Wedding Photography

how much is too much?

I agree with you regarding the pictures. I am having a photojournalistic style for my photos. I could easily pay over $4000. I'm with you on the whole not wanting to spend that much. I found a great photographer who does the photojournalistic style for $2500. I get all my finished proofs as well (600-900 proofs). He is the cheapest because of how long he has been at that studio. (1+ yrs). But he does amazing work and is booking up quickly because he does great work and he is the cheapest so in no time flat he will be in the $4000 range.

I think 2,000 is a nice amount... and I am considerign asking a friend who does photos as a hobby to follow before and after the "photography session" just to have another style of pics

Our photographer is $3,800.00 for the package we selected.

Do not scrimp on the photography.  Even on a low budget wedding.  There are very nice packages that starts off at 1200.  Keep searching!  Plus, with technology these days, you can find someone or just buy a nice camera to take some digital photos for your engagement.  You have to watch some of these photographers b/c some don't tell you that if they stay longer, it's a fee.

Ugh, I am totally having this same dilemma.  I thought our budget was around 2,000 but my fiancee and his family think that's too pricey.  I really think you have to spend a little sometimes to get good quality but we'll see.  I'm thinking in the end we'll probably be spending around this much.

I am having my wedding in my hometown of St. Louis, Mo. I was adamant about having a photojournalistic photographer. I hate all the posed crap. It bothers me :).  Anyway, I searched EVERY single photographer in St. Louis with a budget of no more than $3,000.

We ended up finding a fabulous photographer for $2,000!   I get all copyrights and proofs, plus a flushmount album. My FH and I don't need the engagement session included in the package, so we were able to use the extra cash to hire a second photographer, which everyone says is an excellent idea. My photographer is Kelly Park. Check out her work! It IS possible to get a great photographer at a great price!

http://kellyparkphoto.blogspot.com/search/label/weddings

http://www.kellyparkphotography.com

You should spend 10% (or 15%) of your budget for photos

We went with the $2,000 package from our photographer. That includes a free engagement session, five  hours of photography on wedding day, and a $1400 credit towards anything we choose to buy. This was a perfect package for us. I guess it also depends on if you are doing a videographer as well! That all adds up :)

Remember though that the day only lasts a few hours..where pictures last forever. That is how I thought of it when forking out the money for it!

Hey Sara,

I'm a Boston bride and had the same problem trying to find a photojournalistic photographer at a good price (Boston is outrageous for weddings in general). I did find Jared Charney from Brookline. He is only charging me $1500 for:

Jared Charney Photography, 2nd photographer, eight hours of coverage, high resolution B&W/Color/Custom Color digital photography captured in RAW format, processed, edited and given as TIFF files, all transportation. A web gallery for friends and family to view. A complete DVD of all edited digital files.

I have to point out that I am having a weeknight wedding, so he did some down on the price a bit. Still, I thought it was great that he's giving me the rights to all my edited photos and I don't have to pick and choose or buy seperately.

You could view his portfolio at

http://www.downingstphotography.com/index.html

I hope this was helpful!

Best of luck planning.

A man from my church is offering me both photos and videos for $800 but my fiancé still say that is to much.

i'm using a photographer that is really amazing (also a photojournalistic style), and has done some weddings, but isn't his focus. he's young, probably 26 or so, and is only charging as AT COST which means whatever photos we buy, that's how much it'll cost. he's also giving us a cd with all the photos, and we are going to have him do our engagement pictures, which he is also letting us do at cost. he's wanting to "beef" up his portfolio and totally break into the wedding market, so that's why he's not really charging for his services. he's really good, though, check him out if you want: http://www.jershots.com/

I found him on this awesome wedding website called wedding wire. there are vendors and songs, etc. to help you. www.weddingwire.com

We're spending around 3,000 but i have her for 10 hrs. to catch all the getting ready stuff too.  She is wonderful and I loved our engagement pics.  u should check out her website ~ she'll travel ~ because we're from tampa.  but she has lots of diff. packages. Good luck!     abbeysaxton.com

well we lucked out... jeffs aunt does photography on the side so we only have to pay to get our pictures developed

we're spending $7K on photography and she's well worth every penny!  we got her largest package, which includes epics, 8 hours of coverage, 2 shooters, albums, prints, and all images on disc afterward.

food, open bar, photog and dj were the most important things to us, so we're not scrimping on any of those.

Hey hun...my sister used a woman that my brother in good friends with.  I believe she is from Durham, CT (around my parents) and she was AWESOME.  Meg's pictures came out phenomenal.  Her name is Sandy.  I want to say Meg's photo budget was only like $2,000.  I'll talk to her tomorrow and let you know. :)

aha! found it!

http://www.santinaphoto.com/index.html

thank you guys so much for all these helpful posts!!!!!

I went with Bella Pictures, they do photojournalistic work, which is what I want as well. We got lucky, since we booked in March, we got their $4,000 package for $3,200. 8 hours coverage, unlimited pictures, custom album design, DVD's w/ negatives, retouching, RIGHTS TO THE PICTURES (which is VERY IMPORTANT)! We also get two premier upgrades, one of which will be our engagement session. I am really looking forward to working with them!

It depends on where you live for one. Some areas are higher than others. But from a photographers point of view I hope you don't mind me saying that while I agree with the other comments on not skimping on the photos...it's also true that there are other things to keep in mind while hiring one of us. Like make sure you connect with the photographer. I for one am an artist and if I feel like there is strife between the bride and I, my pictures aren't as good as the brides whom I'm meshing well with.
Also, in my profession unfortunately I see way too many other businesses take advantage of their customers by charging ungodly fees for the same amount of work I put into mine. Don't go with the highest priced simply because you think you'll get the best...it's simply not true. I'm told time and again how wonderful my work is but my fees are fair. I'm in it because I love it.

~Deanna
www.keesephotography.com

My mouth is at awwwwhhh right now...I can not believe how much photos are these days??? Me myselft since this is our third wedding/reception, we're having 2 cameras at each table for our guests to take shots.  This has a big thing now-a-days. Total:$80.00! And even throw in a few...Less than $100.00!  Good luck...these amounts expressed in the blogs above? That is almost a down payment on a house!  Is a downpayment on a house in some states...