Friday, August 10, 2012

How to Save Up on Wedding Photo and Video Services


Before getting all too excited about photo/video hunting, here are some questions that you can ask yourself if you’re on the scrimpy side like me:


1)      Are you willing to stick to your budget? Saving up starts with proper budget allocation. If you’re looking at the possibility of eventually increasing your budget limit to adjust with the price of your ideal photo and video service, stop reading.

2)      Are you paying for their skills or for their equipment? If you’re hiring Jason Magbanua or Bob Nicolas, you’re obviously paying for their skills. You know you can give them your regular point and shoot and still be confident with their output. But if you’re going to hire someone who boasts of high-caliber equipment but is relatively new in the industry, no portfolio whatsoever, think again.

3)      Do you really want to pay an extra Php 20k for a 40-page wedding album? Because there are printing shops like Photobook Philippines who can do the same thing for Php 4,000. Or you can bring your jpeg files to Digiprint and get the same thing for less than Php 2k. They can also print your photos on shirts or mugs if you want to. LOL.

4)      Do you really need their Photoshop-ing skills? Because if you can do basic color adjustments in photos, then maybe you can just avail of their “service only” package and edit the raw files yourself.

5)      Is the projector included in the same-day edit package? If not, how else are you supposed to play the video besides incurring additional expenses for LCD rentals?

6)      Do you even need a Same-Day Edit video to begin with? I’ve seen couples with PowerPoint presentations of their childhood photos and couples with professionally-edited videos and photo slideshows for the reception and neither actually stuck in my mind. I saw the difference, yes, but I doubt if the Titos and Titas, and Lolos and Lolas did.

7)      Can the more expensive packages really give you more value for your money? Usually, they just include more things to spend your money on. I know a lot has changed with all the latest in technology and all that jazz, but if you can learn to stick with the basics, then you won’t have a hard time getting only those that you need.  

Just look at these figures (rates based from Blacktieproject):

Additions:
On Site Photo AVP…………………….Php 4,000
On Site Video/ SDE………..…………..Php 10,000
Save the date Video Shoot……………Php 20,000
Blu-ray copy of video………………….Php 5,000
Prenup Photoshoot………………….Php 15,000

That’s Php 54,000 worth of not-so-necessary add-ons! You can fill up a whole living room with that amount.

8)      Do you know the difference between “priceless” and “pricey”? If you’re going to blow your lifesavings just to immortalize that “priceless moment”, then it’s only half priceless because you’re clearly paying for it.

Have you realized something yet? If yes, then good for you, if not, then you’re probably a rich-ass kid with business magnate parents. LOL. There’s nothing wrong with wanting only the best for your big day. What’s wrong is if you don’t think about the day after that.

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