Arguing with FI, help with Photography

uh I hate men. I am having the hugest argument with FI because I told him Photography is expensive. I also told him that photo and video are the most important things to me because those things will last for a long time. I got a few quotes (between 3,000 and 6,000) for photography and he was arguing with me that those quoates are too high. I explained well what do you want polaroids taken at the wedding.

Can anyone help with inexpensive photographers.

thanks

I really don't know how many good photographers there are for under $3000...

I used VIP and it was under, but we didn't get parent books...and I booked 2 years ago...

I would try him...I was very pleased with my pics...

if not..sacrifice on other things...dj instead of a band...etc...

just to quote Marie from Wild Rose on the vendor board (I hope you don't mind Marie)
Photography & videography should not be taken lightly.

These are the 2 vendors you will be booking that will capture the emotions of your day. These are the two vendors that will give you a finished product full of memories and emotions.

Do not skimp on these vendors.

You have videographers that charge 800.00 or 900.00....be careful!

You have videographers that charge 5,000.00

Photographers can range from 1,000.00 - be careful!
And go up to 10,000.00
It depends on many, many factors.

You need to see at least 3 of each and narrow it down at that point. I don't know what your style is or what kind of coverage you are looking for.
That also depends on how much you spend.
Don't be afraid of high quotes from either vendor.
You should go, look, ask questions and compare.

I think that is the best advice I can give you.

Good Luck planning!

Marie

http://liweddings.com/chat/topic.asp?ID=49372

edited to correct typo...

I think Erica's advice was fair, but I would like to go a step further and offer this advice: it's not about spending a lot of money. I think Marie's advice doesn't clarify that enough...it sounds like she's saying 'shoot the lock off your wallet!'

Before you can begin to look at photo/video vendors, you need to determine what style of photography you want, and what your photo needs are the day of the wedding. If you cannot afford to get parent albums, for instance, then tell your parents you will purchase one 8x10 for them but they will have to buy their own album if they want it.

Do your research as was suggested, and when you call a photographer to meet with him/her, ask if they can customize a package to your specific needs. There's no point in meeting with a studio if they will only offer your Package A, B and C - regardless of your budget.

Choose a style more than number of pictures. A good photographer is not going to limit the amount of film he uses for your wedding.

Hope this helps you a little.

I definatly think we made a great choice with videographer. I only looked at one and fell in love with it, booked on the spot.

I keep telling FI that in no way i will not skimp on photo. he on the other hand is looking at all the other expenses we're going to be facing (we're paying for the entire wedding) and he doesnt want us to end up in debt because of one vendor.

He just makes me so mad. I have one photographer someone recommended and they seemed really reasonable and seems a lot of brides on here use him. So i am going to call him tomorrow and make an appointment for next week to see him.

he just makes me so mad.

I have an awesome photgrapher price was about $2400 for ohotgraphy and they are awesome. Nino is the owner and photgrapher. HTey do high quality work and area pleasure to work with.

Lombardo Studios, their website is under construction but if oyu want a # let me know.

I have a friend that does photography as a hobby. He told us when we were looking that professional photographers were going to be expensive. He said if you expect someone to take pics of the entire day you have to pay a lot of money.

The reason he explained to us is that the film that they use are very EXPENSIVE. They are not making the huge profit we think they are. You will notice that photographers that offer more pics are more money. If a photographer says he will give you 200 pics at days end he will most likely take about double that actually the day of to ensure he has 200 to give you.

Then you tak into that the style of photographers. Some photographers use a lot of technology to get pics to look a certain way. Also photojournalistic style pics require photographers to basically take pics almost every single minute of the day.

I understand you, because it also happened to me. For FH it was unbelievable that we would spend half of the cost of the food on photography ... but I put my foot down and said that pictures were the onlly thing I was getting expensive (my dress was very simple and non-expensive), and I AM PAYING FOR THAT!

So I got my way through. I hired Cassarinos, because for the money I had it was my best option, their work is beautiful, and they know the place where I am getting married. Now, I have to work FH about smiling and been cooperative with the photographer (he hates posing). I am not getting video though, I don't particularly care about it ... actually I find it very intrusive, but that is only my opinion. In pictures, getting parents' albumes, portraites, and photojournalist I am paying $3500

Good luck!

Elena

Melissa,

John & I are also paying for the entire wedding (except for RD) and we had 1 year and 8 months from the time of our engagement to the time of our wedding this May. We alo live together & have bills like everyone.

We had to scarifice alot to do this on our own. We skipped having dinner out often, I clothes shopped only when necessary, and no going away vacations since he propsed to me in Aruba.

If you want something bad enough, you can do it, trust me.

I think what Marie wrote on the vendor board can be related to as yabbobay posted it, meaning, don't skimp is all, no you don't have to spend 5k, but find someone you love because you love their work, not because of price.

I am trying to have a very budget-conscious wedding. I don't want to sacrifice quality, so I'm giving up on quantity by looking for a photographer who will shoot just the ceremony and first 2 hours of reception, plus an hour pre-ceremony. Also, no albums. I've only just begun to look at photgraphers so I can't say if this will work out, but it's the way I've come to resolve the issue. Good luck!

thanks everyone...

i just feel like this is going to be a huge fight with him. I feel like we're going to look at so many photographers and he is going to like one person because of the price and say the work is ok and i am going to like someone else who is a little expensive but think there work is amazing and its going to be a huge fight.

This is the one thing i will fight for though because there is no way i am skimping on photo. it is our memory of the wedding that will last a lifetime.

uhhhh...he gets me so mad. everything else he has been great with but when he started hearing prices for photo's he only started hearing and seeing dollar signs and nothing else.

Jenn we are in the same boat as you, we havent gone out for dinner in so long. Last time we went out was in December and it was my treat as a celebration that we both got new jobs. The time before that was in September.

I was going through the same thing with my FH about a year ago when we started booking vendors. He could not believe that it was that expensive. We ended up booking Laurie Studios for photo ($3200) and Wild Rose for video ($1799). We found high quality vendors and made tough determinations about what is really important to us. Would I love to add on that second photographer to my photo pack age or the second camera at the ceremony to my video package - you bet. But it was not within our budget and it isn't going to kill me to let those things go.

So while I agree that you should not skimp on those vendors, I definitely think that you can hire excellent vendors without putting yourself in debt.

As for Keith, he was just beside himself about the photos and I still don't discuss that price with him. I really love our photographer and I refuse to let him steal my wind

Edited to say: I chose the photographer without Keith there. ALL he cared about was the price and it just made my life so much easier.

Thank you everyone. I was reading everything to FI and it seemed to hit him that wedding stuff is expensive and he seemed to calm down with the prices of stuff.

Thanks wacky on your suggestion.. Thats who my parents used when they got married 25 years ago. Lombardo is about 5 or 10 minutes from where we live and i am going to give them a call to set something up for the week.

thanks everyone

Try Timeless Impressions, Tanya is her name i belive. She does great work and is affordable

www.timeless-impressions.com