Bad Wedding Photography

At the beginning of the month, a wedding photographer called Gareth Bowers was sued by a couple for disastrous photographs of their wedding. The judge ordered him to pay the couple back the majority of the £1450 he had charged them. Out of the 400 images of the day, the couple could only find 22 which they didn’t think were too bad. A link to the story can be found here:

I’m not going to write about why people should choose a professional photographer – because the majority of professional wedding photographers are good, competent photographers. Couples should review a number of photographers and work, before booking them for their wedding day. Unfortunately over the last 18 months with the credit crunch, people have had to be careful with planning their special day in order to keep costs down. In response to the articles in the news about Mr Bowers photography skills, a number of people commented on “why bother with a professional photographer, just give all of your friends cheap cameras”. That’s great if you want your wedding photographs to look they were taken down the pub on a Friday night… not good if you want the photographs to last your lifetime!

In one of my earlier posts, I went through all the reasons why, generally, it’s a good idea to hire a professional. I carry backup equipment to every wedding – that is two cameras, multiple lens, multiple flash-guns and enough batteries to power a car! I also have professional indemnity insurance to ensure that should I crash on the way to the church – the couple will be covered. The question is, how many brides and grooms take out insurance on their wedding? Most wedding photographers will ask for the complete payment for the photography to be made before the wedding. The theory is that should the wedding not go ahead for any reason, then the photographer will not loose out on a day’s pay. Most wedding insurance will cover photography upto about £1500 and will only cost about £28 to insure the whole wedding – so it pays to shop around – as what happens if your soon-to-be-mother-in-law drops the cake?

If you’re looking to reduce the cost of your wedding, then the photography shouldn’t be the first thing to be reduced. It’s the only thing that will last after the day, so it’s better to find a photographer whose work you love, and discuss what packages they have that will fit your budget. I was shocked to discover that table decorations and favors can cost upwards of £3 each – so for a medium sized wedding at 90 guests, that’s £180!

So in these tough finance times – think before you splash out £100s on sugared almonds – think smart and get the professionals you want because you like their work, rather than they are the cheapest going…. and you will hopefully have a set of wedding memories to treasure for years.

This entry was posted on Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 10:07 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.