Wedding Photographer/videographer

I agree that you should see your friend's work before hiring him/her as a photographer.

My fiancé and I decided against having a videographer since having footage isn't important to us and put the investment into a good photographer instead.

Decide what's more important to you and go from there.

Always ask for Samples! I’ll admit, I’m a bit nervous myself. My brothers friend is doing Oyr Engagement Photoshoot in the fall and, although She did take photography, she’s not yet quite a professional. I did see some of her work, as she took Prom Photos and a few pictures for a school project. They turned out well, her Camera is really Clear. I trust my Brothers friend, because he knows good people, I’ve just never done this before!!

I would recommend not having a friend do photographs. I've heard more bad stories than good about it. Yes, it will save money. But, you are now making your friend work instead of enjoying your wedding day. If the pictures don't turn out how you want, will you be able to be honest, will it affect your friendship? If they're late with the photos, how will you handle it?

As for video, I've heard some people regret not having a video, but I've also heard people watched it once and wished they hadn't spent the money. We opted not to do a videographer, but we are recording our ceremony.

Have you seen this friends portfolio or maybe an IG page or something? That will tell you the most about their style and whether or not they're right for you! You can also request that you have them do a regular shoot or engagement shoot for you guys first (paid) andthen you know first hand what to expect !


Since they've actually studied photography I dont think you have a whole lot to worry about !

Ask to do a trial first, just to see. You never know - they may surprise you!
I have a girlfriend who studied photography and asked her to be my photographer originally. She said, thanks, but I'd rather be a guest and enjoy myself! I totally respect that! Your fiance's friend may say the same!

See your friends photos first to know what shes capable of her work. Quality of the pictures matters a lot. I have a friend who does Photongraphy for a living and still was wanting tp charge 10% of the package price. She also was charging seperaty for engagement pictures. I got a lower price by searching online and no album included.

Using a friend can be great. Especially if its saving you money. But I understand the hesitation. Pictures are really important to me and I plan on having a lot of them framed and put up on the walls. See if you can sit down and do a photo shoot with them before deciding. You can see if your a good fit for each other and get a feeling for their style of shooting and if it matches with what you want and the feel you want for the day. And if you decide you like the work and it is a good fit sit down together and come up with a contract and terms you both agree on (cost, length of time, are prints included, is a final album included, are you able to get the photos without watermarks so you can reprint them yourself after, etc).

We are going with a family friend of my fiancé who is a profession photographer. I am nervous because I havnt met her yet but the entire family raves about her and the work Ive seen is really good. I am a littler nervous because a lot of the pictures seem to have the same repetitive poses and I am not a fame of the posed pictures where the photographer is having you "tilt your head this way and put your hand here and lean this way".

Did your friend offer their services? Will you be paying them or is this their gift to you? Would you be inviting this friend to the wedding regardless of whether or not they were going to be working for you?

I've heard a lot of good and bad things about using friend as vendors (aka "friendors"), and I'm personally against it because if they're invited to your wedding, they should be having a good time and not working.

I know this is not my experience with a friend as a photographer, but it's my opinion on the subject. Also, I'd say no to the videographer because out of all the couples I know who've gone with one, very few have watched the video more than a handful of times.

Definitely look at their work first. Our best man was pushing for us to hire his cousin as our photographer, but once we looked through his work, we knew we didn't want to to that. His photography was cool, but he didn't have any weddings in his portfolio. You don't want to be somebody's first wedding ever.

It was important for us to have somebody who had wedding experience, that we could trust to get all the important photos throughout the day.

I think using a friend is a great idea! One of the best things as they are comfortable with you so you can easily get a lot more natural photos!

Videography I would say would be a bit harder as there is a LOT of editing that goes into a video... I mean you can set a few cameras up on tripods and get your ceremony no problem! But I find with the professional photographers they really know how to edit their clips together to make something really special!

I've seen several shorts of weddings online of bits and pieces edited together they always make me cry haha! How I decided to get a videographer for my day!

I would say get a look at their work first. See if you can have a few engagement sessions if they are friends and get to see how they work with you. I would suggest having someone come and check for fly away hairs and for anything out of place. I am getting a friend to do some extra engagement photos for us as I wasn’t happy with my hair or makeup on the day of the shoot. Also, some things were in the background that shouldn’t have been.

We used a friend for our photography and it worked out perfectly! I was originally sceptical as well because lots of things can go wrong when it's a friend, but I definitely suggest making a contract anyway (you never know!) and make sure you agree on a price. Photography was really important to me so I made sure to look through his portfolio first and we did an engagement shoot to make sure I was set that I wanted him for the pictures. He did an amazing job with those so we went ahead and booked him for the wedding. I'm still waiting for my final photos, so hopefully, they turn out just as nicely!

We used a family friend the first time I got married. It was absoloutely fine. The pictures were great and it cost us a great deal less. She was also more open to hearing our crazy pucture ideas than I find most pros are.

Me and my FH will be using a friend to do our engagement photo's but because I haven't worked with her for photography before I don't feel comfortable trusting such a big part of the wedding with her yet. If after these photo's I really enjoy them and like her technique on the editing then I will talk numbers with her about possibly doing the day of pictures. I would recommend having a your friend show you a portfolio of their work and or do a test shoot.