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Original poster

To spend nearly half of my wedding budget on a photographer?

92 replies

HotCupOfNo · 21/04/2021 21:28

OH and I are having a small wedding in June, it will be just 8 of us and very relaxing and low key.

I have found a photographer who will do me a great micro package deal - her photos are nice, but not AMAZING.

I have found another photographer who's photos are just gorgeous, but will cost me £750 for 3 hours and my budget is £2000. I could possibly stretch the budget using our overdraft.

So yay or nay - do we go with the 'perfectly fine' (and quite boring) photographer and save myself £400, or do we say fuck it and go with the amazing photographer who's photo's are arty and lovely? WWYD?

TIA

OP posts:
Newkitchen123 · 21/04/2021 21:49

Go with the one whose work you like the most or whose photos suit your personality
We have lots of photos, the best ones are the ones he took when we weren't looking. I'm not a fan of photos of myself but one of my pics from the wedding is just me, no pose, I'm actually dancing with friends and I didn't know it was being taken and it captured the mood perfectly
I'm not really a fan of the whole group photo thing, the natural ones are far more my thing

Original poster
HotCupOfNo · 21/04/2021 21:51

To update - I COULD only have two hours of her time, which will be £500

OP posts:
Moondust001 · 21/04/2021 21:51

That isn't a very large budget for a wedding these days, and to spend that much on photo's is, I think rather over the top. And you will probably not get as much from them as you think. A friend of mine actually got all her guests to take photo's, uploaded them to a cloud from phones/ cameras and whatever else people had. She ended up with the most amazing wedding photo's I have ever seen, from formal groupings to "fly on the wall" perspectives. And everyone had terrific fun being the wedding photographer too. Or you could do this and just have the good photographer for a few formal poses. Believe me - you will be fed up of 3 hours of photographs very quickly.

murbblurb · 21/04/2021 21:54

If that is knickers up in the morning to leaving at midnight, maybe worth it. But it doesn't sound like that kind of huge fussy wedding.

Otherwise, get a few team snaps and otherwise enjoy the day. It is one day out of your life and you won't look at the photos much.

And you are unlikely to want to watch the video more than once.

Hawkins001 · 21/04/2021 21:54

As a amatur photographer myself, I'd say save your £ and instead ask friends or family to use a combination of phone cameras and e.g. Dslr cameras then pool the photos into a large collection, as there are also free apps that allow you to add creative items ect to the photos.

Youseethethingis · 21/04/2021 21:56

I regret spending hours of my wedding day trudging around to get all the arty photos (at 7 months pregnant, no less) that we haven’t even got round to printing the album of, never mind framing them for the wall.
I much rather have been chatting to our guests and enjoying the canapés.
That’s me though, if you feel that the photos would be worth the time and money then that’s what you spend it on.
The only wrong thing is to have regrets. Wish I’d drawn the line with the photographer much sooner!

puppygalore · 21/04/2021 22:01

I barely look at our photos and often think what a waste of money our photographer was. She did do beautiful portraits of some of our guests at the reception (half of whom we haven't seen since then Hmm) but the key moment pics were just meh and oddly framed. Save your dosh as much as you can I say!

user1493494961 · 21/04/2021 22:01

I wouldn't bother with professional photos.

clary · 21/04/2021 22:03

@Youseethethingis

I regret spending hours of my wedding day trudging around to get all the arty photos (at 7 months pregnant, no less) that we haven’t even got round to printing the album of, never mind framing them for the wall. I much rather have been chatting to our guests and enjoying the canapés. That’s me though, if you feel that the photos would be worth the time and money then that’s what you spend it on. The only wrong thing is to have regrets. Wish I’d drawn the line with the photographer much sooner!
haha yes. One vivid memory of my wedding day is me and DH standing outside (lovely grounds) in the freezing cold (early April) for a picture while our guests stood by a roaring fire drinking buck's fizz.

All that for a photo in an album I never look at. hmmm

But if you are a big photos on the wall kind of girl OP then go for it. Tho I would question just how many varying photos of eight people can be taken! Still at least you know no one will be missed out! (Two uni friends are not on any of my wedding photos :()

Original poster
HotCupOfNo · 21/04/2021 22:05

Thanks all.

I absolutely will not be trudging around getting having photos taken - it really isn't our thing. All of the reviews of the really good photographer say that they barely realised she was there, though I know this is going to be different when there are only a few of us around!

I think a good compromise is having two hours. I absolutely detest having my photo taken, and want it to be in really really good hands so I am less nervous. We had a family shoot in our home when our daughter was born and they are just not that great and were done by a very newly qualified photographer who was younger than me, so the fact the good one is so experienced means a lot.

OP posts:
Original poster
HotCupOfNo · 21/04/2021 22:05

sorry to add - she will be giving me a hard drive with all of the photos on

OP posts:
Pbbananabagel · 21/04/2021 22:10

We spent more on the amazing photographer... and pics were SO good. We absolutely love them and don’t regret one bit. We saved money elsewhere, I did all our flowers, we got an M&S cake and decorated it ourselves and we made all our own decorations for the venue. My dress came off the sale rack and my husband’s suit was hired not bought. You have to decide what your priorities are, no one else can tell you that- if it’s photos then go for it.
If you care about something else more than that’s your answer.

LiquidGlee · 21/04/2021 22:11

I had a Covid wedding of 15 people and paid £1400 for my photographer for all day. It was the best money we spent, the photos are absolutely amazing and I have so many lovely photos of the people there too. We then paid £700 for a bespoke wedding album, it’s on my coffee table and I look at it weekly. It’s beautiful!

Rainbowqueeen · 21/04/2021 22:13

I’d do the 2 hours. I came on to say why do you need 3 hours worth of photos for just 8 people.

Before you commit, make sure that the reason you love her work and the kind of wedding you are having are compatible. No point in loving all her outdoor shots or group shots if you are having an indoor wedding or tiny wedding!!

CoconutChair · 21/04/2021 22:15

Hmmm we spent £5k on our wedding photos. They’re beautiful, I know the album is there if we want to look at them, but rarely do so. With hindsight, I wish we’d booked a videographer. They always seemed a bit naff when friends insisted on showing their videos after their big day, but now I know a video of our own wedding would have been precious. I’ve long forgotten all of the speeches, the mannerisms of the old family members who’ve since passed away and the music the band played etc, I’d love to be able to relive that.

So in your shoes, I’d book the cheaper photographer and add a video too.

Pastnowfuture · 21/04/2021 22:16

Save the money. We had similar sized wedding. Hired a photography student at the cost of £150. Got some amazing pics.

Normandy144 · 21/04/2021 22:19

Spend the money! We don't look at our physical album but our photos scroll through on our Google home device thing in the kitchen so we see them throughout the day. We also have a photo up with our other family pictures.

Dutchesss · 21/04/2021 22:23

Save the money, you'll have wedding photos to look back on either way.

PriestessofPing · 21/04/2021 22:25

She’s going to upload all the photos to a hard drive but will they all be edited or will you pick some to edit and if so, how many are included in the package?

Angrypregnantlady · 21/04/2021 22:25

I would. The pictures from ours are incredible and I love them, we missed so much on the day just being in the middle of it all, the pictures are awesome memories.

Cocopogo · 21/04/2021 22:30

Go for the cheaper one and challenge the guests to send you a dozen photos each of their silliest, arty, professional...whatever topics

BeenAsFarAsMercyAndGrand · 21/04/2021 22:31

An 8 person wedding is very different to a large wedding (I had a very small wedding).

At a large wedding, there are plenty of people to chat among themselves while the couple spend ages having photos taken. At a small wedding that doesn't work.

If the expensive photographer is going to be unobtrusive and take great candid shots, then go for it. But if they are going to spend a fair bit of time staging posed photos, have a think about how that impacts the dynamic of the whole day. A small wedding has such a different feel that it would be out of place.

MrsSugar · 21/04/2021 22:32

If you absolutely love having photos taken and are confident you will love it then go for it. Personally I hate our wedding photos and wish I never bothered spending that money !

RolloTomassi · 21/04/2021 22:32

@ShirleyPhallus

I’d say fuck it and go for option 3, a videographer

I don’t think I’ve EVER seen wedding photographs which are worth the money. The best pics I’ve seen are from people’s decent camera phones and capture the moments so much more personally than a wedding photographer. Who seem to think they know people but see a nice photo rather than a flattering shot of the people in it.

A videographer on the other hand is a thing of total magic. Much nicer and will give so much more to remember in times to come.

Totally agree. Video all the way. Never looked at my pics, but have often re-watched the vid, remembering the armosphere. And seeing and hearing people who are no longer around is lovely, and something to show our children.

FrangipaniBlue · 21/04/2021 22:43

@IlovecatsIloveeverykindofcat

When you're old and grey, and the memories have faded, you'll have the photos. Spend the extra!
This!

My biggest regret is not getting a wedding video because of £ at the time. I wish we'd either cut in other areas or saved harder!

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