Several weeks ago I mentioned a blogger by the moniker of the Hindsight Bride.  She just so happens to be a college classmate of mine and one I really wish I had reconnected with before her wedding.  She made the mistake of cutting corners where you should never cut corners – your wedding photography.  So I guess you could consider this post to be the “Anti-money Saving Monday” post.  That’s right, after more than a year of posting tips and tricks to save my brides cash, I’m finally breaking it down.  SAVE MONEY ON OTHER THINGS BUT DON’T SCRIMP ON THE PHOTOS!!  I could go on, but instead I will let you read about the Hindsight Bride’s biggest wedding planning regret.

What can you do when your DIY wedding photos suck? Nothing: A Hindsight Look at Wedding Photography Woes

When I was planning my own wedding I found so much inspiration on all the pretty wedding blogs. Though I only had a $5000 budget, I was determined to have a sweet, wonderful, beautiful wedding. With careful planning and lots of DIY spunk, I indeed had the wedding of my dreams.

We DIY-ed everything: our cake, the favors, our invitations, the bunting and pinwheel decorations, our centerpieces and flowers, the wine labels, and the iPod “DJ”. Everything but the bouquets and the clothes. It was an amazingly cute wedding. Many of our friends remarked that it was “so us,” and “so much fun” What more could a bride want?

Right now I want beautiful pictures to match the beautiful wedding we put so much time and love into creating.

Let me say that again:

Right now I want beautiful pictures to match our beautiful wedding.

In the thick of planning, I was happy to be saving so much by going the DIY route. I felt clever, empowered, and on top of the budget-bride, DIY world. When it came to hiring a photographer I scoured the wedding forums for advice. Lots of brides and budget-minding blogs were talking about hiring a student photographer.

Ding, ding, ding–I work at a University! What a perfect solution, I thought. I asked around campus for recommendations and found a student. I assure you ladies, I covered all of my bases.  I interviewed her three times: Once to get to know her and look at her portfolio; once to show her blogs and tear sheets so she would know what I was looking for. I met with her one final time so she could show me wedding pictures she found that she thought would appeal to me. When I saw that her style matched mine, we signed a contract, went over the shot list, and I paid her half of the $150 I had offered her. Note: You get what you pay for.

No framing, blown-out, and weird facial expressions. It seems like my photographer was either blind or didn’t care.

She showed up at the wedding with a borrowed Nikon D60 with a single, stock  lens. She proceeded to take snapshots, not portraits, not fun detail shots, snapshots. The real bummer was the camera’s owner had been shooting at 1600 ISO. My wedding was a mid-day affair. Nearly every outside image (mine was an outdoor fete, mind you) was blown out. The images that were not blownout had little interest, and were often shot too far away. I have no close-up portraits of the family together. They were all shot at a distance. Many of the so-called detail shots were shot at a wide angle distance, and her framing made even the sweetest moment look boring and commonplace. In short, she had no eye. My nine year old niece had a better eye than my photographer. Luckily some friends and family gave us sweet pictures that can go into an album. Still, the pictures we do have don’t compare in the least to professional photography.

Decent composition, but totally blown out

When I got the 9 CDs of images, she had compressed them all with iPhoto. They will not print at larger formats, nor can I correct the images because there is not enough information on each image to recover detail. Photoshop will only do so much. There is a saying that I think applies here: garbage in, garbage out.

She went from too light to too dark, ugh.

I cried, and cried, and cried. Almost a year later, my heart still breaks. As a blogger, I still cruise the wedding blogs looking for tips and inspiration. I see lots of the same DIY indie styles at the forefront of wedding trends. I see details similar to those I created for my wedding. The biggest difference: they are beautifully shot by a professional photographer, mine are not. I often find myself thinking, that could have been me with the lovely pictures. Sadly, it is not.

even sweet moments look commonplace without proper framing

I know I sound like a broken record here, but it’s important for budget brides to understand something: there is no substitute for professional photography!

Was she looking at the rest of the picture. Note the guy walking around.

So here’s my Hindsight Advice to you ladies and gents: Hire a professional photographer! Even if it’s only for part of the wedding. I have talked to Amber, as well as a several photographers in western North Carolina, at length about this. While some pros won’t shoot a few hours, many will.  Often it depends on how busy they are, and what time of year you are getting married. So here are some tips for those of  you who are “broke as a joke” and thinking of DIY-ing your wedding photography.

No close-up of our families

Don’t DIY your wedding photography! Instead:

Talk to photographers honestly about your situation. Let them know how much photography means to you and be honest about how much you have.

Ask them for advice and options for capturing your wedding

Ask if there are discounts of off-season weddings, or Thursday, Friday, or Sunday weddings

Ask if the photographer would be willing to shoot the ceremony and portraits, or shoot for a few hours rather than the whole wedding and reception.

Ask if the photographer offers a “photography registry”

Notice a trend here? Talk to professional photographers. Ask questions. Ask for advice. Also, free up money elsewhere by making Photography a priority.

This cannot be corrected because of the already outrageously high ISO + image compression

Other budgeting tips that you have seen everywhere but may cringe to think about them include:

-Limit your guest list

-Nix or scale back on the favors (homemade cookies are inexpensive and sweet)

-Scale back on flowers and centerpieces, use smaller containers, in-season flowers, or less expensive flowers (try ranunculus instead of roses)

-Scale back on attire (shop around for a once worn dress)

-Serve a signature drink instead of offering a full bar

-Limit your guest list (yes, I am perfectly aware that I’ve already said this)

Here my brother, the man-of-honor, and I have a sweet sibling moment that was NOT properly captured

Here’s the honest to goodness Hindsight Truth about weddings. Your wedding will mean more to you and your partner than it will to anyone else. A year later, friends cannot remember what type of flowers I had, nor the color of the bridesmaids dresses, nor most of the other details I put so much time and effort into. They had a good time and that was it. For me, my wedding was one of the best days of my life, and it was fleeting. I have precious little by which to remember off of the delightful little details of the day.

This is the only type of picture I have of our guests. Wide angle snapshots.

With the new indie-wedding style so popular, you can scale back on so much and still have a sweet wedding. Look at this simple wedding published on Once Wed. She had simple flowers, an e-Bay dress, homemade programs, and balloon decorations. Oh, and a professional photographer! Now her wedding is on a top wedding blog. Please don’t skimp on professional photography! You won’t regret having beautiful photos for years to come. {{{I’d also like to point out that one of our favorite weddings from last year – Kayla and Brock – were a DIY/Budget couple.  Their one splurge was us and now they have a wonderful record of the special day they worked so hard to create}}}

Thank you so much Hindsight Bride!  Please don’t forget to visit her blog and leave her a little comment love!