Photography - Book soon if you haven't already

sssdee

Hey guys!
 Just wanted to put a PSA out there for those of you who haven’t booked your photography yet. All of us are now under the year mark and believe or not, photographers book up super quickly! I knew this and now I know it even more so!

When FI and I finally started to get the ball rolling in May about looking for a photographer our top company was already booked for quite some time. That made me quite sad and I was angry that I just didn’t go ahead and book them because I felt I had to shop around. Finally got around to meeting with a bunch of photographers in June and had to think about which we’d like for the big day. FI had to fly out for work and summer being summer it’s been hectic so we didn’t end up making a decision until this Monday that just passed.

Turns out, while we were decision making our top choice (again) got snapped up! I literally broke down and cried because I was so upset. We had another photog in the running but looking at her work again vs the look we wanted with a photog she was just too ‘new’ for us. So I was sooo frustrated that I was back at square one and wasting more time. (Photography is HUGE for us – It may not be for everyone so I’m sure to some of you guys this is no big deal lol) 

Then as luck may have it, a photog I blew off because of her prices emailed me to see if I had booked a photographer yet (I blew her off because of the sticker shock of the pricing – looking at it again AND what we get it’s actually not too bad and in line with budge afterall) so we have an appointment with her tomorrow and FI decided if we like her while meeting with her we are just going to book her right then and there. Wish us luck!

Long story short – go with your gut instinct otherwise you may have to settle. (Although, thankfully I really don’t feel like we’re settling as she is quite amazingly good. Settling would’ve been going with our initial runner up from our latest research. So I’m quite excited for our potential happy ending!)

CN:Top choice photographer booked up 18 months in advance. New top choice got booked up a week after meeting with him. Hoping 3^rd times the charm. Book your top choice photographer if you haven’t already otherwise you may miss out. Meeting with new awesome photographer tomorrow night and hoping to book on the spot if everything works out. 

Have you booked your photographer yet?
Was your top choice booked?
Any interesting things you’d like to share?  

cnf2013

We booked our photographer a few months ago now. We didn't have top choice really. FI was pretty indifferent about it which was frustrating to me. Our budget was kind of limited here, as my parents were paying, so they got a lot of say, which narrowed it down for us a lot. Photographers in our area start around $2500 for only a few hours of shooting and nothing else included. To get more hours or anything included we'd be looking at $3500-4k, which was just insane to me. 

We just about went with an old co-worker from our summer camp who is now a professional photographer. I'm glad we didn't though, because she got some big time editing job in Miami and is moving in like a month. So the good deal we would have gotten would have gone to the dogs, as we'd have to pay her round trip airfare and hotel for the weekend. We finally settled on an up and coming girl with prices about 1K under average for our area. She posts sneak peaks on FB every week, and the more I see the more I'm happy with our decision. 

Good luck with your meeting. Hopefully you book and get this off your to-do list. I was wondering if you booked one yet. Seems like you've been looking forever now. 

sssdee

Nice cnf.
Although you would hope that since she was the one up and moving away AFTER you (would’ve) booked her then she would have to eat the travel costs – that’s just my opinion lol
Happy to hear you are loving what you are seeing on her sneak peeks! That is exactly what I want as well. So far I’m in love with her work and I just joined her FB group to see current stuff.

I would've loved to save lots of money and gone with someone up and coming, but the two I had in mind weren't that comparable to the established awesome ones I've seen (and obviously command a higher price) And the 2^nd choice from our recent research (as I like to call it) does good work and good editing but she has A LOT of posed photos – which we want a very small amount. So I feel that if I tell her what I want then I’ll likely be ‘directing’ and that’s what I don’t want on my wedding day lol.  And for our engagement photos we want something out of the box and unique and her e-sessions are exactly the same, just change out the couple. I think the only one that wasn’t the same looked awkward (and I don’t want to be the awkward couple because we ventured out to try something new LOL)
 I over analyze, over think and over stress about some things. Other things I’m like meh. But photography is one of those things that has me worried because we do love photos so much.

sssdee

BTW - I LOVEEEE Your sig photos!
I have to get mine back up here lol

bar10521

Good luck with your meeting tomorrow sssdee!

We were lucky enough to get our top choice. They do amazing work and are the photographers for my brother's wedding. My mom really wanted us to use them so she's even paying for it (thankfully). We booked them in March for our June wedding and they were already starting to fill up for next June so I was glad we got our date. So far the only vendor we haven't gotten was the officiant we wanted but we found a great second choice.

cnf2013

Yeah, our photographers wedding stuff is really good, but her e-sessions are pretty bland and repeatious. One of our groomsmen is a professional photographer and is doing a free e-session for us around the end of August. 

katiereith

We are going to give the check to our top choice photographer tomorrow. I made the mistake of bringing it up in front of my uncle who's daughter is going through school to get a BA in photography. He tried to talk me into using her. I honestly don't like her pictures, but I didn't tell him that obviously. However, I did tell him that I am not using any family members as a vendor just to avoid any stickey situations. It all worked out for the best anyway.

wright944

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_june-2013-weddings_photography-book-soon-if-you-havent-already?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding%20Club%20BoardsForum:f30b0bfc-508d-415c-bf59-ab83e327da37Discussion:b293be87-ef5f-4b2f-a342-6d62624631f3Post:d43df5e1-b7f4-4ec6-84ce-a71eca66bf9d">Re: Photography - Book soon if you haven't already</a>:
[QUOTE]Dee, I hope you and FI have a great meeting so you can book her:) We booked our photog a few months ago, and recently had our e-shoot.  I am so glad that we went with her company, as they are amazing and super nice.  Plus they're really popular around here, so I'm rather glad we have a longer engagement than most (around here, people are engaged for just under/over a year, not usually as long as me), because once there are more June brides popping up, all the good stuff will be gone! But to answer your other questions... <strong>she was our top choice, so we really lucked out there.  I don't know about interesting stuff to share, but for me, choosing her was easy; we clicked at our meeting and she told my mom and I to go home and even research other photogs, but mom and I knew right away we wanted to work with her. </strong> (FI doesn't really have any opinions (minus the whole comedian thing lol) so he's putting all his trust on my mother and I haha)
Posted by mrskaiser22[/QUOTE]<div>
</div><div>This is how my mom and I felt when we met with our photographer. My fiance could really care less and photos are really important to me. Ours has booked up into some of 2014 already so we knew we had to get her quicly and I love her and her work. The deal that we got with her as well is AMAZING. She is mentioned all over my local board and people say she def undercharges for what she is actually worth. I was considering a few others before I met with her but I just knew when we had our first meeting that I didn't want anyone else. 

</div>

ashlidie

Well I ended up falling in love with a photographer, she was perfect, and she was not willing to do it.  She apparently books June weekends up to the max and wasn't willing to drive 1.5 hours each way even if I compensated her for it (and then some, which I was willing to do).  So I was very very very sad about this.

BUT I booked my photog very early this passed December.  Did heavy research and narrowed it down to 3.  In the end I am super happy with the outcome, and I am pleased with how well we worked with them for our engagement photos (which turned out awesome!).

Miss Esa

Have you booked your photographer yet?
I have!

Was your top choice booked?
Nope.

Any interesting things you’d like to share? 
Our photographer tossed in the Trass The Dress session for free because we told her flat out that it would be too expensive for the e-photos and TtD.

n3rdl3t

Have you booked your photographer yet?

We have the date saved with the company.. just haven't put our downpayment and locked in our specific photographer yet.. Have the FI on contacting them for that today lol.

Was your top choice booked?

My top choice was actually someone I went to school with, her stuff is absolutely AMAZING. I asked her about prices right after I got engaged, and she was over $2000, which is nearly our entire budget so I had to start completely over =\

anastassiiat

Dee, good luck with the photographer!

Our photographer was the second vendor we've booked - right after the venue! We really wanted to use the photographer that my MOH used at her wedding 2 years ago, but I couldn't get in touch with her, so we've met with 3 other photographers and none of them clicked with us. So FI and I were trying to figure out what to do, when my MOH's photographer got in touch with me - turns out she was out of country, so that's why her phone wasn't working. I've met with her and she was really great and easy to talk to, and she had a lot of awesome ideas for pictures, and we get her together with a second shooter for the whole day! So it all worked out in the end, I am super happy about it!

ktwed1

I knew who I wanted to use and contacted her right away for pricing. I told her I would book her as soon as I booked my venue. I was lucky she stil had my date and I booked her immediately after getting my venue which was in April. I had worked with her before she took both my daughters senior pics.

rmp4996

We met with a photographer, and her prices were so high that when we left, FI got like all anxious and stressed out about money. We had another appt later that day, and this company we are using actually has a DJ company tied in as well. We met with the DJ 1st, and FI really loved him, and then we loved the work the photographer showed us, so we went with them. Plus, we got a deal on the DJ becaue we booked both together, so we were able to get all the things we wanted for the DJ without breaking budget. Our photographer also posts contests on FB all the time, and pics from weddings and e-shoots he does, and they are all gorgeous. We have won 3 contests so far and have $150 to spend on pictures or extra things we want after the wedding, so we will be able to get the big blown up pic FI really wants.

sssdee good luck with your photographer meeting, I hope you get them and arehappy with them too

crazykatiemae

we got our top choice, but we booked in February, almost 17 months out. at that point our photographer was 50% full for 2013 wedding season. when we did our engagement pictures in May, they had like 4 or 5 dates for 2013 open. 

just another thing i didn't realie until after i got engaged and started planning! great reminder for everyone to get booking these big items

sssdee

Happy to hear most of you got your top choice or an amazing replacement! Gives me hope lol

It's becoming the norm with vendors booking sooner and sooner, which is why I am kicking myself for not doing it sooner. Buttt here is to hoping my meeting goes well tonight and we book her! Thanks for all the luck

Meghannsix

We booked our photographer last month.  After doing a lot of online research, he was our first choice, and after talking with him, he seemed to be a good fit with us, personality wise.  He took FOREVER to cash the deposit check though, he just cashed it this week.  I was getting frantic because despite the contract, I just wanted to make sure he had his deposit to make it truly official.

Good luck Dee!  I have to tackle DJ's this week, so let's keep all the good karma coming!

ariddle22

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/wedding-club-boards_june-2013-weddings_photography-book-soon-if-you-havent-already?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Wedding Club BoardsForum:f30b0bfc-508d-415c-bf59-ab83e327da37Discussion:b293be87-ef5f-4b2f-a342-6d62624631f3Post:2d3c47e3-a132-472c-a8e5-2d55b9d98ade">Re: Photography - Book soon if you haven't already</a>:
[QUOTE]We are going to give the check to our top choice photographer tomorrow. I made the mistake of bringing it up in front of my uncle who's daughter is going through school to get a BA in photography. He tried to talk me into using her. I honestly don't like her pictures, but I didn't tell him that obviously. However, I did tell him that I am not using any family members as a vendor just to avoid any stickey situations. It all worked out for the best anyway.
Posted by katiereith[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I've already had to gently handle a few situations with family members offering their services. I figure the stickiness that can come with a not-so-great finished product isn't worth giving them an opportunity to practice.

iloveu4ever

Might just have a family friend do it. If not might go with 2 of these photographer.

sparkles776

I completely agree with you Dee. FI and I booked our photographer back in March. We did months and months of research and came up with a top 10 list, there were certainly ones I liked more than others, but I didnt have a clear top choice. I started contacting people in Feb, 5 out of the 10 were already booked. When I got turned away by the 5th person, I broke down and cried I was just so upset and frustrated. Everything works out for a reason though- I LOVE my photographer, she used to be in the same line of work as FI is so she is throwing in a few things for us too. I am looking so forward to my e session in September.