Saving Money on Photographs

Much as it hurts me to say it, if you want the big glossy album of wedding photos you will have to pay for it! (Expect to pay  £1000+) You could get lucky and find a gifted amateur but be wary of paying out a couple of hundred pounds and getting something second rate which is going to disappoint you. It is sometimes suggested that if you have fewer photographs taken the bill will be less, but in my experience professional wedding photographers only want to provide a package. To be fair to them there are a limited number of prime working days in a year and they don't want to waste time on a £200 wedding when they could be making £1500 elsewhere.  If you are marrying out of season or on a weekday you may be able to negotiate a good deal but on a Saturday in summer you may be wasting your time.

Of course you could do away with the official photographer all together. In this digital age lots of people have good cameras so you a pretty well bound to have at least one keen photographer among your guests. Put a note in with the invitation saying 'No official photographer - please bring your camera or camcorder' or you could give out disposable cameras on the day  for people to take their own record of the day. Celebrations Plus  have some of the cheapest, but if you are shopping around make sure you are getting processing and prints included in the price.  People normally put these on the table for the reception photos but in my experience they tend to only be half used - why not give them out as people arrive at the church and ask them to leave them on the table at the end of the evening. You should get enough photos to chose a good selection for your own album.  If you are going down this route it is a good idea to appoint one guest as 'Photo Opportunity Co-ordinator' to arrange a selection of  set group shots for people to snap at. Pop along to the Church or venue in advance to work out where the good locations for photos are, remember to go at the same time of day as your wedding will be, so you can see where the sun is.

Personally I would never bother with a professional video.  I find them very intrusive on the day and you will hardly ever watch the video afterwards.  The amateur video taken by friends are much more fun.