Nov 16 2008
Ideas for affordable wedding photography?
Who Knew? asked:
Does anyone have any ideas for affordable wedding photography? (I’m in Washington, DC.) The quotes for most photographers are anywhere from $2400 - $3000 — and that doesn’t include travel expenses! Eek! We’re having a very small wedding (50 guests) and the costs above would send us waaaaay over budget.
Does anyone have any ideas for affordable wedding photography? (I’m in Washington, DC.) The quotes for most photographers are anywhere from $2400 - $3000 — and that doesn’t include travel expenses! Eek! We’re having a very small wedding (50 guests) and the costs above would send us waaaaay over budget.
Ideas? Thanks!!!
Comment please!
14 Responses to “Ideas for affordable wedding photography?”
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Maybe check out local colleges for photography classes and see if there are any star photography students who could take pictures for you.
Buy some disposable cameras and let the guests be the photographers.
Buy a really nice digital camera and hire a friend to take the pictures using your camera. Give him a list of the shoots you want him to take for sure. Then you’ll have the camera to take with you on your honeymoon also.
Wait until after your honeymoon and go to a sitting at a nice photography studio wearing your wedding dress and have pictures taken in studio. Would be a pretty pic to hang on your wall, and not the added expense of having a photographer drive to your location.
Good luck!
do a search for hourly photographers in your area or call them and ask them if they do hourly thats what i did i get her for 4 hours for $400 thats all i really need so it works for me.
Invest in a good quality digital camera and have a close friend or relative do the shots. (Or borrow a camera or see if the camera owner with do the pics!) With the digital cameras and computerized photo abilities, you can have great pictures without the excessive cost. After you have made a CD of the pictures you want, you can have them made into photo at a photo shop if you want better quality than your computer can print. This also keeps the photographer from choosing the ‘best’ pictures, and allows you to crop out any unwanted backgrounds, etc.
Photography is a difficult place to save. People will tell you to use a photography student or ask friends but the truth is that professionals not only take great pictures but they keep you on schedule are unobtrusive and know what to take pictures of. Find someone who may not specialize in weddings but does do them. Save in another area.
Instead of hiring a photographer with one of their oh-so-expensive-everything-you-could-possibly-EVER-want packages, see if they’ll let you hire them “ala carte”, meaning: hire them ONLY for your ceremony and posed shots. This can probably be done in about 2 hours, saving you beau-coup bucks. For your reception, just put out those disposable cameras and let the guests take the pictures.
My boyfriends niece recently got married she had a expensive photographer paid a good deal for etc. I also took pics with my digital camera and took them to one of those photo printers where you put your card in. You can add borders make them black and white add dates etc.. for same price as regular picture. You can zoom in or fix them also.I made pictures for her mom and she loved them more than the expensive photographer. She said they didn’t look staged and looked very proffesional. Maybe have a few friends take different shots of the wedding and make sure you let them know what you would like some of the pictures of. I have one of the bride and her brother that her mom wants in her casket with her because they look so happy. Sometimes friends get views and pictures that you would never expect. Hoep this helps a bit and Congratulations.
I used someone who had previously done a lot of kid’s sports team photography and was trying to get into wedding photography, he had done the wedding of a friend. He was a quarter of what other photographers would have cost me, didn’t lock me into a package full of pictures I didn’t want, and took excellent pictures. Best of all, all the proofs were mine at no extra charge. Check around with newspapers, local colleges, and schools, it is possible to get pro pictures on a budget, you just have to do a little leg work. Freelance photographers (even a student) will give you excellent pictures, have an established portfolio for you to look at (to know their “style” will fit what you want) and have the knowledge of what makes a great shot.
Do you have any relatives that dabble in photography? Ask them to help out. I wouldn’t trust just anyone to take photos, though. Contrary to popular opinion a digital camera is not the miracle answer to good pictures, you still need an artistic eye. Photographers “see” shots, know how to set them up and know when good ones have happened, the average person just takes random pictures.
It is important to find a qualified photographer who is willing to take pictures of what you want him/her to take pictures of if you want to have professional pictures for a lifetime.
You don’t have to purchase large packages. Keep it simple. A few nice photographs of you getting married and a few nice photographs after the wedding. Make sure that you get pictures of everyone in your wedding party and relatives who are joining you. Get a nice picture of cutting the cake and eating it and the first dance with your new spouse. That is it with the professional photographer.
For the rest of the pictures, get someone who is good with a digital camera and work out a fee based on time spent at your wedding with you receiving the digital images on CDs.
This way you can get the best of both worlds. Some professional photographs for framing and some candid pictures for memories. You can select the number of images you want after your wedding from the professional photographer and print out however many you want of the digital ones - or copy the CDs to share.
As a third option, you might want to have someone videotape portions of your wedding and first kiss as newlyweds, getting cake fed to you, the garter and bouquet tosses, etc.
Happy hunting and congratulations! I wish you a blissful wedding packed full of recorded memories. Don’t forget a simple tape recorder.
oh yeah, get a few friends who have digital cameras to take pictures for u. its cheaper that way. and u can be sure its gonna come out good. thats what most ppl with small weddings are doing now.
Photography is one place you shouldn’t skimp. Family members can’t be good guests and good photographers at the same time. If you end up having a student do them they may not be anywhere near as good as what a professional can do. I’m making sure to cut my costs other places in my wedding to be able to splurge on a good photographer. Your wedding day is the most important day of your life and its going to go by so quickly great pictures are the best way to insure that you get great memories. Do your self a favor and don’t skimp on your photographer, you may end up regretting it for the rest of your life.
Here’s some thoughts: I have been to weddings where every table has a disposable camera and they are asked to take pictures of all the guests at that table and return the cameras to the bride’s mother at the end of the reception. So, there’s one idea for general pictures. How about finding out what it would cost to GO TO a professional photographer after the ceremony and before the reception to have (a) yours and your spouse’s pictures taken (b) perhaps even with the wedding party. Going there should be a lot cheaper than hiring him for 4 hours. Oh, and as far as before wedding pictures when you are getting ready, your Mom/ Dad/ Aunt/Uncle/Friend, etc. can take them. Don’t you really want candid shots rather than formal shots? (Except yours and his, of course.) If you hire a photographer, part of the time they are taking shots of other people, either to make more money or because people want a formal picture of themselves…. on your time! Pictures are important, but you don’t need the expense of a professional. Nowadays the digital cameras are so good you can have many, many more pictures. Don’t forget to have at least one person video it for you… and talk to the guests. That’s fun! Have a wonderful wedding and long marriage! P.S. There’s always the option of you and your hubby going to the photo studio after your honeymoon and you can use wedding money gifts to pay for it. Hummm.. is that a good alternative?
See if one of those 50 guests has any interest in photography. I’ve heard that some people will do favors for the wedding couple during their wedding in leiu of giving them a physical present.
Ok…so I have been on both sides of this. When I got married, we were trying to save money, so we did something we had heard of. We got about a dozen disposals and had our guests take pictures instead of hiring a photographer. BAD idea. I **** our wedding photos. I wanted to do something about it. So since then I have taken my love for photography and turned it into my full time job. I am a wedding photographer. When I started my company my goal was to provide quality wedding photography at a price people can afford. My packages start at only $800…my most expensive is only $1300 I wish I wasn’t in Florida cause I would love to help you out. Here is my advice. A photographer can really do a much better job, it what they are good at. Let your guests do just that….be a guest, its what they are good at! Look around…you never know if you can find a company that is like mine. I would definately go the route of trying to find a college student before you totally give up. But don’t pay a college student big bucks either. A college student should probably get no more than $200 for a 4 hour shoot. And make them give you all the photos on a DVD with the copywright signed over to you. Hope this helped! If you move your wedding down to Florida let me know!…lol. Good luck!
Have a few formal portraits done at a photographer’s studio. Have the groomsmen hand out disposable cameras to a few people to take pictures at the church. Put disposable cameras on every table at the reception for your friends and family to capture moments at the reception. Enlarge the ones you would like to have in an album. The candid shots combined with a couple of formal photos should make for a great album!