How did you book your photographer/videographer?

So I've been reading a lot of threads about photogs and videographers (do we call them videogogs for short?) -- and it seems that there are a lot of options... Which did you pick and why?

 

1. Use the resort's in-house resources

2. A specialty vendor (either a local to your destination or one that specailized in destination weddings) for the day-of and pay for a day pass/package.

3. Fly in a photog/videogog from your hometown -- pay for travel/room/ect

4. Fly in a photog/videogog from your hometown -- pay for travel/room/ect AND a package rate (either full package rate or a discounted package).

5. Anything else? (ie: I hate photos, why would I want to capture this day? or... My friends/family are taking enough - I'm relying on my guests... ect).

 

 

My FI and I are likely doing option 3 -- I found a photog that tentatively agreed to do it -- she does great pictures here in Seattle -- but not sure how she will fare in the sun. Hee hee... and I'm currently interviewing videogogs to see if we can get the same or similar offer out of them. Is this normal?

 

We were hoping to deal with someone from our home town so we can establish a longer term relationship with them -- for baby pics, ect... AND it will help us meet our goal of 25 rooms booked. The resort said it was fine so long as they weren't liscenced in Mexico and stayed at the resort.

 

That's our current thoughts, but we seem to be very impressionable...anyone see any flaws with that?

It all depends on how much you want to spend and how important the photography is to you. It was too pricey for us to find a photographer here and fly them down to Mexico. We hired a photographer out of Cancun instead. (STILL VERY PRICEY LOL) But photography is one of the most important things to us in regards to our wedding.

If you are going to fly in a photog... they don't have to be from your home town... if you like their work & the price is right go for it!

 

you might be able to save several hundreds of $$$ due to the location the photog is flying from.. for instance, seattle to mex is way more expensive than say.. texas to mex

 

my .02 and worth every penny =)

Yeah... We are spending about what we would spend for an above average photog here in Seattle after all is said and done with flying them down.

 

These two elements are super important to me... which is why I wanted time to interview them before throwing them in...

 

I actually plan on doing a site visit sometime next year and am trying to find the budget to bring my photo with me for the site visit so we can scout ahead of time and spend time getting to know each other more.

 

I think I'm nuts.

ya.. that would be excessive. a good photog will have no issue making great images without having to scout or maybe do it the day before.

 

I would be willing to bet you would be the first on this board to bring your tog to a site visit.

I just have this overly romaticized view that we will be great friends... and that we'll talk art and photography...

 

I was hoping we could scout for a TTD. She calls them "extreme bridal" sessions...

 

Maybe I'll reconsider bringing her to my site visit... just maybe

I just read my posts and I think I sound like a crazy bridezilla...

 

eep. I didn't want to come off like that...

 

I think she does amazing work so I am assuming she is way wicked cool. I like spending time with people who are passionate about what they do....

 

Don't think I'm crazy

I don't think you are crazy. I spent a lot of time talking to my photographer, Kristie, about locations to trash the dress & ideas for pictures. It would have been awesome to go to Riviera Maya ahead of time & scout out places to trash the dress. It was a little overwhelming to show up at the cenote for the first time for each of us & figure out where to shoot. But, you can make it work. There was also something cool about taking in the beauty of a place for the first time and finding cool spots for photos. It was like an adventure. She also scouted out places the day before the wedding near the hotel. So on the day of the wedding she told us about a cool little lagoon down the beach. We took some wedding day pictures & day after pics there. I also swam in it the following day.

If it's something you can afford to do, I think it will be fun. I couldn't budget for it, but I would have really enjoyed a scouting trip. Actually, I find myself wanting to go back to riviera maya & scout out all the cool spots for pictures. oh, to be a photographer living in such a beautiful area...

BTW can you tell us who this wicked cool photographer is? I'd like to stalk her blog My coworkers think I'm obsessed with weddings because I often spend my lunch break looking at photographer's blogs.

We have actually booked a photographer for our 2010 wedding. Although we have not booked a resort yet, but that's another thread.

 

We are flying her from TN to St Kitts and paying for her airfare. She gave us an unbelievable deal on 8 hours of photography, 50 paged album, 9 months of online hosting and so much more.