I knew that getting married was going to be expensive but I wasn’t prepared for the cost of wedding photos.
Less than a week after Khomari proposed I sent an inquiry to a photographer I eyed for years. I fell in love with his work and vowed that he was going to shoot my engagement and wedding photos.
That was until I received his rates. It turns out that his photography fee was more than half of my entire wedding budget!
As much as I loved his work I couldn’t justify the price to myself and definitely not to my readers. Back to the drawing boarding I went. I scoured Pinterest and wedding blogs on how to cut the cost of wedding photos.
I initially tried searching for new and upcoming photographers that were building their portfolios. I was unsuccessful in securing someone. Then we booked a friend of ours who is a very talented photographer, but didn’t specialize in wedding photography. After a bad experience working with another friend, we decided to salvage the friendship and our sanity and vacated that option.
Enter Groupon.
My sister is obsessed with Groupon. After she sent me a link to a Groupon deal, a lightbulb went off. If people offered massages and house cleaning services on Groupon, there had to be photographers also offering deals on Groupon?!? The way I saw it, Khomari and I didn’t need a magazine spread; we needed at least four photos we loved ( Hey, I’m the queen of managing expectations).
And my instinct was correct.
We ended up finding a photographer named Sandra Christina who was new to the NYC area and we loved her work.
After months of coordination we scheduled our engagement photo shoot with Sandra at Fort Tryon Park in Manhattan on May 17th. We are beyond happy with our decision. She is incredibly sweet, professional, and patient.
When all was said and done the package ended up costing $185 plus a $15 tip (she gave us an extra hour free of charge).
This goes without saying, you may not find a Sandra in your area but it’s definitely worth a try.
Here are a few of our favorite images from the shoot. We ended up loving more than 4 of our photos.
I’ve secured my dress for under $500 and our photos for $200. This Financially Fab Wedding is shaping up nicely.
Help a sister out! What are some of your budget wedding tips?
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