Uncle Harry vs. a "real" photographer

"Why not use Uncle Harry?"

You’re planning one of the biggest and most important events in your life. Your wedding! Your special day. The day you have looked forward to and dreamt about for years.

You have struggled with all the plans, but you have your dress and the church. You have decided where the reception will be, the menu and who will provide the food; that cake you selected is so beautiful and it is going to be delicious. The florist has shown you some bouquets, floral arrangements, and decorations that will make this day perfect. Your DJ even knows the list of all your favorite songs to play.

Everything is so expensive! You have to cut your budget somewhere. What about this: Uncle Harry has a pretty nice camera and he takes a lot of pictures. Let’s let him do our wedding photographs, right?

Wrong!! When you come back from your honeymoon, that beautiful wedding dress will be hanging in the closet, the flowers will be wilted, and the cake eaten. All you will have left of your wedding day will be the memories captured in your photographs. These are far too important to trust to Uncle Harry.

Ask yourself these questions:
- Does Uncle Harry have professional-grade and backup equipment, so if his camera or flash fails, he can keep photographing?
- Does he work with other photographers so that if he comes down with the flu on your wedding day, you are assured of still having professional-quality photo coverage?
- Does Uncle Harry take his images to a quality lab to insure you receive the best possible prints?
- Will he know all the pictures you want because he's photographed dozens of weddings before?
- Does he have the skill and experience to guide the wedding party into pleasing poses?
- Will he want to spend time visiting and eating with family and friends when there are important images to capture?
- If Uncle Harry has a cute grandchild (child, niece or nephew) at the wedding, will you get more photographs of them than of the bride and groom?
- At the reception, will Uncle Harry want to party with you, or will he forego the party and concentrate on capturing images of the important events?
- Does he pay dues to professional photo organizations and attend regular workshops and seminars, to keep his skills fresh, to always be learning new things, and to expand upon his years of experience?

Capturing your memories is too important to you and too heavy a responsibility to thrust upon Uncle Harry. Or maybe in your case, "Uncle Harry" is your sorority sister's friend. Or the cousin of the best man. The traditional, photojournalistic, and fine art photos for this once-in-a-lifetime event should never be entrusted to someone who doesn't do it professionally and for a living full-time.

Give Uncle Harry and those "weekend warriors" like him a break -- leave capturing your Forever to the professionals. You won't regret it.

-- This message is endorsed by the
Professional Photographers' Association
of Greater Louisville.

A note from 1214:

Rick Carmickle of Carmickle's Photography in New Albany so aptly said it best about what's happening to professional wedding photography as an industry everywhere:

"Uncle Harry gets a digital camera at Christmas, and he's a bona fide wedding photographer by Valentine's Day."

Also, here's a real-life anecdote:
A friend of mine recommended me to one of her co-workers. I met with the bride, but was outside what she thought she could spend for photos. She had either the best man's cousin or one of her bridesmaid's sorority sisters (can't remember) shoot the wedding -- because "they've got a pretty fancy camera and I think they've done some of that stuff before." My friend has since told me that the girl is so embarrassed at the terrible photos that she won't even bring them in to work to show people.

Obviously there was a lesson learned here, but it was too late for photo disaster to be prevented. Now the bride is stuck with awful photos that she'll have as "memories" forever. Her biggest memory: that she went all-out on the "deluxe" chicken fingers at the reception, but tightened her belt on the photo budget.

True story: you really DO get what you pay for.