How Hiring a Professional Wedding Photographer Can Save Your Wedding Day: You Get What You Pay For

A popular online wedding forum recently ran an article under the guise of being helpful and guiding engaged couples to money saving in their wedding planning. Their advice? Professional photography is not a necessary expense. Instead ask a friend or friends to capture your big day's memories. Their logic: you save money and end up with the negatives.

Negatives? Who deals in negatives anymore? Many professional photographers offer a package whereby you can receive a CD of your proofs along with your package. Just as in the days before digital photography you could find a reputable professional photographer to give you your negatives for a price.

The article argued that that price is not worthwhile. Have you ever heard the old cliché "you get what you pay for?" Clichés become clichés because they are true. And none is more true than the adage "you get what you pay for" We all know someone that decided to skimp on a car or home repair and ended up paying hundreds or even thousands to then undo what the amateur did in order to get the job done right by a professional.

If you hire an amateur electrician to install your ceiling fan and that amateur's methods then short out your entire kitchen; well you can hire a professional to redo the ceiling fan installation properly. The same does not hold true for your wedding photography.

You cannot undo bad photography once your wedding is over. When the wedding is over, it is over; there is no calling out of a professional to re-shoot the event. If you trust your wedding photography to amateurs, you are taking a big risk. I'd go so far as to say that in 99% of cases, if you hire an amateur, if you leave your photography to friends, you will be seriously disappointed.