Did you go over budget on wedding photography?

Lol yes, absurdly so. it was one of those things where my expectations were just WAY, WAY off the mark vs. what reliable, experienced photographers were actually charging. They will be so worth it though.

We went way over and I am not regretting it one bit. Their work is amazing and I get teary-eyed looking at OTHER people's weddings that they have done. These are the only thing (besides FH) that I will have post-wedding.

I went over budget and made sacrifices else where. You are right, it is the only tangible item from the wedding. You spend so much time and money on it, you want the pictures to be perfect because they will last forever. I had a friend not go with her dream photographer and in return, she was disappointed with the pictures she received. However, I wouldn't pick the first amazing photographer you find, it's definitely worth looking around!

It depends on what your budget is really. Most decent photographers start at $2,000-2,500 depending on where you're from and can go up to $10,000. If your budget is $500, don't expect much. If your budget is $3,000 you'll be fine.

Absolutely. We raised our budget to be able to afford my dream photographer & videographer. It was the most important thing on my list. (We wanted to spend 2k and went to 5k)

I had planned to splurge on our photography, as in $2500-$3k (in Oklahoma), so all but the really high-end people were in our budget. Nobody here charges more than $4500. But we ended up loving one of the less-pricey photographers, and then had a bridal expo coupon for her. So we ended up getting a great photographer for $600 under budget....total victory.

We stuck woth a conservative budget for photography and I regret it. We should have invested more. Our photographer was disorganized and didn't guide anyone well at all for photos. I have seen a few sneak peaks but I can already see little things that could have been better and more cohesive.

We each got one place to splurge. Mine was photography. His was DJ. We actually started pricing out our favorites before we came up with a final budget. Thee we made our budget fit the expected rates for what we wanted.

But since DH procrastinated so long on the DJ we ended up with a different DJ WELL under what we had budgeted for and frankly I think is a better fit for us anyway. I did get my dream photographer, and she worked with us to create a package which was under what I planned for but gave us everything we wanted.

Definitely went over-budget -- by a lot. But I feel like it's worth it, especially since we're not sure we're going to do videography yet.

Not us. We had a photographer for just the end of the getting ready, the ceremony, and some formals. We got a disk with the edited images, plus reproduction rights. Total cost was $400. And that was really all we wanted. The photographer had been with a big agency, and was just starting out on his own--his rates are much higher now. We loved his photos. And we have lots of photos of the reception by our friends.

For us, photos were mostly to preserve memories of the day. So spending so much on photography that the quality of the day suffered made no sense to us.

We surprisingly did not lol. We found a great photographer having a "30th anniversary" sale. We got our photographer, videographer, photobooth and uplighting for a steal!

We certainly did. I underestimate the cost of an excellent photographer in Los Angeles.

I did as well. I found another decent photographer for less money, but by then I'd fallen in love with my photographer's work and couldn't bring myself to hire someone else. I love our engagement photos and am so excited to see what she does with our wedding

Yup. And I'll let you know after the wedding if I regret it Or not.

I didn't necessarily have a photography budget...I was open to all price points. I really just got quotes from photographers for what 2 hours would cost (which is how much our venue gives us for our elopement ceremony/celebration). I got prices all over the place, from as low as $500 to $1,500. We ended up going with one of the more expensive ones ($1,100). I love their work so I hope it's all worth it.

I was not prepared for how much certain vendors cost, like a DJ or photographer. But the photographer was not one I was willing to compromise on. The one I loved loved loved was about $1000 over budget, so I kept looking. I found an amazing photographer who was a little less (about $500 more than I initially thought), and we booked her. Her engagement pics of us were amazing and she is incredibly easy to work with, so I'm 100% happy.

I definitely wouldn't skimp. I found other photographers for much less, but their pictures seemed underwhelming, overly edited, poorly framed, etc.

We went about $1000 over.

We definitely did. I think if you're gonna splurge on something, photos is the best thing to splurge on. I love pictures, our apartment has photos at every corner you turn, so I knew I wanted an amazing photographer to capture the day. I've seen wedding photos that were not so good at all, so I was willing to pay the extra to have amazing photos I'd have the rest of my life.

We definitely went over...

But I know it'll be worth it, she's incredible. Pictures last forever!

We knew from the getgo that we'd spend more on photography, because it was really important to us. It varies regionally and by style, but those images are worth their weight in gold to me.