Photo and Video Cost Cutting

[aeshannon]

My fiance and I have decided to cut photography and vieography cuts in a few ways. For the photographer, we are not going to order one of their albums. (I think they're over priced and can do a better job on my own.) Instead, we want the proof book, finished pictures from the photographer and (maybe) books for our parents. The nice thing is that once we tell them what we want, they have to stop giving us the spiel and also stop trying to cram us in to one of their special packages. It is a definite boost in the negotiation process to tell them what we want and what their competitors are offering.
For the videographer, we are asking for just raw footage ($400 vs. the $1100 quotes we had been getting for "finished" videos). My fiance goes to the Art Institute and can edit the film there. This way, WE get to decide what to include and who gets left on the cutting room floor.

[PRINCESS_KIM]

How many proof books do you get? Can you order 3 books? (couple, groom's parents and bride's parents) So you would ask for the proof book and selected finished photos for parents?

[ameliafiddle]

After recieving my photos for my July '02 wedding, I would recommend to brides that they consider asking photographers about the possibility of getting only the proofs. It depends on what you want, but keep in mind that there is a good chance that you will want all of the proofs. My main photographer did a great job, and took 9 rolls of beautiful pictures, but the album (although it is a work of art) contains Very Few pictures. So I ended up spending an extra $500 to have all of the other pictures printed out--And these are the pictures that I look at all the time and show off to people.

[PRINCESS_KIM]

For my wedding, I paid $750 for 120 pictures in a leather album and negatives. The photographer allowed me to keep the negatives and it cost me $12.73 per roll of 24 to have it developed. I then bought $5 albums and made my own parents' and grandparents' books.

[Buckeye Bride]

I am noticing that a lot of photographers do offer the option of purchasing the negatives(I have seen it as low as $89 for all the negatives). Definitely worth asking about in my opinion!

[PRINCESS_KIM]

My negatives did not cost me additional fees. I just asked for it when I was negotiating the price/package.