Right amount/type of pictures?

hru4real

I just got my pictures back, and I'm not sure if I'm being picky or I got a bad deal. So I'm looking for a few opinions...

My photographer did not want/need a list of the standard shots -- she said would take care of those. She asked us for a list of anything other than immediate family and BP. I sent her a list of 8 must-haves and 2 like-to-haves. I only got 3 of those shots. I don't have any with my niece and nephew (who were in the BP), me and DH at the altar, us with the minister (husband's uncle), me or us with his parents and only 1 of me with my Mom. There were also no pictures of me and my cousin who was basically my wedding coordinator (one of the requested 8 shots). And only one very poor qualtity picture of me throwing the bouquet.

Also, our reception was about 3 hours long after the introduction -- she took 250 shots. At least 50 of those are dupes of the same shot. Does that seem like the right amount?

ElisabethJoanne

Sounds like a bad deal.

As I prepare to meet with photographers (1 down, at least 2 more to go), I looked at books on wedding photography. More helpful than books for brides was a book I found for new wedding photographers. Every issue you mentioned was in the book as must-take shots, etc. Your photographer should have done what you asked and also known to get good shots of the big events (like the bouquet toss) even without being asked.

Nomer

Sounds bad to me.

She definitely should've gotten the ones you requested in advance. As for the bouquet toss- is it possible she wasn't alerted about the event before it happened. Like, if she found out the toss was happening and rushed over but didn't have her settings right because she wasn't prepared? Idk, that's the only explanation I can think of. However, she doesn't sound super experienced so maybe she just goofed. Especially what you said about receiving dupes of the same shot... sounds like she's just trying to give you a certain number of pictures but didn't have a lot of good stuff to pull from. Sure sign of a newbie.

photogbride12

The bouquet toss is hit or miss - sometimes we don't know it's happening or we don't get to choose where you stand to get the right angle/light. It happens. 250 shots from three hours (even with duplicates) is reasonable. That's more than a photo a minute - do you really think there's something unique and worth shooting happening more than once or twice a minute? As far as shots missed, bring it up with the photographer and see if there's a chance they have some that didn't pass their standards but might be willing to give you, or just find out why they were missed. Wedding days are chaotic, sometimes the best laid plans fail.

hru4real

Thanks for the feedback, that's what I thought. She was standing pretty close to me when I threw the bouquet -- so I'm not sure what happened there. My husband said he'd rather have so-so pictures of a great day, than great pictures of a so-so day -- and we definitely had a great day.

toothpastechica

any photographer who says they dont want or need your list of preffered shots.....makes me think they either A. are not very good and dont want to be put on the spot for not getting what you want or B. they plain dont care what you want. Personally, i want photographers who are going to give me what i want since i am paying them. Sorry for your experience, defintaly do not recommend her to anyone, as this sounds like a very unprofessional approach to wedding photography.