Photography budget

View quoted message I’ve worked with him before! If you fiancé won’t budge on price.


Otherwise I like the suggestion about showing him the difference in quality between $1000 and $3000

There is the option of student photographers that will go in that price range. You'd have to find one with a strong portfolio or has examples of events before as event photography vs. stills like landscapes are night and day skills.

I found that my FH initially was under-estimating a lot of costs, but I realized I had been doing most of the research for trying to price venues/vendors, etc. We split up a few things for him to be in charge of, and, when he had to do research and compare pricing, that's when the light bulb went off about pricing being different than the expectations.

I would suggest getting your FH to do the same. It might get him to re-consider the hard maximum to be more in line with what is out there or he'll be the one finding options in his mandatory price range that have to meet both of your expectations.

Minimum I have come across in Toronto is $2500 for professional photography

This was my husband too. We met with my first choice first and asked to see a few full albums. Then, we met with a $1000 photographer and asked to see a couple albums. Once my husband compares, he realized the quality was so much better and agreed to hire my first choice, even though it was more than double the other person.

Markzelinski.com
He's excellent and has a package in that range.

Im not sure if thats doable.... you can contact a ton of photographers and see what their pricing is..... you may be able to get a very basic package for that but u have to call around for sure

Same here, i feel what your going through! We just would like a few professional photos. No transportation fees (offering a ride to venue with equipment), No engagement shoot , no pre- wedding photos, no long hours , no changing locations etc. Student photography is a pretty common response but its very hard to find these people. Anyone here has hired one?

I think if you doubled it to $2k, you'd have more luck. That seems to be a reasonable price for the lower end. $1k is a bit too low and I don't think you'll get a decent quality.

I have a photog story for you: Originally I had wanted to do a destination wedding, so I looked for a photog who would travel. Found one who would do it at a discounted price if we paid for her trip. Great! Booked her and paid the deposit. Fast forward a couple months and the destination thing wasn't going to work (various reasons). Decided to do an in-town wedding. Turns out, the photog prices for regular weddings was about double our budget! But we'd already paid $1k for the deposit and I had to decide if we wanted to pay her nearly $4k fee, or lose the deposit and find someone else in the $2k range. Even if we did, it would still cost $3k, so I decided to stay with her. Wow, am I glad we did!!! Now, don't get me wrong: there are many other ways I'd want to spend that money. But I figured we were already in for a bit so we might as well stick with it. When we got our engagement pics back, I knew immediately it was worth it!!!

Not only was she amazing to work with - she made us feel comfortable and confident in front of the camera - and we got 85 edited shots from the session. It was unreal the amount and quality of the shots, let alone the variety, in only an hour of shooting downtown.

All this to say: It might just be worth it to go a little over budget on this one and find savings elsewhere. I really didn't have photography super high on my list of priorities. But now that I've done the engagement shoot and seen the results, I understand why photogs can sometimes be expensive. Her expertise, her experience, her communication, her rapidity, and the quality of her work is, without a doubt, entirely worth it in my opinion.

I'll also add as someone who works in the arts, often the price you pay isn't simply the amount of time they're working directly for you. You're also paying for the years of experience they've spent honing their craft and perfecting their work. That takes time and money too. Photographers are artists and should be paid for their experience as well as their work on the day of. Good luck to you! I hope you find a photographer that both fits within your budget and provides you with quality work. (Sorry for the wall of text)

That's a good price range for a professional if they will accept based on your budget. Student photographers starting out will do for less than $1000.

View quoted message That’s a pretty good timing. Hope you capture the twinkle lights and old brick 😊


It’s okay! I will find a photographer. I’m hiring a planner too to make it easier for me Lol

View quoted message Definitely! Everything costs more in the city and when the word “wedding” is attached to it, unfortunately.

View quoted message My plan is to have her arrive around 6/630 for the final dressing photos, then our first look and about 45 minutes to an hour of photos in our historic district. Then we will go back to the venue to meet our guests and get married! I'm hoping we can sneak out after dark for a few more photos, there's a spot nearby that has twinkle lights and old brick and it makes my heart sing ❤️


Because we don't have a bridal party there won't be a lot of people to wrangle for photos until later on. And those I want a bit more candid. We got so much done in under an hour for engagement photos that I have total faith!
I can see if she's up for a road trip, but I would bet that would be over the budget!

View quoted message I guess it depends on the area too.

View quoted message Wow! I was gonna ask about your vendor but I checked where you’re from and you’re in New Brunswick Haha I guess 4 hours is definitely more than enough but does that include pictures while you’re prepping?

View quoted message At least that’s one check mark on the list for ya Haha My hubby has a good vision and creativeness, but has a tendency to be lazy Lol

I agree, I think you would be hard pressed to find a company/person to do photography for $1000. The going rates I’ve seen are ~$2500 and up for toronto.

We were able to find a deal for our photographer, but it was a little extra work. We're paying $1250, that includes $100 for travel, our engagement photos (that turned out so wonderful) and 4 hours of wedding day coverage. Originally the package was 6 hours but I don't think we needed that much. We aren't having a traditional wedding with a wedding party, and the whole "day" will be about 630-midnight with the photos until about 1030 for ceremony and reception shots with friends and family and of us having a great time.


If you find a student, or the assistant of an up and coming photographer you might be able to save a bit. Do some shopping and if it still seems impossible sit down and show your fiance the quotes. Maybe then you two can meet in the middle or figure out another item you can save on.

View quoted message No problem! My fiance is a photographer himself, so he knew exactly what we'd be spending on a photographer, it's everything else that he has no idea what ball park we should be in lol!

View quoted message That’s what I told him. I’m definitely looking around more to see whether we can spend not more than $2000 for sure. Thanks!

From my own experience, $1000 is not realistic at all. Photographers do so much more than just point and shoot and people not in the field don't always know the amount of detail that they take into consideration and therefore don't appreciate it the same. $2000 is typical for a basic package, but hiring someone that's still currently in school for photography would be where I'd look if you want to try to pay less.