In searching for a photographer for your special day, the prices are probably the first thing you look at. You see one for $3,000, $4,000, and then…just around $1,000?
For 2-3 seconds, you’ll jump for joy in thinking you found a steal and can use those savings toward other things. (Or treat yourself.)
Then your better judgement kicks in: if it’s too good to be true, it probably is. Right?
For wedding photography, this is a resounding yes. Because there’s a reason for that price: subcontracting.
The reason these nationwide photography companies are cheaper than other photographers is because what you’re paying isn’t all going into the pocket of your photographer. But to the company that hired them. That’s how they can afford to charge less as opposed to hiring one directly.
The tradeoff for the cheaper price is that you don’t quite know what you’re going to get. You may get someone who has shot over a hundred weddings. Or you may get someone who has only shot two.
On their company’s website, they’ll feature the best shots from their plethora of photographers. But not from yours.
Adding onto that, the editing is also outsourced. So you have minimum two different people shooting and editing your pictures. They’re typically overworked and underpaid, so they’re not giving your album the artist’s touch and TLC it deserves.
You’re probably thinking: what if we meet them ahead of time and see their work per usual? That helps, right?
Well…not always. It’s not uncommon for them to switch out your photographer with the snap of a finger, if not more than once. Even as late as the day before your wedding. You may have sat down with the first one you were assigned ahead of time and liked them and their work, only to be given a 24 hour notice that the one you liked isn’t coming now.
If that happens, now you have someone photographing your wedding that you’ve never met and have never seen their work or testimonials. Instead of having the familiarity and reassurance that your photographer’s got your back, you’re going to have the fear in the back of your mind that the new one may butcher it for the entirety of your special day.
And, as if we aren’t succumbed to this enough nowadays: they will nickel and dime you with hidden fees after the wedding is done. This sours the experience, as your pictures are essentially being held for ransom with your back against the wall in having no choice but to pay up. That alone makes the cheaper price a moot point.
For obvious reasons, I can’t name the company I have in mind as I write this, but I can’t stress it enough: their bad reviews are not pretty. You do not want to be the next one.
One of my friends who unfortunately didn’t heed my warning ended up using them, and she couldn’t cancel by the time everything was said and done. While she did luck out with a decent photographer, even as a guest, I brought my own and took some of the reception (per her request). Her and her family went out of their way to say that the ones I took were superior.
When you hire a photographer directly, they run a tighter ship. They take every picture; they do their own edits. So when you go on their website and portfolio, what you see is what you get. Their reviews and testimonial are for them, not for the company that hired them. For better or for worse.
Stick with local photographers and/or hiring and picking one yourself, not nationwide companies that pick one for you out of a hat.
Remember, there are no do-overs for weddings. An incident involving the caterer or the bartender will last for a day. But an incident involving the photographer will last for life.