Photographer Question

Chances are the professional will take better photos. Have more experience will know what wedding shots to get. Probably spend more time editing and to make you happy.

I would go with the pro. You don’t really wanna gamble with your wedding photos if you can afford it. There are no do overs for this day.

This depends on your priorities. If having better quality photos outweighs the cheaper cost, then I would for sure go with the professional. They have more experience and knowledge with weddings, and you can't just redo your entire wedding if you don't like how the photos turn out. If the cost is your higher priority, then the college student option would be good to look into, as there are certainly some very talented photography students out there. Regardless of which one you choose, always be sure to look through their portfolios. Ask to see full albums of weddings they've worked on, as opposed to just their favorite shots. You could also do a trial run with either photographer by hiring them just for engagement photos, and then waiting until you get those photos back to decide whether you want to use them for your wedding photos too.

It will depend on what you're expecting out of your photos. If you want high quality photos, then a professional photographer is going to be the route you are going to want to go. If you are more concerned about saving money than a college student would be fine, but you probably won't end up with as high quality of photos since they aren't a professional and don't have as much experience.

That depends on whether or not you can responsibly afford to spend the 2K.

If you're looking to have great, quality photos that last forever, go pro. I know people who used college students trying to break into the business and the quality was very poor. They were pretty unhappy with it. There's a better guarantee with a pro.

While a "trial" by using a photographer for engagement photos and then making a decision might work for some pros, most professionals get booked out like 1 to 1.5 years advance. If you wait until after your engagement photos, you might miss out on getting to book them for your wedding. I was shocked myself while researching how many photographers would respond back with "sorry I'm booked" at 1 year out.

I suggest devoting a lot of time to researching photographers. My husband and I spent days poring over portfolios and compiling reviews from WeddingWire, The Knot, Google, Facebook, and other sites before reaching out to a final few to interview them. We knew photography was super important to us and we wanted to get it right. I'm glad to say we did as our photos turned out AMAZING! We might hit up our photographers (they were a husband and wife duo) for smaller projects/holidays in the future.