Price of wedding photographers - $4,000 expensive?

[doublejay]

Trying to get a handle on what is fair for a wedding photographer.

Got a quote from a guy who seems good (portfolio is very nice).

2 photographers and 2 video + a 1 big and 2 small albums for around $4k.

Can I do much better?

What have you guys paid?

[real-brisker]

Paging SomethingFishy

[chucksterace]

Maybe after there is a Camera do you can get a few fellow DDFers to help out

[ckmk47]

Call a few (at least 1 ) more that do reasonable work (you would use them if they were wildly below the other guy).  See what the going rate is for the job you want.

See where you can reasonably cut out something expensive.  (Do you need 2 video/ or is it ok to 'miss' something, cv"s?)

Ask people what they considered important in the photographer.  What type of pictures do you want/ need : artsy, many portraits , of the couple or everyone else (large family), lots of dancing...? Which pictures came out best in your friends' albums- the type important to you or not?  Must he be a mentsh to work with (or you can work with a finagler)?  Does he help with picking the album pictures or do you not need that? etc..

(It's nice to get a high quality CD with all the pictures after you've all chosen your albums.  blow-ups of the nieces, uncles...)

[stmark]

I went to a wedding a couple of months ago and they handed out disposable cameras to all attendees.  and there was a return bin at the exit of the hall.  I thought it was a cute idea.

This was in addition to their regular photographers.

Is 4000 with the video?  is it with edits?  is it for 3 sets of proofs (couple, and both sets of parents)?  All things to consider when comparing quotes. 

In the back of the Jewish week/press/star they have ads for wedding things. Might want to check those out.

[doublejay]

Thanks for the thoughts guys. Gonna look into.

Asked my guy if I save much for one less videographer - didn't seem like it would be much - will ask again. I want 2 photo - 1 video is fine. I think he said I get a cd and will do all the editing for the video etc.

If anyone has a suggestion of a good bang-for-buck photographer please PM me.

BTW what's the deal with him having rights to use in his gallery - don't want my pics in public - is it standard practice to have to allow this?

[Ergel]

BTW what's the deal with him having rights to use in his gallery - don't want my pics in public - is it standard practice to have to allow this?

Just ask him not to. He won't turn down the job because of it

[SrulyP]

I just hired a photographer and it ended up costing 4,500 for standard affair

[doublejay]

Paging SomethingFishy

BTW just curious. Were you implying that I was a troll (or whatever you call it) trying to peddle my photography?

[doublejay]

I just hired a photographer and it ended up costing 4,500 for standard affair

Details on what was in the package?

I am the one man band + a singer level, is that what you mean by standard affair?

[SrulyP]

Don't remember everything offhand
i think it was 1 main album, two parent albums, 2 crews photographer, portrait package +edited video

And no if you are in the 1 man band market 4k is extremely expensive and you can find cheaper (about 2.5k - 3.5k)

[doublejay]

Don't remember everything offhand
i think it was 1 main album, two parent albums, 2 crews photographer, portrait package +edited video

And no if you are in the 1 man band market 4k is extremely expensive and you can find cheaper (about 2.5k - 3.5k)

What's a portrait package?

Also, I am trying to be cost-conscious but bH can afford to spend the extra money if I have to. The way I think of it is: Good one man band plus a singer is very good sound IME, doesn't take much away from the wedding and you can't take the band home with you. The pictures/video however has a much smaller gap in price and mediocre pics and video and bad service vs. the opposite for an extra 30% or so might be worth it. If it was $1.5k vs. $4k I'd say forget it but spending $3k on something I will always have to look at and possibly not like seems too risky to me.

[SrulyP]

What's a portrait package?

Its just a couple nice big pictures and the proofs

[satturn]

i used  - http://www.kuvien.com/. They were great. And reasonable.

[whYME]

BTW just curious. Were you implying that I was a troll (or whatever you call it) trying to peddle my photography?

Nope, he was just looking for an opinion from our resident photography expert...

[Something Fishy]

Just came across this thread...

$4k is not over the top, especially for photos+video. Ask him to show you some albums he made for other people to get an idea of the quality and the type of pictures.

As far as rights to use your pictures in a gallery, he's probably just covering himself if he ever decides to use one of the pictures on his studio wall or something, as an example of his work. You could tell him that you'd rather not (and if he has any business sense he'll agree), but technically he'd still have the legal right to do so. It's a fairly standard practice AFAIK.

[Let3]

What is the standard size albums for parents of bride/groom in a wedding package?