Choosing Photog for MY own Wedding

I'm getting married later this year.(Yah me) and I'm having trouble finding somebody that I want to do my own wedding. I've been a member here longer then I had a camera and frequently read a lot of different post on a variety of subjects. so, I feel I know more about the topic then the average Joe people contract with. I feel this is getting to be a curse now.

Ex.
I just want a dvd of slightly edited digital prints back, though I notice most people here upsell for actually prints w/ no digital copy given. I understand it's a business that I, myself want to get into at some point. Torn over this

I thought of asking for Raws to practice my own skill with, but after getting involved with the RAW thread here, realized this is either VERY taboo or very expensive.

Talking about money, I know this is a very "you get what you pay for" area of business. I and my Fi and doing it ourselves and we aren't made of money and I do have to look at the price a bit.I've seen the threads where people don't really like people the stick only to a price.

A lot of the websites I have looked at, their pics look good. Everyone seems to know what they are doing and it makes it hard to choose.If I could clone myself to shoot my own wedding I could. My Best Man is the next person I would want to do this. Good news is I am meeting up with a Member from the forum for the job and trying to sit under as a second shooter for practice work.

How did everyone else handle this?

danegerous23 wrote in post #15475645
How did everyone else handle this?

I'll tell you how I did it.

I hired someone of whom I trusted completely, and just sat back and let him do his job, and got the regular products that he offered. No requests for alterations to any of his policies. Looking back now, I wish I had bought more from him, like an album. I figured I could make myself an album no problem! Well, I did... just this past October! I was married in 2004. It took me 8 years to design my own album.

Just hire someone you trust to do the job, and just let him/her do their best work in the most comfortably way they know how to. If you like their shooting style, their social interaction, their processing style, then there isn't anything you really need to alter.

picturecrazy wrote in post #15475922
I'll tell you how I did it.

I hired someone of whom I trusted completely, and just sat back and let him do his job, and got the regular products that he offered. No requests for alterations to any of his policies. Looking back now, I wish I had bought more from him, like an album. I figured I could make myself an album no problem! Well, I did... just this past October! I was married in 2004. It took me 8 years to design my own album.

Just hire someone you trust to do the job, and just let him/her do their best work in the most comfortably way they know how to. If you like their shooting style, their social interaction, their processing style, then there isn't anything you really need to alter.

I agree, this is good advice.

picturecrazy wrote in post #15475922
I'll tell you how I did it.

I hired someone of whom I trusted completely, and just sat back and let him do his job, and got the regular products that he offered. No requests for alterations to any of his policies. Looking back now, I wish I had bought more from him, like an album. I figured I could make myself an album no problem! Well, I did... just this past October! I was married in 2004. It took me 8 years to design my own album.

Just hire someone you trust to do the job, and just let him/her do their best work in the most comfortably way they know how to. If you like their shooting style, their social interaction, their processing style, then there isn't anything you really need to alter.

bingo.

picturecrazy wrote in post #15475922
I'll tell you how I did it.

I hired someone of whom I trusted completely, and just sat back and let him do his job, and got the regular products that he offered. No requests for alterations to any of his policies. Looking back now, I wish I had bought more from him, like an album. I figured I could make myself an album no problem! Well, I did... just this past October! I was married in 2004. It took me 8 years to design my own album.

Just hire someone you trust to do the job, and just let him/her do their best work in the most comfortably way they know how to. If you like their shooting style, their social interaction, their processing style, then there isn't anything you really need to alter.

I completely agree.

We got married 10 yrs ago, and my mother in law knew a photographer from the city paper. He shot film. She paid him I think $500 and he came a little early and shot some getting ready at the church, the ceremony and some formals. Probably under 2 hrs and I love those photos. We had friends shooting at the reception and those are fine.

But yeah if I had to choose at this point in my life, I'd just find someone good and pay them to do what they're good at.

I kind of went a slightly different route from Lloyd. I trusted my photographer but I hired her more because of the fact that I liked her over her work. It sounds kind of silly coming from a photographer, but since we were having a small wedding (only 10 guests) I didn't want some random stranger strolled in on my wedding day and being such an intimate part of it. To me, having someone there that I would have liked to have been there even if they weren't a photog was more important. So, I hired my one good friend who also happens to be a photographer.

I could have gotten better results if I'd hired someone else but at the end of the day my priorities wouldn't allow that. I'm very happy with my pictures (for as much as I look at them, which lately hasn't been a lot). And I'm very happy with every person that was at the wedding.

My approach is to hire one of the best photographers in the country, someone who has a similar style to what I do but is better at it. I'll let them do their thing, pay them their regular fee, feed them, treat them as I'd like to be treated. I will do my own album though, with their permission already given, I'm very good at getting around to things like that.

Thanks for the replies. It does help put my mind at a little more ease.

I got married in Hawaii back in 2004. I paid lots of money to get it done right. I got an album and DVD out of it too. I picked the people with the best reputation locally. It was perfect. As a wedding photographer now, I look at my album and I am still super impressed.

My advice is to try your best to get it done right the first time around.

No regrets. None. It was worth every penny.

nicksan wrote in post #15479740
I got married in Hawaii back in 2004. I paid lots of money to get it done right. I got an album and DVD out of it too. I picked the people with the best reputation locally. It was perfect. As a wedding photographer now, I look at my album and I am still super impressed.

My advice is to try your best to get it done right the first time around.

No regrets. None. It was worth every penny.

That's awesome man.

I will heed the advice of others who posted to hire the photog and let them do their thing. We hired a trusted and busy photog with a beautiful portfolio - we just didn't pixel peep and should have - all the images were beautiful but the focus was mis-shot on nearly all of them. It was a headache and heartache to go through and try to find images suitable for printing and displaying other than on the web. And we asked for RAW files that we could edit ourselves, which she agreed to do, and provided jpegs (she thought we MEANT "unedited" files. Ugh) so editing was a double nightmare. We would have loved to have had her just do her entire thing start to finish and dispense with the angst of it all. Congrats on your near nuptials!

danegerous23 wrote in post #15475645
I'm getting married later this year.(Yah me) and I'm having trouble finding somebody that I want to do my own wedding. I've been a member here longer then I had a camera and frequently read a lot of different post on a variety of subjects. so, I feel I know more about the topic then the average Joe people contract with. I feel this is getting to be a curse now.

Ex.
I just want a dvd of slightly edited digital prints back, though I notice most people here upsell for actually prints w/ no digital copy given. I understand it's a business that I, myself want to get into at some point. Torn over this

I thought of asking for Raws to practice my own skill with, but after getting involved with the RAW thread here, realized this is either VERY taboo or very expensive.

Talking about money, I know this is a very "you get what you pay for" area of business. I and my Fi and doing it ourselves and we aren't made of money and I do have to look at the price a bit.I've seen the threads where people don't really like people the stick only to a price.

A lot of the websites I have looked at, their pics look good. Everyone seems to know what they are doing and it makes it hard to choose.If I could clone myself to shoot my own wedding I could. My Best Man is the next person I would want to do this. Good news is I am meeting up with a Member from the forum for the job and trying to sit under as a second shooter for practice work.

How did everyone else handle this?

I'm getting married in 2014, same issue for me. I shot a togs wedding on Christmas eve, gave him all the Raw files and the edited tiffs. I don't mind giving the Raws to another pro as they know what they're doing.

Would love to do Texas. You get the flight / hotel and I'm there. (date dependent!)

Compare prices and go with the cheapest you can find.

I compared prices and went with the most expensive. Sometimes price and quality go hand in hand. I could find a free wedding photographer among friends, but I want the best.

I've shot two weddings for other photographers on this board. They were some of the best people I've ever worked with. Neither of them asked me for the raw files, they just let me do my thing.

Don't be afraid to reach out to someone here who's work you admire, even if they are not in the same state or country. You might be surprised to find out that they are willing to shoot for a reduced rate.