How much are you paying...

Hi Zippy,

I have the same dilemma. I seem to only find them for over £1000 and was only hoping to pay £750 max!! Sometimes if you contact them you can negotiate the price based on taking a few 'extra's out of the normal packages. I would maybe contact a few and state what your budget is as a starting point.

Ok, I really really want this photographer, he has 4 price options, the one we will go for (cheapest) is £1650, the most expensive is £4500!!!

I have had a right touch on this ..... Dont mean to boast but got agreat deal. Moved into new house last year... Next door neighbour is a photograpgher ?
He is doing the whole day me getting ready groom getting ready wedding, all after and evening do plus anything else we want. Get all pics on a disc and bout 40 in a posh album for £400 ?
Well chuffed. Think me moved to the right house. LOL

We are paying £900 for the gold package. https://kestevenphotography.co.uk/

I'm paying £550 for initial meeting to discuss styles etc, then 2 hours of photography (I've chosen this to be at venue, don't want any at home getting ready etc). Then a 8" x 8" photo albumn with 30 pages. Not huge, didn't want to spend a fortune but obviously wanted a reminder of the day. Pretty happy to spend this amount.

We are paying £650 for about 5 hours of reportage photography (only having 4 or 5 posed pics) with all the photos given to us on a disc, we didnt want an album. but the options there for us at a later date if we do want an album made up.

Think we are going to end up paying around £2000 for ours - we are getting an X-factor stylee booth for guest to go into with handwritten messages for us to get their pics taken!! think its great as most of our photos will be of family etc, not many of our friends!

Also get huge album with around 100 pics in it, but magazine style that i like.

www.mattsymons.com

We're paying about £1400 for a storybook album. I did research alot and most of the ones i looked at were at least £1200. I feel its expensive so im really hoping that they turn out well!xxx

I did it the cheap way. Used a friend who used to be a photographer, she took the shots on the day then passed the negatives to a photographer friend for him to make up the album.

For 40 pictures in the album, we paid £360.

I wish i'd done things differently.

The photos are all standard posed shots so rather stuffy and old fashioned, likewise the album. It's not us at all. TBH I much prefer some of the pictures our guests took on their own cameras, more natural. Knowing this now, obviously I should have went with a reportage style photographer. You live and learn!

Another thing to consider is the cost of reprints. Our parents have ordered prints from the photographer (the one that did the processing) and the cost of these is £240. Again, if I knew then what I know now I would have just asked for a disk instead of an album and done my own.

Rambled a bit here, sorry [:I] Just want to emphasise though that its so important to really think long and hard about what you want from the photography. You can't really go back and do it again.

Hope my ramblings are of use to someone though.

We were originally having a freebie from a friend but they cannot do it now but our budget was tight and we knew we didn't want a package with an album as we wanted a CD of all prints to make our own / transfer to parents and our digital picture frames etc.

We have found a guy who offers 2 photographers - one to take reportage style and one to take up to 20 staged shots (we've only got 45 guests to the day so that's plenty for us). They'll start from before the ceremony until we sit down for the reception and we get to keep the CD of photos. He is charging £360 and has been recommended so a pretty good deal I thought.

He'll also come back if necessary for an additional hourly charge for the night do but not sure if we'll bother with that.

edited to add - can back up what Maxi says - at my first wedding 11 years ago ?, my photographer only took staged shots and alot of the guest photos were actually nicer - ie more natural, that's why I definitely want reportage style this time round with a handful of posed ones.

I'm paying a crate of beer!!! Using a mates neighbour who is trying to build up a portfolio to move into photography as he hates his current job! Going to see if he wants to do a 'trash the dress' shoot for a second case of beer!

£4,500 really does seem a lot. Our photographer http://www.megsullivan.co.uk/ is great. I did a degree in photography so this was something I didn't feel that I could cut corners on, but at the same time we couldn't afford to pay loads. In the end my sister ended up using her as well! (Charlie and Aram in the album - I'm the one in the stripy dress)
We're going for the full day package because we have evening guests. This includes:

• Pre wedding consulatation
• record arrival or the groom
• guests and bride, ceremony
• formal groups, reportage coverage
• start of reception
• cutting of the cake
• all images to be put on this website in the view and order section for all your friends and family to enjoy
• photograph the bride getting ready at home or other venue before the wedding
• record all of the wedding breakfast, speeches and first dance
• produce a story album of a minimum of 200 7x5 photographs
  

We are gonig with a father and son package from medway. Dad does the filming, son takes the photos. Both are very qualified and when the dad came round with the samples, they were faultless. We get both of them from 1hr before the ceremony at the venue, all throughout the ceremony, photos after, onto reception venue, more photos, a photo of all the couples asat at the tables waiting for the meal, photos of the speeches, hotos of guests mingling between meal and evening, photos of first dance and second dance. The videographer will film the ceremony, guests and photos being done, the speeches and the first and second dance. We get every single photo they take on discs to print off at our leisure and a video of the whole day. They also put 30 photos of their choice into a hardback album. Not bad for £1250 we thought x

We are paying £995 - photographer takes all the usual pics plus any more we want, we get an album with 50 photos in. He is staying for the cutting of the cake and the first dance, and then leaving after that. My SIL2B boyfriend is bringing him camera for the evening and taking pictures in the evening, he has a professional camera and is brilliant at photography, but I wanted him to be able to enjoy the day rather than use him all day! xx

I would keep looking around, the prices you mentioned werent unusual when we were looking at photographers but we also found loads that were much cheaper, and the pics looked just as good. Whereabouts are you based? There might be someone on here who can recommend a good photographer in your area. Also it would depend on what types of things were important to you in your package. You tend to pay quite a lot for any kind of CD or copyright, but then you are able to reporduce images yourself.

We got married abroad in the end so it cant really be compared but we paid around 600 euros for the photographer to come from me getting ready, ceremony, boat cruise, walking through the village and the reception. This included 150 prints and 330 prints on a CD with copyright. We thought it was a complete bargain and he was great - we got a combination of posed pics with all the guests and some that we didnt know were being taken. They were also really clear and we became great friends with our photographer. You need to have someone that you feel at ease with, it's really important when they are witness to one of your biggest days!

We did the same as you zippy - looked online and found one we loved, then found out his prices and couldn't afford. So I arranged to meet with him, looked at his albums, told him I wanted him, then told him how much I could afford to pay and asked if he'd do us a bespoke package. He came back with an offer of a package costing £50 under the budget I gave him.

We're paying £1450 for:

• All consultations as necessary (usually two)
• Pre-wedding engagement shoot
• Pre-wedding shoot web slideshow
• Pre wedding shoot private viewing
• Wedding day coverage by 2 photographers from groom and/or bridal party preparations, arrival at ceremony, ceremony, drinks reception for family group shots, reception followed by speeches. Evening up to and including the first dance. There is no limit to the number of photographs taken.
• Personalised calling cards for guests giving slideshow website details
• Private audio visual viewing of your images
• Web Slideshow
• Secure online photo gallery and proofing
• 12”x12” leather album handmade to bride and groom's specification by Queensberry of New Zealand, plus the first 60 photographs of bride and groom's choice (plus a few detail shots) laid out in a storybook format (matted, digital or a combination duo album) which will be uniquely designed around the chosen images. Additional images are at a cost of £20 each.
• Album carry case

If you have found a photographer that you love then you should go for it. I still think that choosing a photographer should be more than just about price. Good photographs should evoke emotion and if you have seen some that you love then that is a great sign that they will be right for you.

Sure look around and see if you get the same feeling about other (cheaper) photographers but if you don't then, if you can, go with who you have seen. The price is actually not that bad for a good quality photographer and at the end of the day they will be one of the few things that will last you a lifetime after the wedding.

We paid £440 (Northumberland)

I will admit that they aren't the most fantastic examples of wedding photography, but I have some lovely pictures, and every specific shot I asked for. The photographer stayed for about 10 hours which was more than I could have hoped for, and I have a good mix of formal and informal pictures.
I got a proof album of over 100 6x4"s, a CD and 40 of my chosen pictures at 9x6", and still have the option to buy larger prints/canvas
I didn't get the chosen images in an album, but I preferred to choose my own anyway. I think I got a great deal ?

However, our hotel's recommended photographer had packages starting at £2000, so I don't think you're way of the mark. Normally you get what you pay for. I think I would expect 2 people, staying pretty much all day, and a fab finished album for that money.

We are paying £950.00 for ours.

This is her top package. She is there all day & night. We get an album with the proofs in (these dont have proof on them but are only 6x4) we then get an album with 40 prints in, a disc with full copywrite, 4 parant albums and 15 keyrings.

Right, its decide we are having him. I called today and left a message on his answer machine. For £1650 we will get:

Full day coverage that starts 2 hours before the wedding and ends after the speeches. He takes between 220 and 300 photos and we then get:

Digital Album
90 Prints of our choice in a presentation box
Up to 100 Thankyou cards with a print of our choice on the front.
5 Accesory albums
Website where guests can view and purchase photos
Proofing book

Package looks great. I bet you feel good now you have made the decision. I could tell in your really wanted to go with them.... if you love their photos and have got a good feeling about them now that is definitely a good sign.

Now I have booked it I will let everyone see who I chose.

http://www.richardcorbett.co.uk/

Aww FullerK I bet he will be itching to get the camera out and get those little things....

I always find that, when i am not allowed to get my camera out i see about 100 shots in my head that are happening around me and I wont get a chance to take....

Its gonna be really hard at my own wedding not having my camera out, I am going to show my Dad how to use it, and buy myself a new little point and shoot...

Not that i love photos or anything...