Just wanted to give a quick tip to all the brides still looking for a photographer. Don't feel like you need to spend thousands of dollars on a photography package. I just scored a deal!
Tip #1: Craigslist is your friend! A bunch of photographers who don't really have their name out there yet use craigslist to advertise their business. Just find your city, scroll down to services, and check out Creative, as well as Events.
Don't think that just because they don't list "weddings" or a wedding package on their ad that they don't do it. I found a girl on craigslist who was a photojournalist and she is looking to start doing more portraits. She's working on building her portfolio, and was looking for models to come in for free photoshoots. I dropped her an e-mail that explained that I was looking for a wedding photographer, and explained that I was looking for something under $1000 and asked if she'd be interested. She quickly sent an e-mail back, and said that she stopped doing weddings because brides in the area wanted her to do it for next to nothing, and it was unrealistic. She said that I was great by saying "under $1000" and she offered to photograph our wedding, her and another photographer, for 6 hours or more, and give me a cd of all the photos for $500. She also said if we wanted to take engagement photos, she'd do them for free as long as we signed a release to let her use them in her portfolio. Of course, I accepted! A chance for us to be couple models, and help out a fellow photographer is always accepted! haha.
So make sure you check out the lesser known photographers. Many are just as good, if not better, than the "pros" in town with studios.
Tip #2: Don't worry too much about prints. Many photographers will offer a print credit within the price, which is awesome. Some don't. You can downsize your price by a LOT if you just ask for a disk of all the photos. The good photographers will give you shared rights to the photos so that you can take the cd to walgreens, cvs, etc. and do your own prints. I actually just do my prints from home. Photo paper and photo ink are magical.
I'm saving so much by just getting a disc and not buying prints. Of course, I can always ask for an album, if I have extra money in my budget.
That's all I have for now. I'm stoked about my photographer. I also have a free engagement session with another photographer in town, that I won at a bridal expo, so we're having 2! We're using the ones from the first one for save the dates & invites, and the ones from the second one in frames as decor for our reception.