Wedding photography recommendations
 

Anyone have any recommendations or referrals for a wedding photographer? Wedding/ceremony/reception will be all in one, back yard type of wedding looking for someone to do maybe 4-5 hours total of photos. Don't need anything crazy or lighting setups etc. just want to capture the day/night and a hand full of formal photos.

From quick searches I've seen prices anywhere from $1000 to $3500

Honestly, on Princible alone I'm not paying anyone $2000+ for 5 hours of
Photography. May sound ignorant to some but you aren't a lawyer for Goldman Sachs.

I know everything has a wedding markup, but if anyone has a recommendation or is someone who can do decent work at reasonable prices that would be great

Less than $2k? sorry but you are gonna have to the roll the dice on some newb on craigslist. If you want someone to show up with a cellphone, take 5 hours for photos, and then just had you the memory card, you might be able to do it for your budget. But the reality is they are showing up with 10-15K in gear, shooting for 5+hours, editing for 10+hrs, and have spent years learning the craft so they don't fuck it up


maybe look at what you might get : Here

IMO: taking those pics required skill and perfect timing :drunk:

You need to up that to at least $4000 for anything decent for a wedding.

Check out Lovefrankly.com

might not be able to do it within your budget tho

Lol..is there any "profession" that overvalues their work as much as the photog? Honestly like making more than my fucking dentist makes an hour..really?

And how much $$$ in equipment they bring is irreverent. That's the job. We bring a $250,000 excavator to a job site so I better pass those costs along to the customer :/

Prices are rediculous imo for what people are offering in comparison to other costs related to the wedding, and that's saying a lot.

The thing about wedding photography is not just about the gears, but the experience.

A seasoned pro wedding photographer knows where and when to be during a wedding to be memorable. Good wedding coverage basically walks one through a wedding based on a certain theme rather than just recording a few moments.

Any gearhead can drop by a wedding with over 10k+ in equipment, but they wouldn't know where to use those equipment.

At the same time I get it. A Systems Admin job requires a lot of experience, typically with 6+ years of working in the IT field. They get $40-50 an hour ($80k-100k annual). Their work is extremely important and any mess-up can break a business/company.

Let's apply $50/hr to a photographer. You shoot a wedding for 6 hours, and edit for 20 hours (generous). $50*26 is still $1300.

If you pay a photographer $2500 for a wedding shoot, which seems to be the average price in Vancouver, that's $100 an hour. There is definitely a "wedding markup".

I'll do it for you. $1999, RS special.

:drunk:

yea.. like i get it and people photogs obviously pick and choose their spots as they arent making this money all day every day.. however, as i said in the OP, i have a hard time paying somone as much, and in some cases MORE than a 5-6 person catering company catering a 3-5 course meal for 100 people..

I'm kind of stuck in a spot as well because i dont want all the traditional BS photos of like the bride/groom getting ready, the vanity shots, etc. All i want are candid photos of the wedding itself, maybe a few from a very quick ceremony, and thats it. But for the most part the people i've talked to/enquired with basically have set packages for hours/photos, regardless of the situation.

Most of the photogs I know/have seen aren't a one man show.

I've been looking for a wedding shoot as well, but I was not able to find any $2500ish that comes with 2 photographers. If you know any, care to share?

Really? you don't think the wear and tear on your excavator comes out of the customers pocket?

Can I hire someone to dig some holes for $50/hr? I don't care about your transport time, or set up and take down, or the cost of your equipment, or your 10 yrs experience. They are just sitting there pulling on some levers. Sounds pretty easy.

See how dumb that sounds?

Uhh yeah... you are comparing one guy's salary to the cost a business charges, they are not the same.

$50/hour does not just go straight to the photographer, it's $50/hour less all the expenses to run a photography business - insurance, accounting, marketing, equipment, driving, you name it. The actual guy gets way less than that.

Then you need to further consider that there are like 4 months a year for weddings in BC - the rest of the time I am sure he will try to fill his days, but it will be much harder to earn income seeing as he is basically going to take odd photography jobs to try to fill his day.

You could argue that a guy who is just doing it for fun on the weekend for cash doesn't incur those costs, but then you are simply not hiring a professional, you are hiring a weekend warrior.

Maybe your wedding is worth taking a chance that you get poor photos, or worse yet, a chance that they don't even show. But don't worry, I'm sure your fiance will be fine with that as long as you got a deal...

Mark

My thinking is that photos and videos are the one tangible take away from the whole wedding experience. It's better to budget for it than cheap out on it because it's the one thing that will keep your memories alive.

Everything else is meh, except food, people will always remember the food.

That's why I had a large budget for it. To me it's well worth the "wedding markup" if the company is tried and tested. I don't agree with new to the business charging crazy amounts, but that's what you will get on the low end of the spectrum. Entryway people will charge $2500, and it would be a hit or miss, double that and get someone reputable.

PM me if you like. My photography business partner and I do it. We aren't cheap like Craigslist photographer but will give you great value for your day. Good people giving our professional photography services to great people. Give me a message if your interested. When is the big day?

I always love the conversation around pricing of wedding photography. Good points all around here.

mananetwork if he still hangs around these forums

Is it you who is marrying?

Well, first, congratulations!

Second, about your question:

My friend, a year or two ago, used:
https://www.yelp.ca/biz/fotodigio-studio-richmond

Fotodigio.

The owner, Raymond did it for $1,500 + extra printing fees (so, the print outs, etc. were extra, so it depends on what you want).

But, the time for Raymond to take pictures was $1,500 (includes photo editing).

You should inquire there.

I saw my friend's pictures are they were very, very good.

That guy has at least 10+ years of experience.

I'd be careful with photographer who charges printing fees.

Some of them would not give you the full resolution file; meaning you'd always have to go back to them if you ever want anything printed.

No no, he gave my friend the original CD disc with the $1,500 fee.

But, if you want enlargements, etc. or regular prints, he can do that too.

Just wondering, what do you think is a reasonable price for what you want Hondaracer?

As soon as the word "wedding" is involved the pricing for things seems to get ridiculous.

Using the suggested $4000, for 5 hours shooting and 10 hours editing that's $266/hour. Sure that's the charge out rate, not the wage, but that's more than the charge out rate for some engineers for crying out loud.

Saying $xxxx amount is like saying, why does it cost so much to make a latte at Starbucks, or Hipster Coffee Company. A latte will cost you $4, but the cost of goods used it about $0.30. I think they must make $3.70 profit = Billions of $$$ profit per year! Wow, same as wedding photographers, you should see the house I live in!

/Sarcasm..

While I understand that there are people offering wedding photography services for a lot cheaper, they don't help out the photographer that is trying to make a living out of it. Example, if someone who does (whatever you do with an excavator worth the same $250,000 as you) that gives the same service, for less money with less experience would really kill your market, and hence your job.

Uhh you know $4000 will include a bunch of printing including an archive quality that can easily COST $400-500 to print right? This is not some stupid apple book... Also by your rationale of everything should be compared to an engineer I am very curious about how you justify pricing for athletes, movie stars, artists, or public personalities...

But yeah, go ahead and fail me, I don't know anything about business or the cost of sustainable pricing as an accountant and commercial banker. Idiot.

Mark

Oh I'm sorry, I didn't know I had to make comparisons to a variety of different fields with charge out rates before thinking that wedding photographers seem to be overcharging, my mistake. You're assuming that I think the pricing for athletes, movie stars etc is justified, when it's the complete opposite. Even if you knock off $500 worth of printing you're still well over $200/hr and I'm sorry but that sounds insanely high.

Since you're so concerned about being failed, I'll let you know it was for that last line of b/s in your post. That "but it's your wedding" fear mongering crap is why everything is so bloody overpriced as soon as the W word is mentioned, sure it's a once in a lifetime event but a lot of places seem to use that as an excuse to rip people off.

I'm also curious how you think commercial banking applies to photography, working as a wedding photographer isn't exactly a typical commercial business.