Wedding Photography – Money Saving Tips
The photography and videography for your wedding can reach up to 15% of your wedding budget. Making some prudent choices will keep your costs to a minimum, so you can spend it in other more visible places. Although you want to immortalize your wedding day, think of the wedding pictures of your parents or friends. Once the wedding is over, other than a few choice pictures, most of them are in an album on a shelf for the rest of your married days. So, planning well now, will save you money, and still let you have those perfect memories preserved for future generations.
Money Saving Tip #1 – Have your wedding at any time other than Saturday evening. Many wedding photographers offer discounts for weddings that take place during the day (as opposed to evening) or on any day other than Saturday.
Money Saving Tip #2 -Hire a photographer who works out of their own home. Check their wedding portfolio to see the work they do. Check references by talking to other couples who hired the photographer in the past. Home-based photographers don’t have the overhead costs that a studio has, giving you a greater cost savings.
Money Saving Tip #3 – Hire a photographer for the ceremony and official pictures only. Ask a few special friend to be the “wedding photographers” for the reception, and they can take a multitude of photos that you can later develop.
Money Saving Tip #4 – Purchase a disposable camera for each table at the reception, and invite your guests to take pictures of their table mates over the course of the evening. Have a basket where they can deposit the full cameras at the end of the evening so you can later have all the pictures developed.
Money Saving Tip #5 – Be cautious of all the extra frills that come in the photographs “package deal”. Look at all the extras and see what you really want to have, and what you really don’t need. Do you really need that expensive, leather wedding album cover? Do you want the “official wedding portrait” or is one of the shots from the wedding perfect and you just need to have an enlarged copy?
Money Saving Tip #6 – When you look at all the proofs (5×5 pictures) of your wedding to choose your favourite shots, consider actually purchasing all the proofs. These would make great gifts for the bridal party, family, and special participants in your wedding. Your favourite shots could still be reproduced in different sizes, but you would not need so many copies.
Money Saving Tip #7 – If your family or friends want copies of your wedding pictures, consolidate your order and place it all at once. Also, some photographers give a discount if you order your prints within a certain number of days from the wedding. Read the fine print, and ask questions.
