Cheap wedding photography ideas

May not help but we have decided not to bother. I personally hate all that posing stuff, all that "right, can I have just the brides family" etc. I think I would find it uncomfortable and I don't think the photos would turn out well at all, and also, its boring for guests who aren't involved.

So, we have said on our wedding website "We have decided not to employ a professional photographer for our wedding, and will not be having any of those huge group shots, as we feel thats not really us (and to be honest, its quite boring for the guests). We prefer to have natural photographs, taken by the people we love, capturing the day."

Do you have a college or uni close to you that does photography? There will always be a student there willing to help you out.

We're having our photography free as my friend is a photogrpaher who needs to do some weddings to build up her portfolio. She takes beautiful photos so I have plenty of confidence.

Good luck x

I am getting married next sept as well and am also shocked at the price. I think i will be going for hiring the photographer for a couple of hours,hoping this will make it cheaper.

So many people have good, digital cameras these days I think you can get away without having a photography. If you let people know in advance what you're doing I'm sure they will be more than happy to share their photos with you and you could make up your own album. And what could be more personal than having an album of your lovely day made up of photos taken by all your friends and family.

I've also decided not to have a photographer. I was thinking about having one as I had seen a relatively cheap one as we are having a registry office wedding but due to a bit of a knock to our budget and that we Andy hates having his photograph taken, we are going to rely on the guests attending to take the pictures.

We were planning to have a friend do ours but she's had to pull out because our wedding clashes with her exhibition. We can't afford the professionals' prices and tbh I refuse to pay that much on principal!

Instead, we're asking around our friends because we know quite a very very talented semi-professional or amateur photographers, most of whom have done at least a few weddings in their time. Quote-wise, it's looking between £300 and £600 so far, which is much more manageable than the £1500+ that we've seen among the professionals.

Have you shopped around or negotiated? £1500 for a basic package does seem high.

For £550 we are getting

Two pre wedding visits. The coverage starts at the mother of the bride’s house and finishes at the mock cake cutting. An album that holds forty 5”x 7” prints. A preview / proof book with all the photos of the day. A framed 16”x 12” photograph of your choice. Two post wedding visits. Online viewing of all the wedding photographs. Photograph manipulation and special effects are free.

He had a special show offer so we get the dvd of digital shots that is normally £300 for free.

If you want the personalised, printed books or 'designer' albums, etc etc then yes you will pay a lot more - but if you have the digital shots you can do a lot yourself if you have, or know someone with, basic photoshop skills.

Our guy's top package - £1600 - gives

Two visits prior to your wedding All day and evening coverage A 14” x 10” Storybook that holds 60 various sized photographs arrange in a montage A preview / proof book with all the photos of the day A 16”x 20” stretched frame canvas photograph of your choice. Two post wedding visits. Online viewing of all the wedding photographs. Photograph manipulation and special effects are free.

I agree look around, look away from the high street and your bound to find a good deal, and to keep costs down why not look for a cd only deal that way you have all the images and you can think about an album later down the line either professionally made or something you make yourself.

Thank you!! Yes, I know a few people who have done without, and I do agree I don't want pretentious photos or a long arduous shoot. You really feel you just want the photos to be better than you could manage yourself and make everyone look good!

Going against the grain here but I think that the photos are one of the most important things and I hate having my picture taken

Your photographs are one of the few things that you get to keep for ever

We have found a great Tog who is doing us a cd only package for £595

He will be there for nearly 12 hours and does documentary style photography so no posing for long photo shoots

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have to agree with this one. I wouldnt want you to regret not having professional photos. You can still get a Tog with a relaxed and non staged style, which is what we are going for and his pics are brilliant and we are paying 750 for the whole day, getting ready to last dance if we wish

If you shop around, you can get some good deals, and especially in this market at the moment, a lot of photographers offer a CD only package or similar in order to bring the cost down.

We are using a graduate who is already a photographer(and graphic designer) and now wants to expand her portfolio.. Her photos are stunning so I no she will do wedding photographs justice.. I would suggest contacting your local uni or college as many that are in their last year are wanting to build their portfolio up and will generally do it quite cheaply :-)

I knew i had a link somewhere to a student photography site hope this might help

http://www.studentgems.com/employers.asp

hth

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I really wish that wedding photography was this easy as with all the equipment I have invested in, I would earn a fortune.....

Sadly(or fortunately for the pros) the reality is that the equipment you own is no substitute for experience. It cannot know when something important is about to happen or compensate for exposure distraction issues. It cannot deal with the issues that will occur on a wedding day that most people don't foresee that a pro can help fix without the client even realising.

People say that wedding photography is expensive. I would point out thought hat so many so called designer wedding dresses are in reality batch produced in massive quantities and overpriced far more than the photography by comparison where the photographers at least deliver a unique coverage of your day that no one else has(unlike 99% of sold dresses)

OK...I am also a realist and truly appreciate that people do have budgets and don't want to give themselves long term financial issues. There are photographers that are more price friendly.....do check these out.

Bottom line is that a good camera does not automatically make the owner a good photographer. This is a very very important day, please do think any decisions through carefully. I have lost count of the amount of people who have regretted not having "proper" photography on their day in hindsight........very few have said it was a great decision.....

Not all togs are expensive...do look around...they may be better priced than you think......

Peter

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Remember too that it's not just "turning up for a few hours on the day and snapping some shots".

There's the preparations - they might need to visit the venue beforehand to get an idea of light levels, good places to get certain pictures, how group shots might fit better there than there, plus visits to you (all of which need to be costed in), then the "post production" work of perhaps trimming, editing and picking the best shots for the album - if someone takes 300 shots and it takes one minute to look at and check each one, there's 5 hours of work straight away.

Plus you have to cover the cost of attending wedding fairs, advertising and maintaining their website in order to get the business in the first place, and I think a lot of people would realise that "omg £1000 just to take some pictures?" isn't necessarily that unreasonable after all for a professional (who has also spent years learning how to do what they do well, plus maintaining the standards to keep listed in the professional organisations).

Much, much more than Uncle Ted and his new digital camera (never mind he forgot to take the lens cap off).

Must say I agree Peter - good photography is not easy, and the equipment is expensive.

I do understand that people have budgets for their wedding as do I - but I don't think saying that photgraphers are over priced is fair. Especially with the amount of work that goes into it.

I think if you shop around you could maybe get a deal where you get a disc of images? Some hitchers have proffesional photgraphers with good prices. I know the guy I am using starts at £400 for a disc only package up to £1900.

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Sorry, but I need to disagree with you there very strongly Kristy. I've had two friends get married in this country and both used 'Semi-professional' photographers, who supposedly had all the latest gear. Their photos are so awful they were both in tears.

I know you could give me the best digital camera and I know that you would only get normal results at best.

You do need to get an experienced professional, if you want professional results.

Really interesting post and comments...

I understand that to some people Photographs aren't that important or feel that they don't wish to invest in a photographer, thats absolutely fine.

However, I've had to invest over £5,000 in equipment that allows me to shoot in dark churches when the Vicar has said in no-uncertain terms "NO FLASH" or "STAND AT THE BACK AND DON'T MOVE!" Every now and again a family member with "a nice camera" attempts to take the same shots as I take, this is often followed by "How the heck do you cope?!".

If you're booking a bright Registry Office or out-door Wedding then ace, your family member should do ok for you, otherwise, please search for the cheapest photographer you can find with a portfolio that is up to your standards.

This post isn't meant to sound like I'm backing photographers, I've seen many that are hugely over priced, but please think very long and hard about your choice...

I agree with Peter and the other professional togs!

My dad, who is literally the tightest person ever, had his TOG come and do an hour slot, he then paid to buy the pics and has always regretted it - so much as that a) His new wife and him are getting re-married to have the professional shots and b) He is paying what he would consider "a bloomin' fortune" for mine (remember he is v.tight) because it means so much to him that mine are better than his.

I agree, savings can be made - think about having the TOG for say 1 hour, with the prep, sorting the images etc your looking at say 10-15 hours work for a basic package (HIBs will have to confirm that) - thats 2 days work and assumably a lot longer for an album package, for a professional person. That doesnt work out at a lot per hour - and think of the kinda money you pay accountants, solicitors (other professional) per hour - over £150+

My togs did a 4 hr package, and also let us swap half an hour for 100 prints which we're sending out to guests as a thank you for coming (although obvs we could have made up a mini album with them). That cost £500, and meant we got in a bit of prep for us both, the service, photos after, fake cake cutting - everything but the first dance.

TTBH, we did have some lovely photos from people that they took on the day, but a lot of that is from the posing the professionals had made us do - I'm so pleased we had a professional tog.

Having a good photographer is one of the most important things to me on our wedding, however our budget isn't unlimited so I'm currently trying to find the best deal I can for the maximum we can afford.

I would hate to look back after the wedding and not have any good photographs, especially when the day will whizz by and probably miss some parts. I don't like posing photos either but we are going for a mixture so that we do get important ones but also a lot of candid ones too.

The photographer we're currently leaning towards will be there from preparations until the evening and when we said we'd love some photos taken at sunset, he said that would be no problem to stay till then. He's quoting £950 including an album and a dvd of all the images he takes.

I think there are levels of photographer deals available for whatever your budget, although obviously this is just my view ?

x

I'd suggest asking around locally to see if they recommend anyone. The TOG we have got in from the next village and he has knocked £200 off his already reasonable price. He doesnt charge as high as he doesnt advertise and relies on word of mouth. x

100% agree with Peter and the others here. You often won't see the results for a few weeks (at least) and if the TOG has done a bad job, then you'd want to know then and there (which is impossible)

The prices initially sound high, but the expertise and work involved go far beyond 7 or 8hrs of work on the day. Most of these businesses have many years of experience and are very good at what they do.

It is possible to get a fairly "ok" camera for not much money and with a few accesories portrary the image that it's easy. There is the artistic aspect, and also people management - something much harder than the technicalities of setting exposure and focus.

I have seen some shockingly bad Wedding Photos (not from any Hitched supplier), and with any service, the quality varies wildly when you are on a tight budget.

There are nationwide franchises set-up where you can pay £xK and with no experience, you'll be able to set-up a wedding photography business. So, even at the lower cost end of the market, you need to see a range of photos from that photographer and give them a bit of a grilling.

If there is a possibility of using a Student, then try to get them to provide an Engagement shoot.
The Student idea is a good one, as they will be used to providing work for assignments - so a range of subjects (not just subjects they like to shoot). Just don't ask for a 1st year Student!

From this, you'll be able to see if they are able to provide what you are looking for - and also break the ice, so its a little bit more relaxed on the day.

It also shows they are commited to the Wedding, and won't be hitting the student bar the night before! ?

Hiya,

Do you mind me asking who it was? Would you recommend them?

I think i'm extremily lucky that my friend and her photographer friend are doing all of my photography, from ceremony, to the end of the night, they refuse to accept any money, as they say it is our wedding present. Although i think presents will be briliant for them.

They are also making an album, putting all the pics onto cd for us all for free, so i'm extremily lucky .

Our Tog is a friend of a friend, but he's not a actually a wedding photographer- he specialises in cage fighting!!

I really love his style though, and we are a pretty unconventional couple so we dont want big group shots, instead we are opting for small groups instead. He ctaptures the dancefloor brilliantly, so thats what i'm looking forward to when I get my album.

And he is only charging us £250 for a cd package, wiIth touch ups and all that.

I couldn't not have a tog, my mum and dad dont have a wedding album and as a little girl i was always gutted about it.

We didn't have a professional wedding photographer at our wedding and it is my biggest regret of the day. Well, in fact we had a relative do our photos, who is a professional photographer but who had never done a wedding before and the pictures didn't turn out very well. I am gutted that we don't have wonderful pictures I can look back on, and I now think that the prices they charge are not unreasonable. If you think how much you spend on the dress you will only wear once, why not spend at least that on the photos, which will last a lifetime and will probably be kept in your family for generations? In terms of how to save money, given my time again I would get a CD-only package and print the pictures at Jessops.

Our original tog wnted £575 +vat but couldnt afford it so cacelled him - found another tog who is ust doing the cd only and charging us £300- the original tog is doing OH's brother wedding on sat and i told the tog we had postponed ours so i could get out out of the booking- uh-oh-so i will be dodging him all day ?

If photographs of your day are important to you, then please don't think like this. I understand if this get's people backs up on here, but just think, you're looking forward to seeing pictures of your day and what if they're not perfect. What do you say to your family and friends?!

If photographs of your day aren't that important to you, then family and friends cameras will be fine.

I speacialise in Affordable Wedding Photography and I know there are plenty of us out there. If you can't afford £500, why not ask for donations as part of your Wedding Presents? In 30 years time, do you want to look back on your big day with disapointment or have all the little details flood back?

We cut corners by going for a cheaper tog when we got married & we do not have ANY really nice pics from the day. Infact the best pics were from our guests.

If I had my time again, I would deffo keep a big part of the budget for a tog. Your pics are one of the only lasting memories of your special day

Debbie

x

Look at getting students in the field to do it?! depending on where you are in the country - I may be able to recommend someone for you. x

Hi there. It's worth you shopping around, there are a lot more of bargains to be had these day. I don't know where you are based but if that helps I am in Hertfordshire but do travel and have 10% off all my wedding packages at the moment. My prices start at £650 and you get all your photos high res on a CD so you can make your own reprints. I am in the hitched suppliers' listing directory. Good luck Evelyne x www.epwphotography.co.uk