With so many photographers available, how do you know who to choose for your wedding day?
The first and most important thing is to make sure you've taken a good look at their website and/or portfolio. If their wedding images suit the style you're looking for, that's a good start.
But there are many other factors to consider and price should not be the most important. Because that old adage 'you get what you pay for' tends to be true in most cases. Which is why deciding to hire the least expensive photographer is not often the best choice. Someone who charges much less than standard professional photography rates is not a professional.
How can you tell what the difference is between amateur and professional photography rates? It's fairly simple…
Anything less than a thousand dollars for four hours (or more), is too good to be true. Those 'cheap rates' are almost certainly someone just starting out in the business.
Which is not necessarily a bad thing, but you run the risk of hiring an amateur or hobbyist photographer who may not have proper skills, experience or equipment. Someone who is new to shooting weddings may not know how to dress or act professionally at your event or how to be inconspicuous while still taking the very best shots of you and your day.
In Vancouver, standard rates for professional wedding photographers - with good reputations, good portfolios, good equipment and a wealth of experience - start at $1200 dollars for four hours and can range as high as $5000 or $6000 for longer, more involved shoots.
The highest range is for the well established photographers with many years of experience and a strong body of published work.
If you're hiring someone for two or three hours, expect to pay at the lower end of the scale. If you're looking for someone to shoot your entire day – from the wedding party getting ready at the beginning of the day all the way through to the reception at the end - expect to pay at least $2000.
Why? Well, professional photographers charge professional rates for a reason. They have high-quality equipment, they have years of experience and they give the very best results.
Bear in mind that a photographer's work is not done once they've taken several hundred photos of your wedding. All of those photos have to be edited and worked on. In this age of digital photography, most times that means a photographer will spend another several days working on your pictures in a computer image editing program such as Photoshop.
When you're hiring someone to take photos of your wedding, you're also paying for the many hours of work they will do afterwards to make your pictures just perfect for you.
Ten years from now, you may not remember exactly how your cake tasted, or what songs your dj or band played. Your wedding photos (and video if you have one) will be the one tangible connection to your memories of that day.
Your wedding day is one of the most special moments in your life. It deserves the best documentation. And that’s worth paying for.
Next time: The important questions you should ask when you're choosing a photographer.
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