Nobody understands the importance of photography to me

If it’s not in your budget then I would look around for someone cheaper. Especially if your budget is only $3000, having a $2000 wouldn’t make sense. Would the cost go down If they only did photography and not videography?

I definitely understand why photography is important to you. It is one of the only things you have left to remember your wedding day. I felt photos and video were two of my most important things. However, my husband felt a videographer was completely unnecessary. Needless to say, I won the argument because we had extra money within our budget to splurge on a videographer. Unfortunately, it sounds like your budget is very tight. My suggestion is to sit down with your fiance and calmly discuss the matter. I've linked a copy of articles that maybe you could show him to make him realize why a professional wedding photographer is so important.

https://north-westbrides.com/6-reasons-professional-wedding-photography-is-so-important/

https://www.yourperfectweddingphotographer.co.uk/article/photography-priority-planning-wedding/

https://www.weddingideasmag.com/is-your-wedding-photographer-the-most-important-element/

I was able to find a photographer for $750 in California. I would try to find someone that will work with your budget. Maybe you can find a photography student who is trying to build their portfolio.

I totally understand the importance of photography for a wedding. Photography is the most important thing to me for my wedding (other than marrying my fiance, of course!). You could sit down with your fiance and explain how much it would mean to you to have the professional photos/videos, and maybe you could find a way to come up with the money for at least one of the options? Is there anything you'd be willing to change from your current budget (fewer guests? Less flowers? Etc.) that you could instead put towards the photos/video? You could also search around for vendors with cheaper rates - check to see if a student photographer is available in your area, they may be significantly cheaper with photos that are around the same quality. You might also be able to find a company that will package the photography and the videography together into one rate, which is often cheaper than booking them separately.


I personally wouldn't ask the family member for help, mainly because I do not do business with friends/family, especially if money is involved.

Pricewise based on the average that I’ve seen what you got sounds pretty good. But if you guys don’t have the financial means to get it then yeah maybe you can spend some time looking for other means that are viable that are still equally as good. For instance a lot of people hire student photographers because they’re actually rather good and are completely discounted. Or there are photographers on craigslist that are good but they’re just free or discounted because they want to expand their portfolio.
Or try to find photographers that don’t have such a high minimum amount of hours

Photography was/is SUPER important to me too (I'm a photographer, so I'm also super picky when it comes to photography). $2000 for a high quality wedding photographer is very reasonable. However, that's 2/3 of your overall wedding budget, so I can see how others would feel like that is an unnecessary splurge.

Keep in mind the photographer is only going to be able to create images with whatever situation they are given. A really talented photographer isn't going to make any other part of your wedding more beautiful, so if you skimp on dress, flowers, decor, etc to pay for the expensive photographer, he/she will be capturing all that. Even if you spend $3000 on the rest of the wedding and $2800 on photographer and videographer, is that $3000 going to get you the dress, venue, catering, florals, etc you need to make the wedding what you envision? Just something to keep in mind.

Have you and your FH talked in depth about your vision for your big day and what your priorities are? Are you hosting family and friends and doing a full meal service? Do you have a venue in mind? If you are really on a budget, a small backyard elopement with champagne and cake can easily be done for under $1000, leaving plenty of room to splurge on photography. Talking about what you both want is really important in figuring out where to allocate funds for your big day. Maybe you can cut costs somewhere else to pay for the photographer, maybe you splurge on photography but skip the videographer, maybe you decide that saving up a bit longer to have the photographer you want is worth is so you push your wedding date back a bit or you take on extra hours at work or a side gig so you can put aside money for the photographer you want.

Good luck!

At the end of the day, photos are all you have besides memories so you not skimping is reasonable. But you also need to stay within your budget. Is $3000 covering everything including your venue? Weddings are expensive but you can pull it off if you're creative at prioritizing what your budget goes to and thinking outside the box. Sit down with your fiance and decide together what you both want at your wedding and can realistically afford after getting initial price quotes.


Browse the vendor tab and ask photographers you interview what they can do within your budget.

"The problem is, nobody supports me or remotely understands why I would ever spend that much on photos and a video when “anyone” could take pictures and videos for us.. I’m so bummed!"

I'm sorry that your budget doesn't accommodate the vendors you like. But the problem isn't that no one supports or understands you. Only you and your future spouse are actually responsible for paying for the wedding. So you should try again to explain your justification for the expense to him, and hopefully reach a compromise. But if you are not able to do that, you will need to cut expenses elsewhere, find some more funds, or choose less expensive vendors.

My FH could not understand the cost of some things for the wedding with photography being one of them. Have you tried explaining how important it is to have these memories (professionally) done to look back on, how you want it to be unplugged/everyone in the moment etc. I would def shop around for a photographer that meets your budget. While 3K is low for a wedding budget it is certainly doable esp with a small guest count. Have you considered a longer engagement to save for these things that are important?

Thanks everyone. As far as more details on how our wedding and budget - We’re doing a backyard wedding, around 50 people, so no venue cost. I’m going for a simple boho theme and luckily our family has lots of connections so we won’t need to rent hardly anything for set up. My MIL is super crafty and thrifty, she wants to mostly handle decorations. We’re also doing sort of a potluck, we have a few family members who make great food and they’ve offered to do so for the wedding so catering isn’t a cost for us either. My grandfather has said he wants to pay for my dress as well. That’s all i can think of off the top of my head, we’re still in the early planning stages.

Photography was my #1 priority and I paid for it by myself. It was a substantial amount, and honestly $2k is verrrrry reasonable for a full day of wedding photography. If it’s your #1 priority, challenge yourself to set aside money to make it happen if you have enough time between now and the wedding. But don’t go broke over it.

I'm not an expert on hiring photographers or videographers by any means, but I did hear a tip that made sense to me on a podcast (although I can't recall which one!): if you're on a tight budget, go for either a photographer or a videographer and get the best one you can afford, instead of splitting your budget and getting two so-so vendors.

I've also seen suggestions (some noted above) to:

- look for a student, someone who doesn't usually do weddings, or someone new to the industry

- be honest about your budget and ask if they can offer you a limited package within it (I imagine this would result in fewer hours of coverage)

- ask a skilled friend to do photography or videography as a wedding gift (but this does mean they cannot enjoy your wedding as a guest)

In my opinion, video is easier to skip, but also easier to request a friend to cover. If you have a reliable friend or relative with a good smart phone, you could provide them with a tripod and request they record the ceremony, first dances, speeches, cake cutting, etc.

I would also look into "The Guest" app. I believe it's free, although it would involve some management/set up on your end. It collects all photo and video from your guests into one place, and I believe you can then save or download the images. My friends used it at their wedding, although they also had a professional photographer.

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I completely understand why having a great photographer is important to you. We spent more time and energy looking for a photographer than we did looking for anything else, including a venue. But you still need to be realistic about what you're expecting.

It's helpful that you have all of those things covered at low cost, but as Kari said, "a really talented photographer isn't going to make any other part of your wedding more beautiful." Try to picture everything that's in the amazing photos you're envisioning, and figure out if you can afford to have the stuff in the pictures plus the person taking the pictures. Things will be more expensive than you expect them to be.

The people who posted before me had a lot of good suggestions for you to look into. Another one is, if you're having a backyard wedding and the ceremony and reception will be at the same place, you might not need the photographer for very long to get all of the essential pictures. You might be able to find someone you like and can afford if you only need them for 2-3 hours instead of the more typical 6-10 hours.

When we first started wedding planning the one thing I said I wouldn’t go the cheaper route on was the photographer. My mom and rest of the family think I’m crazy, I’m spending $3800 and that doesn’t include prints afterwards 🤦🏻‍♀️ but she does amazing work and there’s 2 photographers there during the first three hours so to me it’s worth it. The pictures are what last (except for your love of course)! But I totally agree with you! Maybe try to explain the rationale to your fiancé? And if there’s anyway for you to try to save up your own money and pay for the photographer and videographer yourself? If it’s important to you, it should be important to your fiancé too.

The photographer was the one thing I was really willing to splurge on, too! I get where you’re coming from. You have those photos forever. Ours ended up being really affordable, but I would’ve paid her significantly more if I had to.
$2000 is a great price for a photographer you love. It’s unfortunate that your fiancé doesn’t understand why photography is so important to you. Perhaps you could have a heart to heart and really talk it out in addition for seeing if there are more affordable options in your area (who still have the same level of quality).

Since photography is very important to you, you should just gift it to yourself for the wedding. You’ll be happy, you’ll get the the photography you want and no one else has to worry (or have a say) about the cost.

We spent $4000 on a photographer and $1000 on a videographer, and that was considered very affordable for our area.

Prices vary incredibly widely by region, but good photography is a skill that takes dedication and time to develop. You get what you pay for.

That said, you can still find students of photography with a lot of talent, who could maybe do the job for cheaper.

In the end, though, you need to take a look at the average costs for your region, and see if you're overpaying, underpaying, or... just about average. If you can't afford what you want, you need to postpone until you can save, or reevaluate what you want.

View Quoted Comment Oh okay! I will say if you are doing a potluck some of your guests may chose not to eat because there are a lot of safety concerns with a potluck especially right now in times of Covid. Given those concerns I would purchase wedding insurance.