So this is actually two related questions.
I have a good friend who is a wonderful chef who offered to do the food for my reception. He is even taking two days off prior to the wedding to come down and prep (he lives in Boston and is traveling to New York). How do I let him know that we consider this a (very very generous) wedding gift and he should not get us something else? All the etiquette and advice I've read say that you are never supposed to expect gifts so mentioning it at all is rude. But after all that work he is offering to do I'd hate for him to this he also has to get a gift.
Part two is somewhat related. Another friend is a photographer. He has been talking about our registry so I know he plans on giving us a gift. I would like to ask him to take a few photos at the wedding in lieu of a gift. Not at the scale of a typical wedding photographer (which we are not hiring). I'd just like a handful of photos from the ceremony that aren't taken by cellphones. How do I approach this and ask for it in place of whatever registry gift he would get?