seriously?! - tell me I am not being insane about my wedding photographer

nottheonlydreamer44 · August 2010

So Mike and I spent a ton of time trying to choose a photographer who we felt really fit our ideas and what we were looking for. Hours upon hours were spent on this because I knew I wanted a lot of money to go to this aspect.

We found our photographer about 3 weeks ago but as I said before I didn't want to drop $750 on just the deposit. On Sunday, I finally signed over the check and booked our engagement session. We're trying to work on the date for pictures and it needs to be relatively soon. The engagement session was $350 for 1.5 hours on location shoot.

I was apprehensive of the cost but went for it anyway. I emailed him this morning because something he said stuck with me. We only get ONE 8x10 out of the unlimited amount of pictures that will be taken. Every other print we have to pay for. His response is that everyone usually buys the coffee table book with our favorite pictures in it and the rest of the prints are free. I looked at the price it's $395!!!! Are you f@cking serious?

Am I being completely irrational or does that price just seem out of control? We are definitely using him for the wedding but I can't fathom spending this much on engagement pictures.

On location pics: $350 (keep in mind we have to drive an hour otherwise it's $395)
Coffee table book and all our engagement prints: $395
Deposit: $750
Remainling balance: $800.

total: $2295. I know that isn't ridiculously bad especially for all the wedding stuff but I think we need a new engagement photog and in a hurry. Please let me know if I'm going crazy or if it seems like a total rip-off?

deburnin · August 2010

That sounds like a lot of money to me... But the only experience I have with photographers is my friends' wedding. They paid $150 for their engagement pictures for one hour at the location of their choice. Their wedding photos were just over $1,000 and for both sessions they got all the pictures she took on a CD.

catemeg · August 2010

I think you should have read the fine print. It's very common for photographers to charge for their time, and then separately for the images. You should have negotiated (and still can) a price for all rights to the digital images. Then you won't have any professional prints, but you can use those images to have professional prints done of the photos you want. Or do a book for a lot less (shutterfly.com has some great ones).

If he's suggesting you pay $395 to have the coffee table book AND all digital prints, then perhaps you can negotiate just $200 for the digital rights if you don't want the book? You're going to want to address this for your wedding photos as well. Perhaps one lump sum for all your pictures from both engagement and wedding?

To be honest, I don't think this is that expensive, but the cost is largely based on the geographic region.

GreenPepperBurger · August 2010

I think that's insane for engagement photos.

katanne9 · August 2010

Sorry, I think that kind of... normal.

Epics are an OPTION, but you don't HAVE to have them. You can always have a non-pro take them.

We paid $400 for our e-session/getting a CD with 35 files of our choice. You should see what the ala carte options are. That's what we did. I bought the files so I could make my own coffee table book. His session fee does seem a bit high, but you should have been made aware of all the costs before you paid if you did your research.

Also, the $750 goes towards the wedding day, no?

FWIW, we ended up paying about $2500 for our photog.

nottheonlydreamer44 · August 2010

Cate -

We went over the wedding details very intensely. We get complete rights to all of our pictures and do not have to buy a book. They are max resolution quality on DVD and we have do not have to have them printed by his company. The wedding includes 2 photographers for 8 hours and we will have a facebook video put together and the prints available online. That was a great deal and I have no problem putting out the money for wedding photos.

There wasn't any fine print on engagement pictures unfortunately. I asked him at the meeting but didn't receive any paperwork. Until today when I specifically mentioned his comment the other day then he gave me a link to an engagement page. Ugh. I am just so frustrated by the engagement part.

I may try to negotiate but right now I'm just trying to get another engagement photographer.

Pretty sure he just jacks his prices up because he's Knot recommended. I just needed to vent for a second because I was definitely shocked at that!

LOL thanks ladies

Ana_2985 · August 2010

This sounds pretty standard to me as well.

Can the $395 book include pictures of the wedding as well or just the engagement session? Have you asked him if you can pay an additional (but less than the book charge) for the engagement pictures on a CD? How much are the additional prints? I know my photographer only charges a few dollars a print depending on the size. That's probably a better option if you don't want the book. How many prints will you really want anyway?

heyimbren · August 2010

Is the $2295 for JUST engagement photos, or for wedding photos and epics?

Also, doesn't the 750 go towards wedding photos (like Kat said)?

dwest2201 · August 2010

See if you can purchase a high res cd from him of the e-pics. You can get books made up for waaaaay less than that. Google "wedding photo books" and you will see.

I don't think that this photographer is outrageous, but not a budget photographer either. If you love his work and you are willing to pay out that much for the wedding day then I'd stick with him and decide to either suck it up and use him for the e-pics too so that you get to meet him and see actual pics of you guys or go ahead and look for a cheaper photog for the e-pics.

GL!

leia1979 · August 2010

The total price doesn't seem unreasonable, but the $395 book sounds like a bit much. As the others have said, ask about just getting digital copies and get prints made elsewhere.

katanne9 · August 2010

From what I have seen, most photographers change between $400-800 for the books. It's very time consuming for image editting and book layout.

Goldlie11 · August 2010

It's seems pretty normal to me. The albums that you buy from the photographer are usually really expensive. If we were to buy a wedding photo album from our photographer, it would be around $900. We're not doing engagement photos, but I believe my photographer charges $300. I don't think that includes any prints. Like others said, see if a DVD is included or how much the DVD will cost.

Ana_2985 · August 2010

Again, I agree with Kat. $400 is actually pretty reasonable for a good photo book. My photographer offers them from $600 and up.

Do you NEED to have engagement photos? If it was me, I would just skip it. The only reason I would take engagement photos would be 1) to get comfortable with the wedding day photographer and 2) if they were included. To me, it seems kind of silly to pay to have a session with a separate photographer. I'd rather the save the money.

nottheonlydreamer44 · August 2010

Thanks for all the help ladies -

i have come down off the ledge of pissed-offness (sp?). I emailed the photographer back and he is not willing to do a high resolution CD. It's basically one photo or (for whoever asked I forget) $95.00 PER PRINT. <--- not happening.

Just to clarify the $750 deposit did go towards the wedding photos and I'm fully prepared to drop another 1000+ on the balance. Plus getting a coffee table book that's done and all the rights to the photos.

I am not however willing to spend an additional $850+ on engagement photos. To me that price is outrageous. I have no idea how many of them we will want or our families for that matter --- Mike has great-grandparents who are still living but unable to make the wedding. We'd like to give them books as a present since we never get to see them. Dwest - I checked out online books and I can most definitely make it cheaper.

We have a friend who is a professional photographer (we didn't want her for the wedding simply because we wanted 2 people there all day.) She takes great pictures and is going to do them for $150 and give us the high res. CD. Not a deal just how much she normally charges.

We like our wedding photographer a lot - I've heard some complaints that he can be a bit pretentious (which we noticed both times we met him) but he really seems to take the time to take amazing photos. Yay wedding pictures and yay for much cheaper engagement pictures! lol

KD+BC · August 2010

We're not spending even close to that on our photographer but we also aren't doing e-pics. I have no clue what a book would cost because our price includes a disk with all of the pictures on it. We'll make our own copies later.

I will also state that I don't really have the same idea about photograpers as most of the other girls. I don't think that photography is one of the top 2 or 3 most important things for us. I'd like to have pictures but I'm not willing to spend over $1000 for them. I looked around A LOT and got a deal with a good photographer for $900. I don't know, they just aren't as important to me as a lot of other things. Yes they last forever but a non-edited picture will last just as long. My parents had a friend take pictures and they have beautiful ones that have lasted just as well as an expensive photographer.

Don't get me wrong, I don't judge others for spending the money. I'm just saying that it's just not worth it to me.

If you feel that this price is too expensive, go to a portrait studio and get some nice shots of you and FI or skip the epics all together.

[Deleted User] · August 2010

Our photographer comes with our reception venue and he doesn't do many weddings other than this venue. We loved his pictures and my dad (who used to do wedding photography on the side many years ago) was very impressed with the photographer. After doing some research before we picked this venue, those prices seem pretty "average".

Our photographer keeps his costs down by not printing any pictures and just giving us the CD so we can print the number and sizes we want where we want. My dad is actually going to do our e-pics sometime this fall so that we can include them in our invitations.

nottheonlydreamer44 · August 2010

I think what threw me was that there was no other option besides paying for the book if you wanted access to all your engagement pictures. He outright refused to budge and $95 per print may as well just force you into getting the book.

For my last e-pics they were like $100 or something and we just got the CD. I didn't realize this was out of norm sometimes. We're also getting married in a more expensive city so we planned on spending $2000+ on our wedding photos.

Ana - engagement pictures are commonplace around here. Almost everyone does them and this time I really wanted them so that we could enjoy being engaged and memorializing that. I didn't like my pictures last time and I didn't feel connected to my ExH -- now that I feel comfortable with my relationship and truly happy I want to do them to express the more playful side of us and not just the "wedding day."

I feel much better having worked it out and actually looking over every detail. This will work much better for us - now our dog can be in the pictures! So happy.

Thanks ladies!

nottheonlydreamer44 · August 2010

KD - I completely understand your feelings. My last photographer was $800 (with e-pics I believe) and at the time I felt like that was too much. I think everyone has different things that are really important to them for their and whatever that is is their decision. Pictures don't have to be in your top 10 even!

Angie - I am super jealous your photographer came with the venue. That would be great! That's what I am used to; keeping the price down by just giving the CD out so you can make your own choices. How sweet that your Dad is doing your e-pics.:) Our's are going out as Save The Dates due to how many OOT guests we have and that our wedding is on a Friday.

I'm excited to show off a side of FI and I that we don't normally get to and to have our dog involved now! It's kind of just fun for us and now we can use the extra money for something else. *sigh of relief*

Acrosthec · August 2010

All this actually seems normal to me. We paid $3000 for our photographers. Included 2 photogs for 8 hours on the wedding day, a couple of small books for parents/friends, one large print for us, and CDs with all our images, e-pics and wedding photos.

I have yet to pay for a print. We wanted the e-pics specifically to make a coffee table guestbook for the wedding, which is what we did. We just used the CD of images and I designed one using Blurb. It was under $100 and it was perfect. I would try to get the CD of e-pics if I were you. They shouldn't have a huge problem doing this, as it's something they offer for the wedding pictures, but they may charge you a little extra.

dawnkathleen · August 2010

our photographer will be 900 for unlimited locations, 8 hours, and a ton of prints...then the rest would have to be paid for. Her engagement pics were an extra 200. We are saving money by taking a few of our friends to a spot in the woods this fall and have them snap a million pics for us. Then we can just alter them in photoshop... Im not sure if this would be an option for you...but it could be a fun experience and save some serious money!
good Luck Dear!

catemeg · August 2010

Based on the info you gave - that this is just for the engagement pics and you've already gotten all the details in writing for the wedding - and that you really want engagement photos, even if it's not with this photographer - then I think you should definitely let the photographer know that you have decided not to do engagement photos. Don't let him know you're going with someone else, as that might end up with hurt feelings and drama. Just let him know it's not something you can afford, so you both decided you'd rather put the money towards something else.

Then call up your friend to schedule a fun engagement photo shoot!

jeanacorina · August 2010

Too much math.

sgervais88 · August 2010

I personally do think the price for the e-pics is outrageous. Ours cost $99 at a location of our choice for an hour and a half, and we got a high-resolution CD with all of the edited pictures on them (about 100).

She is only a part-time photographer, and since it is not her main source of income, she doesn't charge anything outrageous for her time. She is a professional though. Her wedding sessions start at $895 and go to $2,000, always with two photographers. That includes the price of the wedding album.

bourgehm · August 2010

Man I guess our photog was cheap! She didn't even charge extra for engagement pictures... I can't imagine spending almost $400 bucks on a book.... crazy!

notquiteblushing · August 2010

Our photog charges about the same for an engagement album. We didn't get one. In fact we didn't order any of the prints even though we loved them. We probably will get a few in the future but right now we're working on our wedding album.

notquiteblushing · August 2010

Oh I saw the update you gave about getting someone else to do your engagement shoot but keeping this photographer and I'll just give my two cents. Even though we didn't (or haven't yet) order any of our engagement pictures we appreciated the chance to work with our photographer before the wedding so we were more comfortable with him and his style. Also we got a chance to see how we looked in his pictures. That's a major plus of doing an engagement session in my opinion.

Acrosthec · August 2010

I totally agree with NQB on that last point about familiarity with your photographer BEFORE your wedding day.

oceana919 · August 2010

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_not-engaged-yet_seriously-tell-am-not-being-insane-wedding-photographer?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special Topic Wedding BoardsForum:136Discussion:9c55af7e-30ed-4d1a-8346-3935e85e9eaaPost:6cdd469b-b917-44fb-a603-b4c21966b447">Re: seriously?! - tell me I am not being insane about my wedding photographer</a>:
[QUOTE]<strong>Pretty sure he just jacks his prices up because he's Knot recommended.</strong> I just needed to vent for a second because I was definitely shocked at that! LOL thanks ladies
Posted by nottheonlydreamer44[/QUOTE]

Our photog is Knot recommended, and she's actually cutting us a deal off her normal prices. So that's not the golden standard, I'm afraid.

My understanding is that photography packages nowadays typically run $1500-2500. So, what you're supposed to pay does not sound all that unreasonable.

Are the e-pics part of your package or are they a seperate shoot? We're skipping e-pics, but our photog is doing TTD/Aftershots for us as a seperate contract. Perhaps consider asking him to cut e-pics out of your package (and reflect that change in your contract), or rework your contract to reflect rights to digital prints versus printed photos.

nottheonlydreamer44 · August 2010

NQB - I completely understand the whole aspect of wanting to feel comfortable with your photographer. If only it was that easy for us - apparently our photographer charges $500 extra to our already $2000 package if we want HIM to take our wedding photos. He also does not do the engagement photos there's one person who is the "specialist". Yes I find this all extremely strange. I asked to to meet our 2 photographers for the wedding - prior to the wedding so we can set some guidelines. I think the pictures will be beautiful either way every book I have seen of his has been amazing so I'm crossing my fingers for the same deal.

He did refund our $350 without any problem so that was easy!

Oceana - As I said before I fully intended and looked to spend $1500-$2000+ on our wedding photos so that did not bother me at all and I didn't think that was unreasonable. What was completely irrational to me was paying a seperate $900 just to take engagement pictures and get the prints for them.

They were not a part of the package it was totally seperate but he did not explain anything until after we'd already booked it. Then he magically turned over this price sheet which was not what he originally said so that's why I was so shocked. He was not willing to compromise on our e-pics and just let us pay a little extra for the high resolution CD. He was basically set in stone and I could not imagine dropping almost $1000 on engagement pictures that aren't even a part of the wedding package. Insane. LOL.

All is well in picture world, though - we're taking our e-pics on tuesday and it'll be a lot better (price wise and because we'll be able to include our dog and don't have a time limit). I'm excited to just have pictures of FI and I where we are celebrating being in love and engaged and not just for the wedding day.

Thank you all for helping me bring myself together and relax!!

seriously?! - tell me I am not being insane about my wedding photographer

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