Do Amateurs Make Good Wedding Photographers?

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ChrissieLinnit

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My daughter is getting married in June this year and wants to cut some costs. One of them is the £600 she has been quoted for professional wedding photography. Is that a wise economy, do you think?

Her idea is to get me (I'm a pitifully average enthusiast, specialising in hounding my immediate family on every and any conceivable occasion!) to take the formal photographs with my Canon Powershot S3 IS, and appeal to all of the other guests with digtal cameras to snap away to their hearts content after the ceremony and beyond.

I'm uncomfortable carrying the responsibility but sympathetic enough of her financial situation to be considering it seriously.

Has anyone else experienced this sort of situation? Does anyone have advice/ recommendations? I know a very gifted amateur photographer here on the South Coast who I would have asked to come along with me for a reasonable financial reward, but as my daughter is getting married in Solihull it would be impractical.

I really would appreciate advice and recommendations.

ChrissieLinnit
 
£600 is a good price for a 'Professional'. I wouldn't personally risk paying any less.

Next best thing would be to throw disposable cameras at all your guests, and collect them afterwards.
 
It's a difficult one. For me, I would want to go for something professional, but circumstances can make that difficult.

How about asking for money towards the photographer as a wedding present?? Just an idea...
 
First of all :welcome: to TP :wave:

To be honest, £600 doesn't sound a lot for a professional wedding photographer and being even more honest, even if you were the best photographer in the world I wouldn't want you covering my big day with a couple of hundred quid's worth of point and shoot camera.

The memories of the event will be something you'll want to look back on in years to come, do you really want to be cursing yourself for not spending a few hundred pounds on some nice pictures?
 
Its yours daughters wedding, and she wants YOU to take the photos??? One word.

Disaster.

It just doesnt work, how are you going to be in the photos as well? And to be honest, £600 is a good price for a pro, I would certainly go for it, you'll have piece of mind then.
 
Depends on the ameture, I'm sure a very high percentage of the wedding pro's on here will have done a freebie at one time or another. Your situation I'd say no way as the one thing you need to be is confident which your clearly not and do you really want to miss large chunks of your Daughters big day behind a camera? If I was you I'd get the £600 out of my pocket and pay it for her.
 
i know of someone who charges less than £400 with amazing results, albums and so on. i really need to talk him into putting his prices up the more i see on here

pity its so far away as i could have passed on his details
 
Ive just noticed you said she is getting married in Solihull? Thats not far from me at all!

Ill be happy to discuss something with you Chrissie, drop me a private message if you are interested :)
 
People who don't do photography don't understand the costs of it, and why it is so expensive.
Frame of mind of "oh, it's only a few photos"
Similar to people who don't do ICT.
"oh he's only fixing my computer, it's fine"
it's just as much a profession.

Not having a go, just stating that £600 is cheap and at my wedding when I get married I'd quite happily pay £1500+ for the photographer, even if I had to wait a year to afford it.

Don't skimp on the photos, because after the booze, the only thing you'll have to go by would be your blurry memory and the wedding photos.
And if both are crap, well then memory can only go so far!
 
It depends how she values the photographs.

For me, the photographs are very important, in future years they may be key to evoking emotions and feelings from that special day.

To be honest, I'd hate having everyone messing about with Cameras at my wedding. Hire a professional, get the job done right and everyone else can concentrate on the wedding, not faffing with their P&S

Now, as to weather or not your up to it, its really only something you can decide but one thing is certain, if you decide to take on the job there's plenty of people here who can give you good advice - just make sure you ask the right questions ;)
 
Having got married about 18 months ago I am still VERY glad that I paid out for a good pro tog - I'm still delighted with my album and prints after all this time, and having seen a couple of mates albums I'm relieved I spent out to be honest.
I'd agree with everyone else - Firstly, don't think you can do the photography and enjoy the day, it won't work! Secondly, £600 sounds very low cost, so check their portfolio before commiting.
 
We paid £750 for ours 12 months ago - the shots were excellent and we were really happy. Our sacrifice to get the price though was we only got one set of prints from them and a disk copy of high quality jpegs instead of the usual books/large prints, so we had to print/get printed any extra or big copies for our guests.

I suppose we were lucky to get a disk, looking at it retrospectively!! :)
 
Dont do it. You really wont enjoy the day.... you will miss bits like talking to family etc. And the if it all goes pear-shaped in any way, you will feel terrible. :nono:
 
I've been to weddings, my own included and I recall the brides mother being in a lot of the photos. It may be her big day, but its a pretty big day for you as well.

By all means get people to take digital cameras and to collate the pictures, but you should really think that a good photographer to document the day properly. However prices vary dramatically as does the competence of the photographer
 
OK, for us the photos on the day were not important.
So we didn't have a photographer (We didn't have many guests, but that is a whole different topic!)
I handed my compact to my mum, my sister had a camera, my mother in law had one and my wifes friend had one.
We paid nothing for the photos, we got nothing inspiring.

If that is what is required, then go for it. If you think after the event there will be requests for prints and the like, get a pro in. There are plenty who are just starting out and have the talent but are building up a customer base...
 
i got married back in may this year i got similar quotes any who i decided to ask a mate who has a dslr and takes photos at karate matches as a amatuer

we paid him £250.00 for the days work had several meets with him at the venue before hand i will be honest here i got alot of good photos and we missed loads that i asked him for because i was enjoying my day he got one's i would also never of seen this to me is go professional they know what they are doing and you will enjoy the day more remember it is only one day and you cant get these redone if something goes wrong who will be to blame
 
I'm new around here but I have to echo the thoughts of pretty much everyone else here.

I've been asked on 3 occasions by people (one of them, my cousin) if I can shoot their wedding day. I have kit capable... but I don't have the wedding shoot experience to do it. It's not something I've ever done.

My response has always been "this is meant to be the most special day in your life. You have to have a perfect record of that day and I cannot guarantee that for you". I simply do not have any wedding shoot experience and I can't risk ruining someones day by giving them photos that could easily end up being no better than a disposable cameras quality.

It's a one off event so it's not like you can go back and re-shoot shots that come out bad.

So, I would look at what else you can cut back on and pay for someone who has experience.

However, good luck, and I hope everything goes very well. Be IN those photographs and enjoy your daughters special day.
 
Betty said:
Its yours daughters wedding, and she wants YOU to take the photos??? One word.

Disaster.

It just doesnt work, how are you going to be in the photos as well? And to be honest, £600 is a good price for a pro, I would certainly go for it, you'll have piece of mind then.
Click to expand...

Yep I have to argree. For a start as the bride father you'll have tasks to proform, and you will be in quite a few of the pics, how do you plan to "muilti task?" Secondly because of the above you simply won't be able to give the photography side your full attention, and thats a recipe for disaster. Either get someone who knows what their doing to help you (from the forum maybe?) or better still cough up the money and get a pro, although £600 isn't much for a decent tog, theres nothing to stop you taking some pics if your really must, but to be totally honest in your shoes I'd want to relax and enjoy my daughters wedding. Wayne
 
My youngest daughter used a disposable camera on a recent trip to Marwell zoo... the camera cost her £5 and the development (at out local Asda store) was a flat fee of £7.99! And, only around 10 of the shots were what I would have deemed 'printable'. So, I know disposables wouldn't be an option for us.

Knowing that someone else thinks £600 is reasonable, though, is a relief.

Many thanks for your thoughts, ChrissieLinnit
 
You have PM
 
WOW! Masses of replies. And every one has some experience to share or knowledge. Thank you everyone!

What a great way to make a newbie feel at home, eh?!

General consensus is: £600 is not a bad price; mum's need to be 'part of' the Wedding celebration not detatched from it, as a photographer has to be; and, asking guests to snap away is not a bad idea - as a supplement to the 'pro'.

I called my daughter and son-in-law to be and got the to read this discussion thread, and we're all agreed that £600 for a permanent tangible memory of such a special day is NOT an extravagance... in their book, it's essential. So, they will be booking the photographer.

They've reassured me that they have seen this company's weddings portfolio. They are regularly used at the wedding venue (Kennilworth Castle) and the £600 is for a fixed number of shots in one album plus a CD... and they have the option to purchase more should they desire, post event (which I'm sure most newly-wed couples do...)

I'll still be taking my trusty Canon with me and looking for my own unique photo opportunities But at least now the pressure's off!

Thanks everyone, again.

Chrissie :love:
 
Excellent decision on theirs and your parts.

Best of luck to you all and enjoy the day :)
 
Chrissie, welcome to TP :thumbs:

Personally I hope you find the cash for a pro photographer, whilst I understand that money is tight for many couples the benefits of hiring a pro will be obvious from the second you see the photos. £600 does sound a good price depending on what you get for that and the area concerned. If you are really cost concious try to find someone who will include a disc with all the images on, that way you can get the photography done now and the album and physical photographs done in a few years - that may cost you a little more than the £600 but I will be worth it.

If you need any further convincing can I start quickly with your camera whilst it is a very good family camera it will never get the same results as a Pro Spec digital SLR, there are very good reasons why Pro Wedding Photographers spend thousands on their kit.

A Professional Wedding Photographer is likely to spend a good deal of time before the day checking out venues, meeting the B&G etc as well as significant amounts of time after the ceremony perfecting the photos. I personally spend at least 2x as long in post and pre production than I do actually taking photos on the day; so for a 10hr wedding, I'll spend about 20hrs both preparing for the day and editing the photos.

Next consider the fact that the photographs of the wedding will be one of the longest lasting elements from the day (a good album will be passed down for generations, well in to the 2100s) and that for those involved looking at them in years to come will always bring memories from the day flooding back. What memories do you want of the day? Do you want to watch your daugher on the happiest day of her life or spend the time worrying about getting aunt enid into the next shot?

Finally, I would ask you imagine how you would feel if you are responsible for the photography and the photographs you take don't come out? What you would say to your daughter and how will she react? Is your realtionship strong enough to cope with that?
 
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