Elopement photographer - should we find one close to home, or close to where we are eloping?

[taratatata]

We would ideally like a pre-wedding photoshoot/engagement photoshoot. We are trying to do things on a budget and know we will pay so much more if we have to pay for a photographer from near where we live to where we are eloping (couple of hundred miles away)

Has anyone any ideas? I thought maybe we wouldn’t need a photographer on the special day but this would be a shame. Or possibly we use two photographers. I don’t know!

Ask where you are getting married for recommendations

I think this depends on too many factors to say. What's the timescale? Why do you want the pre-wedding shoots (for the photos, or to build rapport with the photographer prior to the wedding, or to build confidence in front of the camera, etc). My personal preference would be to find someone from the area because they'll know the best locations to shoot. Do you need to serve notice in the area, i.e. are you traveling there twice anyway? (I think this is different in different regions of the UK)

Also what day of the week are you getting married on?

I got married mid week and messaged lots of photographers saying I was on a budget, having a tiny midweek wedding, at a registry office with a pretty garden.

Think I ended up picking the cheapest (previous wedding photos looked good though), was maybe £300. Can't remember exactly. No prints but fully edited, high quality images with additional sepia, b&w, colour highlights (not sure on technical name) and permission to print, share etc.

We were in a similar situation as getting married abroad and have found someone from the Uk who loves to travel and is keen to visit our destination so is charging a very reasonable rate. This has actually worked out much cheaper than hiring one from where we are getting married even after covering our photographers air fairs and hotel etc.