What did you want from your TOG?

The most common request for us is Full day coverage (bridal prep- First dance), with images on a disc (essentially, a digital package)

We find that couples rarely want to book an album or prints upfront- although quite often they'll choose to order an album at a later date, when they have the photos back from us.

Next most common request is our manned "photobooth" with instant sticky back prints for the guest book. That seems to be a bit of a craze/fashion thing and has really taken off over the last year or so.

From a personal perspective, it's good for us to be there all day. When we get asked to cover half days we're happy to do it, but I feel like we're missing out on alot of the day and alot of photo opportunities. It's also a little more rushed and not as relaxed for everyone.

If it becomes a toss up with price, i'd always advise a couple to opt for a full day of coverage and a digital package rather than cutting back on coverage in favour of an album or prints. If you have a digital package with copyright to use reprint the photos etc, you can always get the extras at a later date when you may be better off financially. You wont get back the latter part of your wedding.

Again though, totally down to the individual and your personal preferences.

Our TOG is very different from the norm....

We will be getting all of our wedding pics unedited up to and including the first dance. This suited htb due to his line of work, and afterall it's about both of us lol....

We should end up with approx 500 - 700 shots, which tbh, I would rather have, as it captures our day in it's entireity.

We are putting the TOG up overnight, the night prior to the wedding, and we are being charged £350 for him, and the room b&b is one included in our wedding package....

He's travelling quite a way!!

That way, we have the freedom with our pics, and get to keep the original momentos too

x x x

It always helps to work out what you want first and then to find the shoe that fits.

Nearly all togs with have a supply only package. I recommend that and then to progress from there.

Don't be fooled by offers of prints. As long as you receive the images in full resolution (not high resolution as what constitutes as high res is open to debate) then you can print them yourself, very cheaply using somewhere like www.dscolourlabs.co.uk .

Albums are the hardest to quantify. I design my graphistudio albums personally, it takes me almost two days, but I know another tog who sends the images to graphi for them to design instead, costing him £50 but saving him 2 days work. We charge almost the same. Which is better value?

Some will supply the images unedited (never good), some deliver them cropped and colour balanced or turned into complete works of art.

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We certainly did that!!

We wanted quality from the original not edited pics, and asked to do a test shot first to check a) what is was shot, and b) how good he was in low light etc.... He shoots in full res raw images.... not tif or jpeg as some do to save space iygwim!!

Like anything, it's all down to personal preference!! And, the end result..... in the flesh.... ?

Hello, We've really managed to get an affordable deal. At the end of the day, we wanted photos of our wedding, a disc, full day coverage and a few prints, not necessarily in an album. We have the following: 8 Hours coverage 20 9 x 6 Prints CD of Hi-Resolution Images (Minimum 100) For £480. Now, some may say you get what you pay for etc, but we're on a very strict budget. We can't afford £1000+ and also, sometimes paying more doesn't always been you'll get a better service. A friend of ours offered to do our photos for 'mates rates' which worked out significantly more!! At the end of the day, you do what you feel is comfortable and suits your requirements. Alipops x

Cool

I'll correct something though so that no readers of this thread go off and ask their togs the wrong question.

Cameras shoot in Raw and/or Jpeg. No cameras shoot in Tiff. (Edit, this is incorrect).

Jpeg is a compressed file but providing it isn't saved over and over again it is a very high resolution, same resolution (Pixel wise) as a Raw file.

Raw is essentially a negative, as the name suggests, totally raw and the best format to shoot in. Personally every tog should shoot in this format but many of the greats don't. If you screw up an exposure it's easier to fix in Raw.

Tiff is a lossless file that is perfect to edit. I shoot in Raw to one card, convert the Raws to Tiffs for editing and then convert to Jpeg for delivery as this is a lossless way to deliver images.

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The Olympus E1 shoots in raw, tiff and jpeg..... you can select which option in the main shooting menu. And for editing we use a mac and editiing suite which is directly compatible with all picture formats.....

Although our TOG is using a Nikon.... personal preference lol.... ?

Well there goes me thinking that wasn't the case. I've been using Canon far too long.

We wanted a TOG, whose work in their portfolio we loved firstly! This included a TOG who can produce great 'posed formal' photographs as well as the candid reportage images

Secondly, we wanted them to start at the bridal prep and finish an hour or so into our evening reception so they can capture our first dance and some shots of the evening guests/the party in full swing, dancing etc

We wanted a CD with all the images edited and provided in full res to make copies of whenever and wherever we want!

We also fancied a DVD 'slideshow' of some of our favourite images set to our wedding music.

For all this our TOG is charging us £995 for her services and will also have an assistant TOG on the day too (2 for the price of 1)

As a special offer we also get an 'engagement' shoot at a location of our choice, again with all the images edited in full res on a CD to make copies ourselves as well as having some of the images put into a guest book for our wedding day thrown in free!

We also would like an album and canvas too and these come from GraphiStudio and we only pay Graphi's prices for them, out TOG doesn't add on any costs!

I think that's everything lol! Our photography was very important to us!

I wanted my pictures to be a little bit arty and different...but then we met our TOG at a wedding fayre and he was really nice. He came to our house and brought a lot of beautiful albums with him. For me, my favourite pics in wedding albums tend to be the ones of the Bride getting ready so it was really important for my TOG to capture this but it was coming up quite expensive with some to have all day coverage. Our guy is lovely and for less than £800 we are getting:

all day coverage from getting ready to after 1st dance, cake cutting etc.

all images from the day on dvd

1 x photo album and any additional ones produced at cost (eg small ones for parents etc)

1 x dvd slide show set to music

Projected slideshow at the reception (of photos of the ceremony so evening guests get to see and we are also going to project some images of grandparents etc who are no longer with us)

we also get a pre-wedding shoot to get used to him photographing us.

I also really wanted a photo booth but this isn't a service my TOG provides, we are making our own though

1. All day coverage
2. two photographers
3. disc of pictures with copyright
4. lush photos
5. less than £500

and I got it all !! ?

http://www.weshootweddings.co.uk/price

I think a must the images in high resolution on a dvd so that you have then to print from in the future and you have more control, just be careful of those who give a limit, i.e 50 images, 100 images on a dvd as this will mean that if you want more images you will have to pay more.

Then its just down to how long you want them there for. prep to meal, prep to first dance, ceremony only etc....

album wise unless you get a fantastic deal leave this until after the wedding as this will give you more time to choose what you want and it will be less stressful.

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We are pretty different to the norm- I knew (before we were even engaged!) that I wanted a modern take on a matted, leather bound album. When he popped the question I started doing more research on albums and decided that I had to have a Queensberry in my life, I want our album to be an heirloom, and not to age in the same way that I worry storybooks might, plus I love photographs and am very tactile so wanted something that screamed 'touch me/open me/look at me'. Anyway, I then started looking at photographers who sold Queensberry albums who were relatively local to us. After meeting a couple (and I could only find a couple!) we both loved Blue Sky Photography. Our package isn't cheap (£2500) but we get two award winning, professional photographers with us from prep through to the first few dances of the evening celebrations, online album for everyone to view and our Queensberry very exciting!

We decided early on that photography and our album was our main priority wedding budget wise, we aren't having a video as both of us find them cringeworthy and would never watch one!

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Amazing albums aren't they - we decided to use Queensberry as our high end album after comparing several of the traditional matted album suppliers at an exhibition. They are pricey and won't suit all budgets but if you can stretch to one it's definitely worth it, and there's also an option for a half matted half digital print album too. Considering they're in New Zealand the customer support is superb too, our contact works a night shift which suits our office hours and delivery through DHL only takes a couple of days! ?

Back to the original question, we often tell people there are three important points to consider when choosing your photographer, firstly that you like the style of their work, secondly that they're within your budget, and thirdly that you get on well with them - after all your photographer will be with you on one of the most special days of your life!

Ali x

Also, the first few months of the year are considered the silly season for taking bookings and it's scary to see how many have left it so late to book for 2012.

July the 21st this year could of been booked 4 times over in the last few weeks.

Whoever you decide to meet, decide to book relatively quickly as most togs, myself included will take the booking from whoever puts the deposit down first. (You only need one person to mess you about to lose £1000).

The most important thing to me is the quality of work. I wanted someone very capable who I trust to deliver wonderful and stunning photos to me afterwards.

Without that there in the first place then it really don't matter what package you have, if the photographer is delivering you photos afterwards that look like they could have been taken by anyone or worse.

You'll find when looking around that there are a lot of amateurs masquerading as a wedding photographers.

I've got the photographer there till the first dance, because I want as many memories as possible, and I'm paying around a thousand with a handmade storybook album and the disc.

I am with Chris, being a Canon digital user, although I don't enter in to the camera wars that some togs do (I still have Nikon film cameras!!!)

Peter

Thanks for all the advice, at least i know now i need to make sure pics are full resolution. Im after them on disc, i know thats one thing. Not too sure on album now, as you say can sort that after or do my own x

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Do ensure that you back up/copy your discs every couple of years. The longevity of discs is always questionable.

I would suggest making copies on the another disk, a flash drive and consider online storeage. The images are too important to "lose".

Peter