Capturing your wedding on film
Hiring a photographer can be a difficult decision. Before my wedding I spoke to a few girls at work who were all getting married. They were appalled that I was getting my friends to take my wedding photos since they said that is the most important aspect of a wedding. However, I am so glad we went the way we did.
We paid our friends $500 (so that it was more professional and would be taken seriously) although they had offered to do it free. They had to take pictures for the ceremony only and as we didn't care about photos during the reception. We told them we wanted them to be involved in our wedding some way since they are good friends and that we didn't want to ruin our friendship over it if it didn't turn out. We also told them we wanted at least a couple of good photos and anything after that was a bonus. They were very hesitant since they didn't have much wedding experience but have only taken sports and travel photos to date.
In the end they gave us hundreds of photos (over 500) on a cd and about 70 of them were amazing. They used 2 different cameras (Canon Digital SLR EOS 30D and 5D) for 2 effects. They also offered to come with each of us (the male with the guys getting ready and his wife came with us ladies as we got our hair and make-up done) in the morning. It meant a lot just to have them hanging out with us the morning of the wedding.
The benefit was the cost, and having people you know hanging around instead of a stranger since it was a good 3 hours of photos. We brought and a picnic basket of food and some ice cold beverages to the park for the process (highly recommended!). Also, when someone you know does it, they will probably give you all the whereas photos to print some professionals keep the photos and you have to pay to get them printed.
The biggest problem doesn't tend to be the photographers...it's the people in the photos. Not looking at the camera, having a stupid expression, closing their eyes. Out of all the photos that didn't turn out, none of them are our photographer's fault (not blurry or anything). It's the moron's in our wedding party/family with the lack of attention span.