Well, photos were the one thing I wanted to not regret skimping on. I said $500 - 800 for the 4 hrs & proofs. I spent a little more than that, but I got proofs & a nice wedding album.
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$3600- worth every penny. my dress was only $400. We had a tiny wedding (just 2 of us!) in Maui on the beach. I feel like we spent the money on the right things- the trip and the memories. spending to impress guests.... no fun. I am also a photographer so I knew what to look for, sometimes you can spend that much and still have photo's you aren't happy with. GL!
We paid $795 for our photographer. She drove 8 hours to the wedding, took photos for 6 hours, her assistant also took several pictures, I got digital copies of everything, an album of the best 4x6s and she made another album for me in mypublisher. I think I got a steal. :-) We only paid $50 for an hour of engagement pics, set of 4x6s and digital rights... and touch ups.
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$3600- worth every penny. my dress was only $400. We had a tiny wedding (just 2 of us!) in Maui on the beach. I feel like we spent the money on the right things- the trip and the memories. spending to impress guests.... no fun. I am also a photographer so I knew what to look for, sometimes you can spend that much and still have photo's you aren't happy with. GL!
This is my main issue. Photography is my art medium and what my BA is centered around (specifically digital, and digital printing/correction). I'm also skipping the videographer because the only person who will watch would be my grandmother, once. I know that I do not want to skimp on quality, and I was ready to be over $800 anyway, but now that it's time to pick someone (lol or risk not having a photographer!), the Queen of Cheap in me is rearing her ugly head as I'm seeing quotes double or triple that much.
The right to print them myself was a key factor to me since I figure it saved me a ton in printing costs (from Costco via the photographers jacked up prices).
I paid $2,000 (several years ago) for I think 6 hours (don't remember) with 600 photos to be taken, a print of each photo, and the right to reprint them.
We paid $3600 just to have him there for the day and for a CD of all the images. It was worth every penny and was the most important part of the budget to us. We actually paid more for the photographer than for the caterer for 125 people (and the food was amazing, too)!
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(from Costco via the photographers jacked up prices).
As a photographer I take a little bit of offence to the jacked up comment. Photographers have to make a living just like you do. People tend to look at it and think "they worked for X amount of time any they charge what?!" but you don't see the insane amount of hours spent color correcting images, finding and removing the 28 shots where your maid of honor blinked and looked like she was stoned, the time putting the album together and when it comes to reprints - going through the multiple orders your family placed, placing the order, sorting through the reprints and making sure they all go to the right order . . . Not to mention that the places that a professional photographer has their prints done is going to cost more then where you're probably having it done. All of this is reflected in that price.
If you can get a package where you get the rights to reprint your own photos and that's something you want to do, that's great. But just know that (most) wedding photographers are not jacking up their prices but trying to get a fair wage for their work.
Stepping off my soap box now. Sorry.
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(from Costco via the photographers jacked up prices).
As a photographer I take a little bit of offence to the jacked up comment. Photographers have to make a living just like you do. People tend to look at it and think "they worked for X amount of time any they charge what?!" but you don't see the insane amount of hours spent color correcting images, finding and removing the 28 shots where your maid of honor blinked and looked like she was stoned, the time putting the album together and when it comes to reprints - going through the multiple orders your family placed, placing the order, sorting through the reprints and making sure they all go to the right order . . . Not to mention that the places that a professional photographer has their prints done is going to cost more then where you're probably having it done. All of this is reflected in that price.
If you can get a package where you get the rights to reprint your own photos and that's something you want to do, that's great. But just know that (most) wedding photographers are not jacking up their prices but trying to get a fair wage for their work.
(from Costco via the photographers jacked up prices).
As a photographer I take a little bit of offence to the jacked up comment. Photographers have to make a living just like you do. People tend to look at it and think "they worked for X amount of time any they charge what?!" but you don't see the insane amount of hours spent color correcting images, finding and removing the 28 shots where your maid of honor blinked and looked like she was stoned, the time putting the album together and when it comes to reprints - going through the multiple orders your family placed, placing the order, sorting through the reprints and making sure they all go to the right order . . . Not to mention that the places that a professional photographer has their prints done is going to cost more then where you're probably having it done. All of this is reflected in that price.
If you can get a package where you get the rights to reprint your own photos and that's something you want to do, that's great. But just know that (most) wedding photographers are not jacking up their prices but trying to get a fair wage for their work.
We paid $2500 for 6 hours which included an album and a framed portrait. He also traveled 3 hours to my wedding site & was fantastic overall. I don't regret that cost to this day.
we spent 800 and that included rights to our photos, all photos on disc, bridal portraits, photos of the day of, and an 8x10 canvas print.
that said....... i thought that was a lot of $ but compared to the prices in my area that was actually pretty cheap... HOWEVER.... our photographer missed A LOT of photos on the day of that i specifically wanted... i even gave her a list..... and she didn't get them. and i was too busy, ya know getting married and all, to notice right away... and when i did, it was too late. :-(
so i would say if you can, spend the most your budget will allow and find the very best photographer you can. also get all your photos on disc too so you can print your own photos... .that will save you a ton of $$!
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Don't skimp on this, pull from another area if you have to. I paid $600 for 65 proofs and an album. the photographer sucked and my album is a POS! After three years we could request the negatives and when I called the guy he had moved and never informed us so I never got my negatives. The largest size print I have is 8X10 and thats only 10 of the 65. Go on craigslist if you have to, lots of up and coming photographers are super cheap! A friend is a new wedding photographer and she has a package of like $600 but thats digital includes a full album all the proofs and I think an assistant too! She advertises mostly on craigslist. (I don't think she'll travel to NY though, sorry)
I have a friend who is a photographer so I got him for the day before and day of wedding plus CD's off all the pictures and I can do whatever I want with them for a cost of $500, which is extremely cheap for him, but again he is a good friend of ours and has done DS's photo shoots for free or $50. We got pretty lucky to get such a great friend!
That being said, if we didn't have a photographer friend then I wouldn't pay more than $1,000.
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I went with 500-800 because we paid 800 and got all of the rights to our pictures plus the nice man made us a dvd even though we didn't ask for it or anything. The other photographer in that town wanted at LEAST 1800. For the smallest package. No thank you.
We spent several thousand on our photographer (at the wedding in Hawaii, not the reception back home), which included a 24-print album (8x10's), a CD (for viewing, not printing), and three parent albums with CDs.
Re: NEFR: How much would you/did you pay for wedding photography (POLL)
This is my main issue. Photography is my art medium and what my BA is centered around (specifically digital, and digital printing/correction). I'm also skipping the videographer because the only person who will watch would be my grandmother, once. I know that I do not want to skimp on quality, and I was ready to be over $800 anyway, but now that it's time to pick someone (lol or risk not having a photographer!), the Queen of Cheap in me is rearing her ugly head as I'm seeing quotes double or triple that much.
If you find the right photographer that you love their style, pay whatever they want.
I regret to this day having my friend take photos because she was free.
Do you get rights to the photos or just proofs?
The right to print them myself was a key factor to me since I figure it saved me a ton in printing costs (from Costco via the photographers jacked up prices).
I paid $2,000 (several years ago) for I think 6 hours (don't remember) with 600 photos to be taken, a print of each photo, and the right to reprint them.
we paid 1800 but that included all negatives. wow. to think in 2004 we were still pre-digital!
anyway, well worth it. but we skimped in a lot of other areas.
As a photographer I take a little bit of offence to the jacked up comment. Photographers have to make a living just like you do. People tend to look at it and think "they worked for X amount of time any they charge what?!" but you don't see the insane amount of hours spent color correcting images, finding and removing the 28 shots where your maid of honor blinked and looked like she was stoned, the time putting the album together and when it comes to reprints - going through the multiple orders your family placed, placing the order, sorting through the reprints and making sure they all go to the right order . . . Not to mention that the places that a professional photographer has their prints done is going to cost more then where you're probably having it done. All of this is reflected in that price.
If you can get a package where you get the rights to reprint your own photos and that's something you want to do, that's great. But just know that (most) wedding photographers are not jacking up their prices but trying to get a fair wage for their work.
Stepping off my soap box now. Sorry.
Tales of the Wife
We paid $4000 for 6-8 hours? It included 2 photographers and an album and maybe a few prints.
eta: it also included a proof book but not the files.
I don't regret spending extra either.
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we spent 800 and that included rights to our photos, all photos on disc, bridal portraits, photos of the day of, and an 8x10 canvas print.
that said....... i thought that was a lot of $ but compared to the prices in my area that was actually pretty cheap... HOWEVER.... our photographer missed A LOT of photos on the day of that i specifically wanted... i even gave her a list..... and she didn't get them. and i was too busy, ya know getting married and all, to notice right away... and when i did, it was too late. :-(
so i would say if you can, spend the most your budget will allow and find the very best photographer you can. also get all your photos on disc too so you can print your own photos... .that will save you a ton of $$!
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I have a friend who is a photographer so I got him for the day before and day of wedding plus CD's off all the pictures and I can do whatever I want with them for a cost of $500, which is extremely cheap for him, but again he is a good friend of ours and has done DS's photo shoots for free or $50. We got pretty lucky to get such a great friend!
That being said, if we didn't have a photographer friend then I wouldn't pay more than $1,000.
2011 Reading Challenge
We spent several thousand on our photographer (at the wedding in Hawaii, not the reception back home), which included a 24-print album (8x10's), a CD (for viewing, not printing), and three parent albums with CDs.
The photographer was there for one hour.