3 Reasons Why Your Photographer is One of Your Most Important Wedding Vendors
So you just got engaged and started planning your wedding, or maybe you have some vendors already booked, and are looking to to book the rest of your vendors. You’re thinking about which vendors are the most important to you because we aren’t blind to the fact that weddings are expensive. The average cost of a wedding in 2024 is $33,000 according to this Forbes article. Keep in mind that is the average. Expect to spend much more depending on cost of living, guest count, service level of each vendor etc. So you may have a list of dream vendors, but you can’t book them all due to budget restrictions. You’ll have to decide which vendor category you can afford to splurge on, and which you’ll have to save on. This is perfectly normal, and you can still have your dream wedding even on a budget. You just need to be strategic with how much you allocate for each vendor category. Let’s talk about one of your key vendors: your wedding photographer. This may get a little controversial, but I want to inform and educate couples in a way that helps them make the best decisions for one of the most important days of their lives. Here is a list of reasons why your photographer is one of your most important wedding vendors:
You spend more time with them than your family and any of your other vendor.
That might be a bit intense to think about for some, but it’s true. On your big day, they start the day with you, and end the day with you. Even before your wedding day, you’ll be spending time together with an engagement session, e-mail exchanges, and periodic consultations to make sure everything runs smoothly. Totaling up all these touchpoints, you will be interacting with your photographer a lot more than you think.
You need to professionally AND personally like your photographer.
This isn’t necessarily the case with any other vendor (except your planner/coordinator). This about it this way: You come across your DREAM wedding venue: it could be anything from an elegant modern hotel with gorgeous architecture details, or a charming rustic barn with beautiful surrounding landscape. If you didn’t really personally like the venue owner or manager, you’d probably still book the venue. Now think about your dream photographer. If you met them, and you didn’t like them, you probably wouldn’t book with them, or at least you shouldn’t. I promise you that it WILL show in the portrait photos and you will hate seeing yourself in them. You need to like your photographer professionally and personally. With almost all other weddings, you need to professionally like them, but not necessarily personally.
The impact of poor photographs will have a lasting impact.
If you don’t like your wedding gallery, you have to live with that for a lifetime. Photographs are cherished memories in physical (either print or digital format) form. You’re going to want to look at them. If you don’t like them, that will be very hard to get over. One of the most common regrets married couples have is hiring a cheap photographer and having poor quality images and moments missed. Yes, it’s tempting to save thousands of dollars for a cheaper photographer, but it’s not worth it if photographs are important to you. IF something goes wrong with most other vendors, you may be temporarily unhappy, but you will eventually get over it. That being said, I do believe all other vendors play an important role for your wedding. Photography just has a different type of impact that you don’t want to have regrets.
My goal isn’t to convince you to splurge on a photographer; it’s to provide you with a different perspective and complete information you need to make an informed decision on how you should allocate your budget across your wedding vendors. I don’t believe all couples should splurge on their photographer; I actually suggest some of my couples who inquire to save on this category and allocate their budget for other vendor categories. At the end of the day, it is your wedding, your investment, so therefore your personal decision on who you choose for your vendors. The professionals can only make recommendations, not decisions for you.
I see wedding photographer as a very personal investment compared to all other wedding vendors. It’s important to me that I connect with each one of my couples, and that we are aligned on personality, brand, and vision. If you’re still looking for a photography for your big day, I invite you to inquire for detailed pricing & availability and we can begin the next steps to explore if we are the right fit!
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