Budget for Photographer - help needed

Faith177

Mrs_R_to_be wrote: »

Where are you based?! I can't believe how much the prices vary!

I'm in Essec but our photographer is Wolverhampton based.

Him and OH have worked on a few projects together so OH trusted him and I refused to accept mates rates as I didn't think that was fair on him as he was travelling to Inverness for the wedding

scotlass99

We got ours on a deal on Groupon, so it's always worth keeping an eye on those kinds of web sites. We did a fair bit of research on the company before we purchased and it cost us £299, including a pre-wedding shoot and album. Good luck!

RuthnJasper

Just a thought - do you have a friend/relative/friend of either who is into photography as a hobby? Maybe they could do your photos as a wedding gift to you...?

OR - do you have a local art college (or general college offering art/photography courses) near you? Perhaps one of the students would love to photograph your wedding for free (or for a costs-covered-only basis) in order to build up their portfolio... Helps them with their coursework and you with your costs and, you never know, they may turn out to be the next Lichfield or Liebowitz in a few years time!!

Wishing you every happiness for your wedding and future life together. x

gadgeteer_2

jovie wrote: »

Hi All,

We got engaged at Christmas and are getting married in October this year. I'm trying to put together a budget and have an idea for most things but have no idea when it comes to photographers! I have seen one photographer whose work I love but he only offers one wedding package at £1100! I know you pay for what you get but is this average for a wedding photographer? Or how much should I be expecting to pay? We are in West Yorkshire.

Thanks in advance!

Firstly congratulations on getting engaged.

Now I have to firstly say that I'm a wedding photographer but I've no ulterior motive except to give you some objective advice to help.

You can get a photographer at any budget. Really. You can. I've seen photographers who will shoot your entire day for free for the 'experience'. I also know a photographer who's charged £18k for a single wedding. No that wasn't a misprint. £18,000!

So ignore what others are saying about what they're paying their photographer because you cannot see the quality of the work their photographer is producing.

And quality is subjective. Very much so. I've seen some wedding photographs that is to be blunt incredibly poor yet the couple have loved them. Other sets that I thought were quite good yet the couple have hated them.

The point I'm trying to make is that you need to find someone who can produce the photographs YOU love.

So you've found one already. What's his style? What's drawing you to his work? Is it the natural photos? Or the stunning set pieces? What I call the hero shots. Is it maybe a really nice vintage style? Or uniquely quirky?

Once you've identified that then you can try to find another photographer to compare with.

Do some googling, go to some wedding fayres and most importantly take your time. Don't feel pressured and please PLEASE don't scrimp on this part.

I've just spent the last weekend trying to salvage a bride's photographs that she let a 'newbie' wedding photographer take and frankly they were awful. Yes she saved a few hundred pounds but all she has to remember her wedding now are a bunch of badly lit, blurry photographs that she's too embarrassed to show her friends.

I've written a guide on how to choose your wedding photographer which I hope you will find helpful.

Hope that helps

jinky9

RuthnJasper wrote: »

Just a thought - do you have a friend/relative/friend of either who is into photography as a hobby? Maybe they could do your photos as a wedding gift to you...?

OR - do you have a local art college (or general college offering art/photography courses) near you? Perhaps one of the students would love to photograph your wedding for free (or for a costs-covered-only basis) in order to build up their portfolio... Helps them with their coursework and you with your costs and, you never know, they may turn out to be the next Lichfield or Liebowitz in a few years time!!

Wishing you every happiness for your wedding and future life together. x

Depends how highly the B&G value their wedding photography.Being the next Lichfield in a few years time does not help if they are clueless how to cover a wedding efficiently now and understand use of light / flashes and their equipment. For every amateur success covering a wedding adequately you`ll find 4/5 stories where the results are disappointing to say the least. I have had so many requests asking if I can re-edit poor photos from weddings - which of course is difficult if poorly composed / exposed in the first place. There is a photographer for every budget out there but you have to do your homework and choose wisely.

RachyD_3

Arghhh! Seeing all these prices is making me jealous. We've paid £1500 for 8 hours coverage, digital photos only. It seems super expensive looking at what everyone else is paying, but the wedding's in the Caribbean and the choice was £700 for a photographer who's work I hated, or £1500 for a photographer who's work I adore. So.......what can you do. It's about a third of our budget and I did toy with the idea of not having a photographer. But you only do this once right? I didn't want to regret not having 'proper' photos for the rest of our lives.