How much did you spend for wedding photographs?

We are on a tight budget for our daughter's wedding, and it was suggested that a friend could take the pictures. I would really like to have nice photos, and be sure that we get them back fairly quickly, so I'm leery of depending on an amateur. But we don't need the expense of gigantic portraits, fancy albums and special frames. In fact, we would rather not buy these from the photographer. Is it possible to pay them a reasonable fee for their time, and then allow each family member the opportunity to buy the photos they want?

Please tell us about your costs and experiences with wedding photographs.

We live near Peoria, Illinois. Any recommendations ?

i had a college kid in the photography department take our pics... we rented the camera - $170, and her time - $50 for 4 hours. we agreed she could use the pics in her portfolio & they came out GREAT! we got over 800 shots for a little over $200.

see if there's a photography dept. around you & go that route.

go to www.musecube.com and search for photographers in your area. I am sure there are some up and coming photographers(who have all the right equipments) that can cut you a fair price. I usually look for photographers who just got out of college and are seeking jobs..to build up there resume..i havent been disappointed since.

We spent way more than I initially thought we would. We went with a professional b/c we had our engagement party done by an amateur who was a friend. She took lots of pictures of the people that she knew and missed a lot of the other folks. Also they weren't done very well - lots of candids that caught people by surprise. Even posed photo's that didn't really look good. We were spending all this money on a wedding & we wanted good pictures to capture the day. There are cheaper options - check out www.theknot.com to get local suggestions & www.bellapictures.com. Ask to see previous weddings (obviously) but a lot of times they'll show you the BEST shots from various weddings. Ask to see a full wedding album so you can really see their style. Also, figure out what styles you like - Black & White? Candids? Romantic? Artistic? Pick a photographer who demonstrates what you'd like to see in your photos. We went with a true professional and it's been great!

I called every photog and I also got ahold of Bridal Assoc in my area for recomendations. I have found some others who hotels use and are more affordable than I thought. I would just make sure who ever you choose you make sure they are clear on what you want how much you can spend and what you expect. Also check the college for art students or photog students who have the right touch!

I do not recommend using a friend unless he/she is quite talented or professional. My cousin had her wedding photos done by her friend's boyfriend's father who is a photographer at a 5-diamond resort. Big mistake. The best shot he got was of my cousin's cougar grandmother's a$s. The moral of the story? Either way you could lose, but try for a professional first. I too am on a tight budget and located a wondeful photographer for $600 on craigslist.com.

None my mom is a photographer!!!

I don't know any photographers in Africa so I am getting my fiance's brother to take photos with my camera. So its not costing me anything :)

The best deal that we found was $1200 for an engagement session and 5 hours of wedding day coverage with an assistant. We also got the rights to the photos. There were no albums, prints or anything.

Professional photos are so worth it. We also had an amateur photographer (a friend of the family) going around taking pictures because she wanted to. She sent us the pictures, and while they were OK, they weren't artistic at all and the colors were off. Pros can line up better shots and color correct the photos.

Try to find someone who will give you the rights to the photos then you can have them printed out yourself at 1/10th of the cost.

Ask your photographer if you can pay for a wedding cd and copy right release form that doesn't expire for at least a year. See if you can work out a deal this way. Then once you get the cd go to Sams Club--you'd be surprised how many photographers go there (I worked at a photo lab for 8 years and think they have the best quality these days). Print out an album and let the family place their orders.

125 pounds and that included 50 photos and a photo album and the disc to print the photos off

$1295- 8 hrs of coverage- unlimited locations....storybook album, 15 5X7's, 20 8X10's, 11X20 & We own all the photos on a CD afterwards--I think that's a STEAL!

Detroit, Michigan Area....

I don't have any specific recommendations but i would suggest looking at the work of some photographers near you and explaining what it is that you want.

My fiance and i are saving money with our photographer by hiring him for the day and only receiving the negatives/digital files and the copyright for the images.

By having our package not include ANY printing whatsoever we have been able to get an award winning wedding photographer cheaply. (for about half the price of his packages with album etc included)

We are getting the full copyright for the images signed over to us so that we can use the images as we see fit other than claiming them as or own for photographic competitions. All the digital images will be individually looked at and given as high resolution files so they will be a worthy selling point for his company even if we print them ourselves to the size of the wall.

Another way to do this is some photographers put a password protected webpage within their own site that allows people to log in and purchase any prints they like. The drawback with this is that the couple need to purchase each print for the album individually and cannot reproduce them themselves.