Photography

Photography was one of the most difficult aspects of the wedding to organise. I felt that it was one of the most important parts; as the only lasting reminder of the day and the only way to share it with people who couldn't be there. At the same time I didn't want to spend a fortune on it.

I started by googling for photographers in the area and emailing a few who seemed decent and/or cheap. I managed to contact several morons! One site advertised a completely custom photography package with precisely the elements the customer wanted. The reply I got to my email, listing the elements I wanted, was something along the lines of "its this much money for these hours and this, this and this". Sadly "this, this and this" were not what I asked for...

I started again with the list of photographers recommended by my venue as being good quality and good value for money. What I found was that wedding photography usually starts at around £1000 and you could easily spend up to £2000 without getting anything out of the ordinary. At this point I put my fiance on the case who has an even higher aversion to spending money than I do and unfathomable skills with google. Even he could not find anyone with wedding photography experience for cheaper. The other issue we both had with the vast majority of wedding photographers was that they did not provide you with rights to or digital copies of your photos. This meant that, if we wanted any extra prints making for ourselves or friends and relatives, we would have to buy them each time from the photographer.

I had a minor brainwave and advertised on Deviantart for a photographer. My thinking was that this is a website devoted to showcasing people's artwork (including photography, both professional and amateur) and that maybe I could find someone who does wedding photography as a hobby on the side or someone just starting out in the business. The idea was a mutually beneficial agreement where I would get good quality, cheap photos and the rights to copy them and they would get experience and a start on their portfolio. Sadly I didn't manage to find anyone suitable.

In the end I went back to the list of recommended photographers and chose the cheapest one - Graham Morgan - who also provided full resolution, digital copies of all the pictures. I managed to negotiate a further discount for not getting a wedding album as I preferred to make my own.

Check out my future blog post "Reviews" to see what I thought of Graham Morgan and all the other services/suppliers we used for our wedding.