Happy with your photographer choice?

[EyeElle]

Hey All,

I am just going through my photographer search and I see how much they range in price.
I was just wondering for those brides who have chosen their photographers what advice you may gave in choosing the right one??

Is anyone happy with their choice or wished they would of done something differently?

Would you consider a photographer something you should invest the money to, or do you regreat spending that much?

I understand its all about what you are looking for but I just want to see how others thought about it, to see if I am understanding or overstating things.

Thanks in advance

 

[ladyciel]

We splurged on our photographer, and it was absolutely, without a doubt, the best wedding-related decision we made. We now have amazing photos that really tell a story and share the feeling and emotions of the day. Any time I flip through them I remember something new, and our wedding was over a year ago. Of all the money spent that day, apart from the material items like your dress and rings, the photos (and video if you go that route) are the only things you get to keep and take with you into the future. Knowing that is what helped us get past the cost and really go for someone we clicked with both for her work and her personality.

Once you have your choices narrowed down and you start meeting with photographers in person, my biggest advice is to make sure you ask to see an entire wedding from their portfolio. This will give you a feeling of how consistent they are with capturing the kind of shots you want/like throughout the day. If you can only see 2-3 photos from each wedding, realize that those are the cream of the crop and might not be very representative of their overall talent. Also, make sure you get along with them as a person, because it's so much easier to relax in front of the camera if the body behind it feels like a friend, not an awkward stranger. We became good friends with out photographer and her husband, and though her schedule is insane we squeeze in a dinner with them here and there. I doubt that strong of a connection is the norm, but I won't complain!

ETA: I should add that we didn't go over our total budget to get the photographer we wanted - we made a choice to forgo some other things (videographer, for example) to make it possible. You have to decide how to best divide your budget based on what will make YOU happy. Good luck with planning!!

 

[sba771]

I am in LOVE with my photographer. My only regret is that I was so excited that we didn''t try to negotiate price at all. You live and learn! To me this is an investment and after seeing luvbug''s recent thread I know I made the right choice. (We have the same photog)

My advice would be first don''t spend what you can''t. There really are photographers at every price range that are wonderful. Also make sure you click with the photographer. Personality goes a long way. There was one other I was looking at and I saw she did a girl I went to high school with''s wedding so I messaged her. She said the photographer ruined her day and had an awful atitude. While the pictures were lovely and amazing they were not worth the verbal abuse and for what they paid I was shocked. So I would say personality is really important.

Also take your time to think about what style you want and make sure the photographer''s strengths match what you are looking for.

Lastly I tried to make sure I own all my proofs and the pricing of albums!!

Good luck!

 

[sunnyd]

Photography was definitely a budget buster for us, but I''m so glad we did it. Memories fade, and pictures are the only things that will last...that''s how we justified it, anyway.

The biggest thing for us was to make sure that we liked the photogs as people. It''s so much easier to goof around in front of the camera and act normal that way.

It''s such a personal decision, and I know we spent hours looking at photogs before choosing ours. Good luck!!

 

[parrot tulips]

Our splurge was the venue, so I actually did the opposite of most brides and went budget on the photographer. It was the only way to stay within budget, and I absolutely do not regret my decision at all. I did tons of research, asked to see complete albums of the weddings he''d done (since it''s hard to judge from a blog when all you see is the 10 best photos of the 3000+ they took at a single wedding), and saw how hubby and I clicked with him. He and his team were amazingly wonderful, fun, responsive, reliable to work with, and we have tons and tons of photos we LOVE. The only way I could have justified any photographer other than the one we chose, was if our photography budget were literally 4-5x what we paid.

Anyhow, my advice would be to definitely meet with the photographer beforehand, because you want to be comfortable with the person who''s going to be following you around all day snapping pictures of you. And look at complete samples of their work, to make sure you really like their style and the quality of their work.

 

[Clairitek]

I really really wanted an expensive photographer in our area who would have cost us about $6000 had she been available (I think she shot sap''s wedding as well). I am actually grateful now that she wasn''t because I think we got a STEAL for our photographer. He was what some people would consider "budget" at $2500 for digital files, about 400 4x6 prints, and unlimited shooting time.

I did a TON of research, asked photographers whose work I admired (FacetFire here for one) for some recommendations of people in my wedding area, and combed over www.wpja.org for hours. I can''t stress enough how asking for an entire portfolio is (as others have mentioned) because there was one guy I thought I LOVED for quite a bargain but once I saw an entire gallery I was sorely disappointed. He turned out to be a HUGE jerk as well and totally unprofessional (when I wrote him to let him know we went in a different direction he wrote me the nastiest email ever back). So I was glad that I hadn''t jumped the gun with him based on a few awesome blog shots and got to know him and his talent a little better.

We ended up choosing a guy that we thought we clicked well with. I don''t necessarily feel that he was tons better than another guy we had met with but I just felt like our photographer was someone we could be friends with. I spent a lot of time with this guy and I felt really at ease in front of him. It didn''t seem weird at all to spend 13 hours in his presence!

On the flip side of this, my friend spent over twice what I did for her photographer and ended up feeling like her photos were "OK" and "nice." I personally thought they were wonderful, but did not show 2x the talent and editing ability as my photographer had (hard to be unbiased there though). She did get a second shooter and an album with her purchase but I can''t help but feel bad that she feels like she overspent. Thing is, they interviewed many photographers and combed over 100s of websites so I''m not really sure what else they could have done. She loved my photos so maybe finding www.wpja.org (where I found my guy) BEFORE she booked her photographer would have been helpful.

Sorry for all the rambling. I guess ultimately you have to decide how important the photography stuff is in the grand scheme of your wedding. To us, it was really important and we were willing to spend more than we did, but we just found what we wanted in a cheaper package.

 

[EyeElle]

Thank you for all the great advice!!

One thing is for sure, I have to look at the whole body of work to make a decision.
It makes sense to me now though because whenever I would look at a photographer, I would love one couples photos but another not so much - and that was frustrating me lol So I guess once I see all the photos it will be easier.

It will be hard since there are so many to choose from but I think I will have to meet with them and go that route - online photos you just never know beacuse as many of you have mentioned, its the best of the best they put up there.

Thanks again