Who does this? Really! In these "scrimp and save" days, especially considering wedding budgets, the DIY method works well for a lot of your wedding needs. But DIY photography is not a hot idea, and here is why you shouldn't cut corners on photography.
Seriously, EVERYONE is a photographer these days. Surely there is someone in your family who owns a DSLR camera which looks professional. And surely that cousin or college friend is A.) available, and B.) up for shooting your wedding (for free?), but do you really want Uncle Joe or a budding college grad to shoot one of the most memorable days of your life, even if he's an old hand at photography as a hobby?
Some brides consider this while trying to cut corners, but they also don't realize the value of hiring a professional photographer, and the value of what they are paying for when they book a well-rounded wedding package. Here is everything that goes into (and should go into) providing you with an excellent wedding photography experience.
Meeting with the bride and groom. Photographers take great care to assure your wedding day schedule will work smoothly in terms of times, travel and locales. In a sense, your wedding photographer is a mini wedding planner, helping you know how to plan out your day, and catching any coordination issues which commonly arise. Remember, she has seen a lot of weddings and she has noted and compiled what works and what doesn't work! Your photographer has often worked with and knows how to manage large groups of people.
Composing the shots. Having an expensive camera no more makes you a great photographer than having a paintbrush makes you a Michaelangelo. It's the same concept. Photography is a skill acquired over many years of practice and working with people and technology. You cannot learn the art within a few days or even months. Knowing how to pose subjects in wedding scenarios is not something a hobbyist will know. Wedding photographers have worked extensively with a wide range of personalities and know how to work with people comfortably, to ensure their subjects have a smooth and comfortable experience, that they feel relaxed, that they're having fun, and that their experience also turns into great shots. While your photographer is shooting your wedding, she's also already thinking about your wedding album too. Not only is she shooting those great moments, but she's also pre-composing fantastic layouts for your album pages! Now that is some major artistic multitasking.
Not being part of the family. Hiring a photographer friend or family member quite possibly will result in missed shots or fewer images shot. A friend of the family is also attending your wedding as a guest; he is also there for the reunion, to talk with friends and family he hasn't seen in ages, and to catch up with people in the sidelines. A wedding photographer should have full attention on the bridal couple the entire day.
After the wedding. Shooting the wedding is only half of the workload your wedding photographer must accomplish. The second half is graphic design, image and file management, which essentially results in the grand turnout of your wedding day: what you see and what you remember. This effort results in the one lasting keepsake of your wedding day (other than dried flowers and a sealed up gown in a bag). Per wedding, your photographer often has up to a thousand images to sort through, retouch, organize and prepare for you. This process lasts about 20 hours per client, and involves great attention to detail and excellent file management. If you entrust this effort to someone who is not a professional at managing these things, you may not end up with a fabulous memoire to help you remember your day more magically than it had originally happened.
Album production. You can put together your own album, but do you want to? Professional photographers will spend quite some hours designing each and every page of your album (from scratch, here at Amkar), utilizing graphic design skills to create an album ambience which exudes the atmosphere of your wedding day better than just the photos alone can imply. To us, an album is not just a book of pictures. It's a collage of feelings and emotions; a storybook of all the elements that made your day how you remember it. Your album is your evidence of the memory, and making it memorable takes so much more time than printing out a few 4x6's and sliding them into plastic album sleeves. Don't skimp on this facet, you owe it to yourself 20 years down the line, the self that says "I wish we had done our wedding album differently." I hear that a lot from friends who had janky wedding photographers!
Cost. Yes, weddings are expensive. But you need to be smart on what things you skimp on, and what things really shouldn't be compromised. Professional photography requires a lot of artistic and personal skills you will not find in a hobbyist. There is a reason the expense is there, and it is because your photographer does so much for you and puts so much attention toward making your experience the best it can be.
The Real Deal. You can buy your own pair of scissors for $1.50 at Wal-Mart, and you can cut your own hair for free, but will you get the attention and expertise you deserve in doing it yourself rather than going to a professional stylist? Professional photography is just that. What you pay for is what you get. And what you pay for is attention, someone's time and effort, and a skill which an artist has spent years developing.
Luckily, Amkar Photography provides quality, skill, expertise and an enjoyable and fun experience for less cost than quite a large chunk of our competitors. How do we do it? We run things ourselves. We're picky what we outsource for production. We don't hire contracted photographers. We have no overhead retail shop costs. Who benefits? You!
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