Your Wedding Photo Budget

as a photographer so I'm particularly interested in what brides are budgeting for photographers for their destination weddings. the photog i used does do alot of weddings at my resort but was not actually referred by them...Dreams does not force you to use their vendors unlike alot of other resorts.

Are most of you using photographers that are provided by or are preferred vendors of the venue you are getting married? It seems that many of your budgets for photography is unusually low for destination weddings, which is why I was curious. i don't think people budgetted low for their photography but you have to realize alot ofthe local talent does not charge US prices. $300-500 per hour is sort of a standard rate for DW photogs.

Just a reminder that your photographs (along with your new spouse) is the only thing you are going to have to take with you from you wedding that wil last a lifetime. Flowers die, food is eaten, drinks are drank, but your photos will last forever. Keep that in mind when you are budgeting for your photography. this is very true...i try to remind brides not to skimp on their photo budget

Regards,

Jonathan

I guess what surprises me is the number of people who have posted budgets for photographer in the $600-$2000 range. In my experience as a wedding photographer most of the couples I meet, are looking to spend at least twice that for photography and those are for regular weddings. Couples I meet who are looking for DW weddings are looking to spend even more in my experience.

Most couples in my area where I live spend at least $2000 on their photographer, and I'm not in a very large market. Typically more is spent on photography for DW weddings. i think it is pretty common that most couples having a DW do to save $$...they will spend less on flowers, musicians, AND photogs...they have had that luxury because alot of the local talent is pretty good.

I completely understand that. So, are the prices budgeted total prices or just per hour? Or, are most of you flying your photographer down only to shoot 2-3 hours? If so, why? In my experience most brides want the PJ style and want 8-12 hours of coverage to completely capture their day. I would think that would be more the case with DW weddings because the couple has put so much time and money into finding the perfect place, it would be a shame if the photographer couldn't fully capture the entire day or weekend because he was only hired for a few hours. when people do 2-3 hours, they are usually using photogs locally who have a low min. i think i know the case you are speaking of and in that situation the bride had a relative who was a fantastic professional photog that offered his services as a gift to her....initially brides wanted to keep their budget as low as possible and this usually meant trimming 1-2 hours off their photog time. if you read throughout the forum, i try to tell brides to keep that extra hour or have a 6 hour min.

again, don't mean to hijack this thread or cause a big debate, just curious as to how couples here are planning their DW weddings.

Thanks

Jonathan