My friend is a wedding photographer and their photos look great. I would love to hire them but their fee is twice as much as I have budgeted. They mentioned that there might be a friend discount, but they haven't said anything more specific (I can't imagine a 50% discount!). I haven't said anything much to them yet, as I've been focusing on doing more preliminary work, ie. booking the venue, selecting the date, creating a budget, and drafting a guest list. What is the best way to approach them?
So far I've been thinking of sending them an email saying we'd love to work with them, tell them my budget range, and say that I completely understand that this is not what they normally expect for work, and that if it's too far from their typically fee if they could recommend any local photographers who are in our budget range or are less established/still trying to make a name for themselves?