Photographer help!

Whatever you do, just do a ton of research...

Check every photographer out on the Better Business Bureau website, and make sure you see A LOT of their work (anyone can put together one or two albums of good pictures, but you want to see entire albums from the same wedding, etc.)

It can seem like you're getting a great deal, but I've heard so many horror stories about brides never getting their proofs, or getting terrible quality pictures. I have a friend that was married 6 years ago, and went with a very inexpensive photographer to save money...She's STILL waiting for her album!!

I checked out a TON of photographers and actually found that the more well known ones had lower prices than the small, independent photographers.

I'd recommend meeting with as many photographers as you possibly can, and then comparing the benefits of each one...You might be pleasantly surprised at how different pricing/packages are..Good luck!

One thing I found is that I really enjoyed working with the owners of small companies versus the larger vendors. Many times too (and this is just the case of the vendors I visited which I saw 15 photographers), the smaller guys are more expensive for there smallest packages but when you start adding additional stuff, they tend to throw things in like negatives for a lot less $$. I think the things to think about with photography are:

1. Definately, regardless of whether the studio is big or small, try and meet with the photographer that is going to be working at your wedding. Many times bigger studios don't give you this option unless you ask and the rapeur there I think is very important.

2. Decide if you need one photographer or 2 photographers.

3. Decide if you want digital or traditional photography.

4. Decide if you want photojournalism, traditional posed or a combo.

Answering those four question should help narrow your search down quite a bit.

We visited 6 different photographers. We saw low quality, (1) good quality, (1) very good quality, (2) and exceptional quality pictures (2). The price did not necessarily equate with the quality. Of course, what we consider quality might not equate with what someone else with a different eye, or a different vision of how they want their pictures to look thinks is quality.

Search the site, you'll find reviews of the most popular photographers. You'll find out why one photographer worked for one bride, but might not work for another. Check the Better Business Bureau, and then make a list of those you want to meet with. Meet with them, look at their work, get a feel for the photographer who would do the actual wedding day pictures, and see who offers what you want, and a price you can afford, that you want hanging around for 12 hours (whether or not you see them beyond the posed shots).

All of this of course, is just one bride's perspective.

I booked with Bill Minnick. www.Minnickphotography.com. He has his own business and offered me a great package for such a reasonable price. Also, he checked clean through the Better Business Bureau. Hmpena is also using him.

I am getting 50 image coffee table book, 2 parent albums, thank you's and negatives with 2 photographers and 9 hours of photography for just under $2500. His work is really nice too and he has about 30 different packages. He also let me customize my own package to meet our budget.

FM me for more info if you would like.

I definitely recommend meeting with any photographer you are interested in. We were absolutely in love with one studio's photographs, but after meeting with them, we could not imagine putting up with their attitudes for a whole day!

Make sure they agree with you about all of the shots you want to take. If you are narrowing it down between a few studios, ask for a second meeting, bring your 'must take' list or print outs of photos you want to re-create and ask them if they can copy them.

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Posted by IslandPrincess

I am about to start looking for photographers and I'm starting to realize how expensive some places are! Do you guys think its better to go through a well known place or one of the smaller studios? Any experience with smaller studios or does anyone know any photographers with reasonable prices, preferably with video too? TIA!

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Time Xposure has really good prices, and the work is excellent too!

Jacquie