When my fiancé and I decided to have a 2 year engagement, it felt like we had ample time to find all of our vendors. I was off to a good start, booking many of them in the first 6 months, but continued to put off picking a photographer because the variations in packages and pricing were overwhelming. Even though we have friends and family who are great photographers, we want them to enjoy our special day, so we needed to find another photographer.

Then, all of a sudden, we were just over 4 months away from our wedding date and still needing to book a photographer. Yikes.

The first photographer I contacted seemed like a perfect fit. She was referred to me by a family member, and I had a great conversation with her over the phone. Then I received the pricing breakdown for her services. It was waaaaaaaay over what I had in my budget, so I attempted to do what I recommend to brides in my book: negotiate, negotiate, negotiate. The best she could offer me was 5 hours of photography, which did not include any editing (just the raw images) or printing. The cost? $2,000. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't rationalize $2,000 for only 5 hours of service and unedited pictures. Were my budget expectations unreasonable? I just wanted 7 hours of good photography and an opportunity to buy printing rights.

I decided to search through my wedding email inbox to see what promos had come through from all the bridal show vendors. I found one that was perfectly in my price range and seemed to fit my needs in regards to photography time and printing rights. I thought I was set... then I looked up previous work from that photographer. As much as I liked the price, I wasn't wowed by her work. I firmly believe if you are going to spend over $1,000 on something, you need to be really happy with it, so I continued my search.

I pulled out the big bag of promos from the bridal show I attended a year earlier. I sifted through materials from over 20 photographers, until one caught my attention. I LOVED the photos on the postcard, and the pricing was perfect too. I reached out to NVS Photography and met with Tami Carda the following weekend. I could tell from our first meeting that we would enjoy working with her, and we have been so pleased with our experience so far.

Tami offers a complimentary engagement session so she can get to know her couples before their wedding day. My fiancé and I already had wonderful engagement photos taken by his aunt right after we got engaged, so it wasn't something we really needed. I asked Tami if we could do some photos with Penny Lane (our Goldendoodle) to make the most out of the photo session, and she happily obliged.

I knew I really liked her photography style, but nothing could have prepared me for my reaction to our engagement photos. As much as I tried to narrow down a few to order (because I didn't need all of them), I just couldn't do it. I loved them all! That was when I knew without a doubt that we had picked the right photographer for our wedding. I felt good about the pricing (even adding on full printing rights for all of our engagement photos) and the pictures overwhelmed me with joy.

When it comes to picking vendors for your event - be it your wedding or any other occasion - don't settle. You will need to give yourself enough time to research, but if you do, you should be able to find what you want as long as your expectations are not unreasonable compared to your budget. You can't hire Annie Leibovitz for under $2k, but you can find a pretty amazing photographer for less than that if you take the time to look.

Trust your gut. I didn't feel right about hiring either the first or the second photographer I contacted, and I am so glad I kept searching. Having Tami take our pictures was a great experience; we love the engagement photos, our wedding package** includes more than I expected to get for what I had budgeted, and our total photography cost (including the photos from the engagement session) is still under $2,000.

Thrifty Tip: Don't be afraid to negotiate, and if you don't feel comfortable with what you've been offered, keeping searching for another vendor.

**The photography package we selected is the Our Story Collection, which includes the following:
• 7 hours photography coverage
• 2nd Professional Photographer - 3 hours photography coverage
• High-Resolution Disc of Wedding Images with Print Release
• Online gallery for 6 weeks
• Engagement Session

The Affordable Photography Search