After perusing the local Craigslist ads, I feel compelled to educate. If you are looking to save some money, there are much better ways to do it. Don’t set yourself up for future disappointment by hiring these guys.

The Free Photographer

Just to be clear, I am NOT talking about established photographers doing promotional or charitable giveaways.

I am talking about the random person offering to photograph your wedding for free, no strings attached, in order to gain experience. They will burn you a CD in exchange for letting them use your images in their future portfolio. The problem with this photographer is that they have no wedding experience. They probably have no idea that a wedding represents approximately 2 weeks of hard work (my estimate), not just one day. They may not be accustomed to the unpredictability of weddings. They may not even know how to shoot in manual, a necessary prerequisite to shooting any wedding. They will likely have many responses to their ad, so by the time your wedding comes they may realize they are in over their head and bail on you.

So what do I get out of this? Mainly, I get the experience but more importantly I will be able to use any of the photographs in future portfolios.

[From Craigslist]

I am looking for a couple of weddings to photograph for free to build-up my portfolio. All I ask of the bride and groom is that I be the only professional photographer at the wedding and that you grant me your permission to post the photos on my website

[From Craigslist]

The Family Friend

Assuming your family friend is not a professional wedding photographer, this is trouble. Ever heard the saying “never mix business with pleasure?” If this person is your close friend, they will be enjoying themself as a guest at your wedding. You can’t work and play at the same time and be effective. I won’t even talk about their lack of experience shooting weddings. There is also the flakiness factor.

So I’ve booked my photographer for a great price and I’m comfortable because I know him. Our daughters cheered together a while back. I call him up to say that my dress is back so we can take pictures anytime after that. He informs me that he thought I was going to confirm again so he’s now doing something on my wedding day. I thought he was joking at first because we had talked about down payments ( he said no as he likes the client to see his work 1st). We talked about contracts and he said he never does contracts for people he knows.

I was so upset at that moment! Just to think if I had waited till jow to call him. Thank God that several other reasonable photographers still have that date open and we are meeting with them all this week. I only want to deal with a person who has a legitimate business and takes a down payment and gives a contract.

[Source]

4 months ago a friend committed to help shoot a wedding, she was to spend the day with the bridal party, I was to be with the groom and his group. Yesterday I get a message via Facebook letting me know that some “unexpected guests” were coming in town for a visit so she couldnt come to the wedding now, the wedding is Saturday. She also included the comment that I shouldnt worry because its a “low key” wedding and the invitations were printed on computer paper and the ceremony wasnt even going to be held in a church. Seriously.

The bride, the other photographer and I have been friends for several years and we all worked together for a year or so.

[Source]

Another bride was extremely disappointed, because she let a friend do the photography for her wedding. The friend usually captures images of butterflies and close-ups of individual flowers. They assumed that because she was so good at this, that she would do an awesome job with the wedding, and they could save money. The pictures were terrible, and this is all the bride has to show for her beautiful wedding. She immediately regreted the decision, but it was too late.

[Source]

Wow!! Going down memory lane. I was married in 1986. A friend of my husband’s took the pictures as a wedding gift. Before the wedding began, the minister asked that no flash pictures be taken during the ceramony, he explained that we would go through it again for pictures. The friend took pictures wihout the flash because he said he did not hear the minister say that we would go through it again for flash pictures. Needless to say, I have no pictures of my wedding. It will be 22 years on the 28th of this mounth and it still upsets me to this day. We did have copies made from some of the guest pictures, but IT IS NOT THE SAME THING!! When you visit couples, they at leat have one wedding picture of the two of them together, NOT US. We worn everyone that we know is getting married HAVE LOTS OF PICTURES TAKEN.

[Source]

The Relative

Just as bad as the family friend.

I will be covering my brother’s wedding next week. I had such a bad experience when i covered my elder brother’s wedding. I ruined about 7 rolls of film. Thank God for digital cams nowadays. I just hope i learned my lessons.

[Source]

The Included-In-Your-Package Photographer

A lot of companies that deal with weddings have created all-inclusive packages so that you can spend all your money in one place. This would be a great idea if the execution wasn’t so flawed. You can’t expect a DJ company (for example) to provide the same quality images as a company that only does photography, any more than a photography company can be expected to provide great DJ’s.

We used XXXXXX for photography and were very disappointed in the quality of the photographer and the photos he took. The DJ on the other hand was amazing.

[From WeddingWire]

Also, most of their workers are independent contractors – working for a very small day rate without the benefits a regular job would provide them. Since they aren’t paid well, your contract is not with them, and they likely have a full-time job, you are not a priority to them.

A week before my wedding my photographer called me and said she had an emergency come up and she would no longer be able to photograph me per my contract though, they would find me a replacement. I was devastated. I found out two days later that my photographer would now be an older gentlemen with absolutely no personality and needless to say no creative eye. Two days before my wedding, I finally received a call from my DJ. Five minutes into the phone call I was in tears. My DJ was a brand new amateur who basically did this part time. He spoke very little English and had an extremely thick accent that was very hard to understand. He had not heard of most of the music I was requesting. He even asked me if I could provide my own CD’s for him to use. I called my coordinator who miraculously was unavailable. I finally got all the way to the manager of the company who basically said “oh well, you should have requested a specific DJ, and you’ve already paid so not our problem”. I was heartbroken.

[From WeddingWire]

Soon after, we booked Grace for the wedding. Ten days before the wedding, we had not heard from her. When we called her, she replied, “I am glad you called because I will not be doing your wedding.” Ten days before!! We could not believe nobody had contacted us earlier. Grace told us she would see what she could do and would get back to us in a few days. She then called a few days later and hooked us up with another DJ within the company. We had no choice to accept our DJ, Amy.

[From WeddingWire]

I went to one of the bridal convention they hold and was very impressed by the work I saw. I booked my photographer that night in person. I then recieved a call that he would no longer be available for my date! I was told to go to the website check out someone elses work and pick a new photographer. I did this with hesitation. I then received news that THIS photographer would not be able to work the date and they were just giving me a photographer.

[From WeddingWire]

Two days before my wedding, I found out that they had switched my photographer to someone who was nervous and boring, and for all his talk about a light meter, did not even light the photos properly and as a result most of my pictures have dark backgrounds…it was a nice bright day, and the backgrounds are dark and shadowy.

[From WeddingWire]

The Free Website Photographer

When your prospective photographer doesn’t even spend $10 on their own domain name, you can pretty much guarantee they aren’t spending money on other essential things (like backup equipment, extra hard drives, a professional lab).

Even worse is when they misspell words like “photography” on the front page of their free website.

[From A Free Website]

If you just can’t afford to pay a professional rate, figure out another way to save money. Don’t ever, ever, ever skimp on the photography.