To bring or not to bring.

MarisaLovell

Are most of you bringing a photographer with you (if you're not a native)? We hired Jenn and Travis (www.jennandtravis) and are SUPER happy. One of my bride's maides jsut got engaged and she wants a destination wedding as well. Just wanted to knwo everyone else's opinion. Most people we talked to said either yes or don't limit yourself to any one city if your photographers have to travel. I thought that was an interesting way to look at it.

Happy planning to all us brides!!!

breaness

We are bringing a photographer from home because we got a good deal where she is giving us a lot of stuff just in exchange for the trip to Hawaii, including our engagement session.

If we didn't get the awesome deal from her we would have splurged and gotten Gordon Nash, my all time favorite photographer.

kimmykupcakes

We are bringing a photographer, too.  That way we have her to take pictures for the whole week! It's a pretty awesome set-up.

bellathebride

We hired one from Oahu. We would have loved to bring a photographer from mainland but it's too expensive. They wanted us to cover the hotel fees, car rental, and airfare. Too expensive for us. If you can afford it and LOVE your photographer I say you bring em with you!

AKWinterBride

We brought a photog over from San Diego.  I could get way more coverage for way less money than what the local photogs charge. 

Tanq&Tonic

We flew ours from PA.  We figured if we were paying for travel at all, it didn't matter where they originated from.  We flew our videographer in from Oahu to Maui.

I suggest being open to off-island vendors.  I've seen some great work from "imported" photo & video, as well as hair & makeup, often better work for equal or lesser prices.  Just depends on what you're willing to pay for. 

AKWinterBride

Make sure if you bring someone with you that they have experience shooting beach/water scenes.  Someone from say Kansas, wouldn't have a lot of experience with those scenes and the lighting is totally different when shooting off of sand or water. 

lorena224

There were quite a few photographers in my home town that were willing to travel. They reduced their rates a bit since I would have paid for travel and accommodations. There were also quite a few photographers from Oahu who were willing to travel (even waive their travel fees). 

I ended up going with someone from Maui whose work I liked, I clicked with and I knew was familiar with both my ceremony and reception location and would know the great spots to go for pics. 

I think the most important thing is to find someone whose work you like and can communicate with. 

MarisaLovell

So it seems I made the right decision and brought ours with us. I think it's the only way to go! 

WinstonsGirl

We're bring ours too.  They did my brother's wedding, and I loved everythign about them.  They gave us a good discount too, though it's still quite expensive.  They were the one thing I was not going to negiotiate on at all.  Go with who you like though

kaesha

Really, I don't think there's a right or wrong answer here. There are lots of great photographers on the islands and off. We didn't have the budget for bringing one with us, nor would I have even if we had had the money. I'm a huge believer of keeping things local and supporting the community.

Anyway, I used one from Maui and she (Joanna Tano) was amazing! We've done three shoots with her so far (two at the wedding and one for our anniversary this year), and it's been fantastic to work with her. One of the major advantages we've had with is having her take us to places she's familiar with that we never would be. We did a shoot in the I'o river way off the beaten track for our anniversary and our TTD shoot started in this forested area where no one else was before making it down to the beach. So, there's a definite home advantage in location.