Photographer Cost

Fab thank you. I will take a look :-)

Looking at photogrpahers really gave me a headache, all the different prices and options etc! And we dont particularly have a huge budget either!

I think you need to start with the things that you actually want from your photographer/the resulting photos and then go from there. Some photographers can be flexible and able to reduce their costs in line with what you are after.

I knew from the start that I wanted a photographer from the prep to some of the evening as we have guests coming at different parts of the day. I also knew that I definitely wanted an album - as lovely as it is to have 1,000 pictures on a disk I also want to be able to turn the pages of an album! We went to a wedding fayre yesterday and found a lovely husband and wife team who quoted us £1,300 for all day, which includes 2 photographers (themselves) plus the potential for one more, 3 DVDS with all of the photos on (2 to give to parents) and an album of our choice with approx 60 photos amongst other things. Other people were quoting us £1,800 - £2,000+ for the same thing or less.

I would recommend attending a wedding fayre where there are a variety of different people to physically talk to and give you advice. It's also easier to get prices and compare quotes this way too I think.

Good luck!!

This pretty much sums it up. ?

I've never been to a wedding fayre, but B&G's have told me photographers tend to be quite pushy and often use time pressured selling techniques. i.e. "I'll give you a 25% discount if you sign up now".

Can't hurt to have a look around I guess, but probably easier to take to google first to get an idea of what 'style' you like first.

I have to go against my colleagues on this one. Price is no guarantee of quality. It may be a guideline, although not factually based or take in to account different photographers business models.

I have seen many relatively new photographers to the industry see "the going rate" and pitch their prices up there far too early. Likewise, there are some photographers who's style hasn't evolved, yet they still charge based on the time they have been shooting weddings. The best guide IMHO, is to meet up with your potential photographer and see actual print and photography quality. This way couples can assess the quality of the images and if the photographer shoots in the style they are after.

I show couples prints that are 12"x8"so they can see the true quality they will receive and not some image off the website.

Peter

I have to agree completely. I was very obsessive when I got engaged with organising a photographer. I looked through Google, local magazines, got recommendations and attended wedding fayres to compare. The photographer for me was my biggest priority and for that reason I had no set budget.

My fiancé and I decided on what we wanted which was all day coverage and we prefer the more natural shots and less posed photos. We want a story book wedding album. We did some research on the Internet beforehand and what to look at and questions to ask and met with our 5 top photographers.

The important thing I noticed when meeting them all was they all said relatively the same thing. The price varied from £600 to £2000. The answers we got were relatively the same and looking through the albums there was not that much difference in my opinion.

I based my decision on how I felt when meeting them, my impression of them. The photographer is the only person from the wedding event that is with you for the whole day if you choose all day coverage and I think feeling comfortable is so important. One photographer we met was so friendly, put me at ease and made my fiancé and I feel like we had known him for ages. This immediately had a good impression on me and As I will be getting ready whilst this person takes photo's of me anything that makes me feel less stressed is incredibly important. We booked him straight away!

His package is £900 for all day coverage including images on a USB stick fully edited. He will take around 600 photos on the day but will edit and cut them down to around 300-400 as he explained he will take multiple pictures of the same thing to get the best shot. It also includes a wedding album but we will be paying £300-£500 more for an upgraded album that we fell in love with.

He is a professional photographer who has been in the business for 25 years so has lots of experience. He has photographed many many weddings and has won awards and been on the TV and in magazines for his photography. He was incredibly passionate about his work and came across so professionally.

His price is probably on the lower end of what we were expecting to pay but that does not mean we are compromising on quality as his work is amazing. The higher the price doesn't always mean the better the work or photographer. Sometimes I think the most important decision of all is your gut instinct and how you feel about the person as well as the professional side.

Good luck with your search ?