Hiring outside photographer and videographer?

[springojoy]

Has anyone had any experience with hiring an outside photographer and videographer? Hmm and is this even possible? Is it better to just go with Disney's people? Please help!!!!! Thankssssssss

 

[Skylarr29]

I don't think it is better to go with Disney. Yes, you can hire outside vendors and it is probably recommended by past brides. Some faves are Randy Chapman for photography and STVS for video.

 

[mhcueball2]

Many people go with outside vendors to save money and to get the features or style they are looking for. Also, with Disney, you can't really request who you want to photo/video, so you don't know their style. Most outside vendors have samples online and through mail, plus many references on boards like these, so you know their style and what to expect.

 

[JonetteA]

We used Randy Chapman and STVS. Randy's pics are AMAZING!

 

[Sparkles9306]

We also chose an outside photographer (Randy Chapman). For the money, the package is great. You get a lot more than the Disney photographers. Also, extras are more reasonably priced. Plus, if you don't use the Disney photographer, they'll substitite the Honeymoon Photo Package. Although they do charge an escort fee for outside vendors.

 

[dee slack]

we're having outside vendor's for video and photo.
So far we have booked Randy Chapman (www.chapmanphotography.com password ariel) as there has been so many people on this board that have used him and were delighted with him and his photo's. His basic package is $575 + tax for 3 hours and a MIN 150 6x4 photo's in a basic proof album (I've heard of some couples get 400+!!) BUT you also get the hi-res CD so you own the photo's and can have as many prints as you want, from anywhere which save an absolute fortune if you want larger prints etc. (Disney charge $1,000 just for the high-res CD).
We're still undecided who to use for video, as we need to cut our costs, but again, so many people have said how wonderful Stan is from STVS.
At the end of the day, the final decision is yours, but I would seriously consider looking at outside vendors for better value than Disney.

 

[JackieSparrow]

We went with an outside, Photography by Taz

haven't looked into video yet!

 

[pixie08]

We are using randy chapman and Kennedy video productions. Just know you will be charged a small fee through Disney per outside vdeo/photo vendor (around $30/hr) buut even with that fee we felt it was still way worth get outside vendors.

 

[superdiz]

We used outside vendors for both. For photography, we used Domenico Castaldo www.castaldostudios.com and for videography we used Kennedy Video Productions www.kennedyvideoproductions.com.

I couldn't leave this up to the Disney. I had a style in mind that I really wanted. HTH!

 

[Ember]

I booked photography with Karla Fountain: www.karlafountain.com and am thinking we'll use A Moment to Remember for videography: www.amoment2remember.com

I strongly disliked that Disney assigns you a photographer. For the amount they charge I'd like to be able to view portfolios, meet the person to ensure I like them and feel comfortable with them, and know who will be there on my wedding day.

 

[chipscinderelly]

we used Paul Triller www.paultriller.com (love Paul and Mary!!!) and Kennedy Video (see other links and we love Kathleen and Ray).


Another photography company I would seriously consider is egomedia http://www.egomediaphotography.com/

 

[lurkyloo]

SuperDiz - I checked out Domenico Castaldo's site and I love his work - did you like working with him? Do you have any wedding photos you could post?

Thanks!

 

[superdiz]

Domenico and his wife Cecily were a blast to work with. He has a really thick Italian accent and was cracking us up all day. At one point he had both my family and John's up on the altar at the wedding pavilion and he goes "Ok, say stinky feet!" but the accent was so thick we all just started cracking up laughing. He was shooting all day and got some great shots. Here are a couple I really liked but he hasn't posted all of our wedding pictures. I am only posting these because they give him credit as our photographer. He does amazing work!! I highly recommend him.

 

[lurkyloo]

Oh poop! I can't see the images. But thanks for the info - I would definitely consider hiring him.

Maybe once he posts your photos you could post a link in this forum - I'm not the only one who loves pictures

Thanks!

 

[sunsh1ne]

has any one used disney videography? did they like it ? how much was it? what do you get?

 

[superdiz]

I have a couple of friends from the Disneymooner board who used Disney Videography and their videos are awesome. The cool thing about it, in my opinion, was not having someone roaming around or ugly black camera stands in the wedding pavilion. They got all the key moments and the video was clear and not too "jumpy" like wedding videography can be. I would recommend them based on the two that I have seen. HTH!

 

[wendy46001]

We used disney for our video and photography...it came out wonderful
at first i was concerned that disney does the editing without our input...but the department was so great to work with and the video is very professional...plus when we wanted a change they did it with no questions asked and had it in the mail the next week....Also disney has the option to buy the unedited raw footage

I know i've posted this before but here are some clips from the video
(please ignore the silly grooms men dancing... )
http://www.oviedokids.com/Misc/wdw/movie/

Also i guess i'm in the minority because i did use a disney photographer and got to pick who. We had Disney set up a meeting and we got to review his work before the wedding....I think the department is well aware that some brides want to know who will be handling their wedding

 

[MEME]

has any one used disney videography? did they like it ? how much was it? what do you get?

Well, it was an easy decision for us. We had an intimate wedding, needless to say we wanted to keep our cost to a minimum. With that being said, I didn't want to fork out extra $$$ on an outside photograher since pics were included in the package. We purchased the 'upgraded' proofs package for $225; this allowed us to receive all of our prints (125 pics) and a low-res cd which contained all of our pictures.

Our pictures were amazing and so was our photographer Ty. Feel free to take a look at our professional pictures here.

We did go with an outside videographer STVS for our wedding video. Stan was very professional, captured everything and our video looked like a masterpiece. He has 'sneek peeks' on his website and feel free to view our 1-min recap on our website. Stan was well worth the $$$.

Congrats and good luck!