Wedding Forum - Cheap and good photographers and videos in...

ill post a website on your wall their based in st helens

thanks hun - i think ive fixed it :-) x

I'm finding it difficult trying to find one too. I have looked at loads, some great and some awful but they are so expensive. I don't care how good someone is, I am not paying £1000 for them to come out just to take pictures without anything else included!! Anyone have a good photographer in north west that isn't charging a fortune?

DeeC and mjb87

Firstly, congrats on your engagements.

I'm going to address the issue of cost of wedding photography here and how it pertains to your wedding.
I get the impression from a lot of brides on here that they think that wedding photographers are just a bunch of dirty old men in trench coats who are out to take as much of your hard earned money as possible.

The truth of the matter is that wedding photographers fall into two camps -

Those who are doing it as a 'paying hobby' - i.e they have a job but shoot pictures on the weekend for some extra income the tax man won't know about. They will charge you whatever figure they can suck out of their thumb.

Those who do it as a profession - i.e shooting weddings is all they do, they work in a professional manner and charge professional rates which they need to work at in order to keep the business healthy.

Those who fall into the first camp may seem like a bargain choice when first compared against those in the second camp if you are simply looking at a bottom line figure. Like most things in life however, there is a bit more to it than that.

People who masquerade as wedding photographers on the weekend are the sole reason why you see articles in the paper about appallingly poor video (as witnessed recently), or 'photographers' who disappear after taking your money, or giving you terrible images of the wedding.

I can't stress this enough - if it seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Lets pretend I'm a caterer for a second - if caterer X quotes you £2000 and I quote you £200 wouldn't you think there was something dodgy about me? After all, how can I afford to charge only a tenth of caterer X? Do I use rotten meat, catering vats of 'mystery jam', or have I cut corners by not getting proper health checks, or training?

A professional photographer isn't charging say, £1000, 'just to come and take a few snaps on a Saturday' - they are charging you for their time (usually a full working week per wedding from start to finish), plus all their overheads, oh and of course their talent, expertise and skill.

There is no right or wrong, and I've no doubt you'll find someone who suits you and your budget - I just want brides to also have the photographers point of view on pricing.

I care deeply about giving my couples a professional service with amazing images in quality albums and sometimes it can cut a bit close to the bone when people (not you guys specifically) say we are all shysters out to basically bleed you dry. Hopefully a bit of dialogue between brides and photographers can help clear these muddied waters somewhat.

HTH

Alex

I've gone with a local (Wigan) professional who's catering to what I want at a decent price. You really need to shop around - pop into bridal shops local to you as many hold info to companies and people to use, also recommended is wedding fairs as that's where I got mine from.

I do understand how hard photographers work and it must cost a lot to buy in albums etc. I personally was on about a photographer who wanted £1000 just to come an take pictures which I personally think is a lot to ask for when you don't get any pictures, CDs or anything included. They were all add ons which you have to pay extra for. I have seen a lot of great photographers who charge fairly for thier excellent work. Sorry if i offended anyone.

^^^

DeeC, not to worry, I wasn't offended by your post.

There is an awful lot of talk in the last few years about how we as wedding photographers are all rip off merchants, so I just try to take any opportunity that presents itself to show things from our side of coin, so we can all get a better understanding of each other.

Personally, I'd say £1k just for attendance is a little bit on the steep side, but not wholly unreasonable - it depends on that photographers own business model (are they happier to shoot less at more per wedding etc..?), or are they in demand so much they can dictate market forces?

Also, did they mention the costs of an prints, albums, DVD's?

You may find that actually you could put together a better package with them a la carte, than with someone who has, say, three set in stone packages at, say £950, £1400, £1950.

My own pricing is split for attendance, with prints, DVD's, Albums etc being charged independently. A lot of brides have said it makes it far easier to understand the costs involved and easier for them to create a package that fits their budget.

Again, it depends on what market they (the other photographers) are targeting and what area they are working in?

HTH

Alex

that also includes projector images of daytime bein shown in nite time and he does keyrings and pics at 5 pound each for ppl to buy