wedding photography

[Kaloki]

Let me preface this by saying I wouldn't do it myself, so do value those that do, however..

My DP is a photographer, and he mainly does fashion, so we do understand the costs involved. (He has the full studio kit etc) And definitely don't think they should be charging in a way that undervalues their skill. But we just can't justify spending so much on a photographer for 2-3 hours work maximum. It's crazy, DP doesn't charge even half that much and he's no amateur!

So it grates no end knowing that the same photographers (in some cases) will charge so much less for a normal on location portrait session (so no difference apart from the event) than they would for a wedding. Is it the use of the "w" word? Does the use of it in some way contravene a law and so requires extra money to pay off lawyers? What the hell?

We just wish we could clone DP so he could do the photos himself, rather than all this fuss finding a good photographer (understands f-stops, ISO, shutter speed, and that photoshop wont fix bad photos) who doesn't charge the earth.

AIBU to think the prices are insane?

the hired photographer for our wedding didn't show and so we were forced to rely on friends/candid shots for our pictures. I cannot recommend against it vehemently enough.

We even thought we might be ok because we set our v nice camera up perfectly and gave it to a family member who supposedly likes to do a lot of photography. Of course he changed the settings so none of those pictures turned out.

We don't have a single photo from our wedding that is really good. We have a few passable ones. We have hundreds that are out of focus / underexposed / taken of people while they are chewing or talking so they look insane. Family / friends will naturally take pictures of people they know, so I have a lot of pictures of DH's family and almost none of mine. I don't have a single photo of my grandparents or aunts and uncles from my dad's side. I don't have any pictures of my wedding ring, which broke in a car accident two weeks later.

So you get what you pay for. I would never rely on candids in place of an outside photographer, only in addition to one.

Dh is a photographer & did our own wedding shots but was a v small wedding.

I couldn't agree with marenmj more. I could have written that post. I was lucky enough that we DID have a professional photographer. She was the only service provider (there's probably a less poncey term, but can't think of one quickly) at the wedding with which something didn't go wrong. She was utterly wonderful and for the first time in my life I have photos of myself that don't look horrible, as I am another of those people who photograph badly.

However, I couldn't move for people telling me that it was a waste of money to hire a professional, that I should use an enthusiastic amateur friend, that I should put disposable cameras on the tables, etc, etc. One of DH's friends who likes to take pictures even gave us, as a wedding present, an album full of snaps he had taken at the wedding. It was EXACTLY as marenmj describes. Pictures are of people he knows, everyone looks loopy, and I ming like a Ming vase in Birmingham. I cried looking at it (in private) as it made me feel that i must have been so ugly on a day when I thought I had looked nice for once. Fortunately I had the professional album to reassure me that it hadn't been like that.

So I would always say that if you want non-professional photos, have them as well as, not instead of, professional ones from a properly instructed professional whose work you like, unless you are one of those miraculous women who look good in most or at least 50% of your normal photos, or you genuinely don't care whether you have pictures or not.

I think the reason the 'W' word makes it so unusual is that it's not as though you can retake any of them if they don't turn out.

I was heartbroken for mine wrt pictures because growing up oftentimes the only pictures my family had of our older relatives were from someone or another's wedding. I was really looking forward to having that for my kids/grandkids/great-grandkids but my family was almost entirely unrepresented since we didn't have someone with a pre-set "shot list" ordering everyone into their places.