Weddingbee boards

I thought the same thing when we were looking for a photographer!  Our budget was about $5K, also paying for it ourselves.

 Anyway, our photographer is a little over your numbers (starts at $1500), but she is as good as many more expensive photographers.  She is very flexible, dependable, and friendly =)  Her basic package is 6hrs and high res digital files.  She's in Middletown, MD, and came to Charlottesville without travel fees, so I'm sure NoVA won't be a problem =)  Check her out: http://houghphotography.com

A handful of our wedding pictures are in her blog, if you scroll down a bit (Peihan and Michael).  Good luck!

Keep poking around and ask photographers for pricing for exactly what you want -- most packages are negotiable.  I too was looking to spend about 1K and was shocked at the prices.  I had to bump up my budget to 1550 to get all day coverage and a CD with printing rights from a somewhat inexperienced but talented young photographer.  But we could have found all day coverage for less money had we chosen to go with someone else.

I too wanted to limit the budget to 10,000 total, but now am up to 16,000.  Sigh.  Good luck! 

I ran into the same problem. I emailed every photographer whose work I liked asking if they did a la carte or were flexible with their packages. The photographers didn't seem to mind being asked. I bet I contacted 10 photographers and only 1 was worked by the hour. Luckily we liked him!

We're getting a very good photographer for 4 hours of coverage and a CD of touched up images for $1000. For reference, in our area average photographers charge ~$1500 for a basic package; execllent photographers easily charge $3-5K.

How bad could it be? Is that a risk you really want to take? What if she totally F's up your photos? It's not like you can have your wedding over again. I understand that budgets are limited and every pro photog needs to start somewhere, but I would not be comfortable trusting my wedding to someone who has never shot one before. A wedding is not like a studio shoot, or a portrait session. There are a lot of rules and nuances, and if you are not experienced, a lot will be missed. Perhaps, if you want two photographers, use her as a second shooter - with the permission of your primary photographer.

That being said, just keep looking. Many photographers offer a la carte packages. Even if all you want is a CD, be prepared to pay a pretty penny for it. Normally a wedding photographer makes a nice chunk of change by selling you albums and prints. Giving you a CD takes that out of the equation, so she has to make up some of that lost revenue somewhere. 

There are really good, reasonably priced pro wedding photographers out there. After a lot of digging, I was able to find one in my area whose work rivals the other shooters I was looking at, for half the price and twice the amount of time - plus she is giving me a $200 photo credit and the CD. They are out there! 

I really agree with carolineg....you really shouldn't use someone who has never shot a wedding before.  I went to photography school myself - one of the best around.  I actually realized that I did not even begin to compare with some of the other students there.  Schools don't really judge your work and accept you based on that, most students will get accepted.  Weddings are really hard to shoot - there are a million things to think about and do, you should at least choose a student who has shot a wedding before, if you decide to go with a student.  You aren't there to help someone get through school - dont' pick her because of that.  Its your wedding, something that cannot be done over.  All this being said, if you don't care about the pics that much, do whatever.  Like others mentioned, photographers make money off of the prints, they don't love just giving you the rights to their work.  You will most likely have to pay a lot for that.  But, you may be able to tell them you aren't interested in the album and other things, and have a more custom package to suit your needs.