When you might not be able to afford a Wedding Photographer

Oh man, that's a hard decision. What kind of venue do you have? If you are able, do a minimalist style decor. It always looks really nice and elegant and setup/ clean up is easy!

I did paper flowers which, including buying new glue guns and tools, costed me about $50-80 to do. I'd be happy to break it down for you if you ever wanted.

Amazon sells some beautiful rings that have killer prices. I know some people cringe and compare that to shopping at Wal-Mart, but I don't believe that's true unless you're going for the $20 rings. I'm kinda jealous I didn't look there when I was getting FH his ring! Plus, they look great and you can always get a ring for an anniversary gift if you desire one from a jewlery store.

Just a few ideas to help you out!

Instead of using disposable cameras, what if you could rent one or two really amazing DSLR cameras (just like the one an expensive photographer would use) for the day? Then find a friend or family member with a decent eye for photography, and the pictures will come out exponentially better than they would with a camera phone or disposable camera. This is exactly what I did for my mom’s wedding — she loved the way the photos came out, and I’m definitely not a photographer. Local camera shops sometimes offer this service (~$150/day) — or if you message me, I can help you arrange for this!

Interested to hear whether others would use this kind of service?

I know a family friend that is not a professional photographer per se, but her portfolio is amazing. She's $1,000 for 8 hours of coverage, full rights to the photos, engagement photos, and much more. If you know and trust someone that is in a similar position, I'd say give them a shot. I can't wait to see how our pictures turn out!

Something you could do is go to a local arts college with a photography degree and ask if there are any students willing to do the wedding for $1000 or whatever you have room for in your budget. You are bound to get a college kid who needs to get experience for their portfolio and also needs to make extra cash. Because the student will be young, they may not be as experienced as professionals, but would do their best to capture the perfect photos as they will likely use them to help further their own career.

I was a film student and this happened a couple times with me. Is film weddings to make some extra cash and help out those that couldn't afford a professional. And many commented that my final product was even better than some professionals they had looked at. Young people have something to prove so they generally try harder.

We hired Salt and Pine for our wedding photography and they are based out of Washington. We eloped in Olympic National Park. Have you already sent out invites? Cutting the guest list is probably a major way to save money. Photos and videography were the top priority for me, which was one of the reasons for eloping, more affordable.

Wow, I didn't expect to have so many response 0.0

So with a lot of these, I feel a lot better about the Photography. We're likely going to negotiate down since we don't need (or really want) the engagement session this late in the game (about 6.2 months till) which, basing off their listing price for just the engagement sessions would bump the cost down to within budget.

Based on your suggestions, we did some shopping and price checking for the other things we'll be getting (rings, decor, honeymoon) and I feel a lot better about how much I'll be spending on them. We hadn't really looked at the (Realistic) costs of a honeymoon (We have to go abroad... that is a must). Before we had seen all-inclusive packages and most of those were... crazy expensive so we allotted a lot to the honeymoon budget. But now that we're looking at things like Travelocity with the intent to just travel to a cool location and have a vacation we're seeing honeymoon total (non-food/event prices while we're there) at anywhere between 2k+ for places like Puerto Vallarta and Jamaica (though I'm crazy scared of montezuma's revenge, my stomach can be sensative) and some cruises (depending on flight) to a pretty common 2.5-3k for places like Germany or Reykjavik most abroad cruises and 3.5 for other places like cancun or the cook islands.

So I feel like I have options, and I don't feel obligated to go on the Vacation right away, even setting it out a few months would mean a vacation to Iceland would let me see the Northern Lights so it might be worth it to even do that!

Have you considered asking friends if they know photographers starting their business that need to pad their portfolio to see if they would do your wedding for less In exchange for you advertising for them and spreading the good word?

I agree with others that the disposable cameras just are not worth the money. I don’t mean to be tacky by saying in my first wedding but… In my first wedding we had disposable cameras and I really can’t think of any pictures that were of good quality. The reception hall didn’t have bright lighting and most of them were fuzzy, blurry or too dark.

You will miss the photo's. I'm doing the same thing right now with a videographer but hes only $700 and I'm still on the fence. I know I will regret it because honestly, the food will be eaten, the dress is still worn once, the cake won't actually last in the freezer, but the photos, videos and memories will always be there. See who else is out there and try to just go by how many hours you need instead of unlimited. I only have my 2 photographers for 6 hours with edited photos and unlimited travel for $1200 but with an engagement session would be $1400.

Look into solo photographers, not companies because they can have a lot of up charges.

Photography is so important. Disposable cameras are not a good solution. You'll regret this decision if professional photos are a priority like you said. You can find a professional less expensive, scale way back on decor/flowers or dip into your honeymoon budget if you want to go with the photographer you like

You get what you pay for. Honeymoons can always be postponed but wedding pictures are a one and done deal.

Trim back the honeymoon to get the photography you will cherish for years to come. And the end other then your spouse, that's all you have left from the day.

The Everett Wedding expo is this weekend. You might be able to find a cheaper photographer there and they often offer expo specials. Also, you should try thumbtack.

http://bridesclub.com/Everett-Wedding-Expo

While I agree that photography is a must, I may have the unique opinion to not sacrifice your honeymoon for the cost of the wedding. FH and I had planned to go abroad for our honeymoon and we overspent on the wedding and now we are just doing a cruise. I think it will be fun, but I was devastated when we realized we couldn't afford our original honeymoon. To me the wedding is one day. Less than a day, it's like 5 hours. So yes photography is definitely a must, and I would look to see if you could rearrange your budget to include it, but I wouldn't do anything that would cut into your honeymoon.

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To answer your question, no, I would never consider this kind of service for my wedding.

Geez if photography is important to you, which is should be, then don't cut out a photographer entirely! I would cut all decor (honestly, no one needs decor. My bunches of bouquets at the grocery store the day of and move on. No one needs centerpieces either.)

My ring was $499 (with diamonds in the band), my husband's $100. I had greenery and candle centerpieces but no flowers, and honestly I wouldn't have missed the greenery and candles either, but they were not expensive. The pictures I sure as heck would miss and didn't even understand the difference in quality between professional and amateur photos until we got our photos back.

You can cut down on photos. There is probably someone slightly less expense that has similar work, or don't do engagement shoot (we didn't), you don't need professional getting ready pictures (because honestly, who needs high def pics of you WITHOUT makeup- that you can rely on friends iphones for if you even want that- I had a ban on no pics of me without my hair and makeup done), you don't even need pics for the whole reception (although I personally am more of a fan of that than of getting ready pics).

How is a disposable camera with someone who doesn't know how to take professional pics going to get pics this good?

And what if you want big pictures printed (you can't do that with low res pics)?

One more to convince you of a good photographer (and my photographer did cost a little less than yours, but still close and no engagement session and limited hours

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YOU WILL MISS THE PHOTOS!!!! I don't know where you live, but have you considered driving for rideshare like Lyft or Uber to make up the extra money? You have 8 months to go, if I were you I would certainly find a way to pay for it.

I'm in Western Oregon so close by. We found our photographer with 20 years of experience for 6 hours plus an engagement shoot for $1,150. We found her through Wedding Wire but I'm also in a wedding FB group for the Willamette Valley where people post what they need along with what their budget range and they get a whole list of vendors commenting and local recommendations. Depending on how far north you are, someone may know a photographer in your area. It's called Bride on a budget.

Do you have any friends that are photographers? Or own a nice camera and take pictures as a hobby?

Ask around, you may be able to find an amateur photographer and at least that way you will have SOMETHING other than guests pictures.