a lot of beautifully shot photos that backed onto the car park!

[WinterWife]

We didn't but my lovely uncle is a keen photographer although I will say that our favourite photos took on the day were took with peoples phones.

[AndNoneForGretchenWieners]

We didn't as we had a tiny wedding and couldn't afford it. Sadly the films i took out of the camera on the day (before digital cameras were a thing) went missing so the photos we took were lost.

Unknown to me, my mum got all the guests to send pics they had took to her, and she put them into a lovely photo album for us as a Christmas present. I love them, even though some of them are awkward angles and are very informal. They are particularly important to me now as DH has incurable secondary brain tumours, so every memory is precious.

[Teddyreddy]

We weren't going to, a friend who is a good amateur photographer was going to do them for us, he'd done quite a few friends weddings before. We changed our minds in the end - and I'm very glad we did.

We went for someone who focused on 'journalist' style photos of the day. We did have about 4 group photos (us + my family, us plus his, us plus sub sets of family), but we sent everyone else on to the reception and it only took about 15 minutes. The reason I'm glad we got a professional is that his photos were just much better than my friend's. The staged group shots were much of a muchness between the two - the difference was in how many non staged special moments he captured without anyone really noticing he was there, and those are the photos that really mean something to us.

[InAPreviousLife]

It was my only regret when we married in a small ceremony with just parents and siblings that we didn't have anyone there to specifically take photos of us.

I've made an album from the collected photos everyone took, but having one or two taken with an understanding of lighting and composition would have made all the difference. It wasn't about having "posed" photos, more about having plenty of natural ones that captured the day without the guests having to do it or me asking them to

[My1stNameIsTaken]

It's nice to have wedding photos. Imagine, it's going to be your only marriage - once, and forever, and forever after :) You will surely want to show the pics to your grandkids. If you you want to save your money and not to pay a professional photographer, let the guests take photos here and there. Posing photographs are good for a posh wedding photo book. While candid shots and short video clips are awesome for a wedding slideshow that you can make yourself. Your friends and family will love it :)

[Cliveybaby]

We were unsure, as we're not very photogenic and hate being photographed!
But a friend of mine is a keen photographer, and so we asked her. We offered to buy her a new camera as thanks (£500). She ended up bringing a friend who actually is a pro, and wanted some pictures to put on her website, so we've got tonnes of lovely pictures!

Couple of tips:

• A nice idea I stole from another wedding is to get the photographer to take pictures of guests as they arrive.
  
• We had our "couple" pictures before the ceremony, so we didn't have to miss the reception. (also because it would have been dark by the time we came out!). This worked really well, we only had to do the family group shots during the drinks reception.

[CalmDownPacino]

We aren't having one. We literally cannot afford it. We have asked people to take photos and will take copies. To be honest, i'm not fussed.

[Lazypuppy]

Photographer is one of the main things i'm happy to spend a decent amount of money on. You only get 1 shot at the photos, and i would hate not to have any professional ones of the day

[moredoll]

Phone up the photography course leader at your local college or university and ask if one of the final year students is interested in taking the wedding photos. Ask to see some of their photos. Don't know how much you should pay. £50? £100? Depends how much work they're doing. Send them a link to the venue so they know rough layout and lighting restrictions.

[giveovermypreciousss]

I had a small wedding. I asked all guests to take photos. My sil was the 'main photographer ' though so everyone had to face her/she took precedent in positioning for the best shots etc.
She accidentally deleted all my wedding pics. I have about 10 photos that are okish from the day.
Def pay for the photographer. In 10 years you wont care how you looked, just that you look happy and are surrounded by people you love.

[SheepyFun]

We paid competent friends to do it for us. The results are better than some 'professional' photos I've seen of weddings (though not as good as a top professional). They are markedly better than any I've seen from others who were there. We got married over 10 years ago, so camera phones weren't anywhere near as good as they are now, but I'd still have someone who had some idea of what they were doing as a photographer, though not necessarily a full professional.