Cost Cutting Measures for a Tiny Wedding: The Photos

I think that one great way to save money on your wedding today (I would NOT have recommended this 10 years ago) is to have a couple of friends use their digital cameras to capture your images. In all likelihood, one or two of your friends already have good digital cameras and memory cards and would love to help you out with this part of the wedding. You can have them upload the photos to a photo service like Wal Mart's, and you can then pick up a CD of your pics for under $5, giving you time to use your home computer to decide which ones you want to print (or have printed). You can also do all the editing you need at home.

One thing you will probably want done professionally is a portrait. My sister Claudia used the above technique to get her ceremony and reception shots, then went to Sears portrait studio after she came back from her honeymoon. The resulting pics were gorgeous.

Lowest professional quote for Claudia's tiny wedding was $1200, for time and a select number of prints. Additional prints would be extra, and at a premium because they are copyrighted by the photographer.

Claudia got her pictures using the above combination for under $400, including a huge, framed 24 x 36 portrait from Sears (bonus!). And she can reprint all her ceremony and reception pics whenever she wants, cropped or edited the way she likes, without paying an upfee to the photographer.

My favorite little known incentive for handling your photos this way is the fact that most (not all) professional photographers purge their backstock after 2-10 years. So if your favorite wedding photo gets ruined in a flood seven years after your wedding you may be out of luck when it comes to replacing it if you used a professional. If that photo is on a CD locked away in your safe deposit box, replacing it is going to cost you the price of the photo, and no heartache necessary.

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