crying cos we can't afford a tog- why are you SO expensive?

Have you shopped around?

My TOG was £140 and she was brilliant! We only had her for an hour as we didn't have guests and only have digital images so we will print an album later ourselves if we want to.

But we have amazing pictures of our ceremony and shots taken in the grounds immediately afterwards - just not of the reception (as we didn't have one).

You might be able to get a similar deal if you ask for something a little outside the normal "wedding" formula

Ah, I'm sure everything does not look rubbish! Have you thought about trying to find a student or semi-amateur tog? Yes you won't get the same standard but you could still get some lovely images of the day for a lot less cash. I'm sure other people will have good advice about it too. Chin up, you're marrying your love and that's the most important thing

If you are on a mega tight budget go to your local college and have a chat with the photography students, they may do it for free of a very small fee for the experience and portfolio building.

I feel your pain, I do. But if I may explain why they are expensive, it may make sense of the situation.

From what I understand, photography courses are expensive, and the equipment is very expensive to purchase, maintain and keep up to date.

Then you have the editing time afterwards. There is a great deal of skill in this. Fuel costs as well

So all in all the photographers have to make some money in order to break even.

However, there are always professionals that do not charge the earth. Our tog is £190 from 2:30 to 9pm. The catch! she doesn't do any editing of the pictures. So the hardwork in ediditing teh pictures and making them lovely will be down to me. Plus I get my pics in the evening before she goes, with the copyright.

She is a professional, who has done hundreds of weddings and I have seen her work, so I know what to expect.

Try looking on wedding pages on Facebook

Hi im having a tog who is based in Derby but travels around. My package is costing 350 but in that is 2 discs and an album, cant remember how many off top of my head. think the cheapest package is 250 for your basic package.

Might be worth checking out, its Antb photography

£400 for a photographer is cheap.

£400 for what an hour, that is quite high, down here in Sussex the going rate is £150 to £200. What about taking them your self, everyone has a camera, put it on a tripod and set the timer.

I get that you're trying to offer perspective, but that's not very reassuring to the poor OP, is it? You're probably just making her feel worse that the cost in fact "cheap" and yet she stil can't afford it.

Keep looking around. You may find a good student or you may yet find an affordable tog. Ours is costing £425 for two togs for the whole day so there are good deals out there. Try adking in some of the facebook groups, especially local ones to you so please don't cry or give up xxx

Thank you all for your kind responses, again I'm sorry for the meltdown lol I just feel at the end of my tether, it doesn't help that OH is STILL staying 'We've got plenty of time' - HELLO, our wedding is in 11 weeks time!

I'm just feeling the pressure, I have been signed off sick for the past 6 months & just been told by the Dr I can start a gradual return to work, but I have no job, so I'm just starting to receive help for this. OH is working 7 days a week to try to get enough money to pay for things so I feel like I can't pressure him too much to get things sorted because he's working flat out bless him. Also wishing my mum was here, if only to tell me to shut the hell up & deal with it lol. I think it's just all been building up & I've finally cracked, if anyone wants me I'll be in the corner, rocking lol!

Thanks again everyone, and yes I will try the local college, hadn't thought of that. Sorry again for the mardy rant lol xx

I second trying your local colleges for a student who may be willing to shoot your wedding for their portfolio and experience. You could also try ebay. My friend got her photographer for £50 for the ceremony and group shots. The guy was semi retired and was doing it more as a hobby. She got all images on disc after and they were amazing. Or do you have a friend / family member who has a good camera and a bit of an eye?Ok so you won't get the amazing quality you would with a proper pro but at least you'll get something.

We're on a tight budget too and would have scouted the local college if it wasn't for a friend who is starting out and looking to build her portfolio.

I'm sure things won't look ****. Village hall gives you plenty of scope for going for vintage style diy decorations which you could do a lot cheaper than fancy decorations, and will make it much more personal.

Chin up chick, you're day will be amazing x

Number one- your wedding won't look awful, you're just upset.

number two- i don't know if it'll help but this group on fbook was mentioned the other day and i had a nosey and it looked fairly helpful actually (spoken as a former wedding journo no less lol) Budget Bride Bargains (type into fbook search bar)

number three- whereabouts in the country are you? perhaps some of us could reccommend a tog or a solution?

i PROMISE you this is just emotion talking and tog or no tog, high budget/low budget/no budget you will still have an incredible day! xxx

If you were local I would gladly help out, honestly, hate seeing people worry.☹️

OK I might have a slight solution for for you without asking specifics are you north Notts? And what's your wedding date? My oh uncle Is our tog he's amature but does great work. I'll have a word if you like? It won't cost much don't exactly know what though as we're not paying him his wife does tag along though so a spare seat would be required :-)

Don't be upset, I'm pretty sure you'll find someone locally at decent price. if you you are in tight budget don't run away. stop for a while, chill out, take a cup of tea and relax. I'm sure you can find someone from your area. to be honest for £400 for an 1-2 hour is a bit overpriced, don't get me wrong i know that people charge this money for something you can remember and for their expertise.

I feel your pain. Keep looking we found ours at a wedding fayre and she did an affordable package for us to suit our budget. Also if you are on facebook ask your friends. I invited an old work coleague to the evening aprt of my wedding, she replied she couldn't come because she was at a wedding taking pics! I didn't even know she did photography on the side - gutted wasnt the word hugs & keep looking x

The advice I was given was that cheap togs aren't always 'good togs'. My Mums friends daughter had a £500 tog and the photos were rubbish, even my mum and dad had a problem with their tog when they got married and that was 40years ago and theirs was a very cheap tog back then. It's costing us £1150 for 2 togs from morning til the start of our reception.

Sounds like you're in a tough position. I hope your job situation picks up and you can relax a bit more.

It sounds to me like the tog isn't the biggest problem you're facing in the grand scheme of things. Wedding planning can really get us hooked on things that aren't that important for our future life as a married couple. Being in the right frame of mind and able to look for a new job is probably far more important than the tog for both you and OH.

Remember the wedding day is just one day. Your life together will not be shaped by whether or not you have pictures taken by a professional.

Someone is bound to take pictures (people always do) so it's not like you won't have any photos. Contact a few local schools and see what you can find. Alternatively maybe you can ask a talented friend to take a couple of shots? We had a Tog, but some shots taken by our friends are really lovely and will go in our album although not taken by the official Tog.

Deep breath - all will be well.

You've had some great advice, and some good offers to! Hope you manage to get one booked.

If you don't, can I just say that if you say to your guests two days in advance that you're not having a photographer (pretend they have cancelled 'sick' if telling people that bothers you), you can ask them if they will all please take plenty of pics for you, and share them with you via email / 'Dropbox' account / 'Wedpics' etc.

I just say this because loads of people have decent camera phones, and a couple of your guests will probably be secret amateur photographer-wannabies and will have a fancy camera sitting in the cupboard. If they are forewarned that you WANT them to take photos, they will do. Forewarned a day in advance (just a simple Facebook type message or email or something) will mean people will bring their cameras, and mean that they'll start taking snaps at the very beginning pre-ceremony. If you tell people later during the speeches or something, you've missed half the day already.

I know that I usually don't bother taking many pics at a wedding, as I feel like I'm getting in the way of the professional TOG if I do. But if someone told me they wanted photos, I'd love to get my camera out and get snappy!

Rather than finding someone who will do this for you very cheep you would be far better off going with ClairD's advice as there comes a point where the cost becomes so low that the photos are no better than what the friends and family can do.

If you let me know the exact date and where the venue is I will look into it for you if you want, you will find my email address on my website.

I get that but this kind of post comes up so often, why don't people look into the price of things before they do them?

Yeah...I know what you mean. I just know that feeling of everything being more expensive than you expect and being very skint. Without significant help from my mother my wedding would not be happening when it is, so I have some empathy for anyone distressed by these expenses they just can't afford.

Don't panic! There are people out there that will be able to help you. You've got a couple of options and a bit of time... As well as trying local collages and the like as some one suggested, you could also try chatting to some local photographers and explaining your situation. If they're not booked they might be willing to help you out and earn a few pounds rather than stay at home and earn none. They might also be willing to put you in touch with one of their second photographers... Sometimes we work with second shooters/assistants that are building their portfolios and therefore willing to charge you less than the established photographers. The down side is that they might not be as experienced and well set up as the pros but they will be able to get a record of your day at least. You're not far from me, give me a shout if I can help at all.

If anyone is interested, I just published a blog thingy on the price of wedding photography last night. It's full of sweeping generalisations but it gives an idea of why we might charge what we charge...

http://sarahellenbailey.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/why-is-wedding-photography-so-expensive.html#

I feel your pain, TOGs are well expensive and I had no idea how much they cost until I started wedding planning. Could you send a few emails round local colleges/universities and get a photography student to do them on the cheap?

Like previous posts ask a student photographer or a friend or family member with a good camera. Please can we see a FLASH (scuse the pun) of everything you've done so far. I love a DIY wedding! Would love to see it and I bet everything looks lovely. In my opinion it is a day which only lasts that- 24 hours therefore a TOG is the most important thing as they create the pictures that will last forever. That doesn't necessarily mean you have to have an expensive one. We are paying £700 for a 12 hour package which I think is a real bargain and I love my togs work. Shop around perhaps ask a family member to contribute towards it as a wedding present. Fingers crossed and let us know how you get on xx

This.

I feel a bit of an idiot taking my full camera kit to a wedding because I'm worried it looks really pretentious, plus there's no "authority" to get the guests to pose. It's a shame because I have a decent camera and a decent set of lenses and the pictures on my compact just don't match up.

But if a mate said to me that she specifically wanted me to take proper pictures, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

I must mention that we are getting a £500 discount with that price as she is doing mates rates. However her cheapest package starts at £500 and that's ceremony shots up until the wedding meal. Her prices then go up to £1200 so sometimes it is worth shopping around and seeing if they can offer a basic package. Also what time of year are you getting married? As ours is a winter wedding on a Friday we are haggling as much as poss as it's out of season and therefore togs aren't likely to be turning away lots of business and will want to fill their slots. Worth a shot xx

That's a really good example. My husband's old lifelong friend did bring his posh camera kit along to our wedding, and husband had NO IDEA he was a bit of an expert photographer on the sly. It turns out he put his camera away early on (possibly due to not feeling the "authority" thing that you speak of, and getting rid once the TOG arrived) which is a real shame as the photos he took pre-ceremony were totally awesome.

See, FTLOMrsBrown might be one of guests, OP. You never know!

Hi OP

Sorry to hear you are upset. I'm based in Nottingham. Let me know your date and I'll do my best to help you out. I'm fairly booked up this year but I do know a lot of other local photographers, some of whom are just starting out so do charge much less. I also know quite a few amateurs who would probably shoot for much less than £400.

The other thing to bear in mind is that in some ways, the closer you leave it, the easier it can be if you are on a budget. The trade off is you'd have to go with who's available rather than who you want. I remember an extremely good photographer who usually charges £1200+ for a day telling me he photographed a wedding ceremony + groups for £250 because they rang him up 4 days before the date and he was free. So his logic was "...it's either £250 or I sit at home and scratch my backside."

Anyway, don't despair. Drop me a mail and I reckon there's a good chance I can help find you someone to fit your budget.

Hi OP

If you don't mind saying -where abouts in Nottingham are you and which village hall etc are you using? My friends recently had some family shots taken in the park. The photographer charges £80 for an hour and just keeps shooting. She gives you a disc with all the shots even though she doesn't rate some of them (experience has shown that customers often like some shots which she thinks are not technically great). Not sure if she does weddings but could find out for you.

Also, I have a few nice decoration items that I may be able to lend you - eg bay trees (with flowers/lights/ribbon/organza as preferred), easel and frame for seating plan/message board etc. Vintage suitcase or picnic basket for cards, light up manzanilla trees. I have other stuff too. The trade would be that you allow me to take some photos as I'm trying to set up a mini business.

If you're interested let me know, and also your wedding date.

Either way please don't stress, I'm sure your wedding will look wonderful. Lots of people have village hall weddings - it doesn't mean cheap - it gives you the flexibility to be unique. I'm having my reception in a village hall too. OH would have paid for a hotel wedding if I'd wanted it but I don't, I want something that is us.

Hope you are feeling better.

A lot of togs charge by the hour and the wife charged £250 recently for a couple of hours.

Don't feel sorry for yourself, budgets are what they are and certain situations mean you've got to be creative.

Costs are high for us, my insurance for the year is £700. My main camera with one lens is £7500 and for every hour behind the lens it's 3 hours in post production and admin.

You can get people who'll shoot all day for £300. You've just got to find them but also accept they aren't going to be amazing, which is where the compromise takes place.

My cousin got married 2 weeks ago and told me she was having a girl fresh out of college paying her £200 all day. I though hmm knowing the cost of togs the pics are gonna be rubbish. My daughter was a BM and I have just been sent some pics of her and omg they are stunning. She has obviously spent a long time working on them. If I had been sent the pics without knowing how much the tog was I would of thought she had paid a fortune. I always think just because something is expensive doesn't mean it's always better. Not saying anyone on here but some people in all areas of life get pushy and a bit cocky and up prices thinking they will get it and are worth it. Not always true! Recently in the news I read dominos were charging £2.49 for wedges they bought at aldi for 79p! You dont always get what you pay for!! Worth looking around Hun. I had no budget set for mg tog but I knew once I met them who I would want to work with. Ended up being a very reasonable guy and we looked at every end of the scale. Good luck and chin up xx