Weddingbee boards

Hiya,

Photography was like most people very important to us. We had quite a large budget to spend and were willing to even spend more than we set aside to have the perfect photographer.

We ended up looking at a few high priced photographers (when I am talking high priced I am talking about $10,000) then more in the mid range (around $4000-$6000) then very lower end ($1000-$3000) kind of thing

We wanted to weight all of our options and make sure we connected with the photographer, their quality of work, their 'packages' etc.

We instantly fell in love with a photographer in the lower range of prices. He was a newer photographer on the market in our area, who had done some weddings (cause I dont think I would have wanted to be the first) we liked his originality and williness to try new things, and especially learn from his experience with us.

He was a young guy, but I can credit a guy in photography (since I have a passion/hobby of it myself) so the first thing I said to him when we booked him was that he better not dissipoint me and give me more than 100% on the day, he laughed and said of course...

Saying that after countless phone calls (where we both click, and get one another) and emails we determined what we want with him - he will be with us all day, there is no time limit (I guess I may have scared him a bit with the giving me more than 100% thing ha ha) so from the moment I start getting ready he said he will be there, and from the moment we want to leave our party he's done too. he gives us the usual, photos after the ceremony at a bunch of different locations, reception, as well as a cd with all the photos on it, and an online gallery where friends and family can view and buy the photos etc

we ended up getting that for $1600 - the only thing is didnt cover was the E-shoot, which me and the FH DID want which was another $200.

Like I said we both were willing to spend alot more on photography so when it came to the extras, like albums and stuff were spending nearly $3000 on albums with him

so in the end I guess the cost for photography for us will be around $4600 - which I am happy with, if my photographer can make me happy

$3000 which includes engagement and day of pictures, digital copyrights, and a hand-crafted album.  Photography was priority one for us....so we found the photographer first!  :)

I'm not sure if my specific pricing will help you b/c I'm having a pretty unusual package put togther, but based on what I think you want I found pretty good photographers that could provide that for anywhere from $3500 to $9500.  In terms of breakdowns, I found hourly fees to range from $200-$500/hr.  I found that album pricing ranged from $1400-$3K with ~$50-$100/extra page.  Often the cost is driven by the album company that they choose.  If that is the only thing prohibiting you from selecting a photographer, you might ask them if there is an alternative company that could be more reasonable.  My photographer has a few different suggestions so that we can get much cheaper album clones for our parents.  The cost of e-sessions varied from being included with an album to about $300 extra.  And similarly DVDs were either included or up to $1K extra.  One thing is that there is a distinction between a high-res DVD and a "proof" DVD.  Many throw in the latter for free, but charge extra for the former (when you think about it, they're losing a huge revenue source if they give you the ability to make your own enlargements, though it still bugs me).  I suspect you want the high-res version, but make sure you clarify that.

My personal experience, talking to a crazy number of photographers, was that quality and price did for the most part go hand-in-hand (though I did meet with at least one that I felt was overpriced for his quality and another that I felt was a bit underpriced for her quality).  We're spending a fair bit on photography, but it's really important to me and also to my dad.  It's not as important to my FI, though he was of the opinion that we should either hire a really great professional photographer or not bother at all.  And quite frankly, some of the people we looked at really did fall into the "not bother" category.

It's also really important that you like your photographer, imho.  I thought about hiring my sister's wedding photographer b/c he was very talented, but I also found him to be pretty rude during my sister's wedding (my dad also felt he was rude, and several members of our extended family commented that they thought he was fairly unpleasant during the formals).  Maybe he would treat me differently as a bride, but the fact that he could treat family like that was not energy I want near our wedding day.  My FI felt the same way about that.

It is also possible to negotiate on price (or get extras included).  But most photographers, I've found, price pretty closely to what they're willing to work for.  So you might get up to 10% off or an extra or two (the latter is more likely), but you probably won't get them to halve their price or anything.  You also need to consider that the time they spend on your wedding is a lot more than just the day of.  They probably spend several hours preparing the list of people to get and planning their day (e.g. when to get details, when to be where etc) beforehand.  And putting together the album is also a lot of work.  When I met with my photographer he was in the final stages of an album that he'd gotten permission to show me, and the attention to detail he put in was incredible.  I can't recommend him enough, BTW.  If you're in SoCal, please check out www.memoriesbymichael.com.  He's just great!

I'm paying $1000, friend's rate, he's a friend I met through a friend who does free-lancing in phoography and has done weddings as a favor to friends; he's in business and media, but whenever we go out he's always snapping pics and they are always gorgeous and beautiful, they are clear down to the pimple! hahaha, but there's some artistry and clarity in his pics I knew he was the one I wanted as photographer

all phots are included, all day long, I get the proofs, free photoshop of 20 pics, a  second camera/ his assistant who he's dating (works out for me) and free rehearsal dinner thrown in, I said I preferred a bachelorette's night over rehearsal dinner so it'll be fun; I tried to haggle but when he didnt come down I still knew I was getting a great package with someone who is talented and didnt haggle further coz I knew the prices were 3000-5000

I think my photog's cheapest package is about $3550, but it includes 8 hrs of coverage, engagement shoot, dvd of photos and a nice big album/print credit of $1400.

The package we chose included: E-session, 12 hours of wedding day coverage with 3 photographers, a  $1500 storybook/flushmount album credit, a $500 print credit, all our digital proofs, all our proofs put together in a book and (most importantly) the rights to all of our digital photos.

The photographer we chose charged $4500 for this package.  BUT because our wedding was in the "off season" (november) we paid  $2500 for this package!  We were very lucky to find them!

I honestly think it varies from where you live.  But we've decided to choose a fairly new photographer that has quite a bit of talent that's willing to give us the disk of 1500-2000 pictures for $2000.  Normally in San Diego, CA the average cost for a photographer is $4,000-$6000 and a really good photographer can charge anywhere from $8000-$10,000 if not more.

I have asked for all photos on DVD so that I can reprint them at minimal charge since that's how most photographer make their money.  I will have the disks done through Costco.com where I can either get a linen bound book made for only $29.80 (20 pages included) or a leather bound cover for $49.75 (20 pages included) with $0.99 for each additional page. 

Good luck and let us know what you decide!

It is so dependent on area, quality and experience. For us our perfect match was a husband and wife team from a town about 3 hours away and we paid for 8 hours of coverage, travel fee, 2 shooters, 2 independent albums (not a mother's duplicate), the rights to all the photos, the photobooth, the proofbook, and online proofing. (and for fun she threw in a boudoir photo shoot!) All of that ran us around 6 grand.