Author Topic: Wedding Pictures  (Read 6777 times)

401Killer

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Wedding Pictures
« on: April 28, 2014, 06:18:51 AM »
Stumbled on a wedding in downtown Detroit that had 4 professional photographers. That's right, 4 separate people all with their own equipment taking the same pictures of the same people. What would this cost? I know that the cost of wedding photos can easily reach thousands but my fiancé and I laughed at the potential cost of this. Our photos will cost us $300 because we didn't want to have to ask a friend to do them.

 


mrsggrowsveg

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Re: Wedding Pictures
« Reply #1 on: April 28, 2014, 07:29:09 AM »
I went to a bridal fair and all of the photo packages that were offered were at least $2,000.  Luckily, we were married in Mexico and only paid $300.

mxt0133

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Re: Wedding Pictures
« Reply #2 on: April 28, 2014, 02:03:58 PM »
I've been to one of those weddings where there were 4-5 photographers and had a presentation during the dinner part of the wedding of pictures taken during the ceremony and cocktail hour.  They even had a photo both during the entire wedding for group pictures.  So yeah it can get over the top.

KathleenTurnerOverdrive

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Re: Wedding Pictures
« Reply #3 on: April 28, 2014, 02:21:08 PM »
Holy crap. Sounds like the bride has a touch of "me me me" syndrome.

I went to a wedding once where I later learned the photography (admittedly really nice, but it was an entourage of 4-5 people, so kind of over the top) cost SIX THOUSAND DOLLARS. For one day.

El Limon

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Re: Wedding Pictures
« Reply #4 on: April 30, 2014, 06:22:52 AM »
There should be a whole category on this forum for wedding insanity. Over a grand for a photographer always kills me. My buddy, who is massively in the hole, paid around $1500 for a photo package. By the time they received their album and glamour shots posters a few months later, they were extremely hungover from their wedding high, and didn't even bother to open the album. Two years later, he hasnt opened the album yet, and their giant portraits are currently....wait for it...in a storage unit!   

sleepyguy

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Re: Wedding Pictures
« Reply #5 on: April 30, 2014, 08:29:53 AM »
Oh for sure, that list would be endless!  Off the top of my head... GF/SO cousin in California... 250k on wedding... her side disapproves of who pays what... long story short, parents divorce after financial issues shortly after their daughter (her cousin) marries.  How pathetic is that.  Sadly their extremely Anti-MMM lives have really carried over after marriage as well... I feel really sorry for the husband as he actually seems like a pretty cool guy.

There should be a whole category on this forum for wedding insanity. Over a grand for a photographer always kills me. My buddy, who is massively in the hole, paid around $1500 for a photo package. By the time they received their album and glamour shots posters a few months later, they were extremely hungover from their wedding high, and didn't even bother to open the album. Two years later, he hasnt opened the album yet, and their giant portraits are currently....wait for it...in a storage unit!   

RealCanadianSavings

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Re: Wedding Pictures
« Reply #6 on: April 30, 2014, 08:38:23 AM »
I've been married 2 years and I still feel guilty about the cost of our wedding. We did pay for it up front without any help from family, but I was aghast to have spent $10,000 on one day (120 guests). I tell myself now that I would never do it again, and I wouldn't.

We did keep the photos reasonably cheap. We hired a photographer to do portraits on the Wednesday before for $200. For the wedding we had friends and family take pictures and it worked out just fine. Now I question it though... Is $200 cheap? And how much did I spend on prints and photo books? Oh well. Can't change it now.

William

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Re: Wedding Pictures
« Reply #7 on: April 30, 2014, 08:45:23 AM »
Honestly, I have actually seen better wedding photos taken by undergrads as a hobby than professional photographers.

The undergrads just have so much pizazz!  Is that a word?  Meh.

I remember my parents paid hundreds for my high school senior pictures.  The most expensive professional in our city did them (family friend).  Sorry, but they are such crap!!! :)
« Last Edit: April 30, 2014, 09:15:28 AM by William »

seanc0x0

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Re: Wedding Pictures
« Reply #8 on: April 30, 2014, 09:00:17 AM »
We hired a relative of a co-worker who was looking to get into photography. It was not expensive, as far as those things go, I think about $500 or so. She was a really creative photographer and we were very pleased with the results. It was a win/win, cheap photos for us and business building for her.

We also ended up getting a copyright assignment on the photos and licensed them back to her for her portfolio, which means I can use them for whatever I want, get them printed up any place we want, etc.

EhcatsuM

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Re: Wedding Pictures
« Reply #9 on: April 30, 2014, 09:03:07 AM »
I like photography and its true that some "professionals" suck at taking good pictures and the prices are over the top for the quality. But a great photographer would take memories not pictures.  For my wedding the first one I contact was a good photographer, she gave me a good price but the talent she have worth every penny. Its something that my grandchildren would appreciate. The wedding photography is only to immortalized that day for the history of your family.  If you don't want to do this, stay with crappy picture that you would be to embarrassed to show or don't have a photographer.  Why have one? if your goal isn't history. 



lifejoy

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Re: Wedding Pictures
« Reply #10 on: April 30, 2014, 09:49:53 AM »
Ugh. Wedding photo costs stresses me out! So not worth it. And yet... it is easy to sell the idea of "preserving memories".

What is with our culture's obsession with freezing time?

Forcus

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Re: Wedding Pictures
« Reply #11 on: April 30, 2014, 10:53:22 AM »
Unfortunately, though extremely frugal in some areas, wedding video and pictures were not things I could minimize on with the new wife. I think it was $2500 for video and pictures which I understand is on the cheap end compared to what people usually spend. Of course, we have one picture hanging up and never watch the video so it still chafes me a bit.

The catering though was worth every penny!!

LucyBIT

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Re: Wedding Pictures
« Reply #12 on: April 30, 2014, 11:40:51 AM »
Elsewhere on the forum I mentioned a friend who thinks we can't have our upcoming wedding for less than $10,000. During the discussion, he told us about his awesome and cheap photographer, who only cost $3,000 (our entire budget).

Splurging on any portion of the wedding, if it's important to you, is totally fine in my book, you do you. It mostly just bugs me when people act and talk like there wasn't any choice, or have a skewed idea of what "cheap" is. No, $3,000 is not cheap, and no, you didn't HAVE TO spend that amount. Is it worth it? Sure, if you decide it is. But cheap it is not, and there is always a choice.

vegasdude

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Re: Wedding Pictures
« Reply #13 on: May 02, 2014, 10:02:50 PM »
What if you scheduled a photographer for a few hours and didn't tell them it was for a wedding? I bet the price would be much lower. Basically do the same thing with the flowers too.

CarDude

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Re: Wedding Pictures
« Reply #14 on: May 02, 2014, 11:30:34 PM »
What if you scheduled a photographer for a few hours and didn't tell them it was for a wedding? I bet the price would be much lower. Basically do the same thing with the flowers too.

I wouldn't recommend this, both from the ethical standpoint (sort of like if you worked at McDonalds, your boss asked you to show up for a party and then ordered you to start flipping burgers once you arrived) and from a practical standpoint (you're not going to get his or her best work even if you somehow tricked him/her into showing up).

I've got a buddy who shoots weddings--well, he used to. He gave it up this year because of how hard it was to find folks willing to pay normal (e.g., 2k) rates, especially with so many unlicensed folks running around charging $300 to shoot all day with crop cameras and kit lenses. No, the rates most professional wedding photographers charge aren't rates we'd pay, but I don't begrudge them for what they charge. The issue with wedding photography is that there's no real barrier to entry. You can't legally work as a plumber without documented training, which is what allows actual plumbers to make a living wage doing their jobs. Since this doesn't exist for wedding photography, a lot of people looking for a quick buck can easily water down the field and make it hard for the people who do it for a living to stick with it.

joleran

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Re: Wedding Pictures
« Reply #15 on: May 04, 2014, 11:16:20 AM »
What if you scheduled a photographer for a few hours and didn't tell them it was for a wedding? I bet the price would be much lower. Basically do the same thing with the flowers too.

Basically, most professional photographers would have a clause in their contract that would let them turn around and take your deposit, leaving you with no pictures and out however much.  Shooting a wedding is much more challenging and draining than shooting some portraits and group shots (now, if all you want are some portraits, you should be able to work something out, even if the portraits are at a wedding)