Sometimes, when planning a wedding on a budget, the question of whether to spend precious available funds on the wedding venue itself or on photography and videography comes up. Which is more important… the venue or the archiving of it via photography and/or videography?
The short answer is that, if you really, really, really have to make a choice about one or the other, the venue is more important. Why is that?
The reason the venue is more important is that there are alternatives to high-dollar professional photographers but here is not substitute for the venue. A secondary reason is that why should you ‘pay forward’, for people who weren’t at the wedding, at the expense of having a nice venue for the people who were there?
Ultimately, It’s Very Seldom Required To ‘do-without’ A Good Photographer
There are lots of photographers who don’t have ‘brand names’ and will work very affordably. Granted, you’ll have to do more shopping and due-diligence and reference checking and portfolio-scrutinizing… but good photographers are out there at very reasonable prices. One of the easiest ways to get a decent photographer for a fraction of the cost was suggested to me by a collegue at the office who recently finalized his wedding plan: Go to The Perfect Wedding Guide Photography Directory and send out a mass get a quote request in the following format “Hi, my wedding is on ___ and I have a budget of ___, if you can make it work, please contact me”.
And remember that it wasn’t that long ago that people were perfectly content with photography much less sophisticated that what is touted as ‘state-of-the-art’ today. Do you really need all the editing tricks and custom treatments to capture the essence of the moment?
Probably Not.
Here’s some ways you can be pretty well assured of finding an affordable wedding photographer:
Ask at your local camera shop if they can recommend somebody. They know who’s active in the profession, new in it, or who’s a skilled amateur and they’ll be happy to tell you.
Another approach is to go to your local junior college or 4 year college and talk to whoever teaches the photography courses. It’s pretty much a certainty that they’ll have some good recommendations for you. After all, they’re teaching the techniques so they ought to know who’s good, right?
Last but not least, you might have somebody coming to the wedding who has the photographic skills you’re looking for. Look over your list and see. If there’s any question in your mind, call them up and ask. Odds are, if they’ve got the skill, they’ll be glad to help you out.
Yes, the venue probably is the most important if you absolutely have to choose one or the other. But you more than likely don’t have choose. You can have both if you just hustle a little bit. Your wedding can be remembered by both the venue and the beautiful photography and videography that you found simply by looking hard enough for a bargain.
Franka, a local review blogger at the Local Q&A. Franka blogs on a variety of lifestyle topics specializing in money saving tips.