Wedding Tiny wedding. Need photo advice, please.

[matildawong]

Hi Everyone,

I did a search prior to starting this thread but I am still very unsure of what to do. Our wedding will be 20 or so people at a small B&B in Virginia in September. It''s going to be a late-afternoon, casual, garden ceremony with a tent and lanterns and yummy food and drink and some of our favorite people.

We don''t need a package that starts at $2,000 for 6 hours of photography. And that''s a cheaper quote I found. It''s hard to figure out what I need because I get sucked into these vendor sites and then I drool over other people''s lovely weddings that are much bigger and with dancing and stuff. Anyway. How do you know what you need? I mean there must be photogs out there that do custom packages for small weddings, right? But none of the brochures/websites that I''ve seen mention less than the full monty. Which is not what I need.

I know I''ll just have to start asking them individually. But did anyone here go through this too?

 

[matildawong]

I'm sorry my first BIW post was so messy and convoluted. Here's the Hummingbird Inn, where we will have the ceremony.

It looks a little overly cutesy here but it's really a wonderful little place.

 

[matildawong]

Oy. I just reread my post and all I can say is I have that feeling after a "drunk and dial" episode. Except I wasn''t drunk; just half-crazed with no sleep and stress.

 

[neatfreak]

We had a small wedding and I will tell you that just because it is small doesn''t mean you shouldn''t have a great photographer! It was worth it to us, but then again, our photog was super cheap because I found her on craigslist. But we would have paid more if we had to, because photos are important to us.

 

[SuLi]

Hi there!

Can I ask where your B&B is in VA? I''m in a similar situation, and live in the DC Metro area. My FI and I are eloping in October. We''ve hired a photographer to take photos of us around DC afterwards so that we would have something to commemorate the day. We met with several photographers, explained the situation, and they were all willing to work with us. A lot of photographers have a la carte packages. You just have to ask when you call/meet with them, but keep in mind, photographers in DC are a bit pricey. Our package for about 3-4 hours will cost us around $1500. The most was $1900. If you want more information on the photographers I spoke with, please let me know. Good luck!

 

[matildawong]

Thanks neatfreak and SuLi!

I agree, neatfreak. We do want a good photographer -- and will pay (my first post seems so whiny about that!). I just am having trouble finding smaller packages.

SuLi, it's in Goshen, VA, a short drive from my parents' house. My parents live near Lexington, about an hour from Charlottesville. (Long answer, there.)

The B&B is so cute with pretty gardens and grounds, a big red barn and a train that (sometimes) goes by. We're all thrilled.

 

[CJ2008]

matilda, we''re having a very small wedding too (no more than 30 people) and we''re paying handsomly for our photographer. He was the most expensive out of all the ones we talked to but we liked him the best.

but yeah, when you''re spending $ on so many things it starts adding up and then you start to double think "do we reeeeally need that?" I think 6 hours might sound like a lot but it isn''t...not if you want him to capture while you''re getting ready, etc.

how is your cat doing? (i think it was your post i read in a different section?)

 

[NewEnglandLady]

While small weddings are great for saving money on food, alcohol, favors, rentals, cake, etc. there are certain things that demand a handsome ransom regardless of the size of your wedding and a photographer is one of them!

We had a small wedding as well and the only thing I can think of tht saved us money because of the SIZE of our wedding is the number of hours we booked him. He normally charged for 6 hours and we were able to shave off an hour since we didn''t have many family photos.

We saved money by hiring a landscape photographer, though, intstead of a traditional wedding photographer. He did weddings, but he preferred landscape photography (though it doesn''t pay the bills) and that was a good match for us since we chose a dramatic outdoor venue.

 

[matildawong]

Thanks for your replies, claudinam and NewEnglandLady!

I''m getting the drift and I think we just have to bite the bullet because we really do want nice pictures. I just got nervous looking at photog''s galleries of larger weddings and thinking maybe they were way out of my league.


claudinam, thanks for asking about Mittens and for remembering it was me posting about her. She''s not eating or drinking much but we are giving her sub-q fluids and she is stable and seems comfortable.

 

[CJ2008]

matilda, nothing wrong with trying to see if you can cut some costs. Like NEL said, try to see if you can negotiate an hour or two less.

I''m so glad Mittens is comfortable, even though she isn''t 100% better. Tell her we''re thinking of her.

and, your avatar freaks me out...I can''t stop looking at it when I see it. hahaha

 

[matildawong]

Hi there,
I just wanted to update that I found a photographer and I''m so excited. She''s wonderful (so far) and she helped me create a package so well within our budget that we can add on extras (and therefore pay her more and so far she deserves it!) I''m so happy. I was getting discouraged before I started this thread, so thanks so much for your support here!

 

[matildawong]

I don''t want to start another thread about ME so I''ll just add some pics here. Here''s my dress. The picture doesn''t do it justice.

 

[matildawong]

And here''s a back view from another site and in a different color.

 

[MaggieB]

Hi Matilda! Love your venue and your dress. Looks like you don''t need photographer advice anymore, but I was just going to say, that''s the expense I''m dreading the most. I''ve been told repeatedly that size of wedding makes no difference for photography costs and also that this is the most important cost of the day since you will look at the pictures over and over again for the rest of your life! Hopefully I will get some luck like you did.

 

[matildawong]

Thanks, MaggieB. And good luck on your search. Do you and your "almost-FI" live in SC? I lived in NC for several years.