If we didn’t hire a professional wedding photographer, this is what we’d be left with

April 11, 2017 by Eirik Halvorsen 14 Comments

“The wedding was so expensive so we couldn’t afford to hire a professional photographer, but nowadays cameras are so good that our guests can take all the photos for us for free.”

We have all heard it: “save money by hiring a hobby photographer” or “my uncle got a really great camera and he will take our wedding photos for free”. I will light a candle for all of you who regret in hindsight that you didn’t hire a professional photographer for your wedding or your special one-day event.

I recently came across a thread in a wedding group on Facebook where a coming bride said they wanted to save money by not hiring a professional wedding photographer and let the guests be in charge of the photos. I mean, they will take pictures, right? You just have to get everyone to dropbox you the photos after and you can make your own album and look back on those special moments forever.

Can you though?

This inspired me to make this blog post. Me and my wife got married almost four years ago and we saved two years in prior to our wedding to be able to pay all the expensive stuff. We actually cut the cost everywhere possible to be able to hire our dream photographer. We got creative and made things ourselves out of found objects and got craftsy with some good ‘ole paint and nails. People spend thousands on their weddings from decorations, flowers, wedding cake, invitations, table charts…well, the list is endless. All I know from the experience of getting married is that all that is left today is the photos and my wife’s expensive wedding dress that she has tried to sell many times since our wedding with no luck.

Some of our wedding photos by Jeff Newsom photographer below the article.

The following photos are actual photos from our own wedding taken by our guests and this is what the documentation of our day would look like if we didn’t go for a professional who actually knows how to capture a wedding.

This is a fantasy scenario. We actually hired a very talented wedding photographer but these photos showcase what our wedding photos would look like if we didn’t.

PLEASE SHARE THIS ARTICLE IF YOU THINK GOOD PHOTOGRAPHY IS IMPORTANT.

For us, photos are important and we went the extra mile in hiring Jeff Newsom to document our day. We are extremely happy and proud to be photographed by such an amazing artist. Click on the image below to see more photos from our wedding.

About the Author

Eirik Halvorsen is a professional wedding photographer from Norway with a bright colored, creative and playful style. He is a co-founder and member of Blikkfangerne – a collective of the very best wedding photographers in Norway. If you’d like to see more of his work, visit his website, like his Facebook page and follow him on Instagram. This article was also published here and shared with permission.

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Gabs

I’m french, my english is far from perfect.
Good photography is absolutely not necessary professionnal photography.
I know lots and lots of pro wedding photographers that really sucks.
And at the opposite there are so many amateur photographers far better at making beautiful images than the pro does…
I’m a wedding photographer. And I’m not blind to this reality. I have friends that are amateurs and could make better photographs than me. It encourages me to improve and do my best.
I think these days in each family, there is at least one TOP amateur photographer. Uncle, cousin, some kids, etc.
But IMO the real problem to “hire for free” a guest, is that this is not right, at all. Because photographing a wedding is a huge responsability, a huge amount of work and commitment. In the past I was hired for free as a guest. And this was some sort of nightmare because I could not enjoy the wedding as a guest, because I knew everybody, and everybody came to me to talk, and talk and talk and I would not be able to do my “job”. Very frustrating.
A pro photographer has the gear, is commited to his task, is not part of the guest, and is clearly identified as the photographer. These are the best circumstances to make great work…if the photographer is good enough.
The real problem is the money and always be the money. It’s more and more difficult to hire a pro photographer that is “so expensive” whereas there is this top amateur in the family.
That’s why pro wedding photographers tends to work only for high-grade weddings. The people have the money, in general they also have the money to make a “beautiful” wedding, so it’s more easy for the pro photographer to make beautiful pictures, and so it’s more easy to the pro to be hired by “high-grade”, because he as made beautiful pictures in the previous wedding…all that has almost nothing to do with talent…it’s just business…
- Gabs
  
  IMO the only interesting comparison is between two pro photographer, the one that is cheap, and the one that is expensive. What are the difference in the service, and in the IQ ?
  
  Edit : and why “high-grade” bride and groom will choose often the more expensive one, just because it’s the more expensive one.
- KaffeGlad
  
  There are many great amateur photogs out there, but that is perhaps not the whole point of the article, is it?
  
  The point is that more and more people seems to think that “everyone is a photographer” because they have a camera… regardless of type. It could be a mobile phone, a cheap point and shoot or a high end system camera. They focus on equipment and totally disregard the COMPETENCE of the photographer, which i my opinion is core in this article.
  - Gabs
    
    Yes, and a lot of “pro photographers” think they are photographers, with the same competence problems. That was the point I tried to explain.
- Nath Bala
  
  The french part is for Gabs, ’cause I’m thinking it’s a french issues.
  
  Moi aussi je suis français ;)
  Je suis assez d accord il y a 2 niveaux de photographe de mariage pro.
  
  Les 4 derniers mariages où je suis allé (famille et amis proche) on m as bien entendu demandé de prendre mon appareil pour que je fasse des photos.
  Les mariés ont toujours préféré les miennes a celle du photographe “pro” payé entre 600 et 1000€ la prestation (par contre je refuse d être l officiel).
  
  Ne nous mentons pas non plus ces sont des amateurs qui ont acheté un reflex (en general un 5d markII) et se sont déclaré comme auto-entrepreneurs. (moi aussi je l ai fait un temps mais bon quand je donne mon prix j ai rarement un retour et comme c est pas franchement la pratique qui me fais vibré j ai laissé tombé )
  
  Pareil pour les naissances enfin toutes ses prestations qui finalement sont facturé assez chères attirent les gens qui cherche arrondir les fins de mois.
  
  The blur in last photos (by the pro wedding photographer) is not really reallly good. Seems to be a fake brenizer with a tilt shift effect.
  - 孟恬
    
    I experienced something similar. My “advantage” is that I am very quick, with my whole work-flow on camera and phone, so pictures are done the day later. But the main difference between me and the pro was, that she had a responsibility to deliver. Luckily I was only to drunk to take pictures so late, when it was better anyway, not to take pictures any more ;)
    That could’ve been earlier.
    
    EDIT: While I can read French, I am not very good at writing…
    - Nath Bala
      
      I’m not very good in writing, whatever the language.
      ;)
      - Gabs
        
        @Nath : i totally agree ;-)
        @孟恬 : exactly ! the responsability ! Not necessary the best IQ.
      - Gabs
        
        @Nath, in french, sorry.
        En fait moi perso ça va dépendre des mariés.
        Si je n’ai pas envie de le faire, je vais faire payer, et je ne ferai pas de remise. Si je suis hyper motivé, je serais presque prêt à le faire gratuitement…en amateur. Je sais bien que ce n’est pas très “pro”, mais franchement il n’y a vraiment que les gens fortunés que ça n’embête pas de débourser 2000€ pour un photographe de mariage.
        Je ne sais pas si tu connais les prix aux US, mais ce serait vraiment impraticable en France…à moins de faire dans du grand luxe…
      - Gabs
        
        And there is something else : who decreted that the blurry and noisy pictures are bad ? We photographers.
        If the pictures are full of rich and nice and important moments, even if they are “ugly”, the people will prefer them than fake advertising pro photos.
Bucky Goldstein

I think the author missed the most important issue. Why waste so much money on a wedding that the couples could not hire a decent photographer? Weddings are overblown. Save some money and put it towards a down payment on a home.
孟恬

For everyone what he needs. But for me this is just so wrong:
»We actually cut the cost everywhere possible to be able to hire our dream photographer.«

I’d rather say: cut down on your vanity and actually create a party that everyone will remember. While I did not have an expensive photographer, I had a wedding that my friends and family call the best they have ever been and stories are being told again and again.

I had some friends taking pictures. Yeah, perhaps they could have been better. But I am no superstar that needs to sell an image.

PS: I just looked at your photos. I guess my friends are semi-pros. Their pictures are better than quite a lot of “professional” ones, better than those. Well, I guess it’s about risk. They could have gotten more drunk or so earlier, too.
- Gabs
  
  I’m glad not to be alone thinking this kind of stuff :-)
- Eirik Halvorsen
  
  “Everywhere possible” for us might not be everywhere possible for you. We cut the costs where we could and made sure our wedding went down in history in our circles as the most epic party for years. Friends and families still talk about that day and people have told us they want to get married again just so they can use our wedding as a blueprint for theirs.
  
  I signed up to Disqus just to reply to your comment. I probably won’t be able to check back. Thanks for getting involved though. Hope you like the article :)