Wedding Photographers

[WickedSix]

I need a wedding photographer. I know this forum is sponsored by for the moments photography but their website is blocked here at work so I cannot contact them directly. I need help finding someone for a reasonable rate...2K imho is not reasonable :fire

I'd like to get someone in the neighborhood of $500. Pictures of the ceremony, pictures in the gardens and outside the chapel. Probably a total of an hour of photography and then give me a disc with all the photos on it.

Is that really too much to ask or am I taking crazy pills here?

-Pat

[subliminal1284]

I think youre going to have to atleast double your price, finding someone to do it for $500 is going to be tough. My gf is a professional photographer and she charged her cousin $500 for her wedding and that was family. I know you would think its not that hard to do but there really is alot of work that goes into it. If you cant deal with atleast $1000 you may have to settle for an amateur to do the photos and take the chance they may not come out the way you would like.

[jbiscuit]

^ This. Photographers that are good at what they do deserve to paid a decent wage. Contact Lisa at The Look Photography. She shot our wedding and did a great job.

http://home.roadrunner.com/~thelook/index.html

[pOrk]

Pat, I agree with you 100% that most of the local photography studios charge too much money not only for the photos but for the prints after the fact. A 'friend' photographer quoted me $250 an hour just to take photos and do some post processing, that didn't include any prints and those rates were even worse.

Good luck, they are all crazy expensive and VERY FEW will give you digital copys that don't have watermarks all over them. Try and find someone that works for themselves, maybe that does it on the side or even full time but they have their OWN portfolio and aren't working for a studio. Rates will be better and you might have a chance at getting the digitals and be able to do your own post processing, although highly unlikely.

[WickedSix]

1000 is damn tough for me to hand over for an hour of work... all I can think of is how many hours I worked to pay for that.....

[subliminal1284]

Yeah its expensive as hell thats for sure, even finding one for $1000 may be tricky but I think its doable if you look hard enough. If you want them to turn out excellent you are going to have to bite the bullet. Imagine how upset your soon to be wife would be if you got your photos back and you had pictures that werent exposed properly and look like shit, there is no going back and re shooting. You have to have someone who knows what they are doing to do it right the first time and professionals arent cheap.

[jbiscuit]

You are paying someone $1000 to capture what should be one of the best days of your life....That $1000 is paying someone you trust to capture those images for you and your family to enjoy for the rest of your life. That photographer only has ONE shot to do it right and not mess up so I don't think that is too much to ask. A wedding photographer's job is NOT easy and they have a lot of time behind the scenes processing photos, retouching, etc...they hardly are raking in the loot :rolf

[pOrk]

My wedding photographer cost 200, and my engagement photographer cost me 100. There are plenty of people out there that work for less, locally the market is rediculous. Get married somewhere else, Florida for example is much cheaper in the photography department.

[PonyKiller87]

Pat, the lady that we used charged us $800 and she was there for a good 4 hours. It took a little over a week later and she sent us a disc with all the photos and a link to a web site where friends and family could download or buy them. None of the photos are retouched or anything like that, she took a ton of pics, around 800 or so. This was by far the cheepest option we found.

[jbiscuit]

My wedding photographer cost 200, and my engagement photographer cost me 100. There are plenty of people out there that work for less, locally the market is rediculous. Get married somewhere else, Florida for example is much cheaper in the photography department.

And you had the photographer there from the time your bride started getting ready until the reception I take it?? You can't say a photographer should be willing to take $200 if you aren't paying for the same or similar services. Our photographer was there ALL day. She shot probably 1500 images, we got a huge hard bound album, some enlargements and all the proofs for around $1200. Worth every penny. Why skimp on your wedding when this will be the only visual memory of the day? You can cut corners on other services but you get what you pay for with photography IMO. And like I said, if you are paying someone to be there shooting ALL day and into the evening + all the retouching and album assembly post wedding....$1200 is dirt cheap

[subliminal1284]

1000 is damn tough for me to hand over for an hour of work... all I can think of is how many hours I worked to pay for that.....

Its not just an hours work, they are normally there ALL day from the time they begin to get ready to the end after the wedding reception, then after that it is atleast a weeks worth of work sorting through and preparing all the images for the customer. Its not just point click here you go.

[badass88gt]

I recommend Jeremy Allard (DirtyMax) here on BCM. He did our wedding and we were more than pleased.

http://www.shotsbyjeremy.com/Weddings/Dan/12415261_iPioc#887724706_hdin2

[pOrk]

The engagement guy drove an hour to get to us and spent an hour and a half with us, the galthat shot our wedding was with us for 6 hours and 2 of which was sriving between beaches. I gave her a 100 dollar tip, so 300 total and she sent me the images on a cd within a weeks time. Lisa didn't want anyone there while she was getting ready, so photographer came shortly after. We were thrilled with the photos we got too :)

[WickedSix]

The MAJOR problem I have with most of the local companies is that you do not have rights to photos of your event. My younger sister's wedding at the Oakland temple, her photographer traveled 3 hours from our home town, spent 2 hours with them taking pictures, and gave them 2 discs with all the photos for less money than I'm talking about paying. I'm a mostly reasonable person and if I have to pay more to get what we want I will. Spending 2000 for photographer at a 30k wedding I get. But at the 1k level thats over 10% of what we are planning to spend on the WHOLE wedding, its a disproportionate amount compared to our priorities. I'm just flabbergasted by the whole thing, there are people out there for each aspect of the wedding that have affordable rates, but slogging through all the wedding people trying to rape you is getting old, but thank God this is the last detail to hammer out.

[OxmanWI]

For our wedding next weekend.

http://www.spottswoodphotography.com/2010/

[Cutlass Queen]

Did you look online at my friend like I told you to do? BTW as your friend I say quit being an old man miser lol

[PB86MCSS]

We're going with a photography major from Carroll University for our wedding in September. We'll be the 3rd wedding on her own, the cost: $475. From ceremony through cake cutting/first dances, about 5 hours on site. She has a FB page with her work so far. We e-mailed a professor at Carroll in the photography program who forwarded our email to the majors and went from there. We also were in no way spending 1k+ on photography, too cheap or fiscally responsible, however you want to look at it. I appreciate good photography as much as most people, but can't justify spending that kind of loot. Same with other items for a wedding.

[Haulin' Oates]

Just sent you a PM. My brother can likely help you out.

[SSScottSS]

Granted I got married 10 years ago, but it cost us $300 for them (husband and wife team) there before, during and after. They had quite the little studio set up there also with backdrops and all. They did take VERY good photos that we got in an album and all. We also got the negatives... I know that's dating myself.

I think I took a quick glance at the photos right after we got them, and they have sat for the past 10 years virtually untouched. There's a couple of them hanging on our living room wall though.

If nothing else it's good documentation for your kids that you weren't always old :-)

[05caddyext]

$1000 for an hours worth of work kinda makes you wish you chose a different career field, like photography lets say.

But as many people have said, it's not just an hour. They often spend the entire day there getting the shots just right. They take thousands of photos sometimes. And then they spend countless hours editing, cropping, blah blah afterwards. Sure, in the digital age its a little easier, but its still expensive. Like someone else said, some of the shots they get one chance to get it right.

Just out of sheer curiosity how much are you planning on spending on flowers? They last 1 day. The pictures last forever. Don't cheep out on a photographer just to save a buck. Some day you will realize how important those pictures really are, especially to her.

[WickedSix]

Flowers won't last only a day, 95% of the flowers are silk. We have secured a photographer. Thank you for all the replies.