Picture in your head your beautiful day- the dream dress, venues, decorations, the hours of planning and expense gone into making sure this day is simply amazing. You are celebrating your love and your connection on what is most likely to be the most incredible day of your life. You are surrounded by family and your best friends and you have planned one heck of a party!
Weddings are not cheap. Everything adds up and quickly! Budgets get blown and things get reigned in. It is important to consider in these circumstances, where you will make savings and cuts. Many of the costly trappings of the day food, flowers, decorations are going to be gone once the day has passed. Certainly, you want to enjoy the experience and have a nice party for people, but is that where you want to invest your money- in things that don’t last?
One thing that I come across so frequently is that people choose to make cuts and savings on their photography, rather than in other areas.
This has devastating results all too often and I am often receiving e-mails from heartbroken brides who look back on their dream day with disappointment because the photographic record they have left doesn’t reflect the expense and beauty of the day. She was and felt the most beautiful she had ever been in her life and yet her photographs do not show her or remind her.
So why are some photographers so cheap? The answer is very simple. They can’t secure bookings for a higher price. Their work is not good enough to warrant charging any more for it. They become desperate for bookings so they charge small amounts to secure them. ”You get what you pay for” is so true! There’s a very good reason you’ve heard that saying time and time again. Even so called “professionals” are delivering substandard quality and the word professional often is reduced to mean a person who owns a digital SLR camera with megapixels to burn.
When you’re making your decision as to who will photograph your wedding, consider this: The money you spend today (even if you feel it’s expensive) will seem like less and less as the years pass. Eventually that initial outlay will be insignificant, but your wedding photos will forever increase in sentimental value.
Even the wedding planners help reinforce your photography budget- sometimes negatively. Often they will suggest that the photography is likely to be 10% of your entire wedding budget. 10%!!!! of something that captures 100% of your day and lasts the longest! It makes no sense. I have worked with clients who have invested a lot more of their budget in photography. They choose high quality beautiful products which they are proud to have displayed on their home as Fine Art and as beautiful albums which will become family treasures and heirlooms. No matter what your budget, you do not have to limit yourself to substandard quality. It is all about what you value. The venue and decorations are a backdrop to the real event- the love between you both and the promises and vows you are making which will shape your futures together.
The photographic record of your wedding day is what you have left.
My philosophy when it comes to photographing a couple is to capture the emotion, the love, the heartfelt moments of everyone present and the connection between the bride and groom. My aim is to capture the love so strongly and so honestly that when the photograph is displayed beautifully framed on the wall- the couple remember exactly how they felt at that moment and what was being said. If a couple can see this image everyday – when things get rough (as they tend to in a marriage) they will see that they have something real to fight for. They will see the love, the connection, the romance and the beauty of the past and realize they have something special.
In New Zealand the best way to find a real professional is to go to the New Zealand Institute of Professional Photography www.nzipp.co.nz