Looking to save (sacrifice) yourself a few dollars! If you want to save money by having a friend or relative shoot your wedding you owe it to yourself to read my experience.

by Meghan Baldwin

Hello, my name is Meghan and I am a beginning photographer. I’ve been shooting a little over a year now with my digital SLR, and in the past I have also dabbled with 35mm formats as well. Many of my friends and family have told me that I have an eye for photography, but after having the opportunity of shooting a wedding with David a few weeks ago, my shots looked like a toddler took them as opposed to pictures from someone who has a good foundation of photographic skill under their belt.

Before shooting the wedding, I was fairly comfortable with the thought of doing so. “How hard could it be?” I thought to myself. Boy was I wrong! I’ve learned that weddings are an entirely different animal than shooting stills and landscapes. The objects are always in motion and the scenes always changing…you really have to know what you’re looking for. In my opinion, shooting a wedding is truly an art that should be left to photographers who know what they are doing. Think of it this way…The photographer must capture the most important moments on camera yet they have to remain elusive and not get in the way. It’s actually quite tricky!

Then I learned that long after the ceremony and reception are over, the photographer is still busy. Post-production touch-ups, resizing the pictures and organization of the hundreds of images is the other job of the wedding photographer and is an entirely different component of the job than just shooting. Here the photographer’s artistic eye is rendered into finishing the images to be picture perfect and ready to print.

Now that I’ve had the experience of shooting a wedding, I can comfortably say that if any of my friends ask me to shoot their big day I’ll be more than okay with turning them down. Sure it would save hundreds of dollars, but thinking back on my wedding day and to my pictures, I wouldn’t have left the job to someone who isn’t a professional. Having a professionally photographed portfolio of images that has captured each special moment of your wedding day is priceless!