Let’s talk wedding photography budgets… I feel like it’s not talked about enough SO here we go! I’ll be blunt off the bat… you get what you pay for. I’m not sorry about saying that! I’m pretty confident in saying it. I’ve talked to SO many past couples and even soon to be newlyweds that have REGRETTED their wedding photography choosing. They decided to go the more “affordable” root and did not get the quality of photos they were looking for. The number of times I’ve gotten “I wish we decided to go with you for photography” or “I wish you were around when we had our wedding.” I’ve even gotten a Facebook review of someone saying this! Its real and its TRUE.
I have also taken photos for couples who did not like their wedding photos so they could replace them with the photos I took for them. All of this is just SO SAD to me. One of the most special days of your life and all you have is mediocre photos that you don’t even like to look back on?!!!
I’m not saying to absolutely empty your pockets on a wedding photography package, BUT to research and consider your budget for your wedding photographer. More experienced photographers are going to be a little more expensive than someone who has “less” experience in the industry. They are also 9/10 times going to give you a WELL quality end product. Now this isn’t true in every case because I’m sure there’s someone out there charging 5k for a wedding photo package and giving back low-quality photos. This is why research is important!
The first wedding I ever shot I charged $500. Did I have the experience? Absolutely not. Could I have been paid more? Probably, but I still lacked wedding experience. At that day in time, I think I delivered high-quality photos and a good end product especially for what I was paid. I definitely made a few mistakes and do things much more differently than I do now with 2 years in the industry.
The point I’m getting at is if you hire someone brand new to weddings because you wanted to only pay $1,000 for your wedding photographer… do not have very high expectations for your gallery. They may surprise you, but you also MAY have photos you won’t want to look at for the rest of your lives. It’s a gamble, truly.
Here’s some tips when it comes to choosing your wedding photographer
- Come up with a realistic budget
- Distinguish what style of photography you like
- A traditional wedding photographer
- Fall in love with an editing style, there’s so many to choose from make sure you’re SOLD!
- Traditional style, minimal editing
