Unlike your wedding flowers or dessert spread, your wedding photos will last forever, so you obviously want them to be amazing. Hiring a professional wedding photographer and videographer is truly the only way to get those crisp, high-quality shots and tear-jerking clips that capture every moment from your day. Realistically, you should plan to allot 10–12 percent of your overall wedding budget to photos and video. (For reference, the national average cost for a photographer is $2,679, and for video is $2,021).
It might be tempting to skip a pro shooter or to ask a friend to take photos—but trust us, not hiring photo and video pros is one of the biggest, most common wedding regrets for couples who didn’t. If you’re on a budget, missing out on gorgeous images isn’t the answer—instead, follow these money-conscious tricks to save on wedding snaps
1. Find packages you can customize to fit your budget
Before hiring a photographer and videographer, make a list of the style and types of photos and video you want. That way, you’ll go into the hiring process knowing what your package should look like. This allows you to pay only for exactly what you need, whether that’s a certain number of hours of coverage, extra sessions, multiple shooters or access to digital photo files. The build-your-own package system helps clients use their budget in the most efficient way possible.
To know what to prioritize, don’t underestimate the value of your recently married friends, but also potential pros you interview. Ask them to walk you through the ins and outs of the services they offer, like whether you can realistically fit all your must-have shots in the minimum amount of coverage they offer or how many assistants make the most sense for the size of your guest list.
2. Wait to buy prints and albums (or include one in your package)
If an album isn’t a part of your photography package already, don’t worry about spending money on one right now. Focus on hiring a pro who will take great shots. Think of it this way: A beautiful album is the perfect gift to give each other as a twist on the paper theme for your first anniversary.
But waiting to create an album doesn’t mean you can’t see your photos for a whole year. You can still admire and show off your shots when they’re ready a few weeks after our wedding. You’ll get at least a portion of the digital files as soon as they’ve been edited—you may even get access to an online gallery too. The same goes for videography. Many videographers will upload your highlight reel to an online platform like Vimeo for you to watch on repeat and post all over social (no shame!)
3. Hire someone local to your wedding location.
The price of a pro will often increase if you hire them for a job they’ll need to travel to. Remember, they’re not just getting themselves there—they’ll be lugging pounds of expensive equipment with them too. In other words, if you’re from New York and getting married in California, it’s probably worth finding California photo and video teams. Another option? Lamar Wedding Center includes a photography/videography in their package, making these two services less expensive.
4. Have your ceremony and reception at the same place
Where you choose to say “I do” and party can potentially affect your photo and video prices. By hosting the ceremony and reception at the same venue, you’ll have more time to take portraits, cover cocktail hour and more, since you won’t need to spend time traveling to several locations. You’ll actually end up saving in a few other ways too, like transportation, rentals and venue charges.
5. Shoot only the ceremony and first half of the reception
Pair down the number of hours you’ll need both pros. Have them shoot the ceremony, then stick around for cocktail hour and the first half of your reception. They’ll be able to capture the your entrance, toasts, cake cutting and first dance (plan for these reception moments to happen earlier in the night), then let your guests take over toward the end.
6. Skip the raw footage
Some videographers will send you the raw footage (untouched, unedited) after filming for you to preview before they start editing, in case you want to pick and choose which scenes to keep or cut. If you want to hold on to the raw footage for posterity, your videographer may offer it as part of your package. If it’s not included in your package, it’s not worth paying the extra fee for it, since it’s likely you never even watch it (if you can’t get through five hours of unedited video, your friends and family definitely won’t be able to). Stick to a highlight reel and a typical hour-long video.
