Top Ten Reasons to book a professional wedding photographer (written by Russell Caron, nicked by Chris Taylor)...

Miscellaneous

3 Jan

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It's been waaaay too long since I posted on my blog, it's been a frantic few weeks with Christmas, etc but now we are out the other side of it I fully intend to start blogging regularly again starting.....NOW.The below list of the Top Ten Reasons to Book a Professional Wedding Photographer were penned by a U.S. photographer called Russell Caron and they are so relevant & well-put I just had to share them....

#10Other than the wedding gown and the rings, the photography is the only wedding expense that you get to keep for forever. Is this the part that you want to entrust to amateurs, or to those with little or no experience???

#9For your wedding, would you consider hiring amateurs...to cook the meal? ...to officiate? ...to make your gown? ...to play the music? ...to drive the limo? ...to make the cake? We hope the answer is ‘no’ to all of these. Why, then, would you entrust arguably the most important element of the day to anyone other than a professional wedding photographer?

#8Would anyone less than a professional photographer be using perhaps $30,000 or more in the very best cameras, lenses, flashes and backup equipment (and be able to extract all the benefits from this gear)? Will anyone else have two backup copies of your files made within hours of the wedding? Will one set of these files be stored in a fireproof and waterproof digital vault... before you even leave for your honeymoon?

#7Will anyone less than professional wedding photographer be able to take high‐quality photographs in a dimly‐lit church...without a flash? Or in a large, often hard‐to‐light reception venue? Or in harsh sunlight? Will anyone less have radio‐operated small flashes hidden in the corners of the room to make beautiful and striking light during first dance?

#6You’ll be able to laugh about most every wedding day issue that you may encounter soon after it happens. But would you be able to laugh off problems with your wedding photography? A seasoned professional wedding photographer brings with them an ability to handle most any curve ball sent their way.

#5Even other professional photographers (that are not specifically wedding photographers) are probably not going to make good WEDDING photographers. Wedding photography is a true art and a science. It takes years of experience photographing weddings to know how to act, where to be, where NOT to be, what to photograph, how to photograph it, how to not interfere with the flow of the day.

#4The axiom “you get what you pay for” could not be more true than it is with your wedding photography.

#3Will “Uncle Frank’s” or your friend’s pictures really look like the images that you see on professional wedding photographer’s web sites? What about the second‐half of the wedding photography process—the post‐processing? Where all the artistic effects are added; and where the professional album designer makes your day into a storybook?

#2Will an amateur’s view of your wedding actually be worthy of winning professional photography awards, being published in magazines, or be on wedding magazine covers? Even if these are not important considerations to you, don’t they speak to the quality of images that you will receive? Will you be absolutely “amazed” with your images?

#1The #1 regret of brides that wish they could do something different about their wedding is not having spent enough on their wedding photography. An average wedding budget should allocate at least 13% of the total for still photography. At a more budget or “DIY‐ oriented” wedding, the percentage is even higher.

(OK, so with reference to number 8 - I don't actually own or have access to a fireproof & waterproof vault but I do make three copies of all wedding files one of which is kept off-site at a different location. Also not mentioned is that a non-professional wouldn't have professional indemnity insurance which I've thankfully never had cause to use but you never know).