jthrasher

congratulations! welcome to the forum. You'll find tons of info here and don't hesitate to ask any questions about anything. Jonathan

i wouldn't make the couple get dressed up again. Just very casual. No wedding attire. The "trash the dress" photo session is a whole other thread. :-)

Quote: Originally Posted by Soon to be Mrs. Hull If I had extra money in my budget I would get as many pictures as possible because I am a picture junkie. should we start our own BDW 12 step program for photo junkies? kidding kidding. I do have some clients that have family members that want me to come early to do family type photos. But, it's always nice to make the most of what you can with the B&G. DW's are so easy for this because I can usually come early or stay late.

This is something I really want to start offering to clients and I want to get your opinions on it. I've seen some other photographers offer a day after photo session where you would spend 2 or so hours with your photographer the day after your wedding. The point of the session is to get more really romantic, sexy photos of you and you new spouse in the beautiful setting where you chose to get married. Example shots would be something like on the beach laying in the sand letting the waves roll up over you both or hanging out cuddling in the hammock under the palm trees. It's meant to capture the romance and passion of your love for each other after your first night together as husband and wife. Is that something that interests you as brides? I think it would make a very cool addition to your album or even as a separate album in of itself. thoughts?

Welcome! lots of very helpful information in this forum as I'm sure you've noticed. good luck with your planning and I'm happy to help in any way I can. Jonathan PS... I love Canadians! I have tons of Canadian friends and I've only met 1 Canuck I didn't like.

Welcome Catherine! You've found a great place with tons of great info. More than happy to help in any way I can.

congrats and welcome!

Yeah, So... I'm going to have to hire you to help me with my album design. :-) you only live an hour away so get over to GR sometime. I'd love to see the book in person. ;-) So your photographer was okay with you making an album yourself? You did a great job so you did his work justice for sure. But, as we know, not everyone has good design skills, so sometime we photographers get very protective of our work. Well done though. Seriously, lets talk!

welcome! I'm sure you'll find plenty of information here. I'm new here to and can already tell there are some great people here with tons of helpful info.

Quote: Originally Posted by jilly76 I guess for us the whole reason we decided on a destination wedding was because we couldn't afford to pay for a $25K wedding at home, nor did we want to spend that for 5 hours with our friends & family. We will have a relatively small number of people at our wedding and as much as I want us to have beautiful pictures, we don't really have a lot of money budgeted for the photography. My FI is not convinced that the photographer that I want so so much is worth $4K, he things its silly to spend that kind of money on pictures and I can understand where he's coming from as much as I'd love to hire this photographer, I know it's really not in our budget. But I found someone else for $3K and I'm hoping he'll let me get this person, we'll see. you tell you're FI that he's not getting any whoopie on the wedding night unless you get the photographer you want!! kidding kidding. but... you are going to have to live with the pics you get forever, so make sure you get what you really want. Nothing worse than having regrets later. good luck! Jonathan

You live in Lansing??!! wow... small world. I'm not leaving GR just yet. It will be at least a year or so I think. GR just doesn't have the market so I chose Minneapolis mainly because all my relatives are there, and it's a great city with a huge market. Plus, it's a major Northwest Airline hub which will make it easier for DW travel.

Quote: Originally Posted by JPMO I totally agree with everyone here... Jonathan you included. I selected 2k-5k since we are bringing our photographer down, but that was an unconventional deal. She's shooting the welcome dinner and wedding. To have that type of coverage from even a Cabo photographer would have been comparable in price. Truth of the matter, for all professional photographers, when I see rates starting at $2k+ I get a bit hesitent. As a bride you are conditioned to think that is such an insane markup on Wedding related items and this is no different. Even when I thought of a traditional wedding, I never imagined spending more than $3k. With photography and videography there is a very fine line between what is too much and what is reasonable. So it becomes a matter of defining that line. Jonathan, thanks so much for starting this thread. It's so interesting to read each opinion. What part of Michigan are you from? How'd you hear about the forum? It all boils down to where people want to spend their money. Everyone is different so everyone is going to put more money into different things. Many DW photographers that I know, myself included, are dealing with couples who are flying us in to shoot their wedding so they have larger photography budgets. When hiring a photographer, local or not you really have to compare rates and what is included. Many times, if you are wanting 8+ hours of shooting it may be more economical to fly someone in and hire the person you really want rather than hiring a local. It appears though, that Cabo has a good selection of photographers, which is nice. Other places don't have that. My prices start at $3500 which includes: rehearsal and rehearsal dinner coverage unlimited wedding day coverage online proofing and ordering 30 page hard cover coffee table album I have other customizable packages ranging from $3500-$7800 which include different types of albums, Digital negs, etc. Travel fees vary of course. I'm from Grand Rapids, Michigan which is on the west side of the state. I may be moving to Minneapolis, MN in the next year or two though. I stumbled across this forum via myspace.com. I'm glad I did. I've been wanting to do more DW weddings and less local right now so it's nice to be here. I'm more than happy to answer any questions. feel free to contact me any time. Jonathan

First, I don't want to or mean to hijack this thread so if I need to start a new thread to continue this discussion, please let me know Tammy. 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. Quote: $300-500 per hour is sort of a standard rate for DW photogs. 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. 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

hey everyone! I'm a photographer so I'm particularly interested in what brides are budgeting for photographers for their destination weddings. 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. 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. Regards, Jonathan

I used to live in Kona so if anyone has any questions, please feel free to contact me.