Is the photographer worth it?

I am getting married in June 2008 and have yet to find a photographer that is in our price range. Since this is my second marriage I honestly have to wonder if the photographer is really worth the money. Our family and friends will have their cameras there so I'm sure we will have plenty of photos.

Knowing how often I went through my wedding album the first time around, I don't know that I want to spend a lot of money on pictures.

Do you think it's worth it?

I think it is. Years from now nobody is going to remember that you served filet mignon and lobster but those pictures will be everywhere. I agree the coffee table albums are usually wasted but there's the ones that get framed and displayed to think about.

But it depends on the type of person you are. I've been told constantly that having a wedding video is just soooo essential to my memories. I know for a fact we never watched anybody else's after the day of the wedding so it's a pointless expense for me. You are saying that you never displayed your wedding photos or looked at the album so in your case skimping on the photography might not lead to regrets.

We found out photographer by putting an ad up on Craigslist. We got quotes anywhere from $300 to $2500. Only a few were truly horrible photographers, most were just talented amatures trying to build their portfolio. Whatever you do, make sure that your photography package includes ALL YOUR NEGATIVES AND/OR HIGH RESOLUTION PROOFS. You will save tons by just taking them to a Kodak Photo booth rather than paying the markup for prints from a professional shop.

Go to a local college and post a flyer saying you are seeking a photography student to shoot your wedding. They are much cheaper and then you can just get the pic cd from him/her and print the ones you want. Plus it is good networking for them for potential jobs when they get out of school.

They usually already have the equipment as well.

yes you will want pictures of your day. Check myspace or places like that sometimes you can find some one who is just getting started.

I think it is worth the money, but you could aim to get an affordable photographer and have the price include the negatives - cheaper in the long run, or get the photographer for the ceremony / 1 - 2 hours only.

I guess if you don't get a professional photographer and your friends/family pictures do not turn out, ask yourself if you will regret the decision - a bit more money up front is worth having no regrets later.

Happy Wedding!!

I think that it is very important to have good pictures taken at your wedding. Please remember that you can't get those moments in time back, but you can relive them through photos. A good photographer will capture those precious moments.
My fiance and I are having a very tiny wedding and we got a professional photographer at a great price. We contacted a local newspaper and asked if they had any photographers who would like to shoot a wedding and they did in fact have one. Then we talked with the gentleman - who has done numerous weddings in the past - and asked him just to take the photos and then burn them on a cd and we will print them. This greatly reduced the cost and we can also chose the photos that we want printed. It's a win-win situation. Good luck and congrats on your upcoming marriage!

If you don't mind me asking what is your approx budget! I know a guy who is awesome will travel almost anywhere in the UK and is very cheap!

Failing that - a lot of start out photographers require a couple of aat cost shoots for pratices and then to use the pics in their portfolio... if you were willing to take a risk why not try one of those?

Where are you? that would help me give you more detail- I'll edit accordingly.

It depends on how much photographs mean to you. My fiance and I love photographs from everything, and we go through our photo albums on a semi-regular basis, and hang up a lot of photos from past trips/outings/etc, so we are splurging on our photographer. Plus, I love to hand down things, and I know my wedding photos will be one of the things I will be handing down, and I want them to be professional and beautiful.

If they aren't that big of priority for your, then don't splurge. There are other things you can put your money into that means more to your personally... maybe you love flowers and you want to spend more on them, or you have a special set of wedding bands in mind but you couldn't afford them before.

Good luck :-D

I love my wedding pictures, especially the candid ones! I didn't get an album made, just the pictures taken and that saved us a lot of money.

Maybe since it is your second wedding, you can skip all of the formal pictures and the album and just have some pictures taken of the ceremony and the dances and other things you would like.

Honestly, I don't think it's worth it and my fiance is a trained artist and photographer, so I probably should think it is. It's a minor point of disagreement for us. You've done this before and obviously the pictures weren't a big deal last time, so I wouldn't bother. I would just make sure that a couple of relatives have a good camera and offer to pay for their processing fees if they are still using film.

My fiance is hiring a photographer to handle our wedding, but I feel as you do and this is my first marriage! I don't even have a previous experience to cite, as you do. I would much rather save the money for something else. We're not the type to hang photographs of ourselves on the wall as so many people do. The walls of our home are reserved for art and personal photos just don't fit with the decor. I have personal photos, but they are all candids and I treasure them, however, I leave them in albums in my bookcases or use them as backgrounds on my computer.

Best wishes!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's up to you to decide if it's worth it.

My younger brother and his wife didn't want to spend the money on a photographer for the whole event, so they decided that they were going to have a professional photographer for the portraits (an hour before the ceremony), the ceremony and then the joint pictures after it. They then relied on me, my dad and a few others in our family who are photo buffs for pictures of the reception.

Or find a local community college or art school and see if you can hire a photography student who will charge less than a pro.

Personally, since I'm a bit of a photo nut, I'll probably be shelling out a lot of money for a photographer, but it's really just a personal preference.

i'm getting married in two weeks and just found my photographer yesterday! i used craigslist.org to find a photographer that wouldn't break my budget, and it's something you might look into in your area. i found a photog willing to trade his services in exchange for rights to publish my photos in his portfolio and website.

there are deals like that if you look for them, and, that way, you get a professional without spending a lot of money.

I think the picutures are worth it. If you have kids in the future, they will want to see our special day. If you are looking to save money, consider hiring a local photography student from a college. They have the knowledge and would love the expereince. And they are usually about 1/3 of the cost.

Same here, we are trying to stay within a budget and all the photographers are like $2,000 for ceremony and 1 hour at the reception and you only get 200 pics...what a waste to me. Majority of our guests will have their digital cameras and most are very good photographers...so we are having them take pictures and upload them online for us...and we can pick the ones we like and go to like Snapfish and get copies. I figure there will be hundreds of pictures to look through and most likely we will find at least 200 we want copies of and we will have gotten 200 pictures for less than $2,000.

Without a doubt, YES it is worth it. These are your memories, and when the day is over that's really all you have left. If you don't mind me asking, what is your budget for photography? I'm sure you can find someone that won't make you compromise your budget but will give you great professional pictures as well. I found my photographer by searching my area on theknot.com & weddingchannel.com has a Pictage link that will let you search in a certain price range. (The photgrapher I found on theknot does amazing work, very creative & costs $1695. Among other things, we get a disk of high-res photos to keep & make copies of. Very reasonable.)

Another option is to look at local colleges that offer photography & see if there are any phot. majors who are willing to do your wedding for a small price. They need the practice & work for their portfolios and you get that professional photography look.

The main thing is, don't leave this up to your family & friends. They are there to enjoy your wedding day & celebrate with you. Their main priority is not capturing every moment & detail, but that IS what the photographer is there to do.

I think it's completely worth it. I don't agree that spending $2k on pictures is, however it's not how often you went through it after your first time. Think about in 30 years, when you have kids that are grown up/growing up and grandkids, what about when it's your 50th wedding anniv. You'll want to be able to pull out your wedding album and say, "can you believe it's been 50 years?"

I was just reading something the other day that said, "you know what the difference between a photographer and a wedding photographer? THE PRICE"

A tip I found: Try finding a local college student (or a few) to have them do it. Or find a photographer that's willing to leave his studio and will do it, they'll give you a much better rate.

Best wishes and Good Luck

I personally think it's worth it. I definately want my wedding day well documented. I guess I would ask yourself why you didn't look at your pictures from the first wedding. Was it a marriage you weren't that interested in to begin with? Or that you knew shortly after that you shouldn't have gotten married to that person? If it's something like that, it would explain why you never really looked through your first wedding album. Then again, if it was a great marriage to start with and you're just not a picture person, then maybe it would be ok to not have a professional photogrpaher, but I would ask one or two people in the family to specifically get the pictures taken that you want, so you dont end up only having far away pictures with people blinking and not looking at the camra. I would still have a designated "photo shoot" and have a family member take some pictures of the wedding party and of your flowers and things like that.

It's worth it to get portraits done at the studio.
However, for our ceremony and reception we had family members take the photographs and video.

I would search harder, professional pictures are important, they will be the only way to relive your wedding years down the line. Its my main thing for my wedding. Other than the venues of course. Course I am a photo freak and went to school for some photography.
Go to a local college and speak to the head of the art department and say I have a wedding coming up and I was wondering if you had any students thats would like to earn extra money. Make sure you check portfolios first to be sure they are decent but I did it when I was a student for 300 dollars, it costed me almost more than that for developing but I didnt do very many pictures. Good luck and congrats.

You should post a question that says where you are from and ask if anyone knows any good photographers for cheap in that area, people may have friends to refer you to or places you would hvae never thought of. Or you might get some random person that is curious enough to search for ya. Also make sure you include a price range.