How much did you spend on your photography and videography?

[radiantgirl]

I''ve been doing research trying to narrow down a couple of of our favorite photographers and videographers and just wanted to know how much everyone spent on their photos and video (if applicable). My absolute favorite photographer is way out of our league, almost costing the total amount of our wedding budget if we do the unlimited package (I know, it''s crazy)

. So I''m sort of freaking out about the cost of these two, but more particularly the photography. We do agree that the most important thing to us is our photos and video, so a lot of our wedding budget will be allocated to this.

So if you guys don''t mind sharing this info, I''d really appreciate it. Thanks!

 

[regalada]

Ours is going to be $3,000, for 10 hours of coverage, a fancy album with 100 pictures, and a cd with all the photos.

That is the photographer, of course. We are still trying to find the videographer.

 

[E B]

I think that if you''re going to splurge on anything (besides food/drink), it should be the photographer. There''s a photographer I LOVE that lives in Louisiana (bummer.) and what she quoted was unfortunately too much. I did, however, visit her website recently and found she has an assistant photographer (!) with the same great shooting style, so I quickly emailed her for a quote. I think, with travel fees, she''ll be somewhere around $2500 with 5 hours shooting time, an album, and hopefully a CD of high-res images.

 

[radiantgirl]

Regalada - I think that''s pretty reasonable what you are paying for your photographer.The two I was looking at:

First photographer (my favorite, but we can''t afford him): unlimited coverage (their biggest package) which includes cd, bridal portrait session, engagement session, 2 custom albums is $19,500 (can you believe that??)

8 hrs of coverage: $9,450

7 hrs of coverage: $5,990

Second photographer (similiar style, but not as nice): unlimited coverage (their biggest package) which includes 1 album with 120 images, 2 location potrait sessions with 2 portrait canvases, dvd slideshow is $5,495.00

8 hrs of coverage: $4,495

7 hrs of coverage: $3,995

 

[jcrow]

Date: 6/15/2006 11:38:54 AM
Author: EBree
I think that if you''re going to splurge on anything (besides food/drink), it should be the photographer. There''s a photographer I LOVE that lives in Louisiana (bummer.) and what she quoted was unfortunately too much. I did, however, visit her website recently and found she has an assistant photographer (!) with the same great shooting style, so I quickly emailed her for a quote. I think, with travel fees, she''ll be somewhere around $2500 with 5 hours shooting time, an album, and hopefully a CD of high-res images.

Who in Louisiana?? Do tell

 

[E B]

Her name is Kelly Moore (www.kellymoorephotography.com). She is by far the best I''ve seen (in my opinion, of course!) but she''s just a bit too much with travel fees. Check her out though, she''s very nice and rather accomodating!

 

[jcrow]

thanks. how far from Louisiana are you?

Here's roundabout what i got:

Package $2750
Bridal Session
Engagement Session
Wedding-Unlimited Hours & photographs taken
Wedding-Two Photographers
Online Proofing for 6 months
Negatives w/ Copyright Release
10x13 Preview Magazine of all photos taken
Bridal Session with 11x14 print, 2-5x7 prints, Negatives, Online Proofing, 8x10 Preview Magazine of all photos
Bride’s Flush Mount or Matted Album (leather) with 60 photos


eta: louisiana

 

[selflove]

We spent $700 for photographer which included 4 hours of time, a bound photo album, all original digital negatives on CD, and 60-5x7 "credits" (so we can use the "credits" to trade up for larger prints or take 60 5x7s). I had to negotiate the price down and he reduced the number of "credits". I wish I had booked him for 1 or 2 more hours so I had more from the reception. I LOVE our pictures, I think he did a fabulous job. Shocking that I found him in LA. I can''t believe the going rates around here.

And no videographer.

 

[codex57]

We paid $3500 for ours, including any tax. Lemme try and think of what it included:

8.5 hours of photography at wedding
1 photographer + assistant
a huge wedding album (11x14 or something like that) that had about 30 pages
2 smaller parent albums
all the digital negatives on CDs
100 proofs
framed 24x30 (or something big like that) portrait
Engagement photo session
all the proofs and negatives from that (came out to about 200 photos)
20x24 framed portrait from that session (to display at the ceremony/reception)

+ we ended up paying another $100 or so for some DVD slideshow they created for us (about 15 min long) that we're free to make copies of and distribute

This is for the Los Angeles area. They were awesome. I also liked how they'll do photoshopping too. In our engagement session, there's a beautiful sunset shot of us walking along the beach with the sun right at the horizon. Unfortunately, my pant leg had a wet spot on the knee from where I was kneeling earlier. We wanted to blow that one up for our portrait, but I didn't like that wet spot. They took it right out. The wonders of technology.

No videographer cuz the photographer cost a ton too. But similar quality shots and stuff we found from two other photogs cost about $10K+.

 

[Selkie]

Date: 6/15/2006 12:44:50 PM
Author: selflove
We spent $700 for photographer which included 4 hours of time, a bound photo album, all original digital negatives on CD, and 60-5x7 ''credits'' (so we can use the ''credits'' to trade up for larger prints or take 60 5x7s). I had to negotiate the price down and he reduced the number of ''credits''. I wish I had booked him for 1 or 2 more hours so I had more from the reception. I LOVE our pictures, I think he did a fabulous job. Shocking that I found him in LA. I can''t believe the going rates around here.


And no videographer.

How? How, how, HOW did you get him down to $700 for all that? What are his normal prices? That''s astounding. Seriously, how do you approach bargaining for discounts like that? The photographer I really like (in Mass.) normally charges a minimum $2500 for 4 hours with two shooters, the proof book and online album. Because ours is going to be small and on a boat, she said (over the phone, no contract yet) that she wouldn''t need the assistant, and would charge $2000. But that still doesn''t include any albums or digital files. Now I''m wondering if I should try to talk her into including AT LEAST the files with that. I''m meeting her in a couple of weeks. Tips, please!

$2000 is a full 20-25% of our expected total costs, for reference.

 

[Scintillating]

Could everyone please include where you are/were getting married, city and state, and where the photog is/was from?

I''m curious to see if the prices vary region to region.

Thank you

Scintillating...

 

[flopkins]

radiantgirl - That is crazy expensive for that first photographer!!! OMG! Even w/expensive SF prices I haven't seen anything that high.

ROundabouts here (SF, CA) the cheapest you can find is $2k, but a good photographer will be start at $4k...


ETA: Videography around here runs ~$1k and up. We had a friend do it for free, we wanted great photos.

 

[ellaila]

Ooh, good idea for a thread!

We just met with a photographer (I always misspell this word, so I''m abbreviating from here on!) on Tuesday for our wedding in September in Newport, RI. I had contacted a bunch of photogs asking for a small package -- two hours and digital negs were our only requirements! -- and quite a few were pretty accomodating. The one we''re going with is $1300 for two hours, plus all the proofs in a book, plus high-res digital negatives ($1000 for the two hours, $300 for the CD).

After seeing what others here are paying, I feel like we''re paying too much for just two hours, but on the other hand, I understand that the photog needs to make money too and would likely charge a slightly higher rate for the smaller package, so I''m OK with it. If we decide to go over that two hours, it''d be $250/half hour.

 

[Scintillating]

Date: 6/15/2006 2:52:48 PM
Author: ellaila
Ooh, good idea for a thread!

We just met with a photographer (I always misspell this word, so I''m abbreviating from here on!) on Tuesday for our wedding in September in Newport, RI.

Ellaila - Not to hijack the thread or anything but* where in Newport are you getting married? Ceremony and Reception? (Also where are you from?)
I''m curious because that''s where we''re getting married as well. (St. Mary''s Church on Memorial/Spring, my parents were married there - and reception we haven''t decided yet.)

Scintillating...

 

[ellaila]

Hi!

We''re getting married at Castle Hill this September! www.castlehillinn.com Doing both the ceremony and "reception" there. We''re having a small wedding though so we''re just using a small dining room inside the main building, not the Chalet, which is what they usually rent out for weddings (and which Dani found out is very expensive!!).

If you''re going the small route, I totally recommend it -- the woman we''ve been working with there is a *dream*!! But if you''re having a larger wedding, I think it''d cost you a fortune.

And I have to make one NON-recommendation as well. Don''t use the Chanler!! It''s lovely to look at but beyond horrible to deal with. And that''s not just my own personal experience -- I''ve heard it from a lot of others too.

We live in Boston and I''m originally from here, but I went to URI and we got engaged in Newport, so RI holds a special place in my heart Do you live in RI? CT? Boston?

 

[E B]

We''re getting married in Dallas, TX and the photographer I love lives in Louisiana.

 

[regalada]

Ours is in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

regalada

 

[radiantgirl]

Ours will be in Houston, TX and all the photographers we have been looking at are all local. We are definitely not going to go with the first one, so our second choice looks like they will be in our final running.

Here''s what their best package includes:

$5,495
Unlimited coverage plus photography assistant (12 hrs max)
Minimum 1,000 originals for internet and photo print preview
10 x 10 custom bound leather album (flushmount) - lifetime warranty
40 page album (80 sides) 120 images
two location portrait sessions and (2) 16 x 20 portrait canvases
DVD slideshow (all images edited to music with chapter menus)
keep all negatives

Their prices range from $2,995 - $5,495

With the minmum coverage of 5 hrs to the maximum of 12 hr.

Does this seem reasonable?

 

[Scintillating]

Thank you very much ladies for adding your locations!

Radiant girl - that's quite the package, stiffly priced but you get a ton with it!

JCrow - looks like you've got a really good package as well.

Ellaila- Castle Hill is beautiful! Newport in September is wonderful - a lot calmer.
We're from Boston as well.
My Mother is from Newport, and it's always been a second home to my family.
We have a home there.
It holds a very special place in both FI and my hearts.
(My parents reception was at the Chanler - 37 years ago back when it was Cliff Walk Manor.
It does seem really haughy and expensive now - erg. Almost everything is insanely super expensive there - we'll see if we can figure something out. We're thinking smail 65 or so - preferably less - and a brunch, less $$)

Scintillating...

 

[londonblue]

flopkins - that range is good to know. we didn''t look around at that many photographers since we already had one in mind we really liked. basic minimal package for 6 hrs is 4.5k (norcal)
a bit over our initial budget but we''ll sacrifice in other areas since our priority is beautiful photos. guess it''ll be water and hard tack for our guests!

 

[VuittonGal]

Hi there!

We''re in Pittsburgh (I know pricing can vary by region) and we''re paying $3,200 for the photographer which includes our engagement pics, 5 x7 engagement pic, day of coverage, photo book, and 11 x 17 wedding pic.

We''re paying $1,700 for our videographer, which includes day of coverage and a raw footage DVD and edited DVD.

Hope that helps!

 

[curlygirl]

My photographer was my best vendor and I got him for a steal! He''s actually a friend of a friend and he''s a professional photojournalist--not a wedding photographer. He and his wife (she''s also a pro photographer) were with me for ELEVEN hours, took about 35 rolls of film, about 500 digital photos, gave me all the negatives and put everything onto discs for me (including the film stuff--they scanned it). I paid $2500 and I''m in NYC. A huge bargain for this area! And the photos are AMAZING. I''m making my own album so I didn''t need them to do any of that stuff for me.

My videographer was also a friend of a friend. We didn''t want a cheesy edited video--just raw footage. So we had him for 8 hours and paid $500! Again, it was practically free!

Shop around and haggle with everyone!! You could get some really great deals if you put your mind to it.

 

[tracys126]

This will most likely be my greatest expense!