African American Weddings

photography prices....

Ok this might sound dumb but I just had a photographer quote me 2100 base price to do my wedding. I almost hit the floor. We just started interviewing photographers and I need to prepare myself if this is what they are going to tell me. 

Re: photography prices....

  • edited December 2011
    With photographers you are definately going to have to do some major shopping around. That sounds about right in the middle of what I have heard for base prices. You may find someone with a cheaper price but not as many things are included. I have heard a base price from $700 up to $1,500 and we are still looking.
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  • hatroopeshatroopes member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    edited December 2011
    Yup, I was surprised at how much photography costs as well - that is actually a pretty good price. If you're going to have a videographer, prepare yourself for that as well! I always thought the photography/videography came hand in hand, so I was surprised we had to pay more money for that also.
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  • cincy2011cincy2011 member
    Combo Breaker First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I agree that is a decent price if you will have 8+ hours, an e-shoot, etc.  The range I have seen is from $1000 for a basic package to $5000+ for multiple photogs, albums, etc.
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  • edited December 2011

    One thing to remember is you get what you pay for. It takes a lot of time to edit photos and create prints, albums, etc. $2100 is a deal if you ask me! I am paying $3500 for my photography. I would definitely search around and look at their portfolios to see their work before deciding. Also, decide what is important to you (time, wedding albums, parent albums, etc). These things are not cheap, so the more time you want the more it will cost. Alot of photographers will let you customize a package based on your needs. If you happen to not want you getting ready included in your time you can eliminate that and bring down the cost. If you happen to not want engagement photos or bridal portraits done, that can also reduce the cost. You just have to decide what's important to you and how much are you really ABLE to spend. HTH!

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  • edited December 2011

    I think you have to decide the service you want the photographer to provide...if you want one that offers wedding books and 8 x 10 and ect, the price is higher many of them charge between $1500 - $5000 a package...if you want a photographer who will just take the picutres put them on a disc for you to print, you can get one at around $700 - $2000 -

    ours cost $950 which was a great deal, I found them when they were just starting out....so they've raised prices but for us we got a free engagment shoot and we get 12 hours of wedding time with two photographers for that price...give us all our picutres on a disc...and they give a month of free hosting on their site for family to view....I was happy with that and that is all I wanted in a photographer since sites like Blurb make it easy for you to upload your own pictures to create a professional book of your own memories with some books starting at $20 - $200 depening on what you put in your book.  I felt it was smarter to have the rights to our picutres on a disc instead of a photographer owning them and giving us a set number of prints. 

    So just pick and choose by what you prefer, if you want a photographer that is going to be able to create photobooks for you or if you are willing to do that yourself. 

    Also check out the local colleges for art students in photography, and word of mouth recommendations from people in the area, they tend to give better priced photographer than the ones on wedding website.  I also found that a good way to look for photographers is to type in google "wedding" and the location you're getting married at, a lot of photographers have blogs so usually you can pull up their sites based on the places they taken pictures at.

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  • edited December 2011
    i agree with the pp

    you get what you pay for in the photography game. it's a lot of work to shoot, edit and bind into a album

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  • edited December 2011
    I agree with PPs, also you could look on craigslist for someone starting out or a photography student, you may find some with cheaper prices.  Like another poster, my photographer was just starting out and she gave me a good deal.  So, if you don't want to pay too much you will probably have to do some shopping around.
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  • sadou02sadou02 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I actually posted an add on craiglist stating I was looking for a photographer and videographer.  I have received a lot of hits with base prices of all ranges.  I just recently got a hit by a couple that does photography and videography for a very reasonable deal and may be going them. 
    I was just frustrated with googling and searching and decided I wanted people to bid for me and so far its been good going that route.  Also if you dont want your personal email flooded I suggest creating an email for wedding stuff only. That way all the craiglist hits can go there.
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  • edited December 2011
    I was shocked by the pricing for photographers too. I got quotes as high as $3400. Luckily, a friend of a friend is a photographer and he is going to hook us up at $1600. You may want to check out The Pros...they have pretty good prices starting around $995: http://www.thepros.com/
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  • edited December 2011
    Thanks ladies. I feel alot better about this whole process now. I am just gonna take my time and do some research. Hopefully that 9/10/11 curse doesn't catch up with me.
  • edited December 2011
    In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/cultural-wedding-boards_african-american-weddings_photography-prices?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Cultural%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:400Discussion:3e005cfd-f0f8-44d8-96cd-70c05b1ac57dPost:6cb20f49-ecda-4158-b2c9-37118043664f">Re: photography prices....</a>:
    [QUOTE]<font class="Apple-style-span" color="#FF0000">One thing to remember is you get what you pay for. It takes a lot of time to edit photos and create prints, albums, etc</font>. $2100 is a deal if you ask me! 
    Posted by jmp0930[/QUOTE]<div>
    </div><div>I totally agree.. Please don't go the cheap route like my best friend did when she got married in Sept. She thought she was "doing it big" because she found a guy to do the photography & videography for $600 & she thought I was crazy because mine is costing me $2500. Well as you guessed it, her pics were horrible, too dark, fuzzy, ppl not positioned correctly & basically looked like polaroids & Walgreens prints. I couldn't understand how a guy was gonna take photos & work a video camera at the same time.The cellphone pics that ppl took looked better than what he took. </div><div>When you look back on your wedding day you want to have something beautiful to remind you of your day & something nice to show ppl. </div><div>
    </div>
  • edited December 2011
    I agree with pp you do get what you pay for BUT don't rule out cheap prices... I found someone who does the entire day for $800 & charges $45 per hour to edit & gives you the CD with rights to print. I did an engagement session with her before I ever booked & the pics were great! Interview & see if you can do like a "session" to see how your pics will look before you decide.
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  • edited December 2011
    i think that a lot of the pricing is also location specific.  i am in NYC and got a "deal" with photo/video for $5K.  thats a fully loaded package with albums, high res. pics on disc, prints, edited video dvds, etc.  in some areas that is really high but in others, its a deal. 

    like others have mentioned, it depends on what you are looking for.  i wanted full access to my pictures to reprint whatever i wanted, whenever i wanted.  some photographers "trap" you will low prices up front and then charge you a lot for prints and then a whole lot more for a disk with the prints.  make sure you understand what you are getting (or not getting) for the price being quoted.  good luck!
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