Can I get off my soapbox now and just be a bride?

When it comes to photographers thats the name of the game. None of us really get it... they charge what they want. I wish I could help more but after going to (literally) like 20 photograhpers... I still dont know!! lol

thank goodness I booked duet already!

PS. Do you need help getting off the soapbox?

I depends on what you want to pay for upfront, basically. And how much you can spend, and if you want albums, and when you want them.

I try to break it down like this-

Real wedding Albums are like $800-$1000 or so from photographers, parents albums like $500 I think - maybe less. I'm making my own, so I'm not getting that from my photographer (www.albumhouse.com). I also want to see if there are enough pics I like.

Amount of time day of wedding - unlimited? specific number of hours?

Amount of proofs, and are proofs real photos that you can frame and/or put in album or do they have writing on them?

Do you own the negatives? How much are reprints? Can you buy them?

It kind of all adds up to about the same:

About $1000 - $2000 for photographer, film, and proofs and maybe negatives. And maybe an assistant.

about $800 - $1500 for albums.

Digital is a slightly different ballgame - photographers have no film, so pics should be unlimited.

Anyway, I have people I found who are inexpensive and are a la carte, if you want to check it out on my webpage:

Page

We just booked our photographer this past weekend...celebration studios in Manhattan. We were hoping to find a photographer on LI but we really loved their work so we went with them. We wanted a good blend of black and white, color, pics with some traditional and a lot of candid and photojournalistic pics. Their website is www.celebrationstudios.com and they list all their packages and prices online. They have really good pricing and you get a lot in your packages imo. What is also included in the packages that is not posted on the site is a kodak webpage they set up for you with allyour proofs that you can send to family and friends. They also have the option of purchasing the pics from the site if they wanted to. We booked the masterpiece package (the largest package) and we saved 10% by paying for it in full (we put it on our credit card so we could get th epoints!!) and with tax the package came to just over $3000 which I think is good for everything we get...they even threw in an extra parents album at no extra charge since FHs parents are divorced. We are using David, whose work we just fell in love with. Hope this helps!

Divabride...I am as confused as you are!
If I get to the answer...I will tell you girl. But for now...let's try to dig into other people's brains.

Seriously... I am in PR and I know that you can hire a photographer for an event and pay $300 for about 4 hours. However, as soon as you try to book the same person for a wedding their price shoots up. I know albums are expensive to produce - but thousands of dollars?

I am really annoyed. I met with Duet today and discussed their $3600 package. I am off to more photographers tomorrow. Duet was really cool, but a little too much for me.

We'll see.

I know what you're feeling - I'm sure ever bride does. I for one do not have an answer for you - or myself. I think that what it comes down to is first deciding what you can afford to spend and then what youwant from the day. How do you expect the photographer to capture the wedding moments. Some photographers will offer pre-set packages. The amount is set and the number of things they offer are set. While other photographers will allow you to put together a set and then price it out. Why they charge what they charge - who knows. I'm sure a lot has to do with the whole concept of demand - those photographers in higher demand can ask for more $ - and obviously we'll pay if we think it's worth it.

Personally....I went with a photographer that allowed me to create my own package since my needs do not fall into a pre-determined package (for example I only want one parent album). Before looking at photographers I looked through lots of pictures and came up with a list of poses that I would like to have - that list helped me to determine what style I prefered. I found that I was leaning toward more of the photojournalistic style so that was something I was looking for. When I went to meet with the photographers I looked at their work and paid attention to those who's style matched up closely to my expectations.

I wanted my negatives - for a variety of reasons including the what ifs - what if I move to another state - I don't necessarily want to come back for reprints. What if years from now the company goes MIA? Silly things but still important to me. KWIM? My photographer made a good point - when they showed me the digital album the first thing they said was 'you'll know the moment you open this book if it's for you. It'll either wow you or it won't.' It didn't for us although it was very beautiful. It just wasn't our style. Sometimes you have to roll up your sleeves and dive in to determine what you want.

Sorry for rambling - good luck!

It depends on what you want. I think most photographers will let you add and take things away from your packages. I chose Duet because I am not crazy about digital albums, and I don't appreciate pushiness. I liked the price and the packages offered. I wanted

2 photographers
keeping negatives
2 parents albums
epics
high proof guarantee
Unlimited time
use of different styles in photgraphy

I have a question - whats the deal with the negatives? Even if you get them, aren't they copyrighted? So wouldn't that mean that you would not be able to get them reprinted without the copyright info? Help me out. This photography thing is very confusing.