You have everything booked from purple petals to flying doves and now you are looking at booking a photographer. But you are asking, should you book a professional wedding photographer, or could a friend do it to save some money?
Let’s find out.
Here is the dilemma…
You have an uncle who takes a good picture, or you have a friend who takes an outstanding shot of his dinner on Instagram. You are thinking of asking them to take the pictures of your wedding as it will be cheaper than paying thousands for a professional photographer.
I see your point. I sincerely do… why would you pay all that money for a photographer when it’s just someone with a camera who will point and click, then send you the images via cd. It can’t be that hard! Can it?
Let me let you into a little secret. It’s just you and I here. I once was that ‘friend’. I was a music photographer, shooting images that were appearing on NME and many broadsheets. We’re talking Blur, The Strokes, Usher, The Beach Boys… I was doing extremely well in my environment. But then a very good friend asked me to photograph their wedding.
Before this request, many people had asked me to shoot weddings over the years, but i’d always chosen not to to do them. I had always told them it was not what I did…
But with this friend, I decided to go ahead and shoot it.
I didn’t know the basics of wedding photography, I didn’t know the ins and outs of what creates great wedding pictures. The results are ok. I think my very good friend was happy with the outcome. But as a professional wedding photographer now, I look back and shudder and can see every mistake I have captured on ever lasting film.
You see… it’s not easy. Uncle Albert or your best mate may be great with a camera, but you need a professional to know exactly what to do. You need a snapper with experience that knows what to do with light, and how to change things if needs must.
I have since read numerous blogs and articles about brides moaning that they asked a friend to shoot their wedding to cut costs, but now have a collection of pictures that they do not even wish to look at. One lady picked their photographer on the pre-text of how well he shot pictures of cars!
Can you see where this is heading?
“Would you book a plumber to build a wall because they both work with houses?”
A wedding photographer’s trade is very different to any other photographic business. Of course the basics are the same, but to know where to position groups, how to deal with churches, its a different craft.
Now… here is the biggest point.
The images of your wedding are the only things you will keep from your big day for many years to come. You will be looking at the pictures 50 years later! You want the pictures to be the best they could ever be!!
“Remember, there is one thing you take away with you from your wedding day other than the memories. The pictures!!”
You do not want to save money on the photographer, if you are going to save money, save it on the doves, or somewhere else. But in my opinion, the photographer should be the 2nd biggest expense after the venue and is the single greatest thing you keep from the day.
If you take heed of this advice, you will thank me down the line. You really will. Or, you will think of this article and wished you has taken on board what has been said.
Check out more posts from the blog!
I am a Destination wedding photographer who has been featured within Your Kent Wedding Magazine, Rock n Roll Bride and Your Sussex Wedding Magazine, with images also published in the The Daily Mail, The Telegraph, The Independent, The News Of The World and many other large newspapers and magazines.
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Ross Hurley Photography has been featured in