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Wedding Wednesday: photography

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The wedding photography may end up being one of the most expensive items to pay for in relation to your wedding.

I fully admit that I was a bit shocked when I found out that many photographers charge double or triple what I originally expected.
But on reflection, I realised that we need to pay for their time and expertise on the day (perhaps 12 hours!), travel expenses, hours of editing of the photos (our photographer took over 2000 pics!) and sometimes the production of an album.
Suddenly the cost doesn’t seem so high!

We are going to make our own album so that reduced the cost a little and as we all went home by 7pm, it wasn’t a late night so that cut off 4-5 hours of time to pay.
My advice is to look around at a few websites to get an idea of price, style and what they are able to provide.
Have a meeting with the photographer beforehand: remember this person will be taking pics on YOUR special day and be invited to YOUR wedding so it needs to be someone you like!

Our photographer (the wonderful David Cleary Photography) offered an engagement shoot as part of the wedding package so that we could make sure we got along and could see how he worked.
Chris and I were beyond awkward as neither of us are keen on being in front of the camera! So the engagement shoot gave the photographer a chance to learn about us as well.
I wanted natural pictures rather than anything too stylised. We also wanted the traditional group shots so I gave David a loooooong list of all the set ups I wanted! Our wedding was all about family so I wanted to make sure that everyone was photographed.
We also recreated shots from the past: I was bridesmaid for my cousin in 1998 (20 years ago, eek!) so we did the lineup again! I have a lovely set of photos of me handing over my bouquet to my very surprised cousin and all of us having a giggle 😀

I was so happy when we got our wedding photos. There are lots of pictures of Chris and I giggling and the pictures have a natural feel.

They really captured the day itself rather that an unobtainable perfection. Our day was perfect because it had its moments of fun and drama!


Categories: wedding.

/ 13 Comments

13 comments

  1. Kate

    I got a special deal on my wedding photos which I was so relieved about cost wise and a friend did our video for free I think. Weddings should always have plenty of giggles – we cracked up when we were asked to post romantically and that one remains my favourite pic of the day. Lovely photos of you and yours #BloggersBest

    Reply
  9. Dave Pearson

    Firstly, gorgeous photos!
    As a former wedding and portrait photographer, I think I can contribute to this post.
    Wedding photographers take their job very seriously. Kit, at least two (if not more in my case) of everything – you don’t get a do-over with a wedding and if you miss that killer shot because your camera let you down then this would be a disaster. Insurance, I’m glad I had this sometimes. Public liability insurance is a must. Time: wedding photographers spend an awful lot of time on each wedding (or they do if they’re doing their job right). For me, this started well before the big day with client meetings to discuss styles, pre-wedding or engagement shoots, scouting trips to the wedding’s location(s). Travel to and from the wedding. And of course the time on your feet at the actual weddings. I often spent upwards of 8 hours on my feet shooting constantly. That 8 hours of total focus on your task. It’s incredibly challenging. It’s incredibly hard. It’s incredibly stressful. But, it’s also incredibly rewarding. Then there is the post-processing – editing the photos and building the all-important album. I kept a track of time spent on weddings, and on average I clocked around 75 hours per wedding in total. That’s two standard 37.5 hours working weeks in an office job.
    I wasn’t a high-end wedding photographer. I slotted into the £1000 – £2000 price band. Some of my packages came with albums and usually pre-wedding shoots. But I was part-time too. I was trying to build my business around my day job. It was dammed hard to do. To build the business I needed more time, the time I was at my day job. But whilst the business was low earning I needed the day job to keep a roof over my families head and pay the bills. Then I started losing work to “fly by night” photographers who were offering all-day photographer, all images on disk for less than £500. My time was worth more than that. I wasn’t not prepared to compromise quality and my time for little or no return. The combination of day job and such a competitive market place meant I decided to call it a day. It’s something I regret now – 4 years on.
    I hope you will cherish your photos for a lifetime.
    #ThatLinkyFriday

    Reply

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