You Need A Photographer

I am currently working on a complete mixed bag of weddings, and some of these couple have told me that they are forgoing a wedding photographer as their budget just won’t stretch.

Often being told ‘we are letting our guests take the pictures’ or ‘our friend has a good camera, so they are going to do it for us’……at this point I put my head in my hands and scream NOOOOOO

Now I may have covered some of these points in a former wedding discussion, BUT I feel very strongly about this and having recently worked with a couple who told me just this I feel I need to share my experience with you.

This is what I told them when they said they were trying to keep cost down by not hiring a wedding photographer and getting their guest to just take pictures

Point 1. Your guests are there to watch you get married, not take pictures, yes they will take the odd picture here and there, and some of them may be good, but are they going to be standing in front of you while you are saying your vows in the registry office…no they will only get the back of your head.

Point 2. Using your guest pictures mean that there will be no continuity in Pictures, lots of different cameras means lots of different styles

Point 3. Group shots won’t work as your friends won’t be in the pictures.

Point 4. Friends get bored of tacking pictures after a while and that is when the key elements can be lost, for example as traditional as it is how would you feel if you didn’t get a shot of you cutting the cake or the Kiss

Point 5. Do your guests have a backup plan if the camera brakes or the memory card gets deleted?

Point 6. Do they have insurance?

Point 7. Will they get all those little detailed shots that captured your months of hard work, table decorations, seating plans etc. can all get lost

Point 8. This is your wedding, THE most important day of your life, do you really want to leave your memories in the hands of a few drunken guests?

So with those points made, (a little more subtly than that I have to say) my couple then agreed with me and said that they really did need a wedding photographer……..BUT how do they get over the issue of budget??

I had 7-8 solid ways as a professional photographers and offer my couple the wedding photography they wanted……….but how?
Here are the key elements to look for:

1) Less hours – yes it’s great to have a photographer there all day from your getting ready to the first dance, but if you can’t afford this then how about getting coverage for just 3-4 hours? 

This means that at least you get good professional photographs for the key and most important elements of the day, the ceremony, the first kiss, the reception, a few group shots and the toasts. In an ideal world yes you want someone where all day, but at least this way you get the main bits covered.

2) Disc only – a big part of the expense in some of the photography packages is the album, so how about you forget about this for now and ask if your chosen photographer will do a disc only option (maybe you can use your wedding present money to buy an album later on?) this way you still get the key shots to print out and put in frames around the house.

So I hope that has helped? And for those photographers out there that may be reading this, by no means am I suggesting that all couples do this, these ideas are there for people who really can’t afford a professional.

 In an ideal world everyone will have to photographer of their choice, have a lovely engagement shoot with them, build up a great relationship with them before the wedding, and then come away with gorgeous photography and a gorgeous wedding album…………BUT if you really can’t afford the full package their other options out there for you to try.

But PLEASE, PLEASE PLEASE do not get your friends to take your pictures for you, I have heard too many people say after their weddings that this is what they did and totally regretted it.

Remember you only get married once, and you want those memories to stay with you forever…..your wedding photography is going to be your memory, so make sure you get some good ones!