We all know it’s important to find a qualified photographer to document the most important day of your life. Well seasoned wedding photographers come at a hefty premium and the affordable ones are lacking in experience. It’s all about finding the right balance…someone with enough experience at the right price.

I had contacted no less than 50 photographers before finding ours. It really was no easy task. During my quest for the perfect photographer, I realized that most of them were willing to work around your budget. I must say that was a nice surprise! They’ll do whatever they can to get your business. Just be honest with them from the beginning. Tell them how much you’ve budgeted for a photographer.

I’ve found that you can easily bring down the price if you take out prints and albums from the packages. Just ask for the digital negatives and print them yourselves. I like to get professional prints at SmugMug.com. The prints look amazing! You can even make your own wedding albums just like you would an engagement guestbook. Check out my post on creating an engagement guestbook.

If you want to save even more money, ask for unedited images. Although very few photographers will give you digital negatives straight out of the camera. Most of them want to put their own touch to the images. However, you will find some photographers who are willing. The pictures may look less polished but it might be worth the savings. If you find that there are a few pictures that could use some professional editing, FotoFix.com will do it for about $0.99 per image for basic editing.

Another solution is to ask for fewer hours. If the package includes an 8 hour session, ask them how much for 6 hours. It might not make a huge difference but a little bit of savings here and there will soon add up.

We were lucky enough to find a team of photographers who are just starting out professionally but truly has talent. Their prices were low to begin with and they were still able to drop their price by providing us with unedited images without any prints or albums…just the digital negatives and their expertise in documenting our special day.

When I finally decided which dress was “the one,” I called several bridal salons to find the best pricing. During my inquiries, I discovered that my dress came in two types of fabrics: silky taffeta and Godavari Silk. Godavari Silk was the material I had tried on at the bridal store. When I found out the price for silky taffeta, I was ecstatic! It was $300 less than the Godavari Silk!

But I was a little skeptical. What if the fabric is cheap looking? There was only one way to find out. I went to another bridal shop that carried the same dress in silky taffeta. Not only was the fabric more beautiful than Godavari Silk, it was much, much lighter and had a beautiful sheen to it. It made Godavari Silk look like dull, heavy drapery. Haha! In the end, I came out with a gorgeous dress and I was instantly $300 richer. I was the happiest bride on earth!