By not being cheap about it. The professionals have a portfolio, recommendations and a price.
If some guy tells you they have a Nikon D3100 and they can do it for 50$, run away.
this post was submitted on 04 Apr 2026
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We were thinking about a $3000 budget, does that sound decent?
We had a small wedding with just the bride and groom. We spend $1700 CAD ($1,275 USD) for ours and that included the photographer and his assistant. The agreed time was only 60 minutes. However our wonderful photographer spent probably 2 hours with us. He kept taking us other places at the venue for more pictures on his own. He took amazing pictures!
If you have a larger wedding party, or are planning on having travel time necessary between pictures, your $3000 sounds reasonable to me. There is likely a large regional pricing variation though.
i think we're still at about 80-90 people, kinda hard to visualize how big its gonna be tbh
Sorry, I have no idea. I'm on a different continent and have no idea about the rates over there.
That still feels on the low end. It’s what I paid for my photos in 2018 and I got a friends rate.
Wow, that sounds expensive to me. Might depend on what exactly you book for the pictures. We also had a friends rate, but with like 250€ for the 2h shooting and 800€ for the rest of the wedding day. From what I have seen before, without a friends rate we would have been between 1500 and 2000€. That was 2024. Is it that much more expensive in the states?
Thats what i keep hearing, but after some research i think its a regional thing. Where i'm at the median seems to be $2500 after all fees
Fair. It was the California Bay Area
Ooof im so sorry, yeah rural illinois here
My ex from like $10 years ago was charging that amount at the time. You want someone with a book of clients and references you can call up.
She was spending a lot of time in reviewing the 15+ photos taken for every “shot” and doing a lot of work in Lightroom. Then working within the printing service website.
There’s also the time spent driving to/from the event, working with the planner, lots of waiting around, convincing guests to get into the right spot, etc
By the time it was all done it’s close to minimum wage work for something that takes a lot of skill.
One of the reasons I roll my eyes at people aghast at wedding photography prices. You’re not just paying for their work on the day of the wedding - you’re paying for experience, their time editing, and for insurance.
You should absolutely be getting a decent photog with that budget, even in high cost areas.
Ask to see their portfolios and keep a close eye on the shots from the reception and those in not ideal lighting conditions. If their photos are good even in those circumstances, it’s a good sign.
I looked for a professional in the area who had a photojournalism background because I was more interested in accurate photos of what was happening all around the party than in glamour shots of my wife and I. The pictures turned out amazing and I treasure them.
Main moral is to figure out what you want first, then look for that rather than trying to explore the whole space.
This is precisely what i want, how did you go about finding someone who had a background in photojournalism?
Read a lot of portfolios to find one where the work was split between freelance photojournalism and commercial / wedding photography.
Don't be like me, I cheaped out and hired a guy just out of art school. His portfolio was good and his pitch was reasonable, but he just wasn't able to deliver. His photos were fine, but he took soooo long taking them, wasting time on our wedding day. He wasn't able to –or at least, he didn't– edit them to the level discussed in the pitch. And he took zero candids.
Thankfully, my sister-in-law bought dozens of disposable cameras and left them on each table. The guests took some amazing pictures of each other and of us, and all but one of our favorites came that way. Even if you have the best photographer in the world, I recommend doing this, you'll at the very least get some glimses of moments that you'll be too busy to witness in person at the time.
We did the disposable camera thing too, and out of them we got zero good shots from them. I don't regret doing that, but I also don't recommend it.
Our venue/coordinator had a big binder full of different photographers' work so we could browse it. We also told her our vibe and she gave us recommendations based on that
This is what we did and we really liked the outcome.
What I hadn't considered was that photographer that normally works that venue knows all the best places for photos, and for any time of day that your event happens. You have a limited amount of time with the photographer on the day of the event so you can't spend time on a new photographer learning whats available or where the best light is. A photographer that normally works the venue also usually has a good relationship with the staff there. We got access to places for pictures in the venue normally off limits to the public because of the photographer and who he knew.
Our venue had 3 different photographers they recommended and we asked those photographers for examples from their portfolios at the venue. It was great to see the different styles of each one and be able to pick what style matched our preference for photos.
We knew we picked right when the photographer show up not only with his assistant, but brought his own sled for pulling all his camera and lighting gear through the snow at the venue. If your photographer can get some shots of the married couple at dusk while it is gently snowing with a backdrop of frost capped mountains and a river in the valley below, I recommend doing so.
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they must be competent photographers, some are not.
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they must be competent people people, some are not.
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they must be competent story of the wedding capturers, many are not.
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you need to see in their work that they are these things, &
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you need to see in the way they work with people that they are these things.
That I know-of, these are all required-points.
_ /\ _
They must be competent story of the wedding capturers, many are not.
At a niece's wedding the photographer had been asked to video the ceremony. The resulting film lingered on an especially pretty bridesmaid during the exchange of vows and rings.
I hope I can spot the second one, 😂I'm not very competent peoples people myself
They also have to be within your budget, and they have to be available on the day of your wedding.
Ask friends for recs. It's really the best way.
Personality and photo style. First find people whose photos you like, Instagram and their websites will help with that. After that set up a few interviews because they will be with you ALL DAY. So make sure it's someone who you like and can get along with all day.
One of my sisters got married a little while ago. She had a guy, a friend who did pitchers. He was so worried about others taking better pictures that nobody else was supposed to take pictures. Ended up nobody took video of her walking down the aisle.
Not sure how to find a good one, but don't make the same mistake. She's pretty upset about it. Good luck.
Most photographers have a clause in their contract that they’re the only ones hired for photography.
Also, do you really want everyone in your wedding photos to be staring at their phone to take pictures?
Our photographer is a family friend of mine, and he did the photography for another friend's wedding a year before ours, so we knew he was good.
I asked at three places, they showed me photos from other weddings, they all seemed more or less interchangeable, I chose the cheapest one and was reasonably satisfied
We got married in a park so we had the officiant take some pictures.
Married decades, and never look at the pictures. Vastly different advice than others. Don’t spend a bunch. Photos don’t matter as much as the good times. Spend money having fun and making memories.
Cocaine or a beach pergola are better expenditures than pictures.
Go to a wedding expo
Just don't have one and save some money. My wife and I never miss having a wedding photo album. We also didn't have a wedding, which helped mitigate the need for a photographer.
Do you think this is helpful advice for someone who has already decided they want a photographer and have budgeted for it?
It’s cool that you didn’t feel the need for photos. I will point out that physical photos are one of the first items people try to grab when there’s a fire or other disaster that forces them from their homes.
Different people will place different priorities on wedding events. It’s ok for OP to want to have photos of their wedding.
Do you think this is helpful advice for someone who has already decided they want a photographer and have budgeted for it?
I think it's good advice, which is unlikely to be followed in this case.
It’s cool that you didn’t feel the need for photos. I will point out that physical photos are one of the first items people try to grab when there’s a fire or other disaster that forces them from their homes.
All the more reason not to have them.
Different people will place different priorities on wedding events. It’s ok for OP to want to have photos of their wedding.
I think it's OK for OP and anyone else to ignore my advice in this case.
Kinda past that point boss, hence the question
This really depends on the perspective. It could be green circle or red circle guy.
I just assumed it was all selfies now.
I thought that today both have their own IRL channels and introduce their new combined channel on their wedding day.