Can't afford a photographer- Advice?

Try approaching local colleges to see if they have any photography students who want to build their portfolio and may do it for a small fee to cove editing etc. Or post on local social sites to see if anyone out there offering free shoot, there are lots of people getting started in the industry who sometimes will come along for free to get exposure. Hope you can find something

Hey Steve,
You could contact your local college or university to see if any of the photography students are willing to do it for free to gain exposure.

Also maybe pop a post in your local wedding Facebook group, to see if there’s any newish photographers looking to do it for low cost. I’d just bare in mind, you may want to look to cover their essential costs, such as fuel, food etc., and they also have their own bills to pay so you may have to put some money towards their time, especially if you’re expecting the photos to be edited.
The other idea, is if you encourage people to bring what cameras they have (you never know you may have some with more professional setups that just their phone) then everyone share all their pictures in a private online album with you after and you can choose the best of the bunch. This is the riskiest, but it is low cost, someone in your wedding party may love taking photos and be happy to help you out!
Best of luck, but hopefully you find something that works for you

If you really can't afford a photographer, then I agree the best options are either to see if someone who is wanting to start out in the business would offer free cover to build their portfolio or ask keen amateur photographer friends to share their photos.

To be honest, you'll probably get as good results that way as you would from the cheaper end of the 'professional' market. I'm no way professional - I just like taking photos and try to make them as good as possible - but before now, I've been asked for copies of my own photos because they've ended up better than the ones the couple received from their 'super cheap' official photographer! And only this week, I've seen some photos shared on Facebook that were taken by a 'wedding photographer with 15 years experience' that are frankly awful and way worse than anything I'd take - the couple themselves think the pictures are wonderful, which is all that matters, but they paid £500 to get a bunch of blurry, whited out or red-eyed shots!!!

I think it's one area where if you can't pay a reasonable amount, then you're better off not paying anything at all, because you really do get what you pay for.

Completely agree with the other answers, but just wanted to add, that if you have any friends who are keen amateur photographers, you could reach out and ask if they'd BE your photographer as their wedding gift to you. My FH was similarly asked to be a friend's photographer and it worked really well - he was honoured, his photos were fab, and they got them all for free!

Anyway, whatever route you go down, I really hope you get some wonderful photos of your special day