Annie and I haven’t even chosen a date yet, but one of the most important things for me is making sure we have pictures of our big day. My memory isn’t very good, so having images I can look back on are key to my happiness and memory.

I’ve been looking at photographers in the Georgetown, Acton, Guelph, Milton area, and most of them want between one and five thousand dollars to do photography for a wedding. Some include two photographers, most include large size, edited, digital copies of photos taken, and all of them are kind of expensive…

When you are looking at an overall wedding budget of around five or six thousand dollars (this is just a guesstimate based on discussions with Annie, and not necessarily our true budget), and know that the bride’s dress will take up a little over one fifth of that, it is hard to swallow that photography will take up another fifth of the budget.

In many ways, I wish I knew more people around here interested in photography. If it was up to me, I would have a recent graduate that showed good understanding of composition come out and take some shots for three or four hours at fifty to eighty dollars an hour. I would rent him or her some photography gear if they needed some, and then just take a DVD of the RAW files from them and edit them myself.

In an ideal world, where money wasn’t an issue, I would hire two photographers, for half a day with good equipment and lots of experience. Maybe even throw in a videographer to get everything covered.

It is just so amazing how cost prohibitive everything is. I understand that weddings are where many photographers make most of their yearly income, and that it is hard work capturing an important moment in someone’s life, but I just can’t justify the incredible expense right now.

I am considering contacting some of the local colleges and universities in hopes of find a recent graduate, or even a student that shows great promise. Spending two or three hundred for someone’s time that has a good eye and understanding of how to take pictures, plus another three hundred renting equipment is still costly, but a far shot away from the cheapest of the wedding packages offered by most local professional photographers.

Who knows, maybe I’ll get lucky and a Georgetown photographer will see this post, and want to work, in part, for trade. I’m a WordPress expert!