[tomtom]

Word up.
Me and MrsTT are tying the knot in September - in East Yorkshire... Its shaping up to be quite a big (also read as expensive..) shindig and I have been tasked with finding a suitable photographer (not too intrusive, lots of candid shots & arty shit welcome) and a band (funk/soul/covers style of thing).. Any advice, suggestions, people who want to do it? It's not bargain basement, but some of the charges I've seen make me weep...
Cheers, TT

[andyd]

Ask to see lots of pics that they've done before. The mother in law was in charge (read took it upon herself) to organise ours as she was recommended. I'd put our photographer in for c*nt of the year 2007 if I could go back in time. She's thankfully retired so you won't have the misfortune of booking her.
I guess my point is- choose wisely as it's important. You don't want to be bitter and twisted over a book like me 

[andy popp]

Word up.
Me and MrsTT are tying the knot in September - in East Yorkshire... Its shaping up to be quite a big (also read as expensive..) shindig and I have been tasked with finding a suitable photographer (not too intrusive, lots of candid shots & arty shit welcome) and a band (funk/soul/covers style of thing).. Any advice, suggestions, people who want to do it? It's not bargain basement, but some of the charges I've seen make me weep...
Cheers, TT

Enjoy!!!!

[tomtom]

Ask to see lots of pics that they've done before. The mother in law was in charge (read took it upon herself) to organise ours as she was recommended. I'd put our photographer in for c*nt of the year 2007 if I could go back in time. She's thankfully retired so you won't have the misfortune of booking her.
I guess my point is- choose wisely as it's important. You don't want to be bitter and twisted over a book like me 

Cheers good advice.. I don't want them to be intrusive.. Went to one where the photographer thought it was his fecking show! And he had an assistant holding his off camera flash.. Was like a tool with a following umbrella..

Huge range in cost.. £700 to £2k at the moment. Eeeek!

[tomtom]

Word up.
Me and MrsTT are tying the knot in September - in East Yorkshire... Its shaping up to be quite a big (also read as expensive..) shindig and I have been tasked with finding a suitable photographer (not too intrusive, lots of candid shots & arty shit welcome) and a band (funk/soul/covers style of thing).. Any advice, suggestions, people who want to do it? It's not bargain basement, but some of the charges I've seen make me weep...
Cheers, TT

Enjoy!!!!

Thanks it's easy to forget its supposed to be fun with all the organisation shizzle #grumpyoldman

[erm, sam]

Just don't bother. Get a mate who likes taking photos  to take a few 'formal' pics of you and the missus, mums and dads after the ordeal service/book signing and get on with the rest of the day. 

[dave]

One of my climbing mates from uni does weddings, based in York, I'll hit you up with details.

[tomtom]

One of my climbing mates from uni does weddings, based in York, I'll hit you up with details.

Nice one Dave.

[Paul B]

Just don't bother. Get a mate who likes taking photos  to take a few 'formal' pics of you and the missus, mums and dads after the ordeal service/book signing and get on with the rest of the day.

This is a terrible idea unless you really don't give a cr*p about the outcome. Wedding photographers seem to get a lot of shit and lack of respect elsewhere on the web which seems unjust as its a pretty high pressure and often difficult conditions to shoot. After all, I doubt you'd ask a mate to cook to cut costs?

If I wasn't running of to Vegas to avoid this whole ordeal (if you think of it as a trip/wedding/honeymoon in one then the cost looks rather favourable) then I'd have been looking at using Alex Messenger (that or press-ganging Cofe/Johnny). I was impressed by his wedding shots of Sam and Lu's wedding and the rates seemed favourable. He was keen to pass on a decent number (not the whole lot) of processed images with which you could print yourself (I mean at somewhere professional). As I said, Sam and Lu's book looked great to me.

There appear to be numerous business models for wedding photographers but one thing I've noticed is that prints (album generally), are where a lot of money is made. I'd also avoid anyone who promises you all of the images from the day, that screams punter.

[Wood FT]

No advice but congrats Tom!

[Percy B]

Stressful, isn't it! Dom Worral is your man for wedding photographs - his user name on here is Gingerninja, or google dom worral photography. He did my wedding and was awesome. Even gave me and the missus a lift up to Curbar on the way back from our reception for a spot of bouldering. Can't recommend him highly enough.

[Johnny Brown]

I'd recommend Cofe (if he wants to do it).

[nai]

Woo, Happy news, congratulations Tom

The worst thing about my wedding was the photography.  We hired a two-man team, one was supposed to be doing candid shots & the other the traditional groupings.  But what happened was they worked side-by-side with the result that we had loads, and I really mean loads, of group shots but none with everybody looking at the same camera (they blamed our guests standing with them taking their own shots, the cunts).

Then there was all the lovey-dovey nonsense poses afterwards, I don't look back with any fondness on those images of us standing in ridiculous poses outside a party containing all of our family and friends, so I'd just get one and move on, your guests will have come from afar and you won't get chance to catch up with them all if you spend two hours trying to summon a natural smile on steps, in trees, by a statue, in a doorway, etc.

Afterwards they came to our place with the shots on a laptop and spent four hours trying to get us to decide which ones we wanted, this was after a day at work and there were two sets of shots to look at as they hadn't bothered to order them chronologically.  It was after 11 by the time we finished and we naturally got fed up, wanted it done with and made bad choices which resulted in a crap album we then had to pay to change.

So, if cofe's not your man, meet as many as time and patience allows, see their work, make sure they'll do what you want on the day and enquire how you'll all decide what goes in the album afterwards.

Good luck with it all, loads of tricky, niggley decisions ahead. None of them mean much alone but sum of the whole and all that

[dave]

Another warning - a mate of mine got married a few years back, I don't know where they got the guy but he was shit on a technical standpoint - all the photos had the bride's dress totally blown out, no detail at all. The guy's LCD would have been flashing like Saville. I thought the photos looked shit as a result but bit my tongue at the time. Luckily their marriage failed a few years later so they didn't have those photos hanging over their heads.

[andy popp]

There's always a silver-lining.

[fatdoc]

Stressful, isn't it! Dom Worral is your man for wedding photographs - his user name on here is Gingerninja, or google dom worral photography. He did my wedding and was awesome. Even gave me and the missus a lift up to Curbar on the way back from our reception for a spot of bouldering. Can't recommend him highly enough.

Dom will sort u out... If he is not here he uses his real name on FB

[SA Chris]

Congratulations Tom. I expect bridezilla will appear around June. I've done pics at 6 family or friends weddings, it's not rocket science to get good results.Hardest is when people don't really know what they want; if there are group shots you want make a list beforehand, don't stand around umming and aahing, and make sure there is a loudmouth or two amongst the ushers who has the list and isn't scared to order people around so all the photographer has to do is get the shots.

[erm, sam]

s a terrible idea unless you really don't give a cr*p about the outcome

It isn't that crap really. What sort of pictures are actually important to the bride and groom, I mean really? Of course one wants some nice shots but this can be done with out a team of wedding photographers. I didn't a proper photog at my wedding and we have loads of amazing photos and you know which ones are the least interesting? The ones on the green outside the registry office. It is the ones of the party and good times which remind me of the friends who came and the fun we had. I do wish we had taken a big photo of all the guests in one place, but I can live with it to have not had the grief outlined in several posts above..

[tomtom]

Thanks for the suggestions, Dom's website has been forwarded to the committee...
Some good advice there as well - thanks. I think I asked Cofe a little while back - and he gently declined - no worries

[tomtom]

This site is the fave with mrsTT at the moment...

http://www.inspirephotos.co.uk/weddings/

Edit, just had a gander at these and they're not great.. Too much photoshop over colour weirdness...

[Paul B]

It isn't that crap really. What sort of pictures are actually important to the bride and groom, I mean really? Of course one wants some nice shots but this can be done with out a team of wedding photographers. I didn't a proper photog at my wedding and we have loads of amazing photos and you know which ones are the least interesting? The ones on the green outside the registry office.  above..

I don't see why you're linking hiring a pro to strictly formal/posed photos?That's far from what I've said. Obviously you're happy with what you ended up with (and that's great for you). However, I've read a tonne of horror stories down the same line (and seen some truly awful results). Anyway as always its just my 2p and I don't want to detract any more from the OP.

[Sidehaas]

Cant recommend anyone iin your area but would strongly recommend against a deal that includes an album if you want to cut costs.  We got married (like you, big do) last June, our photographer cost 550, for that he and an assistant took photos from the morning until we got to the reception venue, and we selected our 60 favorites aft we returned from honeymoon, which he then edited and gave us digitally.  There is a company online called blurb with whom you can then design and order your own album - takes a bit of effort but gives you more control, the results are fantastic and itll probably save you a couple of hundred quid vs paying a photographer to do it.

[Sidehaas]

Ps photography is nothing...the thing that really got me was when I had to spend £300 or somethi.g stupid on effing seat covers!!   
Have fun

[SA Chris]

You mean "excludes" an album?

Other thing worthwhile doing is setting up a Flickr (or similar) account beforehand and distributing the account and log in details so there is a central place where everyone can put their photos so you can see them.

[Falling Down]

Congrats TC