My fiance and I are college students -- I'll graduate with my B.S. in Education a few months before the wedding and he will graduate with his second degree in engineering at the same time.
Since we know what it's like to be a student and how hard it can be to put together a portfolio, we are considering hiring a student photogrpaher for the wedding. We thought this would be a nice chance for him/her to build their portfolio and get experience in the field. It is also a destination wedding in the mountains (we would pay for airfare, hotel stay, and rental car rather than give him/her the money. This will total about $600). My fiance is worried that we are increasing the chances of something horrible happening to our photos -- getting damaged, deleted, or accidently lost in-transit.
Wedding pictures are not the most important thing to us -- yes, we want them and would like them to turn out nice, but they're not a huge concern for us. We have other ways to remember the night.
So, is this a bad idea or is he just worrying too much? We could get a professional photographer for pretty close to what we are paying for the student, so it is not a matter of money so much as we want to provide a nice opportunity. What do you think?