Wedding Photography and Videography Forum — The Knot Community

How long does it take to get photos back?

callisto11 — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 17:29:16 +0000

I was married over a month ago, small wedding. We splurged on a photographer, it was our greatest expense. One question I failed to ask her was, "how long after the wedding will we be getting our disk?". I just emailed her today and she said she is "busy" - I hate that excuse. If you were too busy to photograph our wedding and finish with a disk, you should not have accepted the job. I would love input on how long others have waited for their pictures.

When hiring a wedding photographer, is it customary for them to travel to meet you?

v1ronco — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 17:27:49 +0000

We're looking at wedding photographers and one that I like's studio is over an hour drive from the main city (we're in Vancouver), which they advertise their services in. We'd like to do a meet and greet before hand to see if we 'gel'.

I would expect that as the client, the vendor would make an effort to come meet us rather than ask us to go meet them in their area. After all, the wedding will be in Vancouver, and in a client-vendor relationship the vendor is supposedly trying to secure the client's business so they should be going the extra mile.

Am I way off here?

In non-wedding scenarios it's always the vendor who accommodates to suit the client's needs, not the other way around. I love their photography but I find it odd that they want us to haul to Maple Ridge and aren't willing to make the effort to meet us in Vancouver, for thousands of dollars of business. It's almost like they're doing us a favour, rather than genuinely wanting our business.

Thoughts? Maybe the wedding world works differently?

Rain Site for Photography in Central or Northern New Jersey in June

jaborzumato90 — Sun, 03 Aug 2014 14:10:16 +0000

My fiance and I are getting married in June and unfortunately we cannot go to our venue, the Westmount Country Club, until a half hour before our wedding begins because there is a bar miztvah before our wedding. Even if it rains we wouldn't be able to go there for pictures and have been searching for indoor locations with no luck. Does anybody have any indoor places they know pictures can be taken. Maybe places in Fairleigh Dickinson campus or Seton Hall or Montclair.

Any help would be much appreciated!

First Look or No?

jm465 — Tue, 29 Jul 2014 15:10:56 +0000

We are trying to figure out whether to do a first look or not... We had originally hoped to Not do a first look, however, there are a lot of problems time-wise that we are running into. Personally, I wouldn't mind doing the first look as time-wise it seems to make the most sense and I would probably feel much more relaxed being able to see him before the ceremony. FI on the otherhand seems completely against the idea still. Our photographer (who is Amazing!) has said if we are not wanting to do a first look we should plan on 1.5-2 hours after the ceremony for family photos, bridal party photos and our private photos. The problem is we don't really feel that a two hour cocktail hour is nice for our guests! (Are we wrong here??) We were hoping to only have a 1 (1.5hr max) hour cocktail hour, as this is what is included in our package.

Both my FI and myself have parents who are split and both sets are remarried and our wedding party is siblings only (my two sisters and brother and his brother and sister), so this also does not allow us to do the majority of family photos before the ceremony. The ceremony and reception are all at the same venue so there isn't any travel time for guests (or us) inbetween the two. We will have a lot of food and drinks during cocktail hour and there will be plenty of indoor and outdoor seating for guests, but I do still feel that 2hours is too long for people to wait.

Thoughts or suggestions?? Has anyone else been in this situation and what did you do? If we somehow manage to fit everything in 1.5 hours is that still too long of a cocktail hour?

Must-Have Photos

skyhigh27 — Tue, 29 Jul 2014 20:58:36 +0000

I have a meeting with our photographer(s) at the end of the week, and they asked that I come up with a list of must-have photos. Now, I am not a fan of the generic jumping or posed photos and love the general style of their photography (kind of an artistic photo journalistic approach), which is the most important element, to me. For those of you that have already gone through the whole process, what were some of the photos you have absolutely loved that were on your must-have shot list? Anything you've absolutely hated? Thanks in advanced!

Bridal Party Photo Question/Feedback

mocarski002 — Mon, 28 Jul 2014 19:16:39 +0000

Hey Everyone,

Just a question or could use your thoughts. We are planning on doing a first look. I know for myself it will calm my nerves and I just love first look photos. But my other thought is that I can also get bridal party photos done at this time soon. Do the first look then photos with the rest of the bridal party. Has any one else done something like this? I’d like to try and spend more time with our guests.

Thanks!

Warning BRIDES!!!!!! Shane Oknewski with formal services!!!!

Kaweckigirl — Thu, 31 Jul 2014 20:01:09 +0000

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.omaha.com%2Fnews%2Fmetro%2Fphotographers-a-no-show-at-weddings-and-then-in-court%2Farticle_f869df1f-3489-5711-ad7c-c8c24c255350.html&h=oAQH-WlEl

They are now doing this in Aurora, CO please brides beware of this scam artist!!!

photo location in january on long island

ppirozzi — Wed, 30 Jul 2014 17:19:00 +0000

please help. since my wedding is in Jan, we're looking for a nice place to take photos inside. somewhere central long island. thx.

How many hours for photographer

cookdt5312014 — Tue, 29 Jul 2014 04:33:57 +0000

we are trying to figure out how many hours to hire a photographer for?

Artsy/Themed bridesmaid photo shoot ideas?

sarahtrg — Tue, 29 Jul 2014 21:55:53 +0000

I've decided that I am going to have my photographer shoot a session with just me and my two bridesmaids (also my sisters). It will probably be shot the week before the wedding or so. We are all artsy people and want to do something really fun. So far we've come up with having an Alice in Wonderland/Mad Hatter tea party, a Marie Antoinette decadence themed shoot and perhaps something related to woodland faeries.

Does anyone have any good ideas? Bonus points if it happens to focus on three "characters" since there are three of us (i.e. the three good faeries from Sleeping Beauty, etc...)

First Look or No?

morgangenuchi — Fri, 25 Jul 2014 03:58:06 +0000

I would really love to go the traditional route and not have a first look before the ceremony, but here are my concerns:

-The ceremony and dinner are one hour apart. I'm not sure if this is enough time for group pictures.

-The ceremony area will be rearranged into the dance area during the cocktail hour/dinner, so there will be little room to actually take pictures.

-The wedding is in December, so there's not much we could do outside. Plus it will get dark out quite early.

Is this something that can be done or not? Could we take some pictures before the ceremony by ourselves, and have our pictures taken after the ceremony? I'm starting to accept the fact that this might be too risky, but I would love input and suggestions. How much time should we allow for photos? If we did all pictures before the wedding, how much time should we allow? Both families are fairly small. Any guidance is greatly appreciated! Thanks!

Hair and makeup for engagement photos?

soontobemrshamilton — Tue, 15 Jul 2014 20:29:48 +0000

Did you or will you be having your hair and/or makeup done for your engagement photos? I think I could do my makeup well enough, but of course not as good as a professional, but my hair is a different story. I am completely hair, handicapped.

Just wanted to see what the majority of people do.

What is a "typical" photography package? What did you do?

RebelleJenn — Thu, 24 Jul 2014 14:02:50 +0000

Hi everyone!

I was just wondering what you typically "get" with photographers. Now I don't have many married friends yet and I'm the first in my family to get hitched, so you'll have to excuse me if I sound totally clueless because, well, I kind of am! Haha.

I am browsing around and see that some offer to give you their thumbdrives. My FI's friend had tons and tons of pictures that her photographers give her - is that something that's included in the package? Or are you expected to print the ones you want off the thumbdrive (&, consequently spend more money printing out hundreds of pictures)?

So basically I'm wondering - is it the norm to get a thumbdrive or do some photographers offer to print X amount of photos for you beforehand? If the latter, how many pictures did they offer to print? Thanks!

Jenn

Videographer owning copyright?

RedStorm — Wed, 23 Jul 2014 15:02:07 +0000

Is it typical for the videographer to retain rights to the video they capture? This is a line in my Terms and Conditions. I would think I own the rights since I'm hiring him to do the service.

Decided on Semi-DIY Video

tabathafaye — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 15:11:28 +0000

My fiance and I booked WeddingMix by Storymix media and will be doing "DIY" wedding videography. Wish us luck! When it's all said and done, I will let everyone know how it went.

1 Photographer or 2

tlc9615 — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 15:51:57 +0000

I am going back and forth between hiring photographers. There is one that recently did a wedding I was invited to and her photos came out beautifully. My only concern is she covers the entire day by her self. There is another photographer that I am looking at and they provide two photographers for the day to capture all of the moments.

Does anyone have any input in regards to a solo photographer versus having more than one?

Thanks for your input :-)

what to wear for literary/library e-session

sarahtrg — Fri, 18 Jul 2014 17:42:21 +0000

Having a specific place and theme makes it almost harder to decide what to wear! I kinda want to go for the librarian look but still look sexy. We might also shoot some shots at a tea shop afterwards so it needs to be versatile. HELP!

Benchwerk Photography...

findmarily — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 02:56:42 +0000

Anyone with reviews/info on Benchwerk Photography? I was recommended to them and I'm liking them a lot, but want to know if any one has anything to share? :)

Wedding Video

PL0614 — Sat, 12 Jul 2014 14:03:44 +0000

How important is a wedding video? Every video I have seen is so boring to me because there is no interaction with guests. I dont know but I am just not very willing to spend $2000 on a video I might not even watch.. What do yall think?

Is this Weird or rude?

falsara — Fri, 04 Jul 2014 22:02:18 +0000

Hi all,

So I know that I want the standard photos on my wedding day. But I also have lots of families that were around when I was growing up that I want photos with even though they aren't actually related to me, it takes a village right? I was wondering if it was rude of me to put a card in their invitation that said something like "The bride and groom would like to take pictures with you and your family directly following the ceremony, please meet them by so and so after the conclusion of the ceremony."

I figure if I take all of the single sided family and WP pictures before the ceremony then right after the ceremony me and FI can take pictures with all of these families really quickly before we send them to the cocktail hour and then get just WP and bride and groom photos. The ceremony will be outside and I figured I would just take a bunch of pictures in the surrounding area before we go to other picture sites.

Alternatives to hiring a professional photographer?

quirkybride15 — Sat, 07 Jun 2014 02:30:01 +0000

Hi there! I'm in the very early stages of planning my wedding, but I just now started looking into photography. My fiancé and I both HATE having our pictures taken, so initially we were just going to do an Instagram hashtag and let the chips fall where they may. But a good friend convinced me that we would at least want SOME photos, even if they are not formal posed photos, of us getting reading, the ceremony, the reception, and cake cutting, etc. I agree.

So as I'm researching, I'm finding out that hiring a photographer is a complicated business! ALL I want is some candid photos of the day. I don't need them retouched. I can do all of that. But professional photographers have these complex contracts, and want to spend weeks retouching all the images, etc.

I need a happy medium between Instagram and $5000 professional photography. I just want some digital prints of the day. I don't want to ask any of my friends to do it for free because I'm a writer, and I HATE getting asked to write stuff for free. I want my photographer friends who are at the wedding to enjoy themselves, and not feel like they are on a job (with no paycheck).

Help?

Still no album after 10 months

gretapi — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 10:20:36 +0000

So I'd made friends w a photographer I worked w once a few yrs prior to the wedding. Great guy, super talented, and offered to do the whole thing at-cost. Things were mostly ok up to the wedding with a few glitches I overlooked (ex we never took my bridal portraits bc I couldn't pin down a date w him), and I'd wanted to make a guest book of our engagement photos just w Picaboo, but he offered to do and never did (supposedly an issue w the printing vendor). Anyway, got married 9/7/14, got the pix (online) in December, but haven't seen him since to even pick an album cover. There's been some communication but there's always an excuse or I just don't hear from him for a while. Now, I know some of it was legit, but I just don't think 7 months is fair. And I'm frustrated bc I feel like, rather than admit he's over-committed w his other job, he just makes excuses. We never set a date on our contract tho. What should I do??

How much should you pay for a photographer?

TheFutureMrsBellon — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 18:29:17 +0000

I'm looking for a estimated range for how much a wedding photographer should cost. I'd like full-day coverage, meaning time before the ceremony, the ceremony, and the reception.

Best Place to Get Online Prints?????

kannf1982 — Mon, 07 Jul 2014 19:17:15 +0000

We bought the USB and re-printing rights from our wedding photographer for $300. He did initial touch ups and whatnot but I am not sure exactly which prints we want yet and I am a graphics person so I have all the Adobe stuff for future cropping/editing/color changing needs.

Has anybody had some professional photos printed at any of these online sites? (snappish, Adorama, shutterfly, etc?). I may want to get a couple larger ones printer (16 x 20 ish) and I want them to be decent paper and everything. Anybody have any suggestions for sites, types of paper you got them printed on, etc? Or any you do not recommend? Thanks!

We took the city hall route in the middle of planning a beach wedding

Knottie55869784 — Sat, 12 Jul 2014 17:17:57 +0000

Dealing with all the planning of a beach wedding in San Francisco we both said what the heck are we doing and did our vow ceremony at the beautiful city hall in San Francisco. So happy we did, I mean dealing with the park rangers in the city can really push you over the edge

Wedding & Honeymoon

http://youtu.be/7A16gAkLARA

Proposal

http://youtu.be/kWVXdGlqTmU

Photographer and Videographer combine or hire separate

tlc9615 — Wed, 09 Jul 2014 14:09:19 +0000

Hi All,

I am in the process of looking for a photographer and a videographer for the big day! From your experiences did you find it better to hire a vendor who provided both services or did you hire a separate photographer and videographer?

Thanks!!!

Bay Area Photographers?

NotMS — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 03:40:32 +0000

We are looking for a great photographer for our wedding and haven't had any luck. Has anyone in the SF Bay Area found one that they love?

Help-engagement photos Sunday!

caitlinmca — Thu, 10 Jul 2014 11:51:36 +0000

Hello All!

My fiance and I are having our engagement photos done this upcoming Sunday at 2 local parks, the first is a metropark/ garden type of location which has lots of paths, trees, flowers and bridges and the second being a reservoir park for us to get our feet in the sand/water at the beach.

Those of you that had engagement photos done, did you change your outfits? How many times did you change your outfits?

Exclusive Photographer Clause?

SereneTiger — Tue, 01 Jul 2014 05:49:56 +0000

I recently received a photography contract from my photographer.

While reading it over, one of the last clauses in there really bothers me.

It's the "Exclusive Photographer" Clause and says that my photographer is the only one allowed to take pictures at the wedding and wedding related events. However, the part that really gets to me is it states "family and friends of the client shall not be permitted to photograph the wedding client whatsoever' So basically nobody else can take pictures at the wedding??

Has anybody else come across this clause? If so, how did it end up working out? Do you think my photographer will reword it if I ask her to?

Traverse City Photographer

RachelleRob2013 — Sun, 25 Nov 2012 23:19:43 +0000

Hey girls. I am from the Grand Rapids area and getting married in Traverse City. I am looking for a photographer. I was hoping some of you would have ideas of someone who is good but doesn't charge an arm and a leg. Thanks for your help.