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XP A Photography Question

lepoissonrougelepoissonrouge member
500 Comments Third Anniversary
in Wedding Photography and Videography Forum
I posted this on my month board and totally did  not realize there was a board totally devoted to photo and video, so I moved it over here!

I am on a pretty small budget, 5k to be exact. I am super frugal and crafty and doing a lot myself so I am %100 sure I can make this work, where I stand right now I am doing rather awesome, so I am very proud of that.

So I have a couple of options for photgraphy. I could go with a professional, spend upwards to $1500. I am looking at two photogs, editing, viewing pictures online, 400 4x6 prints. Very good photographer and seems great to work with. But wow it just hurts to imagine spendng 1500 on photographs!! I feel like I could do soooo many other things with all that money.

Instead, I could enlist the help of two unprofessional, but very good photographers. A family friend (friend 1) has offered to take photos for me, free of charge! He has a nice camera and has shot weddings before. I am concerned tho that he will not be as artsy and get the interesting shots that I want. A friend (friend 2) of mine who is a graphic designer with a four year degree offered to edit my pictures for me. She takes pictures but doesn't have a fancy camera. Another friend tho, has offered to let us use her awesome camera to take pictures. I love friend 2 and originally did not want to ask her to take pictures, but I thought if I asked her to take a few of the pictures (like the outside ones between the ceremony and reception, and maybe so candids at the reception) then she could still enjoy being a guest but I would get to use her to take pictures. And friend 1 could take most of the posed family pictures and such...

I really hope I am not being confusing, but I feel like I am, so I am fully prepared to respond to questions...

I guess I am just trying to decide if it is worth taking the risk, or is it a risk? What do you guys think?
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Re: XP A Photography Question

  • theangelcintheangelcin
    10 Comments
    edited December 2011
    Make sure that if you decide to go with your friends that the create backups of the photos!!!  My friends went with a photographer who was not yet professional class for their wedding (I don't know how they found him as he wasn't a friend as far as I know) because it was cheaper.  She later told me they had a huge scare about the pictures.  The photographers hard drive had crashed and he had NOT backed up anything! He wasn't even sure he would be able to recover their wedding photos!  My friends got lucky and got their wedding pictures, but that's really really lucky.

    Backups = very good thing!
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  • photogbride12photogbride12 member
    10 Comments
    edited December 2011
    Please please PLEASE hire a professional. Just flip through a few pages of this board and over at weddingbee.com photo board and read all the horror stories about folks who skimping on photos. $1500 is INCREDIBLY reasonable for wedding photography, and you won't regret it. You WILL regret not having professional, high quality photos of your wedding day - it's the only thing you'll have left to remember it when it's all over.

    Please, read some of these threads and you'll get an idea what you could be dealing with:

    "Very Unhappy with Our Wedding Photographer" - http://boards.weddingbee.com/topic/very-unhappy-with-our-wedding-photographer

    "Photography disappointment" - http://boards.weddingbee.com/topic/photography-disappointment

    "Please help - photographer situation" - http://boards.weddingbee.com/topic/please-tell-me-what-you-thinkphotographer-situation

    These are just a FEW of a literally hundreds of these kinds of stories. You will likely end up very disappointed and it aside from not having memories of your day it could put a serious strain on your friendships with these people if something goes wrong.
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  • lepoissonrougelepoissonrouge member
    500 Comments Third Anniversary
    edited December 2011
    Two out of the three of those posts you gave me for reference were about professional photographers. So... I digress.

    While I understand that photography problems happen, I also know and trust these people with my pictures. Especially my graphic design friend.

    Thank you ladies for the advice : ) I will make sure backups are made!!
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  • Lauren19.Lauren19. member
    Fifth Anniversary 10 Comments
    edited December 2011
    Can you get a pro to take the pics you really care about (ceremony, portraits, etc.) and then take your friend's offer to do the reception or whatever else you'd like? That might save some money. I think you'll find it's worth it to have a solid selection of pictures as it really is the only thing that lasts, other than the marriage of course!! :)
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