It's the day you've been dreaming of. You've invested so much time and money into the invitations, the dress, the flowers, the food, the decor, the place, and it's the start of a new life with your spouse to be. The last thing you want to do is blow the whole experience on a cheap photographer.

I'm in the trenches with you. I see behind the scenes of the industry. I get dozens of inquiries a week from brides looking for full-day coverage and albums for $500, and in a way I feel sorry for them, not because they don't want to or can't pay more but because I know the photographers they'll be getting are the ones who will be posting on the forums next week for help fixing everything they screwed up. Looking for a photographer who will do everything you want for under $1,000 creates problems for you on many levels.

First of all, the sub-$1,000 segment really isn't a segment of the actual wedding industry. Most people in that segment are just people with cameras and who may or may not have an eye for a decent picture but don't really know how to consistently create anything that stands out, from images to services to products. Most have no training and even if they've shot 100 weddings the last doesn't look much different than the first. If you asked them about lighting or posing they wouldn't be able to write a complete sentence on classical technique. Most have no insurance and don't report their income.

There comes a point where you're better off getting a friend to do it free, and that point is right around $500 to $800. The secret that these amateurs don't want you to know is anyone can do what they're doing. The only thing you're getting from them is wedding pictures. Anyone can take wedding pictures: you, your uncle, your BFF. I realize there may always be a place for this market. But realize that they're not giving you anything much different than uncle Bob could do for free. If that's what you want, or if that's honestly all you can afford, I highly recommend you stop your photographer search immediately and get a friend or relative to do it for free, even buy someone a camera set. The results will be close enough to the $500 photographers that you won't notice. Seriously just about anyone with a DSLR and decent lens and flash can shoot your whole wedding and enough of the shots will turn out. How can I say that? Because I see it, and you can too if you look. There's little difference between $500 wedding photographers and Uncle Bob because most of them are the same person.

So why am I saying this? The point is you can pay for a dude with a camera, or you can pay for an artist. Do you want pictures, or do you want a story? There are two types of wedding photographers: those who just take pictures, which anyone can do, including your friend with an iPhone, and those who tell stories. The first has no power beyond simple documentation, and the second has the power to make you look amazing and bring out the full romance of the day. There are two main types of storytellers: my type, which is a director, and the other type, which is a photojournalist. One has as much of a hand as possible in ensuring beautiful imagery, and the other is dedicated mostly to capturing moments as they happen. Neither way is the only right way, but neither type can do both 100 percent. Directors tend to do 80 percent directing and 20 percent photojournalism, and photojournalists tend to do 80 percent PJ and 20 percent directing.

Aren't there some photographers worth $500, maybe good ones just starting out? The answer, sadly, is no. When Starbucks opens a new store, does it sell everything for a nickel because it's new, or does it charge full price because it has the product and experience you want? Good photographers, ones qualified to shoot a beautiful wedding, come into the market with enough training and experience to satisfy clients and thus charge accordingly. Amateurs, however, come into the market hoping to learn everything as they go, with minimal experience and usually zero training, zero insurance and zero business setup, and thus charge accordingly. It's almost impossible to find any crossover. Maybe one in 500 or one in 1,000 photographers in the $500 market are genuinely capable of providing a professional or at least pro-like experience, but most will be comfortable doing weddings for entry-level prices until they go out of business or doing it as a hobby. Most of these people know they shouldn't be charging for weddings, but they do it because nobody stops them and they have nothing to lose. They can just go back to their other jobs. If there are any good photographers just starting out -- and there are -- they're usually under someone else's employ or charging appropriately for a wedding experience.

Are there any sub-$1,000 photographers worth it? That's a broad question. Yes, there probably are, but again other than money is there any advantage in saving that extra $500 or $1,000 when your wedding is costing $10,000 anyway?

There are so many reasons a good wedding photographer is worth it I couldn't even cover them in one article. Here's a few. Ever look at your parents' wedding album? Few do. That's because you know what's there: pictures of people standing flat to the camera smiling and people you don't know enjoying a cocktail. There's a different side to the market -- brides who are floored by their albums every time they open them and whose friends' jaws drop when they see how great the bride looks on her big wall art display.

Then there's the notion of spending a lot on a fairy tale wedding and then trusting a $500 photographer to capture it. Why pay someone to do what anyone can do? For every 100 people who lose a job, one of them picks up a camera and says "Hey, I can do this!" And a new $500 wedding photographer enters the market. You're not paying the sous chef to serve microwave meals at the reception, or a chimp to cobble together your dress out of napkins. This is a wedding! When the food is gone, the flowers fade, and the dress is put away, what you have left can be a pile of snapshots or a beautiful story to bring that magic back. If you blow it on a cheap photographer, you'll be stuck with reunion photos the rest of your life, and the magic won't be there.

Shop for the vision, shop for the service, but be careful when shopping for price. Photography isn't a commodity, and those who make it a commodity hurt everyone in the industry. Professional doesn't mean expensive. It means getting your money's worth. It doesn't even have to be me, and believe me there are plenty of photographers charging much more than I do. It's about something that transcends the products.

I'm not even going to get into the technical aspects of what I do because you can just book an engagement session with me and see it first hand. Call or email me any time from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and I'll get you set up. If you don't like the images, you can schedule a reshoot or even go somewhere else. But I'm confident you'll love them. I take care of you. I want to meet you and talk about how I approach the wedding or engagement, what I do to take care of you, and what I can do for you. It should be relaxing, not pressured.

It's not just about pictures. My goal is to be an asset on the wedding day. I'm there to tell a visual story, but I'm also there to respect that it's your day, not mine, and to try to make it easier for you if I can.

I'm not perfect. Like any dedicated professional, I want to constantly improve my images and service, and I continually look to the top photographers and educational resources to do that. But I rely on skill to consistently get images that flatter you. With skill and light, anything is possible.

A lot of wedding photographers would be cringing. Joel, you don't tell your customers why you're worth what you charge. Why? As a member of Professional Photographers of America, I'm responsible for educating people on photography, and part of that is showing you why a professional is worth the investment. I'm flexible, skilled and ready to serve you. If you're going to pay me more, you should know why, and if I can improve my service, I'd like to know. I'm here to serve.