Those who flew a photographer in...

endlesslove · 07-22-2008, 06:40 PM

I have a question for those who flew a photographer in for their DW. Did your photographer give you a special discount for a DW? What were their requirements?

We were originally going to go with Claudia Rodriguez for our wedding and TTD session. But this past weekend we had out e-pics taken by my favorite photographer in the area. I originally wanted her for our wedding when we thought it was going to be nearby, not a DW. I absolutely loved her and her work, she wa sso friendly that I just wanted to book her for our wedding.

So today I messaged her on MySpace (lol) and she said she'd be delighted to come. She would just need us to pay for her airfare and hotel room. Which is a given. And she would take $1,000 off the package price for us. So instead of $3,500 it would be $2,500+ $1,600 for 4 days/3 nights at the Excellence with us. And she's going to do a TTD shoot with me for free the day after the wedding. I thought this was awesome!

So what were some perks, if any that you got hiring a photographer to come with you?

I also wanted to add with Claudia's pricing going up for '09 and another increase for 2010, the pricing works out to almost the same for us. I think I would rather spend $600 more and have someone I know and trust and have had experience with, imo.

Morgan · 07-22-2008, 06:54 PM

many have special pricing for DWs. It mostly depends on if they are getting their start in DWs, how interested they are in going to the location, and the time of year.

kerryjbrown · 07-22-2008, 08:29 PM

It seems to be normal for having to pay flight and hotel for them. The one we are looking at is almost double the price though...and she through in some things in the contract that were different than we discussed so now I am thinking of changing. If you love your photographer, it is worth taking them with you as the photos are the only thing that we will have as an old couple (and our memories fade:)

joshfrommontreal · 07-23-2008, 01:32 PM

I think Morgan is right about if photographers who are just starting in DW's and those that have been doing it for a while. Myself for example I just started doing them and instead of my regular $3500 I ask for $1000 plus expenses. However, after I get more a a DW client base this will go up.

SunBride · 07-23-2008, 01:59 PM

My photographer only charged me 800$ + travel fees (her regular for all day wedding coverage is a little over 2000$) because she had only done 2 other DWs (both the same week and resort). Now that she has a much larger DW portfolio (as she took an insane amount of pictures for my wedding) she is charging 2000$ + travel fees, so almost the same price as her regular at home package, although you also get the trash the dress plus candid photos of the rest of the week.

From what I heard, most photographers do offer a discount, and those who haven't done a DW definitely offer a much larger discount than those who are extremely popular. Many even do their first DW free (travel fees only)!

~*petals*~ · 07-23-2008, 04:41 PM

Mine is doing ours for free- just travel expenses. She also did an engagement shoot & will do a TTD shoot for us as well, so it really works out price-wise.

Kelly C · 07-23-2008, 04:56 PM

Mine is charging us Travel expenses + 900. that includes a BD shoot, all 6 days if we want, wedding, and TTD, pics from AHR. If we want him to go anywhere out with us we have to pay his way. We get all the shots. Two alums, AHR slide show. I think its a pretty good deal.

~*petals*~ · 07-23-2008, 08:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kelly C

Mine is charging us Travel expenses + 900. that includes a BD shoot, all 6 days if we want, wedding, and TTD, pics from AHR. If we want him to go anywhere out with us we have to pay his way. We get all the shots. Two alums, AHR slide show. I think its a pretty good deal.

That is a good deal!

ErinB · 07-23-2008, 09:03 PM

I know I was lucky, but my photographer didn't charge us for the wedding. We just paid for her trip for the week $2200. She would like to start DWs so I was her first and her first TTD so it was a great way for her to build her portfolio.

It was wonderful for us to have pictures of the whole week!

I got all of the edited pictures on CD - 15 discs! I them printed the ones that I wanted. She is doing our photo book design as a gift to us, I will just pay to print.

The Rinns · 07-27-2008, 08:59 PM

I feel very lucky. We are actually going to be able to bring our photographer with us to our DW. She has never done a DW before, so because of this, we have gotten an awesome deal (this is the only way we could have afforded to bring her!) We are paying her flight, hotel and per diem. This should come out to a little less than $2000. We looked into it, and photographers in Hawaii start $2500 for only about 4 hours of shooting. We will have our photographer for 3 days of shooting! She will be at the welcome dinner, rehearsal dinner, wedding and a fun, playing on the beach type shoot my fi and I will be doing. Even if we had to pay her a little bit more, I feel it is well worth it to have professional pictures for all of that. We figure that we won't be doing this again for a long time and we won't ever be doing this again with our family members. Also, we really connected with her during our e-pics. I know that if we picked some random photog and we didn't end up connecting with them, the pics wouldn't come out great. If you can find someone who will give you a good rate, I would highly recommend it!