“Is a professional wedding photographer worth it?” might be a question that’s popped into your head amidst the wedding planning process.  No matter what size your budget is, you probably want to make sure you’re not wasting any money on your wedding. And to be honest, professional wedding photography can sometimes get pricey! It can lead you to wonder if you should just have one of your friends take some photos. So why is it worth it to invest in a high quality, professional wedding photographer over one of your friends?

A fancy camera doesn’t mean anything 

If all it took was a fancy camera to be a good wedding photographer, then everyone would do it! But it takes hours and hours of practice, education, and real-life experience shooting weddings specifically. Even most professional family or commercial photographers wouldn’t be comfortable shooting a wedding or elopement! So even if you have fancy, expensive equipment, it’s not equivalent to being able to capture the most important day of someone’s life. 

There is experience necessary 

If you’re hiring someone to design and bake your wedding desserts, would you choose a baker who’s never worked a wedding before? I would assume probably not! You’d want someone with wedding experience, good reviews from past wedding clients, and overall knowledge about the industry. The same exact thing goes for wedding photographers. When you quite literally photograph weddings every weekend for a living, you get to learn an important thing or two! Things like how to get certain angles, how to predict certain obstacles, and how to fix certain catastrophes are all things you only learn with experience. Convinced that a professional wedding photographer is worth it yet??

They don’t run a legitimate business 

Did you know that as a photographer, I’m required to carry liability insurance? Probably not, because most people who aren’t self-employed don’t have to think about that kind of thing. But as business owners, we have to be well versed in the legal aspect of running a business. Before we can even charge for our first shoot, we’ve got to make sure we have all the proper licenses in our state! In addition, we have all our clients sign detailed, legally binding contracts that outline our policies, payment plans, and other very important clauses. It’s a huge liability for both the photographer and the client if these legal aspects aren’t clearly put in place. 

You could lose all your photos

As a professional wedding photographer, I spend hundreds of dollars every year to insure my clients’ photos. Between SD cards, external hard drives, and online photo storage, your photos are guaranteed to never get lost. However, if you’re having your friend take your wedding photos, chances are they’ll maybe have an SD card or two, and that’s about it. That means if they lose their SD card or it gets damaged somehow, your photos are gone forever. Can you imagine not having any hard copy memories of the most important day of your life? 

So, what do you think? Is hiring a professional wedding photographer worth it?

Bottom line - hiring a professional wedding photographer is worth it, I promise you. We have the experience to go along with the fancy, expensive equipment. We run our business the legal way, and have tons of backup systems in place to ensure nothing happens to your photos! Although it’s most definitely an investment, it will probably be the best one you’ll make for your wedding day as a whole. 

Need a wedding or elopement photographer?

If so, I’m your gal! Not only do I shoot weddings local to the Washington area, but I’ll travel almost anywhere to be there on your big day. I would love for you to check out my work! And if you love what you see, you can fill out my contact form to inquire about your date.