Wedding photographers are not all the same.

Just look at wedding websites and you’ll see all styles, prices, experiences and ranges of us out there.

One thing I can tell you as a professional is that there is a lot of us out there, but with little education for couples just like you that are getting married.

So, Carole and I want to talk to you today about just that, what you need in a good wedding photographer and no it’s not price.

What is a good price point for wedding photos in Roanoke?

As we’ve stated before, 10-12% of your overall wedding budget is a good starting point when it comes to how much you should be spending for a photographer.

If you don’t have a clue what your wedding photography budget should be, just use the tool below.

If you’re looking for both photos and video for the wedding, then about 16-20% should be more in your range.

And that’s one of the reasons why you’ll find all sort wedding pros in the marketplace.

What experience should we look for when booking a wedding photographer?

While you’ll find a large range of experience among pros in the marketplace, we recommend that you hire someone with at least 3 years of wedding photography experience in weddings.

It’s typically true that the longer someone has been doing something, the better experienced they are and that holds true here too.

The more experienced, the less mistakes they will make during a wedding and the more likely you’ll get have peace-of-mind they’ll cover everything right to begin with.

We don’t recommend booking a cheaper wedding photographer, more on that in a bit.

What should an experienced wedding photographer have regarding gear?

You have all sorts of ranges of gear, DSLR cameras, the popular mirrorless cameras, a wealth of price ranges, features and lenses too.

There are a few features that we highly recommend your photographer has for your wedding.

• A good sensor

  • Look for cameras that are APS sensor sized or even better, full frame sensors. A medium format sensor is best although it’s overkill for most wedding photographs. Simply put, the larger the sensor, the better for your image quality.

  • For wedding video, a Micro Four Thirds (MFT) or larger is best suited.

• Dual Card Slots

  • Many high-end, professional grade cameras will have dual card slots. This means when an image is taken, it records to two card slots instead of one. That means there is less of a chance a card will be corrupt and your images will be okay.

• Low Light Lenses

  • Lenses with a lower F-stop mean it will be better in low light. Most wedding receptions are dark and having an F-stop of 2.0 or lower works good. The lower the number the better in low light.

• A Good Flash

  • Your photographer should have a good flash for those low light situations. Some are mounted onto the camera and some are remote. Either way, they should have a flash.

This goes back to hiring a cheap wedding photographer in Roanoke or really anywhere.

While they may have some equipment, chances are the gear will be low end or even kits that come with low end stock lenses and gear.

You’re truly rolling the dice if you book someone just based on the lowest cost alone.

What Tips Can you Provide for Negotiating with a Wedding Photographer?

While most wedding photo professionals will tell you they don’t negotiate, thats not quite true.

Wedding Photography Case Study

Let’s say your getting married next year and your budget for photography ranges from $1,600-$1,900.

You meet with two photographers and each one gives you a price, one is $1,800 and the other $1,900.

They bring to the table similar services, contracts and they have similar styles.

Going to the $1,900 wedding photographer, you tell them that you found someone else that could give them services for $100 less, asking if they could match the price.

The photographer has two choices to make.

1. They adjust the cost and offer you their services for $100 less or $1,800.

2. They tell you no and stick to the $1,900.

Well, it’s very common to spend lots of money on advertising, marketing, SEO, wedding shows, business cards, brochures and the like.

So the real question for the photographer is this: Is $100 worth the loss of a client?

To some, it will be and others, they’ll stick to their guns with the price, but lose a client.

While it’s just $100, the worst someone can say is no and thats perfectly fine. I will tell you that if you decide to contract a photographer and do this, be prepared to show them a quote from a competitor, don’t just say you have a cheaper photographer, back it up.

Off-Season Discounts

Some wedding photography experts in the region will offer off-season discounts, people have to eat, right?

Well, if you’re doing any sort of wedding planning, let me tell you that many places have a wedding season, in Roanoke, Lynchburg and Blacksburg thats usually from March to October each year.

That’s where the bulk of wedding vendors in Roanoke are going to get their income from each year.

Months November through early March tend to be lean, some offer small discounts ranging from 5-25% off depending on their need to book during these months.

We suggest that if you want the best savings, have your wedding during an off-season month and you’ll be in better shape to save money all around.

Other Discounts

Additionally, some photographers will offer discounts to various groups, like police, fire and rescue and active military members.

Not all companies offer discounts for special types of employment, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.

The most popular discounts are as follows:

• Police

• Fire & Rescue

• Medical / First Repsonder’s

• Education

• Vet Clinic staff

Should I hire a cheap wedding photographer?

Okay, so what is a cheap wedding photographer and how is that defined?

A cheap wedding photographer is someone that offers images far below the industry standard, has low end gear and has little professional experience.

And there is a difference when it comes to experience, let me explain.

I like to use the car industry for my analogies because just about everyone drives a car or truck.

See, when your vehicle breaks down you have a few choices, you could try to fix it yourself, you can take it to a shade tree mechanic or you take it to a professional shop.

Well, the same thing applies to the wedding industry.

You can do it yourself, have a friend do it or hire a professional.

A cheap wedding vendor is more like that shade-tree person, they have some idea of what they’re doing but they often lack the equipment, experience and knowledge to make sure that things go right.

With weddings, you basically have three choices.

The DIY Route

Having your guests take images with cell phones and low end cameras. I want you to think of cameras much like the ones you can score at a place like Best Buy, what comes to my mind is a Canon Powershot or your smart phone.

These take pretty good images, but lack things like depth of field and that awesome bokeh, the blurry background when you take an image.

The Cheap Photographer Route

You can choose a somewhat professional to take pictures using a slightly better camera, a DSLR like the Canon Rebel 7i that looks professional but it low end. You can pick one up for about $500.

Pricing will vary but this is where you pickup someone for literally a few hundred bucks.

That should be an red flag.

Let’s look at a sample, shall we?

Carole and we’re out at Parkway Brewing Company over St. Patrick’s Day, it’s one of our favorite places to have a local brew and listen to music.

Can you tell which image is professional and which is a cheap camera?

The Professional Photographer

A professional will have cameras like the Nikon D750, The Canon 5D Mark IV or the Sony A7iii. They are designed with low light capabilities in mind, they have features a $500 camera will not and they produce wonderful images matched with a high-end lens.

Yes, you’re going to pay more.

In part because of the cost of gear and the experience he or she brings to the table.

Beyond the gear, they will be able to provide you great images, a great experience and beyond that, peace-of-mind that when something does happen at your wedding (and it always does) they’ll be able to correct it as if it was just part of the day.

Article Takeaway

Having a great experience is what you should be looking for based on your wedding budget.

Listen, we get it, not everyone can afford a professional, that’s why there are various ranges of wedding photographers out there in the marketplace.

We want you to takeaway the following:

• Look for someone within 10-12% of your budget

• Look for someone with 3 or more years or experience.

• Hire someone with professional grade gear.

• If you can, pick a photographer during the off-peak season if you want to save the most.

• You ALWAYS have the power to negotiate, even if the person doesn’t want to wiggle over a small amount.

• Always have a signed contract that benefits both parties.

So, what do YOU think?

Drop a comment in the box below, in fact if you’re reading this, we’re going to give away a Coach Wristlet to a random person that comments. We’ll give it away April 15th and we’ll notify you in the thread below. Bonus points if you sign up for our weekly newsletter too.