To not want to pay a professional photographer for my wedding photos?!

[CocoM2017]

We are getting married next Spring and have quite a strict budget for our wedding. The one thing we haven’t sorted yet is a photographer. I have contacted a few and have had quotes from all, the most expensive being £1,900 and the cheapest coming in at £850. I only want them for the ceremony and a few hours at the reception.

This is a massive chunk out of what’s left of our already fairly modest budget (compared to a lot of weddings!) and I’m sat here tonight wondering if there’s another way to go about it.

I would really like some ‘professional’ photos from the ceremony and some at the reception venue etc but the thought of shelling out at the very least, £1k for these when they’ll probably just sit there unlocked at for the next 50 years after the initial novelty has worn off.

I was thinking about getting in touch with the local art college and seeing if any photography students would like to earn a few hundred quid? But then worry that they won’t take it seriously and will go out, get drunk the night before and not turn up, argh!

AIB tight? Should I just try and find the grand from somewhere? If you had a pro photographer, do you regret it or are you glad you forked out?

Photography is a really important part of your wedding because it's your memories.

Hire a student from the local university who specialises in portrait and wedding photography. You'll likely get a significantly cheaper price for the use of your photos in their portfolio.

You really do get what you pay for so expect it to be no less than £500 but some wedding photographers are honestly extortionate.

Paying peanuts, getting monkeys.

People paying £2k for photos are crackers. Loads of the photographer's time is wasted with those ridiculous naff 'shoes on the table' at home photos. Get someone with a decent phone to take those (or dont, they are horrible!).

Then, look in a local paper, local forum etc. and find a local professional photographer.

Tell them you want to book them at photocall rates -- usually a few hundred all in.

Tell them you want two hours-- pick the time of your ceremony and get one hour. Then another hour later on. They are used to selling their time in one hour slots.

Then, for the ceremony, give them an idea what you want in a list. People chatting before bride arrives, arrival, ceremony etc.

For the hour you book later -- decide when is best. Picturesque photos at venue, speeches etc.

Ask for exclusive rights in perpetuity, and all photos (not just a selection) on a memory stick.

Find a local printout place, or do that online.

Buy a fancy album in TK maxx or charity shop.

Spend the 1-1.5 k you saved on a fabulous honeymoon!

We used a friend of my sisters who had been on a course and it was her hobby. Cant remember what we paid. Our pictures are amazing just as good if not better than the stuffy overpriced professional ones. Plus as she knew our family it was more personal somehow. Less formal cringey pictures and more natural. Have noticed several guests have pics of them at our wedding on their walls.

Sorry no strikeout intended!

Also meant to say -- student perfectly fine idea if you brief them properly and make sure expectations are clear.

I haven't read the whole thread so someone else may have brought this up but the photographers work isn't finished after the ceremony. They'll have to spend many hours editing the photographs whether they are a student or not. You'd probably be surprised at how great some photography student work is if you do take this route and you can always ask to see a portfolio of their other work to get a feel for their style but please pay them properly and remember to discuss with them who owns the images afterwards too.

I would definitely pay for a decent photographer. We only had family photos, and left our friends to take the informal party ones.

15 years on, we do look at them, a lot. And our kids love them. 😍

We had a family friend rather than a professional photographer, and it is my biggest biggest regret. We have no photos of good enough quality to blow up to put on the wall, and can only thank god for some of our guests who took some brilliant photos. Please please please pay for a photographer! It is the one thing my husband and I insist we will pay for when our children get married.

Are you going to offer them “exposure” in return? I assume you’re paying the caterers and not asking some random person off the street to knock you up a few kebabs. Or to let the reception venue have the privilege of your company? I’m a musician and get this all the time. You wouldn’t ask a plumber to come and unblock your loo for free. Why ask for this professional service for free. If you can’t afford to get married in the way you envisage, cut costs or wait till you can.

Photography was the most important thing for us; we wanted great professional photos and thankfully that’s what we got.

Photos are one of the few things you actually get to keep from the wedding so I think it should be a top priority else you’ll regret it.

I was thinking about getting in touch with the local art college and seeing if any photography students would like to earn a few hundred quid? But then worry that they won’t take it seriously and will go out, get drunk the night before and not turn up, argh!

Why should they take the job seriously if you're not?

Either you're looking for cheap work which gives cheap results, or you're looking for professional level work which deserves professional level pay. Don't devalue professional photography, even if it is done by a student. If the photos come out the way you want, then it's worth paying what they're worth.

My suggestions are to either hire someone to photograph just the ceremonymuch cheaperand then ask people to upload their reception photos to you after the fact; or to find a photographer where you can barter labor. Maybe you have some skill or talent that they would find of value enough to trade for the photography.

Be prepared to pay a decent amount for the photographer’s time (both on the day and in the edit), expertise, and kit. Then economise by requesting full-resolution images on a disc or a stick and do your own prints and photobook albums.

Please get a professional photographer (as someone who has pro friends and partner) besides the lovely good quality pictures, extras such as albums any editing that maybe necessary you should also receive a contract which provides security such as if the pictures are not of good quality or a relative who flew out from abroad who was not photographed when they were meant to get family and guest shots, you can get money back and even in Extreme cases they will have to pay for the wedding.

Contrabassista Calm down; she’s not asking anyone to do anything for free. Did you miss the bit where OP said she’d offer them a few hundred quid?

I was thinking about getting in touch with the local art college and seeing if any photography students would like to earn a few hundred quid?

My Dads friend was a retired photographer. He charged £250 for the photos 25 years ago. They are beautiful. The only thing is I can't bring myself to look at them as most of my guests are now dead.

Also a lot of uni ba level photography students are professional photographers in their own right I’m not sure when your wedding is but can you go to any shows? Please whatever you do don’t use a A level student!

Please please get one.

We got married last Nov - I spent a lot of money on my dress and have no picture of it (1 good one on friends phone).

A friend did our photos (my dad is a photographer ) and they are truly terrible.

Awful angles, blurred, terrible lighting and no photos of our guests (back of heads) all I have are my drunken memories which are a bit hazy

I had a friend do my wedding photos and honestly, I regret it so much. They just don't do the day justice at all and I hate looking at them. I honestly believe the photographer is the most important place to spend your money. A good photographer can make a "cheap" wedding look high end, but a non professional photographer will most likely not do justice to your day.

I second the suggestion to find a creative student who might do them for less than a professional. (there is something in the saying, you get what you pay for, but a student who hasn't done a wedding before but has experience in portraiture may want to build a wedding portfolio) At least get some proper portraits done, if you get nothing else. You're kind of wasting your money on the day if you don't have proper photos to remember it by. (speaking from experience)

You might get a cheaper quote from a portrait photographer if you asked them for a price for a half an hour shoot for some portraits, and then tell them it's a wedding?! There does seem to be a 'wedding premium' added onto many products.

Whoever suggested the bride asks students to do a free engagement photo to see if they have the right style - anyone with any self respect would tell the bride to go fuck herself. There are just too many people with no respect for a good (or even a just-starting-out) photographer's skills and time, who just want free work and think that finding a way round paying for it makes them cool and clever, rather than cheeky fuckers.

I do a bit of photography, mainly for fun, although I've started to charge recently (because I was ending up doing SO many shoots for free!) and I always feel like people who don't value professional quality photos are not the sort of people I want to take photos of anyway

Just a thought op,(congratulations on your forthcoming wedding btw)it could be worth contacting a local photography club and asking if a member would be interested in earning a couple of hundred.they'd probably be very keen to help and that might be a huge amount of money to them.
Definitely worth having proper ones taken.
Good luck

Calm down; she’s not asking anyone to do anything for free. Did you miss the bit where OP said she’d offer them a few hundred quid?

Do you go to a restaurant and ask for a discount because your waiter was a student, so he must work for cheap? Do you ask for a discount on your produce, because a novice gardener grew it? Why should something like photographywhich still costs a lot to get intobe discounted just because it's a student shooting?

If OP was saying, "I don't care about quality, I just want the memories even if they're blurry, not framed, and focus on my maid of honor's cleavage" that'd be one thing. But I guarantee she wants a quality product, which means a quality photographer with quality equipment. While I'm glad she didn't want it for free, she's still being tight.

Whoever suggested the bride asks students to do a free engagement photo to see if they have the right style - anyone with any self respect would tell the bride to go fuck herself.

OH GOD NO. I missed that.

No, no. No. I hope they don't do this, and if they do, I hope students are smart enough not to give away free labor. That is something that really needs to be taught in art programs today, because there's just too many people who think "getting exposure" is a thing.

Er, is a good thing. (You do that by mocking up your own projects, or by doing paid ones.)

My OH is a photographer, and does a lot of weddings. He’s very experienced and charges anything between £1500 and £3k for a wedding (does quite a few celeb/high society type ones).

He knows his job so well that he discreetly positions himself to get certain shots that he knows will work well, e.g. the groom’s face when he first gets a glimpse of his bride. Obviously I’m biased but his pictures are truly beautiful. An amateur wouldn’t be able to do what he does, it comes with years of experience. And the editing is a huge job, which again comes with experience.

I certainly wouldn’t scrimp, unless you’re very lucky you’ll regret it.