Why Cheap Wedding Photographers Are so Expensive

It's the day you've been dreaming of. You've invested so much time and money into the invitations, the dress, the flowers, the food, the decor, the place, and it's the start of a new life with your spouse to be. The last thing you want to do is blow the whole experience on a cheap photographer. I'm in the trenches with you. I see behind the scenes of the industry. Looking for a photographer who will do everything you want for under $1,000 creates problems for you on many levels. There are so many reasons a good wedding photographer is worth it I couldn't even cover them in one article. Here's a few. Ever look at your parents' wedding album? Few do. That's because you know what's there: pictures of people standing flat to the camera smiling. There's a different side to the market -- brides who are floored by their albums every time they open them and whose friends' jaws drop when they see how great the bride looks on her wall art display. Then there's the notion of spending a lot on a fairy tale wedding and then trusting a $500 photographer to capture it. For every 100 people who lose a job, one of them picks up a camera and says "Hey, I can do this!" And a new $500 wedding photographer enters the market. You're not paying the sous chef to serve microwave meals at the reception, or a chimp to cobble together your dress out of napkins. This is a wedding! When the food is gone, the flowers fade, and the dress is put away, what you have left can be a pile of snapshots or a beautiful story to bring that magic back. If you blow it on a cheap photographer, you'll be stuck with reunion photos the rest of your life, and the magic won't be there. Shop for the vision, shop for the service, but be careful when shopping for price. Photography isn't a commodity, and those who make it a commodity hurt everyone in the industry. Professional doesn't mean expensive. It means getting your money's worth. It doesn't even have to be me, and believe me there are plenty of photographers charging much more than I do. It's about something that transcends the products.