Planning a destination wedding can be much harder than if you were to marry close to home. You will rely on someone else to bring in all your vendors without meeting any of them. You put your faith and hope in your coordinator and their vendors, show up and get married.
If the cake is not what you envisioned, you will soon forget and put it behind you. If your pictures are terrible however you will spend the rest of your life looking at your disappointing images reminded of your bad photographer. When planning a destination wedding you might want to consider bringing your favorite photographer to ensure your pictures are perfect. This way you control one of the most important vendors you will hire for your wedding.
Finding a great photographer is a lot easier today with the help of the web. Most photographers these days have a website and this is a great place to begin your search. The Internet is a great way to search for a photographer, whether you want to find a photographer close to home or across the world. With most everything done on the web these days you just need to find the right person for you.
Bringing along a photographer means you will have to pay for that person or persons travel expenses, however the additional extra cost is usually minimal when you consider all the money you will be saving not having to feed the hundreds of guests who would have shown up if you were to marry closer to home. This reason alone is why most couples opt for a destination wedding in the first place.
If you do choose to bring the photographer of your dreams, here are some of the expenses you will be responsible to pay.
- Airfare to and from your destination.
- Hotel accommodations during their stay.
- Airport transportation to and from on both ends or a rent a car.
- A per diem each day, multiplied by the number of days per person. A per diem is generally used for food, but also covers expenses such as tipping, taxis, and other unexpected expenses while traveling.
- Some photographers might even charge an additional fee for a weekend buyout. This would make up for lost revenue when the photographer is out of town and can’t make it home for a possible Sunday event.
- Travel time is also sometimes charged. This is a fee charged for the time it takes
To get from location to the other, or lost billable time.
Of course travel fees will vary from photographer to photographer, and how far and where your wedding will take place. One thing you might ask your photographer for in return for you paying for his travel, that he doesn’t charge you to shoot your rehearsal dinner and maybe even Sunday brunch, especially if he or she charges you a weekend buy out fee. Having your photographer shoot rehearsal dinner is a great opportunity for him to get to know all the members of your families and get to meet your guests ahead of time. It makes a huge difference when everybody in familiar and comfortable with the photographer.
Lets say your wedding in going to be held on a Saturday, have your photographer arrive on Thursday in order to give them plenty of time to arrive scout your location, get settled, and possible adjusted to a new time zone. Then he or she can be ready to shoot the wedding rehearsal and rehearsal dinner on Friday night, then Saturdays wedding. The photographer can choose to fly home Sunday or leave on Monday giving them a brief rest and or mini vacation after a long weekend. Tip if your wedding will take place Monday through Thursday you might be able to negotiate a better rate since most wedding photographers busy days are Friday thru Sunday and a lot of destination weddings take place during the week.
You should pay for the first three nights and the fourth night is optional but a nice gesture of appreciation for a job well done. If your wedding happens to be out of the country or the photographer has to fly more than 8 hours to reach your wedding, you should pay for five nights minimum, giving them enough time to arrive and adjust to the new time zone fully rested and ready to impress you with their creative abilities.
Bringing along the photographer of your choice will be the best decision you will make when it comes to your wedding. It’s a decision you will cherish for the rest of your life. By hiring your favorite photographer you control who is photographing your wedding and the quality and style of their work, and most importantly you get to choose a person who you actually like and feel comfortable with.
Your images can be placed online so you and your family and friends can view as well as purchase images. Your photographer can also put your albums designs online for approval making the whole process simple and painless.
Bringing a photographer might cost you a little more than you planned, but in a year I guarantee the extra money you spent won’t be missed. However if in the end you hate your wedding pictures you will spend the rest of your life regretting your decision and wishing you would have spent the money.
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Destination Wedding Photographer-Robert Evans
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