The Importance of Hiring a Professional Wedding Photographer.

I want to talk to you about photography and the importance of hiring a professional wedding photographer, opposed to letting a friend with a good camera do it, leaving it to your guests or hiring a non-wedding photographer.
I know I talk a lot about photography on the blog but I really do feel it is a part of the wedding that is really important to get right!
As a photographer I have heard a number of horror stories about wedding photography. People being let down with the results that a non-professional has produced. Couples choosing to let ‘a friend’ do it, or ‘I know someone with a good camera’, or ‘we’re just going to let our guests take the photos’. This is all well and good and you may feel that you will be saving money by doing this, but in the long run I can guarantee you will be disappointed. Your photos are the only lasting memory you will have of the day, and if they don’t turn out as you want, you will be disappointed.

Many people when they first start planning their wedding and researching prices may think that a photographer comes with a hefty price tag; ‘they only do one day’s work a week’ or ‘their job is simple’,  well think again. A Photographer will meet with you for an initial consultation, they will then have email or skype contact with you before the wedding, they will listen to your plans and answer your questions, in some cases acting as an unpaid wedding planner. Then on the day of the wedding they will be with you for most of the day. After this they will edit your wedding, going through the thousands of images they took and cutting it down to 800 ish (based on a full day) images for you to look though. All these images will be edited individually, this can take anything from 2 days to a week. Not only is there the time, there is the cost of running a photography business. Most photographers will shoot with 2 cameras each costing thousands, as well as a back-up camera in case anything goes wrong. They will carry a multitude of lenses each costing hundreds of dollars, some thousands, flash, spare batteries, memory cards amongst a whole host of other technical stuff. They will pay for insurance, advertising, registration fees, website fees, and then there is their transport. All in all wedding photography isn’t cheap because it isn’t a cheap business to set up, run or maintain.