Photography ? Video ? Ideas ? Costs ?

[Croí]

hi ladies
I have so much to catch up on but I''m really busy with work and life and all sorts. Congrats to all the new graduates, I can''t wait to find a minute to read your stories.

Well, I wanted to see what kind of prices any of you have received from photographers and what was included in the price - proofs ? negatives ? copyright ? All of that.

I just got a quote back and just want to do some comparison checking. I know she''s who I want but just want to see what the rest of you have found.

thanks girls
C

PS. anyone doing still photography AND video ? yes ? no ? why ??!?!?

 

[ammayernyc]

My friend who just got married did both still and video. I saw them both this weekend. I think video is a great idea b/c you get to see so much more than table pictures and posed stances with your family. It was fun to see how the bride boogied down and how the groom started crying when she was walking down the aisle. You can''t capture that on a photograph.

 

[JessesGrl]

I live in NY ( hudson valley) The photographer we booked cost 2800 ( that was the smallest package) it includes an album with I believe 40 pages, 8 hours of coverage w/photographer and assistant, and 2 8x10''s....this is pretty much the average price around here, I shopped around

 

[teebee]

Well, I''m not sure how much this helps, since region is such a huge factor in these kinds of things, but my package is about $1,550. I say "about" because it is somewhat customizable and I can add or delete things if I wish to do so for an increase or decrease in the stated package price (Ex. We will probably not do the engagement session or wallets ~ I don''t really care about that & we aren''t in the same state as this photographer so....). Anyhow, here are the details of our package:

HOPE: $1,550
* Five hours coverage.
* A beautiful, 16-page, library-bound fine art pressboard coffeetable album with custom-designed montage pages. Jimmy Sexton, photographer, graphic designer and owner of Sexton Photography, designs this book especially for you. This truly unique keepsake book reflects your love story in a photo essay of your wedding day in true photojournalistic style. You can even include your favorite quotes and poems!
* (5) 8x10 prints
* (5) 5x7 prints
* Up to 150 beautiful 4x5 prints (mix of color, B&W, sepia & 2-color) in a white or black album
* Engagement session & (72) wallets
* On-line viewing & ordering (for up to 3 months)
* Storybook & traditional portraits
* (2) Photographers (husband-and-wife team)
* Pre-ceremony, ceremony and & reception possibilities
* Complimentary wallet-size prints to provide to wedding guests at the ceremony

We are not doing a wedding video... I just couldn''t justify the additional cost when there are so many other things to pay for... Plus, I just love photos so much ~ I love looking through pictures and very rarely do I look at home movies. Plus, I figure that there''s probably someone attending that owns a video camera and maybe I will ask them to try to video the ceremony without interfering? I''ve seen some professional videos that were fairly expensive, even without editing or music added, that I thought looked pretty amateur so I''d rather have an actual "free" amateur give it a shot than pay a "professional" for not much better results Does that make sense? I''m sure there are really good videographers out there, but I haven''t found them, and I''m sure I couldn''t afford them anyhow. I talked to one company and asked if they could show me some of their work ~ they wanted to charge me $10 for one of their wedding videos for me to see!?!?!

 

[kanne]

Croi

Yikes. We are also in vendor-interviewing mode!!

We are not doing video, but the photographers we like run anywhere from 2300 to 4500..that includes 8 hours of digital shooting, 2 photographers, 1 main album, 2 parent albums, an engagement shoot, a bound proof album, a DVD with all the hi-res images. And, I think a 3 month link to a website with pics for guests to peruse, but I'm not 100% sure if that was an option on not. FYI- these are NY metro area prices...

I'm finding this wedding stuff incredibly expensive. It was very important to us that our photographer give us the hi-res (if shooting digitally) or the negatives (if film) of ALL the proofs, not just the ones we select for the albums.

hope this is helpful!

lovey

 

[Croí]

I am sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo happy to be getting married soon but the cost end of things is starting to get me down. I check the exchange rate every day ( I get an automatic e-mail) and we are going to be paying a quarter more for EVERYTHING just because of the stupid exchange rate. $100 dollars right now is only worth 75 euros .......

I mean it''s not too bad if just spending money on holidays but when you are talking about large amounts, adding another quarter on really adds up.

anyway, because we aren''t living there she''s giving us everything, proofs, negatives, the whole lot - to bring back with us right away ....... so no albums, we will do them ourselves.
judging from what you girls have said (and taking the stupid exchange rate into account) I think her price is fair and I LOVE her work so I guess I''ll have to try to make it work.

like you teebee I am a photo person much more so than a film person so my still photos are far more important than video and, like you!, if we have any video it''ll be home done.

thanks for the input ladies, isn''t it CRAZY that no matter how much you do yourself or how much you try to keep costs down, it''s really just impossible ?

oh well, we''ll all get there and will have wonderful wedding days I''m sure.

*hugs*

 

[JCJD]

We finally booked our photographer last night (see "I feel like she''s stealing my photographer" in Brides Worldwide for details of my drama), and we''re in Nebraska, so this will seem REALLY cheap to some.....

$800 -$40 (5% Friday wedding discount)
8 hours coverage
Unlimited digital shots
Proof book
CD with all pics on file - we can order pics from them or have them printed ourselves as long as we don''t use them for commercial use
Online photo gallery and ordering

 

[blue_chica]

thanks for the input ladies, isn''t it CRAZY that no matter how much you do yourself or how much you try to keep costs down, it''s really just impossible ?

Sorry, I don''t have any information for you - I''m putting off looking into many of the details b/c I''m sort of in denial about the $$. If anyone can do it though, it''s you! You are so creative and have so many wonderful ideas, it will end up looking like you spent 4 times the amount you did.

 

[TravelingGal]

OK, here's my tip on videos, since it seems everyone agrees photographer is a must have.

Let me first say that I am affiliated with the company, but what I am about to say doesn't really benefit the company, so I hope this is OK.

I deal with videoediting a lot. And I agree with TeeBee...some of the wedding "professional's" editing I've seen are horrible and amateurish. With the talent that I think you ladies have, you could do it yourself AND make it look better.

So here is my tip: Either hire a videographer and just contract to get the raw footage, or get a few people with video cameras to shoot some footage. Hopefully they are decent at shooting video, but you would be surprised at what you can "save" with good editing. Have them shoot in regular color...no black/white or sepia filters. You can add that in later.

Then, when you are ready, go to http://www.ulead.com/learning/vs.htm and download the video tutorial. This tutorial will help you learn how to use the software. The VideoStudio softare will let you add that special music, titles/text, special filters, etc etc. Then when you are READY to edit (and after you've seen the tutorial at least once so you can have an idea what you are dealing with) download the trial version at http://www.ulead.com/vs/trial.htm.

NOTE: DON'T download the trial until you are ready to do your project. The thing times out after 30 days, and after that, there is no way of getting the software back on your computer. You'll be stuck with a half finished project, and the software costs a 100 bucks. Since the point of my tip is to save money, you probably don't wanna be forking over that 100 bucks.

The nice thing is, if you play your cards right (meaning getting it done within 30 days), you can edit your video with this software for free. Even with the 30 day deadline to finish your project, and I am willing to bet you creative ladies would do an awesome job. I use the software all the time. By the way, the trial is the full product, which is great because you get to play with all the bells and whistles. The only thing you can't do is burn it to a DVD (although you can burn to lesser quality VideoCD). That's kind of a bummer, because I am sure you ladies want it on some form of media. However, it's not a big issue. When you are done with your project, render it to a high quality .avi (as well as a high quality MPEG-2 to have a couple of file types/compressions). You can always play those on your computer, or if you have any kind of DVD authoring software, you can bring in those completed videos later and burn it to DVD so your DVD player recognizes it.

Oh, I also don't know if the trial limits your video length. But I doubt anyone would want to put together several hours of finished tape anyway! Just doing a short video compilation should be easy to do, and would be a nice complement to your professional photos. Also, you will need a decent computer to run the software, and since this is digital editing, I recommend getting the footage on digital video. If anyone has additional questions, I'd be happy to help. I am no expert, but I do love digital photography and digital video editing as a hobby to share my life with friends...especially because my bf lives 7500 miles away in Australia.

Hope that tip is helpful!

 

[Croí]

travelin'' gal

WOW - now THAT is some useful information....... excellent !

thank you so much. I am bookmarking all of this for future reference!

thanks a million !
C

 

[teebee]

Thanks TravelingGal!!! Ditto Croi ~ excellent info!! Adding to favorites...

 

[rfath]

TravelingGirl - Thanks for the advice about the free trial period with that software! Also, for people using Macs, newer Macs come with iDVD and iMovie to allow you to edit and burn videos as well, including DVD''s. Both of these programs have a great user interface, it seems (you can buy the programs, too, of course, if you have an older machine).

One warning, though: realize that the raw footage takes up a LOT of disk space on a hard drive. Fiance and I have a separate drive for storing the uncompressed video as we dump it from the camera - it''s amazing how much room it can take.

 

[TravelingGal]

Good point rfath...the Ulead software is for PC only. Mac users will have their free software, so that is nice.

BTW, for PC users, you may have windows moviemaker. I have tried using it, but found it way too basic...couldn''t do what I wanted with it. However, that is also software that comes for "free".

And I completely agree about using a separate hard drive. It''s a lot easier for your computer to access the media from one place and the program from another. Any time I do heavy videowork, I dump the media on that separate hard drive.

 

[just_looking!]

Oh Croi, I know exactly what you mean on exchange rates!! We''re paid in currency linked to the US dollar but all my wedding costs are in GB Pounds. At it''s worst it was nearly $2 to 1GBP!! Not good............

 

[verticalhorizon]

I agree with the video comments... We are probably going to ask any family with video cameras to just shoot what they can and send us the tapes that I''ll edit myself.

I have a photographer question though... is it common to have to settle the balance of photography contract before the wedding date? I forked over about half to get myself the date, and I think he wants the other half a month out. Comments?

 

[flopkins]

Hrm.... Croi I think photog prices vary a LOT by location, in SF/Bay Area, avg cost runs $2k to $5k, amazingly!!

I know how you feel about cost, I've been feeling so down about that too, seems everything is superexpensive and all the wedding books/advice about saving money is just common sense, and not too much can be done about some costs, just maybe shave a few dollars off w/bargaining etc...

I am planning on budgeting $3000 for proofs, our album, and all negatives/digital copies... maybe parents albums and engagement if we can... I don't plan on video, we are hoping to get a friend do amateur video, we don't care for it too much and I'd rather spend the money on pictures.

Good luck w/ the planning!

edited to add:
verticalhorizon- i haven't done my hw on the payment policies for photogs, but my instinct says that full payment before the goods are delivered (or even the photos are snapped) sounds fishy to me! anyone else wanna pipe in on this?

 

[NoonersMom]

Vertical Horizon...I haven''t started researching photographers or the like yet. However, in the world wide grooms & brides section, someone posted an issue they are having their photographer. If memory serves me correctly, they asked for all of the money upfront. Photographer showed up, gave them their proofs, asked to couple to send back ones that they wanted pics of. Couple did that & then never heard from them again. Check out the letter, very informative about a situation that can arise.

IMO, I wouldn''t pay 100% upfront. Go with your instincts.

 

[NoonersMom]

Here''s the link ....
https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/weddin-photography-scam-in-pa-nj-de-beware.25744/

 

[teebee]

Date: 3/11/2005 2:15

0 PM
Author: verticalhorizon
I agree with the video comments... We are probably going to ask any family with video cameras to just shoot what they can and send us the tapes that I''ll edit myself.

I have a photographer question though... is it common to have to settle the balance of photography contract before the wedding date? I forked over about half to get myself the date, and I think he wants the other half a month out. Comments?

VH ~ Unfortunately, I think it is pretty common for the photographer to ask that the balance of the contract be paid prior to the wedding date... However, I''ve not encountered any photographers that required the full balance in such a short period of time. I had to pay a deposit of $200 to reserve the date (on a $1550 package) and the balance is due 2 weeks prior to the wedding. It amazes me the kinds of business practices that are generally accepted in the wedding industry that in any other industry or circumstances would be completely out of the question... Paying for everything in full & in advance prior to delivery of goods and/or services... sheesh... I guess this is why it is so imperative to get references. Thankfully I''ve been able to talk to several couples that have used our photographer and they all had wonderful things to say ~ and also a couple of criticisms or things that they would have liked to have done differently (which to me makes their recommendation more helpful & believable).

 

[verticalhorizon]

Oh good point. References! Sheesh, how could I be so thick... I was running out of time to book someone and I forgot references! I''m gonna git on that.

Oh and thanks for the link Nooners!