Photography Question

divinemsbee

So, hiring a professional photographer is really important to me and to FI for the wedding. It's also the one thing that we're not receiving a lot of support for (not just monetarily, but support for hiring a pro at all). I have several "photographers" in my family that will be there. I have no problem with as many people as want to taking pics, but I do want some professionally done, professionally re-touched and professionally printed pics. No one in my family sees my point this way, they think ti's a waste, but I've seen pics of other family weddings done by the "photographers" and I just didn't like them. 

So I've looked at several in our area, and I've found one that I really like the pics for and has a package in our price range. The problem is that the one in our range only comes with 4 hours of time. Do you guys think that's enough? I mean, we're having a Catholic ceremony (not a Mass) and that's around an hour that they'll only be able to take pictures of me going up the aisle and FI and I coming back down it. I worry that we won't have the time to do before pics or that there won't be any of the reception. I'm going to call them tomorrow about what it would cost to add on hours, The thing is that their next package up comes with 6 hours, but it also comes with way more  stuff in the package that we really don't need.

LetsHikeToday

Can you just email them and ask the, to add hours but nothing else? Our photographer had packages but also al la carte.

Beachy730

4 hours goes quick, even if you have no gap between ceremony and reception.  I would think you would want him for at least half an hour to an hour before the wedding to do pics of you getting ready, then the hour in the church.  Add in travel time and just organizing everyone for pictures, and that really only leaves you like an hour to an hour and a half at the reception tops.  If you're having a cocktail hour, you basically just finished your 4 hours.

I would definitely see how much it costs to have just extra hours added on, isntead of just jumping to the next package.

CAB1217

Yeah we had ours for 6 ours and missed out on a lot of pictures (mostly due to the rain, though...)
Maybe ask what it would cost to add on at least 1 more hour?

shan87

We ended up having 10 hours of coverage and got about 1,000 pictures. (10AM to 8pm) We had a little extra wiggle room after we took our pro pictures and before the ceremony started.

Our photog recommended 3 hours at min. for group/formal shots. Personally, I don't even look at any of our ceremony pics. Our first look shows the emotion better. Our Catholic Priest/Church has a lot of restriction on video and photos. They wouldn't let them move around during the ceremony so our Photog couldn't get any good shots.

 We had to flip around our first dance, my uncle/neice dance and H's mother/son dance during salads to make sure the photog got the pics. Our photog only stayed 2 hours into the reception and that felt like cutting it short. She did great going around to tables to get pictures but we only have a handful of dancing pictures. In the end I think our fun side came out in our impromptu mini session in the park.

Zeldakins

I remember way back when we did my quinceanera that the photographer let us just tag on hours for a bit extra and basically he also allowed us some wiggle room on the package. By the end of it we spent about 2 grand but had a lot of freebies and a huge beautifully framed picture of me along with video of the ceremony and reception.

It never hurts to ask

divinemsbee

Yeah, I'm going to call them. We get into the church 2 hours before, and I'd love to do some pics in it and a first look if the priest/co-ordinator will let us, add to that the family photos and it'll be so rushed. I'm just thinking if we start at noon, ceremony at 2, the reception will have barely started by 4. Yeah, that's not going to work. Oh well, we'll see how it goes on the phone tomorrow. Also, did you guys who already have pics get any on a photo disk, or are all of the ones you have already printed?

lrh17

I think what PP's suggested about adding extra hours sounds like your best bet.  I had 7 hours, and I had to go ask the dj to get moving w/ the cake cutting and dances to make sure we got pics of that.  My photographer ended up staying an hour later at no cost bc she was having so much fun taking pictures of our guests dancing!

I got discs with all 800 of my pictures, including the rights from the photographer to the pictures.  That way I can print any I want on my own, post some on facebook, and we're actually putting together albums for our parents.  It took a while to sort through them to pick out the ones we liked.  We also got a print credit so I'll be ordering professional prints too.  It was very important to me to have them on disc.

Beachy730

Our photographer gave us all of the edited images on CD, and we had it within a week.  We ended up with just under 1000 pics.  We also got 3 prints from him up to 11x14.  If we wanted to do albums or more prints it would have been extra, but we didn't bother because the album prices were outrageous and we were moving cross country a month later anyways.  I took the CD to Wal-Mart and printed all the pictures for like $75.  Then I also uploaded them all to a Shutterfly share site so family and friends could see them.

If they aren't willing to budge or work within your budget, I would look around more.  Try asking for recs from friends and family who got married recently, and on your local board.  Also sometimes you can get a great deal by going with someone who is starting out in weddings.  That's what we did, and we got a great deal ($750 for the entire day, unlimited locations, all pics on CD, rights to pics, and 3 prints).  He had been a photographer for a while but was new to weddings.  2 different people gave me great recs on him, and I saw his work and it was great.  I don't regret it for a second.

calindi

We have 8 hours, and I'm worried it won't be enough!  If I have extra wiggle room in the budget, I'm going to bump the photographers to 10 hours.

Definitely talk to them  - one place we cut was the album.  It just isn't something I want or care much about, I'm perfectly happy paying $150ish to have a really nice Blurb.com book printed up with a nice cover and such, but I don't need a traditional album (to be honest, I don't like them much).  That saved us nearly $1000!

I'd say go for a photographer that gives you more hours, ideally 2 photographers, and rights to all the photos.  You'll save more money in the long run that way, and you won't have to pay them for each photo you want to keep or to reprint them for frames and family members.

I've heard of people having good success in posting on Craigslist and letting vendors come to them, trying to sell them.  I believe FTL did something like that, and her photographer was amazing in my opinion.  Just post what you want on Craigslist and what you want to pay, and let them show you their portfolio.  You can also try contacting photographers that aren't typically wedding photographers - lifestyle photographers are great choices, and tend to be cheaper.

Irishcurls

Yeah, either way, another vote against a professional album to cut costs. I made ours with a groupon at mypublisher.com and everyone says it's nicer than their pro albums. Rights to pics and a second shooter are where I'd put all my money. If you're doing a first look anyway, I'd make sure all VIPs are dressed and at the church an hour and a half beforehand and make a list of all your must takes--then just bust them out quickly! Saved us a ton of time after the ceremony, since we didn't have a gap. Negotiate with them though! You can make them work for you, especially in a "tough economy." 

CAB1217

We got everything on CDs (also a little under 1000 photos) and made our own albums, which came out fantastc on Mixbook. Thank goodness for internet deals!

shan87

We were given a digital copy with all images, plus 100 edited pictures with a photo release to reprint, with our package. Our photog was a college friend that started photography on the side after HS. She only did weddings for a couple years because it was so time consuming. That being said since we knew each other personally, she knew my personality tenfold and was able to get it in our pics. She was also really flexible.

Personally, I wouldn't hire a photographer if you are not getting a release to the images as part of your package. 

melbelle24

Divine, I just sent you a PM. But I also would agree with the others. I feel like I would want/need more time with a photographer than just 4 hours.