Sticker shock over wedding photography

[Haven]

Do your research on your photographer! We had a horrible photographer, and now we don''t have any professional wedding photos. NONE. And we still had to pay him several thousands of dollars for coming on our wedding day and NOT taking good photos.

It is my biggest regret, and I''m reminded of it every time I click on that d*mn Newlyweds section because every single post over there is about a photo from your wedding day.

Pick a good photographer. That doesn''t necessarily mean you have to spend a lot of money, but just make sure you do your research.

 

[RaiKai]

Date: 4/28/2010 10:41:03 AM
Author: Haven
Do your research on your photographer! We had a horrible photographer, and now we don't have any professional wedding photos. NONE. And we still had to pay him several thousands of dollars for coming on our wedding day and NOT taking good photos.


It is my biggest regret, and I'm reminded of it every time I click on that d*mn Newlyweds section because every single post over there is about a photo from your wedding day.


Pick a good photographer. That doesn't necessarily mean you have to spend a lot of money, but just make sure you do your research.

That would be so disappointing! What happened that made the photos "not turn out"?

I will say the only thing I WOULD change is to tell our guests to beat it a bit earlier after the ceremony so DH and I could have had some more alone time to take photos (or even just alone time) with one or two of our guests doing the photos....but even WITH a pro this would have been difficult. Indeed, when we had briefly considering hiring someone, we nixed it when there was some drama from family insisting on doing posed family pictures after the ceremony with "our" photographer (who we would have hired exclusively to take pictures of DH and I following the ceremony.) I really, really do not like "posed" family pictures and also knew there was a time crunch after the ceremony before the dinner....some family was getting worked up about it...so I nixed it all. I should have just never said a word to anyone really about considering hiring a pro to do those after-ceremony pics!

 

[Haven]

Date: 4/28/2010 10:52:18 AM
Author: RaiKai

Date: 4/28/2010 10:41:03 AM
Author: Haven
Do your research on your photographer! We had a horrible photographer, and now we don''t have any professional wedding photos. NONE. And we still had to pay him several thousands of dollars for coming on our wedding day and NOT taking good photos.

It is my biggest regret, and I''m reminded of it every time I click on that d*mn Newlyweds section because every single post over there is about a photo from your wedding day.

Pick a good photographer. That doesn''t necessarily mean you have to spend a lot of money, but just make sure you do your research.

That would be so disappointing! What happened that made the photos ''not turn out''?

Well, they sort of look like I gave my ten year old nephew a couple shots of Jack and a camera and said "Have at it!"

If that makes sense.

 

[RaiKai]

Date: 4/28/2010 3:23:30 PM
Author: Haven

Date: 4/28/2010 10:52:18 AM

Author: RaiKai

Date: 4/28/2010 10:41:03 AM

Author: Haven

Do your research on your photographer! We had a horrible photographer, and now we don''t have any professional wedding photos. NONE. And we still had to pay him several thousands of dollars for coming on our wedding day and NOT taking good photos.


It is my biggest regret, and I''m reminded of it every time I click on that d*mn Newlyweds section because every single post over there is about a photo from your wedding day.


Pick a good photographer. That doesn''t necessarily mean you have to spend a lot of money, but just make sure you do your research.

That would be so disappointing! What happened that made the photos ''not turn out''?

Well, they sort of look like I gave my ten year old nephew a couple shots of Jack and a camera and said ''Have at it!''


If that makes sense.

Ouch. At least if it had been the ten-year old nephew all it would have cost you was the couple shots of Jack.

 

[cleokizzy]

the good thing about getting married in NYC is that you have a LOT of options for a lot of price range! i guess your difficulty is just that you are out-of-state but that should''nt hinder you from finding and booking the right one.

check out True Love Weddings (their based out in Queens, NY) but they go practically everywhere in the tri-state area. here''s their website: True Love Wedding and there''s a Yelp review too!

*don''t forget to haggle with them. they''ll work with your budget!* i did and i''m glad i booked with them!

HTH!

 

[KittyGolightly]

Thank you for this recommendation. Also, thanks EmeraldLover1, for your suggestions. I''ll check those websites out!

 

[Lilac]

Date: 4/28/2010 10:41:03 AM
Author: Haven
Do your research on your photographer! We had a horrible photographer, and now we don't have any professional wedding photos. NONE. And we still had to pay him several thousands of dollars for coming on our wedding day and NOT taking good photos.

It is my biggest regret, and I'm reminded of it every time I click on that d*mn Newlyweds section because every single post over there is about a photo from your wedding day.

Pick a good photographer. That doesn't necessarily mean you have to spend a lot of money, but just make sure you do your research.

Ditto Haven. Do your research. Our photographer was $8,000. Our pictures turned out awful and I don't have many from the wedding and we don't have an album. I haven't been able to bring myself to pick from the terrible pictures we have to make an album (which was already paid for in the original price) and I haven't even been able to contribute to any of those newlywed threads because my pictures are so bad! DH surprised me with a photo shoot of wedding re-takes (we got all dressed up again and went back to the hall and took pictures so they look like they were from our wedding) but that was with a different photographer and that cost additional money. Make sure you look at sample work and talk to your photographer (whoever you end up choosing) so they know exactly what you want!!

 

[Mrs.SE]

My friend hired 2 students from a local college working & schooling in photography. He paid them $100 each and they shot for hours before, during & after the ceremony & reception. Gave them all the pics on a disc and let them print & do whatever they wanted w/ photoshopping different B&W, Sepia, etc. I think I''m going to ask them the same. I don''t care if I get perfect poses & shots, just that I have something to look back on and remember the day. Also a great idea for the reception is putting a disposable camera on each table with a card explaining you want them to use it to take candid photos of everyone there enjoying themselves. I did this before, I bought a package variety of B&W & Color films that had pretty wedding decorations on the camera so they blended well with the decor.