Choices for photographers

racergirl21

I mentioned I would post about my interviews with Amanda Williams and with Town Square Photo. I had heard Amanda was very nice and she was great. She has nice work, great prices and clearly enjoys what she does. There were a few things about some of her work I wasn't real fond of but I can't say they were bad. Just missing something I was looking for or maybe not exactly my style or the effects I was looking for. But overall she is one I would consider having photograph my wedding.
I had also heard good things about Town Square Photo. I was really impressed with their work also and how organized they seem to be. They are a husband and wife owners but I have the option of having just Jeff photograph my wedding at a lower price or Jeff and Alicia together.
They have an approach that is called digital bundling which gives me the option of buying any number of digital images between 1 and all available photos. Jeff said they started doing this because after contacting many of their past clients asking how often they used their digital DVD's to make prints that a large number of their clients never used the DVD for prints. Mainly because they were happy having the albums they design.
It was an interesting approach I have never heard of and saves a lot of money.
I could get Jeff and Alicia as my photographer with a nice large album, engagement session, and slideshow for less than Amanda.
So I really have to consider if I want or need all the images from my wedding on a disk or would I be happy just picking out my favorites and purchasing those and saving a lot of money in the long run. Maybe saving as much as $500.
I am kind of leaning in that direction. I mean why pay for 1000 images if I don't have the need for them. Jeff said they keep the images indefinitely so it's not like I can't change my mind. Another strong point was that after 3 years Town Square will lower the price if I were to make the choice to buy all the images.
A lot to think about here.

zantster

Full disclosure, Me and FI went with Amanda so I'm trying to make sure I'm not too biased.  Just two things you might want to consider:

Are they both available on your wedding date?

How important is it for you to own your photos?

Because the difference in prices you're getting may also be partially attributed to the fact that with Amanda once you're done with her you own your photos, negatives and everything else.  You don't have to come back and purchase things later.  If that's what you like then take that into account.  But if you prefer to pay less right now and have someone else keep the negatives with the option of buying them later then go with them.  I always say in every case go with what feels 100% right in your gut and whomever's photos you like the best.  For us Amanda's style fit perfectly.  But for someone else it may not.

The Farmers Daughter

Zantster makes a good point.
Honestly it's hard for me not to be biased because Jeff & Alicia photographed my wedding and were fantastic. They do beautiful work and clearly love what they do. They did not offer the bundling you talk about when I hired them but my sister is engaged and on the knot now and I know she has set up a time to meet with them.
I'll be honest, I look at our album but not as much as I did before giving birth. I look at the slideshow/video Town Square Photo did for me and our enlargements are in our home.
But I have never once made prints or even looked at the DVD/CD of the digital negatives that came with my package. I was so sure this was a big deal to me but guess what? I may never use them.
Knowing that Jeff keeps my wedding archived for many many years would give me peace of mind should photos get lost in a fire or something. Knowing what I know now, I don't think the ownership of the digital negatives is a big deal (even though I thought so before getting married)  but it's nice that you have the either or option with Town Square and can always choose to get the negatives later if you really want them.
Like the pp said, go with the style and approach to your wedding day that suits you.

Meegles4

I don't have experience with either vendor, but I will say that my photographer gave me rights to my photos and we received three CDs. To me, it was worth paying for that.

You may think you don't need all those photos, but it will likely be cheaper to print them or create photo albums yourself as opposed to doing all of that through your photographer. Also, after our wedding, pretty much the last thing I wanted to do was pour over photos and select my favorites (there were so many!). It took me 5+ months to even finalize the wedding album that was included in our package!

So, again, it was nice to just be given the CDs and be able to print things at my leisure. I made a few prints right after the wedding, but then with Christmas approaching, I made even more and also made a few photo books. Having the CDs just gives a lot more freedom as far as WHEN you want to print something and probably allows you to do it more cheaply.

ETA: I'll also say that I don't sit around all day and gaze at my photos and we only have a few around the house. Again, it's the freedom of knowing I have everything should I ever need it and not needing to return to my photographer once our business relationship is over and possibly give her more money down the road.

tonyadombrowski

Im using Amanda Williams and I could not be more excited!!! Her work is amazing and the fact that you can get an appt with her says alot!!

racergirl21

Thank you for the input.
I will say this about Town Square Photo. One thing is that I can get the CD of all photos in a package with an album for about $120 more than Amanda but it includes 2 photographers which I really like. So it's not that they don't offer it but I like that they have a lower priced option. Especially in this economy. I really love their creativity and they seem to have more knowledge than any I have spoken with.  As for prints I have seen the walmart and shutterfly etc, both Town square Photo and Amanda seem to have a higher quality print than the discount places offer. I am not opposed to paying for higher quality but what I do not want to do is spend an extra $100 or more so I can save $50 on prints a year from now or like farmers girl said maybe never. Plus I am just not a big fan of discount stores. As for the albums, Town Square seems to have more options but both photographers have nicer albums that what I have seen available to the general public and I do want a nice higher quality album. I guess I am leaning towards Town Square Photo but will still think over it a little longer.
Thanks to any that give their opinions on this.

entropicbeauty

I agree with meegles 100%, though I will admit I'm biased because I'm a designer - I want the ability to make my own albums and tweak the photos in their high res format as much as I want.

And it is cheaper to do yourself. There are so many great web sites out there that you can make photo albums on, and they are of very good quality. 

Meegles4

I didn't get any prints from my photographer so I can't compare, but I'm extremely pleased with the quality I received at Snapfish. The prints are great. While I'm sure my album from the photographer will be better than the Snapfish album I created for my parents, I was fine with that discrepancy in quality compared to how much it was going to cost to do additional parent albums through my photog.

It sounds like you really like Town Square, so I'd go with them. I agree with you on wanting a nice album for you and your H. Our photog included that, but we only get one while some photogs offer parent albums. As I said, I was fine with just creating parent albums through another means, but I'm glad H and I received a "nice" one, so if that's included in their package it's a plus.

I would probably spend the $120 to get full rights and the album, again for the flexibility. I don't think that's a bad price, especially considering how many photos you're likely to get.

The Farmers Daughter

When it comes to designing the album Town square Photo designed my album for me within about 4 or 5 weeks of our wedding. Then I got to make any changes I wanted and rearrange for design or anything else I wanted. Amazingly there were only about 10 -15 photos out of 150 in the album I wanted changed. A few other backgrounds also. they made it very simple. So if you need to you should check to see if Jeff and Alicia will make the choices for you. It gets things rolling and makes it much easier than trying to make all the choices yourself starting from 0.

MMRoberts11

I agree with Meegles. 

For me, it was important to own my pictures and be able to do whatever I want with them.  It's part of the reason I chose the photographer I did; he works to take pictures, not make a profit on printing them.

Though I don't look at the disc of images on a regular basis, it's nice to have.  Whenever people want pictures or I want to design something with them, I can print at my will.  For example, to design albums I simply did it on my computer.  No meetings to set up, no pictures to look at for hours on end, no finalization until I was ready.  Trust me, at 3am it's great to sit down and design stuff because I want to but I prefer that freedom over having someone basically babysit me while I did the process or just give input and have them come up with the ultimate design.

Also, their are other places to get pictures printed.  Walgreen/CVS/etc are definitely not places I'd recommend for wedding picture printing.  Heck, I don't even get every day pictures printed there.  I much prefer the professional labs in that regard but even still it's cheaper than most photographers would charge to print.

McAllie

It appears that your decision is whether to purchase the disk of photos in advance or or after the wedding if you decide you want to do that.
If the cost to purchase isn't any higher to buy the disk after the wedding it would make sense to wait until afterwards when you have come to a conclusion if you need a CD of photos. You also mentioned that they keep them and sell them for less money after time. That's a nice option.  Sounds like the best of both worlds. Town Square Photo photographed my wedding in the Detroit, MI area and I was extremely happy with them. I feel I got the best value available.  
The bundling must be a new offer because it was not available when I signed with them. I probably would have gone with the disk just because I could afford it but I can see it would be a nice way to get a top photographer and save some money. Or like you say, why spend money you don't need to spend for something you may not use.
I am not a crafty/artsy person. So as for designing the album myself I am not the kind of person that has the time for that and even if I did have the time I would prefer to trust that to someone that makes a living at it. Looking at the album online is easy and Alicia makes it a very simple process.
As for buying prints I do have a disk but I am assuming they will provide you with an online gallery for viewing where your family or friends can buy prints. My gallery is priced very reasonable. About $4-5 for 5x7 and $7-8 for 8x10 prints. Not sure of the others sizes but my parents were very happy with the quality and price so it's not like they are trying to make big profits from prints. I have a friend that used Jeff and Alicia about 7 or 8 years ago so I had my eye on them for some time before I hired them.
They are always changing and evolving to stay fresh and offer the most bang for the buck so to speak. They have had an amazing history and influence on the business in a relatively short period of time. 

Little Barbarella

This post is kind of analytical so read at your own risk.
There seems to be a difference of opinion on how important it is to have a disk with all the photos vs. a disk with a few photos or none at all. Well for myself I don't know which is more important but I have a few things that might help some people here make a decision that will benefit them.
I stated the following in another post then did a little checking around.
"I was looking through photos with friend of mine after her wedding and there were photos from the reception of many people her parents had invited. She barely knew them but ended up paying to have the digital images of people she didn't even know. Paying less and getting what I really want seems like a no-brainer"
I checked with ladies where I worked and 3 other friends that have been married in the last 5 or 6 years. All of them have been married more than 2 years and I think that's important.
Here are answers I got from 7 different people who have disks with their photos that have now been married for awhile.
2 of them did get prints shortly after they were married. None of them did their own albums because they didn't want to because they were working and/or going to school and had other activities as well. That and they wanted professional albums. The ones that did have prints made used about 15 - 25 photos out of all the photos they had which for all of them was anywhere from 300 - 1000.
So if one had 20 - 8x10 prints developed online at a good quality printer they would spend at least $90 after shipping etc. Using a photographer they could spend an enormous amount if the photographer charges a lot but I have seen enough to know that I could buy 20 - 8x10's for about $240. $150 more. If they bought those 20 images so they could make prints I don't know the cost but I am guessing $200. If I do this instead of paying an extra $500 - $600 for having all the pictures on a disk I still save enough money for a nice car payment.
So I figured all that out to say what these ladies basically said which is
after the wedding and for the first 6 months to a year they were excited about the wedding, getting married, and kind of going through the wedding planning withdrawals so having the disk of photos seemed great. But now that they have been married for some time, finished school, got new or changed jobs, bought a home, some have had babies, having the disk of photos is no big deal. All 7 said they could do without but liked the idea at the time. 3 of them don't even know where the disk is. One mentioned
"if my house burned down I would still lose the photos forever unless I keep it in a safety deposit box. Like everyone pays to have a safety deposit box."
All 7 liked the idea of buying just a limited number of photos on a disk and saving $$ and said it's something they would consider if they did it over again.
So if I am making a lot of prints and doing my own albums then I can see the advantage. Not "if I want to or maybe some day" because it seems that if I don't do it right away (within a year or 2) I may never do it. Because life will always have something more important.  But if I know for sure I will use the disk then I can understand buying it.
Personally, I doubt I will use it. Time doesn't allow for it and having kids, buying a home etc are all things that will be far more important. 
This photographer is at least offering you different options and trying to pass on some savings. Not a bad idea. 

sopraffina

You said that you liked the style of Town Square better. I'd base my decision on that, not the disk. I looked at both photographers' websites and their styles are completely different. To me, really excellent editing is as important as the photographer's style. I love Amanda Williams' style and actually tried to plan my wedding around her schedule, but she was already mostly booked for 2013 at the time. If Town Square is your thing, go with them.

Whomever you choose, back up your photos online using a service like Carbonite. You don't need a safety deposit box for that. And I definitely wouldn't choose a photographer based on their ability to store my photos.

racergirl21

I would like to thank everyone for their input and advice. Choosing a photographer has proven to be more difficult than I imagined. I know I said I was leaning towards Town Square Photo but don't recall saying exactly that I liked their style better. I like both styles actually which is why I asked for people's thoughts on this. But there were some things about Town Square Photo I liked better. When I look through Town Square's albums up close I see a more timeless look to the photography. Jeff has some incredible special effects and editing techniques. I saw some great software editing in their studio but I think his ability with the camera is what impresses me the most.
Combine that with the fact that I can get 2 photographers and choose to have all the photos on a disk for a little over $100 more than AW or I can pick and choose and save even more money, I am choosing to have Town Square Photo for my wedding.
Thank you again. Best to all in your planning.

Sweet Lorraine

Feels good doesn't it?  I will say this, not only is it important that your photographer keeps your originals stored but absolutely crucial. Edits should never be done off originals. I have learned this the hard way.

farmersdaughtertoo

Like my sister mentioned she went with Town Square Photo and I have to admit they were very good. They really keep things moving. I'm sure you will be very happy with your decision. But I have promised my future in-laws that I would meet with someone they know that does wedding photography. Probably not  bad idea because they have offered to pay for the photographer. I did reserve the right to hire whom I please even if we pay for it ourselves.