Question by Obssessed: Wedding photographer vs. buying a lot of disposable cameras?
Wedding photographers are just sooooo expensive so I am debating on whether or not I should just purchases about a hundred disposable camera’s and have the wedding party take the pictures. The only problem with that is what if we don’t get as many pictures of us as we’d like or what if the majority of them do not turn out. Has anyone done this? Any advice would be great.
Best answer:
Answer by Pax
I would have to say that it would be better to get a photographer. Nobody says that you have to get hundreds of pictures, just the important ones that you provide on a list. As to the disposable cameras: their fun, but expect a whole lot of silly, crazy, dumb pictures. Just remember, you can’t have a do-over on your wedding pictures!
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Even though wedd photographers are really expensive i’d try them anyway because u know ur getting ur moneys worth with great shots of u 2 together & beautiful pics of the wedd! Congratulations & hope i helped! Best of wishes & god bless!
I would get a wedding photographer, they may be expensive but your wedding is really important and u want to make sure u have great memories that u can look at.
plus the wedding photographer will make sure to concentrate on the most important things of the wedding and won’t just be taking pictures of anything..
Get the photographer, once you buy all the camera it’ll cost almost as much. Go to bridal shows in your area, they always have special deals running. And if you have disposables, you run the risk of getting some nasty pictures. Plus the quality isn’t as good.
I would not use disposable cameras as a substitute for a photographer. It’s a huge risk. I have a friend who is a photographer who is doing mine for half her usual price. If you don’t have a trusty friend, look for students who need to beef up their portfolio or just budget the money for pictures. I think they’re important. After all is said is done, all you’ll have left is the husband and the pictures to remember your day by.
Good luck and congrats!
I went to a Wedding two years ago and we were helping out by taking a lot of pics for the bride and groom with the disposables, she got the camera’s developed and some of the kids got ahold of the cameras and took pics of the ground and such. I was thinking about doing this for my wedding but we are having a kid friendly wedding and I don’t want to be worried that they are using them. Also a lot of people take pics of them selves “myspace pics” blugh. So thats not exactly what you want. But photographers will get a million of you guys so u might want to think about that
For my wedding, I had both a professional photographer and disposable cameras. I am very very glad we had the professional photographer because her pictures turned out wonderfully! And the disposable cameras? Well, let’s just say that they were good keepsakes, but because of kids running around, I had a lot of pictures of chairs, random pictures on the wall (yes, pictures of pictures!), and of fingers that got in the way! Cute, but not great. And I only had 10 disposable cameras, and that was plenty. Remember they cost $ 7-10 dollars to develop each one in addition to the original cost of the camera!
So:
Professional photographer—awesome and totally worth it
Disposable cameras–great babysitters, awful pictures (well, some were kinda cute)
it depends on how pretty a picture you want.
disposable cameras operated by amateurs tend to look like snapshots made by amateurs.
Do you live near an art college? Advertising for a student photographer could work for you (Jr or Sr or grad student may be best). Request that they bring their portfolio for you to review so you know what their work looks like & teacher references. You can pay them about 1/2 or less of what a professional would cost and let them keep the negatives for their portfolio. It’s a win win situation for both of you.
And if that doesn’t work for you then you can always negotiate w/ the photographer to bring the price down. You can pick and choose what you really want rather than what is included in a package or you could barter. Is there a service you can offer that the photographer would need or could use (for example if you are a tax accountant, you could do his/her personal and/or business taxes). Get creative.
Disposable cameras are a great idea for the wedding reception, but NOT in lieu of a photographer. Many of the disposable pictures may come out dark and grainy. Not to mention, you’re leaving your guests in charge of getting great photos for you – and their idea of a great photo may be the guy telling his friends to pull down his pants so he can get a shot of the full moon. *LOL*
On the other hand, I TOTALLY understand the budget concerns that come along with wedding photographers. Perhaps a better idea would be to ask a family member or friend to take pictures for you with their digital camera. They can view the pictures (so they know if they’re coming out dark or blurry. You could even have someone who’s not on the guest list do it, that way none of your guests feel like they have to be working during the entire time. You’d pay them of course (a much smaller fee since they’re not proffesional nor do they have proffesional equipment). Supply them with the proper memory cards so they don’t run out of space. Get them to agree to give you the rights to the photos, have them put the pictures on discs and you can take them to a printing company to get copies of the ones you’d like framed or put in an album. Hopefully you’ll only spend hundreds of dollars (including printing, framing, etc…) instead of THOUSANDS with a proffesional photographer. And you have the discs so you don’t have to buy any proofs. You can post them all online and save them for future printing. : )
People say great things about disposable cameras, but I did not have good luck with them. We had 100 people, 12 cameras, and got 3 half-decent pictures out of them. Some people gave the cameras to little kids, so half of the pictures were black or floor/ceiling pictures.
We paid about $ 2300 for photography, and it was worth it. It is the only thing you’ll have left after your wedding; pictures last forever! That is one thing that has to be done right, and you only have one shot.
Even if you purchase the cameras at $ 5 each, that’s still about $ 500 (or more!) Add in the cost of developing the photos and that will add at least $ 300-400 more and that’s just considering if you get them developed somewhere cheap like Costco.
Go to your local junior college. Contact the instructors of the classes and ask if you can come in and ask any of the students if they are interested in photographing your wedding. The students will no doubt have samples of their work on them. You can get a great deal and help a student who wants to build a portfolio! Also, the students aren’t likely to charge you some outrageous price for the rights to the photos.
Congrats on your engagement!
I’d also have to agree with the other answers and go with a wedding photographer. Search online for photographers within your area, compare prices/wedding packages to see what would work out best. You might find someone just starting out and they might not charge as much as someone who has been in the business awhile. Some photographers might even work out a custom package to work within your budget. Call around and ask.
Also, make a list of the kind of photographs you want – of you and your future spouse, family members, decorations, cake(s), rings, etc…Having a list will help the photographer know what kind of photos you’d like – ’cause you will be BUSY on your wedding day – greeting family & friends and having people give you hugs left & right!
My cousin had the disposable cameras at her wedding and only received a few good pictures. So, invest in someone who will be there solely for this purpose, who can ensure that you’ll receive memories in print. This is one day that you can’t re-do.
Good Luck!
Look online and see if there are any local bridal shows in your area and if there is go and talk to the photographers, i know they are very expensive but booking them there they give out really good deals on packages. thats what i did. i got a 1600 package for 900. And also alot of photographers are giving out CD’s in the packages with all of the pictures they take so if you change your mind later and you want more you will have them.
It really does depend on what you are looking for. I’m def not paying for a photographer b/c they are too expensive, but I’m thinking about asking a friend’s friend who is good with cameras to take ceremony pictures, or I might get a local film student. My fiance’s mother used the disposable camera method and honestly, I didn’t see a problem with it. She selected the pictures that she liked the best and bought a beautiful album to put them in. She was just happy to have pictures of her day. She has plenty of pictures from that day in her home and she pulls out her album constantly to show the wedding.
Instead of buying 100 disposables, which would cost a pretty penny, you should give out a disposable camera for each table at the reception. For the ceremony you can ask/appoint one person to take certain shots that you want with a nicer camera. I might go this route. This is a cheap and effective way to get what you would want.
If it is in your budget to spend 1,000 or more on a photographer then do it, if not think of ways to work around it.
I say to budget for a reputable photographer. Our photos are such a joy to look at with our friends and family, and was worth every cent that we spent! I have enjoyed looking at photos that friends took, too..but they are just fun and silly. A professional photographer is an artist, who is able to truly capture your day.
unless you are buying the cameras in bulk from the dollar tree, you will end up possibly spending just as much. and half the pics won’t even be cute or used at all. Then you’ll have to pay to develop all them pictures… Keep looking. I thought the same thing and then I found someone with an excellent beginnings portfolio at a great price… it’s 400 for 4 hours and i get the prints on a cd… and like 60 4×6 and some others. so i can print them on snapfish or whatever… share them with friends…
Depends on what you want your pics to look like? I saw the King of Queens yesterday and Doug took one of those cameras in the bathroom and put a little top hat on his man part. Not saying that would happen at your wedding, but the quality of the pictures is going to be less and not a lot of you but of the party. I would do both, actually I am doing both.
Go with the photographer. He/she will know about lighting, placement, height arrangements, staging, etc. People with disposable cameras will give you disposable pictures. The clarity is not good, someone will end up taking 50 pictures of their date that you don’t know, kids will take 15 pictures of the punchbowl, and you probably won’t get half the cameras back.
See if your local professional camera store can recommend someone or if they have ads for amateur photographers or photography students (with portfolios, of course). This way you can save on your budget but still get the keepsakes that you want.
Another option is to have your wedding guests take pictures with the digital cameras they already own and have them upload their pics to http://www.theweddinglens.com
It’s a cheaper and more “green” solution.
Congratulations on your wedding! Well in my opinion. Get some professional pictures done, either in a studio or the day of your wedding, that is an investment. We were in the same dilemma just few weeks ago , too. But we got to the conclusion that this is a very important event- hopefully once in the lifetime- and definitely you will need nice pictures to remember the best of it. Tell the photographer your budget and try to negotiate with them. For example if you are in a very tight budget , just try to get all the pics in a CD or DVD with a good resolution, so you can print it later, of course it may be expensive still, but at least you will not have to pay for albums, etc.. Try to cut in something not too important (may be like the favors that collects dust. –check Martha Stuart web page they have something especially for wedding sand favors. You can make it yourself.)
A professional photographer will know what to take, of course look at their portfolio before booking one. Make sure of what are you looking for, traditional pics or more artistic ones. Hope this help. Also you can just put ONE disposable camera in each table, just to get more pictures.