Disney Photography vs. Outside Vendor

[fiskboso]

Hello All!! I've been reading the board for quite awhile and need some advice. I am getting married in an intimate ceremony on October 5th, 2006. I've heard some negatives about Disney photography and some great things about Randy Chapman. I'm looking for anyone who had great experiences with Disney photography and any tips I might use. I'd also love to hear from you if you had any bad experiences with either. I'm trying to decide who to go with and everyone here seems to be quite knowledgeable. Thanks!!!

 

[Fantasia Sam]

All I can comment on as far as Disney Photography goes is that they did our Honeymoon shoot at Magic Kingdom and we were really pleased.

Yes, Randy is good, without a doubt from my own experience but we had a custom wedding.

From what I read about Intimate Photography with Disney, the thing that would most disappoint me with going with Disney is that a) I don't get the negatives unless I want to pay through the nose for them and b) when they do the album, I think that you as the Bride and Groom DON'T get to choose which shots go in your album, that's pretty poor IMHO!

But that's just from what I think I know about Disney's Intimate packages, I certainly didn't get to choose the shots that went in my Honeymoon album from them.

 

[melmel]

I went with Randy for my intimate. And I couldn't be happier. The idea that if I went with Disney all I would have had with the package that came with the wedding, was 12 pictures I didn't choose in an album, didn't impress me. For less then the cost to get the cd to the Disney pictures I got Randy. For me it was a no brainer. With Randy I got a copy of all of my proofs in an album, as well as a HIGH res cd, worth every penny.

Melissa

 

[hiwaygal]

We used Disney for our intimate and we were very happy with the results.

In my perspective, they were included in the price of the intimate so there was no real "cost" so to speak. If you use an outside vendor, you will add probably at least $750 to the cost of your intimate. You will not get a credit for not using Disney Photography.

With Disney, if you are a UK bride, you will get the high res CD when you get your album.

If you are not a UK bride, the high res CD will cost you about $1000 or you can wait three years and purchase it for about $100. You will also receive a low res CD with your photos on it, you can't really print from them, but they can be posted on websites or emailed to family.

If you decide to go with Disney DEFINITELY purchase the proofs in advance. We paid $225 in advance for our proofs (which are just regular prints of all the pictures, except the ones in your album). If you wait until AFTER the ceremony, they will charge you $5 for each proof...figure they take anywhere from 50 to 80 pictures (usually) for an intimate and pre-purchasing the proofs is the best way to go!

For the album, Disney selects specific prints to put in there and they are:

"Photos to be included are as follows: Bride alone, Groom alone, Bride and Groom together, Vows, Kiss, Cake Cutting, Toast, Dance, One document (i.e. rings, bouquet, or sign marquees); the remaining three will be up to the photographer’s choice"

I have a lot of information on what is included in the intimate package, and what upgrades are available, if you want to PM me your email address.

Disney photographers are professional, but there is no guarantee that the style of the photographer will match your style, and that's where a lot of brides were disappointed.

It's also VERY important to really understand what is and isn't included in the package so you won't feel like you didn't get your money's worth. As I said, we were VERY happy with Disney, and I don't regret that choice at all...I only regret that we didn't ask them to take more pictures!

 

[UnderTheMistletoe]

We used Disney for our custom. I was stunned with the results. We had actually tried to back out of our contract and move to Randy just hours into our 30 day window. I am so thrilled that we didn't. That all being said, I am completely unfamiliar with the Intimate side of the house. I agree with the above posted. Be sure that you are completely familair with the ins and outs of your package for anyone. Know exactly what it is that you are getting and exactly what it is that you aren't getting. That will save any confusion and disappointment, also.

The exchanges I had with Randy over the phone were pleasant, personal, and still professional. He was very ready and willing to work with us on the short notice. Had we heard the gripes and complaints earlier, we probably would have backed out with Disney and moved to him. One of the things I liked very much with him was that it included 2 parents albums. Our Disney package only included one... obviously, that means one of the two moms has to pay for her own album. It's worked out in our case because his mom wanted an duplicate copy of our album anyway. The companion album from Disney is 4x6 copies of all the photos included, not the fancy layout, etc.

We had Joe and Andrea as photographers. They're great! We absolutely loved them and loved spending time with them. Joe will make sure he gets "the" shot before moving on. Andrea is fun, easy, and outgoing. I trusted her and had a warm sense of familiarity with her immediately. I'm pretty modest and she was taking "naked bride" photos of me within about 40 minutes of getting there. If you can make a request, I would ask for one or both of them. The link to the photos they took are here . The photos for the bridal tea were not taken by them.

Good luck!
xoxo

 

[FutureAshleyDukes]

I was told by my EM that now the couple is able to select which pictures are placed in the album. I think the amount in the album has also been increased to 20.

 

[JandJ]

We had Disney photography for our Intimate and it was perfect (the pic in my sig was taken by a friend and not indicative of what they did, BTW). For ours they did choose 12 photos for our wedding folio album but now they've changed it and you get to choose your own and there are more of them, as FutureAshleyDukes said.

I was very happy with our photographer, Ty. He made sure each shot was perfect before we went to the next one. He was very open to whatever pictures we wanted and didn't want. For example, it seems standard to put WL brides in the grass for some photos, but I didn't want to stand in the grass and he didn't fuss about that. He spent a long time with us, took pictures we wanted, and had great suggestions. A couple of the poses he had us in I was like "what is this going to look like?!" and they turned out to be my favorites!

I just think, since for an Intimate Disney photography is part of the package, why not use them, they're professional and personable and the pictures are wonderful!

 

[D&R love Disney]

We went with Randy and were thrilled with his work at our intimate wedding. Luckily in 2003 we got credit for our unused photography and put it towards the MK session. David from WDW photography was awesome to work with and we were thrilled with his pictures.

 

[MEME]

We were very pleased with our intimate photos. If you would like to view them go to: Our Professional Pics in low resolution.... .

We pre-purchased all pics for $225.00 and rec'vd our 12-print folio, ALL of our proofs (4x5 in size each) and a low resolution cd with our images.

Like many other Disney brides, I felt why not use them since they are already included in the package. Where else can you get 2 hours of coverage and all the proofs, a cd and 12- folio prints for $225.00?