Did you use Carlos Melnik? Or someone else great?

Hi girls,

So, I'm considering switching from the very reasonably priced photographer that the Sheraton (where I'm getting married) suggested to another photographer--perhaps Carlos Melnik.

I've looked through his website, etc. but wanted to see some real photos and hear about your experiences.

If you used him, and wouldn't' mind, could you please share your photos and the pricing package that you went with?

The photographer that I have now gives you 60 (6 x prints and a CD with 200 images for about a third of the price of most of the others, but I don't totally love his style/skills, so I'm wondering if I should find a way to budget in someone better, but I'm not sure what the lowest package is that I can get away with.

If you've used Melnik or anyone else that you would recommend, can you please direct me to your photos and provide any pricing info?

thank you ,thank you, thank you!!

that is supposed to read 60 (6 x prints. I don't know where that frowny face came from!!

I don't know why that is happening! 60 (six by eight) prints.

it might help if you let us know roughly what your budget is. what price range are you hoping to stay in?

i would totally recomend my photographer, Leigh Miller. i don't have her 2008 pricing info, but i think she starts somewhere around $4000 for destination weddings - but i honestly have no idea, it might be higher. here is my slideshow (I don't have my pics yet) Darkroom SlideShare

i'd also suggest checking out these threads:

http://bestdestinationwedding.com/fo...ting-trip.html

http://bestdestinationwedding.com/fo...to-aceves.html

http://bestdestinationwedding.com/fo...s-pv-area.html

Our budget is very small. In fact, the one that I was going to go with was only $450! But, I kept looking at the photos and just wasn't very impressed--you know, in comparison to those that I've seen in people's bios.....

Thanks for the information : )

I know exactly what you mean. The few that I thought were decent hardly gave you any pictures to take home. In the end we decided to pay to fly our photog- believe me I did not want to spend this much on a photographer but I thougt it was worth $3000 for engagement, second shooter, and full day of wedding shots, instead of paying $1000 for 4 hours and work I would not be happy with.

Again, it was a VERY difficult decision. If my FI would not have agree, I think I would have gone with elfoto.org or Paulina Ulloa (you can see her work on thedazzlingdetails.com)

Honestly, while searching for a photog, I would ignore their package pricing and contact the photog directly. I would let them know what I want and what budget I can work within. Surprisingly, most of them generally tried to meet my needs while negotiating in the budget range.

For me, I didn't have a huge budget. I didn't want to go over $1200, so a mass amount of prints wasn't a priority. I figured as long as I owned rights to the negatives or a cd of prints, I could always print them when I could afford more (or even if I wanted more.)

Sorry this didn't answer your question directly, but I hoped it would help.

I'm using elfoto.org (Beth Fladung) but I haven't had my wedding yet to share my experience with her. So far she has been great with communicating and I think she may join the forum.