newbie124
Brilliant_Rock
- Joined
- Aug 23, 2007
- Messages
- 584
So, I found a fantastic photographer in the Bay Area whose work I really love. I''m super picky when it comes to photos--not only do the colors have to be great and the b/ws well-balanced, but they must also have a creative eye.
At one point we were considering hiring a husband-wife duo from Chicago and flying them out to CA for the wedding. Then I found this other photographer and fell in love with his work.
So here''s the issue...We set our total wedding budget to be $35k. Right now, we''re looking at actual costs closer to $37,000, not factoring in rings and honeymoon. There might still be a little wiggle room in the catering, flowers/decor and the rehearsal dinner, but probably only up to about $1500.
I was originally planning to budget around $5,000 for photography and that has slowly crept up to $6,000. That''s quite a huge chunk of our budget, considering that I''ve read that 10% is the normal percentage.
The SF photographer has been willing to discount his package rate to fit in our $6k budget and still give us their upgraded album (they only offer 1 mounted photos album option and we knew we didn''t want to go w/ the coffee table/flush version). But they would have to add on about $130 in taxes to that (I''m still not sure why we''d be charged CA tax when the album would be shipped to us in IL).
Also, I was really keen on having him also do our engagement session. That is included in the package, but I wanted to be able to have those photos taken in Chicago so that we''d have some pictures in our hometown. So there''d be roughly an additional $400 for airfare/hotel (they also offered to use some of their hotel points to keep the hotel costs down).
So the total cost would end up being about $6400-6500 (or nearly 19% of the budget), not including costs of additional prints/parent albums (I may just make those myself to save some $). It''s a little scary to see that much of our budget go towards one thing...I know a lot of people have said they didn''t regret spending extra on photography...I just wonder how much "extra" that was?
The Chicago photographers we considered had a package of $5400 and that would include TWO photographers instead of one. Also, since we''d be flying them out there, they said that they''d probably make themselves available to take photos throughout the weekend not just the day of. With the airfare/hotel added up, we''d probably be around $6,000 with them as well, but would just be getting more--2 photogs, more photos/hours, $100 e-session print credit. They also do nice work, but I feel that the guy in SF is just a bit more creative and his photos have a bit more impact than the ones I''ve seen from the Chicago photographers.
Ugh...I''m trying my best to keep our budget in line, but all these dollar figures are stressing me out! Photographs are really important to us, though, and I''m even foregoing videography to leave more room in the budget, but it''s still a hefty sum to stomach. I just want to know that we''re not crazy devoting this much of our budget to the photography!
At one point we were considering hiring a husband-wife duo from Chicago and flying them out to CA for the wedding. Then I found this other photographer and fell in love with his work.
So here''s the issue...We set our total wedding budget to be $35k. Right now, we''re looking at actual costs closer to $37,000, not factoring in rings and honeymoon. There might still be a little wiggle room in the catering, flowers/decor and the rehearsal dinner, but probably only up to about $1500.
I was originally planning to budget around $5,000 for photography and that has slowly crept up to $6,000. That''s quite a huge chunk of our budget, considering that I''ve read that 10% is the normal percentage.
The SF photographer has been willing to discount his package rate to fit in our $6k budget and still give us their upgraded album (they only offer 1 mounted photos album option and we knew we didn''t want to go w/ the coffee table/flush version). But they would have to add on about $130 in taxes to that (I''m still not sure why we''d be charged CA tax when the album would be shipped to us in IL).
Also, I was really keen on having him also do our engagement session. That is included in the package, but I wanted to be able to have those photos taken in Chicago so that we''d have some pictures in our hometown. So there''d be roughly an additional $400 for airfare/hotel (they also offered to use some of their hotel points to keep the hotel costs down).
So the total cost would end up being about $6400-6500 (or nearly 19% of the budget), not including costs of additional prints/parent albums (I may just make those myself to save some $). It''s a little scary to see that much of our budget go towards one thing...I know a lot of people have said they didn''t regret spending extra on photography...I just wonder how much "extra" that was?
The Chicago photographers we considered had a package of $5400 and that would include TWO photographers instead of one. Also, since we''d be flying them out there, they said that they''d probably make themselves available to take photos throughout the weekend not just the day of. With the airfare/hotel added up, we''d probably be around $6,000 with them as well, but would just be getting more--2 photogs, more photos/hours, $100 e-session print credit. They also do nice work, but I feel that the guy in SF is just a bit more creative and his photos have a bit more impact than the ones I''ve seen from the Chicago photographers.
Ugh...I''m trying my best to keep our budget in line, but all these dollar figures are stressing me out! Photographs are really important to us, though, and I''m even foregoing videography to leave more room in the budget, but it''s still a hefty sum to stomach. I just want to know that we''re not crazy devoting this much of our budget to the photography!