To use friends or professionals?

redjellybean128

Hi all, 

Was hoping that you might be able to help me out.  We are getting married next year and my FI is big into photography as a hobby. Because of this, he has a couple of friends that are into photography as well. Both shoot well and have had some amazing shots (of objects, friends and family etc...). And they have all the professional equipment and lenses as well. FI wants to hire his friends as a way to save and lower costs, but his friends, as talented as they are, have ZERO wedding experience. I'm concerned because we are having a traditional church ceremony and because they lack the wedding experience, I'm not sure how they will handle church protocol and not being distracting during the ceremony as well as just not having the experience for getting the most important shots. 

We met with professionals this past weekend, we both liked the photographers and they were aligned with what I was expecting professionals to cost for the time and type of pictures we want.

I guess what I'm asking is are any of you/have any of you trusted (trusting) friends to take your wedding photos and am I being unreasonable by pushing using professionals?

rshatto1980

I dont underatand Brides.Pictures are the only thing you will have to remember your day.. why cheap out and let your friends do it? They wont have equipment to take pictures in low light.  Brides have no problem spending thousands on a dress they wear once  but when it comes to photography that last forever they want to go cheap.. I picked the best photograpger I could find because I wanted to remember my day.

StephBeanWed61502

Grayce, it's fine to give your opinion, but quit identifying yourself as a vendor.  That part is against the rules.  Also, asking for PMs is basically you soliciting business, which is also not cool.

OP, I would not trust my friends with a job this important, nor would I want to impose on them by asking them to take on such a huge responsibility.  Your friends are going to want to party and have a good time, and they're either going to (a) feel like they can't party because they're going to be worried about getting good pictures for you; or (b) decide to party anyway, and then you probably won't get as good or as many pictures as you were hoping for.  Find room in your budget for a professional.