why a wedding photographer is worth the price

I’ve thought about this blog post for a long time. Debating on whether or not I should post this, if it would ruffle feathers or cause problems with some people, but that’s when I sat back and decided that if I don’t voice my opinion what’s the point in blogging?

In wedding planning we always look for a way where we can skip on costs because let’s face it wedding’s are expensive. One of the most expensive things? The documentation. Something I saw a lot in wedding blogs, wedding articles, and even in the freaking wedding wire budget app were to “try to find a cheap or even free wedding photographer,” the app didn’t say that, but when I put a budget in it had a DJ priced higher than a photographer. A DJ!

It blew my mind. Cheap out on the documentation of your wedding?! Let’s back up for just a minute here because everyone’s gonna come at me with “the day isn’t what’s important, what the day represents is important,” yeah, you’re right, but I’ll be damned if the day that I promise to spend the rest of my life with someone isn’t recognized as important, so yeah, getting it photographed is important. Besides your marriage and your wedding bands, the only thing you’ll have left after the day is over is the documentation (your photos and videos). It’s the only thing you’ll have to look back at to remember the day. The only thing you’ll have to share with people who weren’t here that day. So no, I do not recommend cheaping out on the professionals you hire to document your important day.

These are tangible things that you will pass on, these photos don’t end with you, these are things your grandkids will show their kids. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had clients tell me that they want a photo their parents had, or their grandparents. It’s special to them, it spoke to them. These are tangible memories, make them count.

“But it’s expensive.” Expensive. There’s a word I love. There’s a word that has a lot of different meaning to everyone. What’s expensive to me might not be expensive to you. I think a $40,000 vehicle is expensive because I don’t see the value in it. You might think a $5,000 vacation is expensive because you don’t see the worth. Maybe 5 nights a week at the bar is totally possible for you but buying healthy food at the grocery store is too expensive. See where I’m going with this? Expensive really doesn’t have a definition. You’ll spend the money if it’s worth it to you, there’s always room in the budget.

I once read something that spoke to me in so many ways, it went a little something like this: “you can spend $20,000 on a wedding and hire a $500 photographer and it’ll look like you spent $500 on your wedding, or you can spend $500 on your wedding and hire a $20,000 wedding photographer and it’ll look like you had a $20,000 wedding.” While it doesn’t matter what you actually spend on your wedding, you want the photos of your day and of your people to look timeless and worth it, right? I would hate if I had spent $20,000 on decor, food, DJ, dress, etc. and the photos made it look cheap. Maybe that’s just me?

When we met with our wedding photographer, geneoh, we had a set budget of $5,000 in mind. We talked and talked and we (Dylan) said “nope, can’t go over. This is enough.” Then we talked with him and we saw his work and it was all over from there. When he left the coffee shop and told us he would email us details Dylan looked at me and said “you want the biggest package he offers, don’t you?” “DUUUHHHH!” but what he said next was just another reason I knew I was marrying the right guy “me too.”

Some people might say we got ripped off, or that we paid too much, or that a $3000 wedding photographer would have done just as well, and those people are entitled to their opinions. I’ll just tell ya right here, it was worth every damn penny.

When you’re looking for a wedding photographer there’s a few different things that you and your s/o should think about. What’s your style? What editing style are you drawn to? Light and airy? Dark and moody? Technically perfect in every single photo (every shot in perfect focus, perfectly composed, perfectly posed, not a flaw in sight) or emotionally capitative? Whatever you’re drawn to isn’t wrong, but you need to be authentic with yourself when you think about it.

For us, we wanted someone that would capture emotion over everything. We didn’t care if every photo was in focus and perfectly lit, we wanted to feel all the feels when I looked through my wedding photos. We wanted tears, belly laughs, and everything in between, blurry or in focus, we wanted it all.

You also have to find someone that you will click with, if you love their work but hate their personality I’m sorry to say that you need to find a different photographer, it won’t work. Your photographer is the person you will be spending the most time with before and on your big day, they’ll be at your side for the whole 8, 10, 12, however many hours you’ve booked them for. You’ll probably see them more than your bride/groom. You need to make sure you connect with them. Not every photographer is for every couple and that is okay. It’s important to know this, if you hire someone you clash personally, professionally, or artistically with your wedding photos will show it.

Here’s a few thing I recommend when reaching out to a potential wedding photographer:

When emailing them, don’t jump straight to “how much for a wedding?” Knowing what to expect is great but that doesn’t give either of you a sense of who you are. They may shoot back a webpage with all of their wedding packages laid out and you don’t even know them as a person yet.

Meet with them. Talk to them in person. When you find a wedding photographer chances are you’ve been drawn to them because you’ve already seen their work. You already know that you like what they do and how they do it, meet with them in person now. See how well you click. Talk investment in person.

Check out their social media. Maybe that sounds creepy but in today’s day you can usually get a pretty good feel of someone based on their social media. You can get a good sense of who they are, what they like, how they photograph their lives. It helps.

Ask questions. I feel like so many people are terrified to ask questions and we shouldn’t be. This is one of the biggest days of your life—ask the damn question.

Try to really dig deep on these. Try to really find out what you love and why you love it. You might love your sister’s wedding photos but you’ve come to find that you don’t love your sister’s photographer. You don’t click with them the way she did. Maybe you loved your best friends photos because she loved them but deep down you know that you would have wanted this or that differently. There’s nothing wrong with being a little selfish as a couple on this. Don’t book one because your mom, dad, sister, brother, friend, etc. is begging you too, book one because you want them. You have to live with them for the rest of your life.

I truly hope that my unpopular opinion helped you and when you choose your wedding photographer you choose it for you. Don’t ever let anyone tell you it’s not worth x-amount of dollars, it is worth it.