Thinking of saving money by not hiring a professional wedding photographer? Let me show you why that doesn't work.

It starts with the latest trend, to leave the most important photographs of your life in the hands of people who ultimately have no idea what they're doing just to save a buck or show you don't care. No matter how much time you spent designing your wedding, you and your parents will just be glad to waste it all on cheap photos and get it over with rather than pay for someone who can tell a quality visual story about the most important day of your life. That's what your friends did, so now it's your turn. You'll have an extra grand for that cool new thing you've always wanted, so that's a big win right off the bat. You're a millennial. You know better. Amateur photography is the one trend that will last. It has that blurry, unrefined phone-camera feel that looks like anyone could have taken it.

To give you these pictures that anyone could take, you've asked your friend/cousin/uncle who has that big camera. The best thing about digital photography is you don't have to know anything about it to get good images. Back in the day, artists like DaVinci and Michaelangelo actually had to understand lighting, posing, dimension, mood, expression, color, shape and form to create meaningful images with paint and stone. Can you imagine having to know stuff and actually do work to create good images? We're not exactly sure how or why, but somehow with a digital camera the principles that guided artists for centuries magically cease to exist, so it makes it so much easier for anyone to become a photographer. If you can press a button, you can be Michaelangelo! Truth be told, I think the masters simply got lucky with accidental "masterpieces" that took no real skill; either that or the tools simply picked themselves up and created their own masterpieces without input from the artist's hand. Digital photography is no different; it's only the equipment itself that matters, not who's using it. In fact, if you really want to save, give the camera to a fifth-grader because they don't charge as much and it's the equipment that matters, not the photographer. Besides, they make software to fix everything so you don't have to know anything. Maybe some professionals know how to get good exposure and lighting consistently, but it's certainly not worth the price. Going with someone who relies entirely on cursory knowledge of equipment rather than an understanding of wedding photography, and who has minimal gear, will give you much more bang for the buck.

On your wedding day, your buddy will have no idea what to do; he's never shot a wedding. But that's OK because he's your buddy. He's only there to nail the big moments, like walking down the aisle, because those are the shots everyone will want on the wall and no other relatives will be leaning into the aisle taking them. None of the little moments will matter or be worth remembering, so it's a good thing you didn't pay for someone who looks out for that stuff. Who wants to look back 20 years later and see a story of what her fresh bouquet looked like, or the details of her hair or dress? Boring. And art? What a crock. You'll be looking your best, but he'll have no idea how to capture that. Just smile and look at the camera! Good thing nobody cares, especially you or mom, about how you look. Chances are you put almost no time or money into your gown or decorations, so your wedding day is the perfect opportunity to skimp on image quality. Any other day would be worth spending more on pictures. If your buddy accidentally knocks over a $1,000 vase, the venue won't care that he doesn't have insurance because he's your buddy.

If he can fit it into his busy life, your buddy will process the images, if you use "process" loosely enough. Professional software is way too expensive, so that's out. The software that came with his camera does a decent auto-fix, and it just has to be good enough, not great, because he's your buddy. Good thing you don't care about RAW or color management, whatever that is, because he doesn't know anything about it either. Color management doesn't enter his workflow. In fact, he doesn't really have a workflow. He just picks out the best images to spend a little time playing with in software and try to rush through the rest. If he doesn't, it could take months before he gets back to you because there will be so many images to repair, and you have to respect that image repair takes time. He blew most of the flash and ceremony shots, so be patient. It's not like it's possible to do much better, let alone make sure the dress and flower color scheme you worked so hard to create is represented accurately. It's not like you'll ever want a large canvas, and why would you because then those image deficiencies will be really visible? Just save the money and let grandma get her prints at Walmart.

Then, you'll finally get that fantastic plain disc you've always wanted. You can label it yourself. Don't forget your buddy has to delete the images when he's done burning the DVD so he can reclaim space on his hard drive to install that new game. Good thing he made two copies of the disc, on which the entire visual record of your wedding day resides. If you lose them, too bad. The images probably won't have color profiles, but again that's something only professionals waste time on. You can just hope the people at Walgreen's know what they're doing. If not, maybe you can take a little time to play with the images or even take the money you saved to pay someone to fix them. It's the record of events that's important, not whether or not the images look good.

You're in for a real treat if you're getting a cheap album or, better yet, you get to do the album yourself. You know places like Shutterfly are great. How could they sell products for so cheap if they weren't good? You can spend hours in front of the computer designing your own album until your eyes hurt and your wrist is numb, and you can get all sorts of stuff for cheap, even books. Just throw it together. Who cares? Sure the pages are flimsy and start falling out right away or the color is off, but that's life. You're getting married to save money, and the wedding day isn't something you want to waste time relishing later in prints or wall art. As long as the food and decorations are right, everyone will remember every detail of the wedding and reception, even decades from now, album or no album. Besides, nobody will care 30 years from now that you even got married, let alone that the pictures look the same as everyone's family reunion. It's just not a vital part of your family story. This isn't something you'll ever want to take out and show the family. Digital is the way to go anyway. Thirty years from now the grand kids can just find the files scattered across three or four decades of devices and go make their own album. It's just a wedding.

Congratulations, you've just learned how to easily save $1,500 or more by not hiring a professional. And think of all the neat stuff you can get for that -- a new TV, a new laptop, some bling or maybe a video game system or some kitchen equipment, maybe even two mortgage payments -- you know, stuff that you'll hold dear to your heart when you're 75. The experience won't be what you really wanted -- let's face it, it'll be a disappointment -- but that's a small price to pay so your special friend/relative could shoot your wedding, saving you money that you could never earn again. You'll be grateful just to have some foggy record of the day and, more importantly, a fond memory of the money you saved.

I'm being somewhat facetious on purpose of course, but very sentence I've written so far illustrates a real problem you will face if you choose to save money on wedding photography by not hiring a professional. Amateurs do not know the secrets of posing, lighting or storytelling that make wedding photography magic happen. All they know is hold the bride like a log and say "Cheese." I'm sure your buddy is a nice guy, but here's my real advice: If you're honestly in a situation where you can't afford good images, then you're better off not getting or expecting any images. Just focus on the day and remember it. But if you care at all about getting good wedding images, it's time to talk. I'm flexible, but even if you don't think you can afford it, maybe mom and dad and grandma and grandpa can. You can afford not to hire a professional, but can you afford to live with it?

Allied Business Network