Disney Wedding Photography vs Offsite Photography

[Mrs. Potts1341]

I have my escape wedding planned for SBP in September. I am looking for thoughts on using the Disney photographers and getting some upgrades versus hiring someone offsite to come and do pictures.

We completely planned our wedding for September 2017 and decided to follow our dreams about 1 week ago!! (Yay! I get to be a Disney Bride!! ) Now I am trying to work through the planning phase (I have an amazing wedding coordinator! Thank God for Pam!). Photography is the next step we need to decide on and really need some advice on this topic!!

 

[Disney_Alli]

The issue with both disney photography and videography is that they won't guarantee who your photographers will be. Personally I'd been following Disney weddings for the 5 years since my sister got married and had fallen completely in love with the style and personality of a particular photographer (Love Regina Hymen) so I knew that we'd be using her instead. I went back and forth for about 30 seconds on videography and decided that wasn't for us but if it was I'd have probably gone outside for that as well as you can get a lot more bang for your buck that way.

With the Escape if you don't use the included ceremony photography you have a couple options to swap it out - we did a resort shoot around the Polynesian and had a blast on the last day of our Honeymoon.

 

[epcotcenter1982]

You need to look at the style of each photographer. There is only one external photographer who had a style I considered. I didn't like most external photographers. This wasn't a cost issue at all. Photography was NOT something I would skimp on. I'd save on other areas but not on photography...
I have a mate who has done wedding shoots and has a style very similar to what I like so I knew what I liked and knew what kinds of photos I was looking for.

For me...I did consider Regina Hyman for about 5 mins...her work is certainly lovely...but I went with my gut because I REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted Beth Demund who is a Disney Fine Art Photographer. My other choices (as no...they WILL NOT guarantee until maybe 20 days out which is stressful but I knew what I wanted) were Amy and Stephanie. Jacob assisted on the Park shoot two park day and I've looked more at his photos recently and I actually really like them too.

I did get Beth in the end and I am beyond thrilled with all of my photos. I know Disney gets mixed reviews but they have been only wonderful for me.
I did Escape and had the included plus extended with an extra hour of photography at the Grand Floridian. Because the ceremony was at the Wedding Pavilion and I'd already upgraded to two photographers (2nd Photographer was Mike Strickland) that extra hour was $200 with both photographers. I thought that was a pretty good deal...
I then had my two park photo shoot with Beth and Jacob at DHS And EPCOT the next morning.

Go on pinterest...each Disney photographer has an Album....
Then go to the the external photographers websites. They all have a style. Cricket will be available for you (he is an ex Disney photographer who can start shooting Disney weddings again from December 2016) so I'd check him out. He's pretty cool.

 

[kl3w]

With the Escape photography package, how much time that does that really give you? It's a 2-hour package included, and I'm thinking SBP and staying at BW, so would it be possible to do 1 hour around the hotel/BW for the first included hour and then 1 hour for the ceremony and cake-cutting? Or do they make you add a resort shoot for things around the hotel? Basically, how much bang for the buck can you get with the included Escape photography package?

 

[lurkyloo]

They usually start the 2 hours 30 minutes before the ceremony and then use the rest for shots around the ceremony site (so, for you, the BoardWalk) after the cake + Champagne. You could talk to them about front-loading the time if you wanted to do a first look and shoot all your couples photos before the ceremony. Extra hours of photography cost $200 each.

I would really look closely at the type of photography offered by Disney if style is important to you. We chose an outside vendor because we did not care for Disney Fine Art Photoraphy's shooting or editing style. You can see each DFAP photographer's "greatest hits" by scrolling down toward the bottom of Disney Fairy Tale Weddings' Pinterest board: https://www.pinterest.com/disneyweddings/

But it can also be a good idea to see an entire wedding shot by a photographer, not just his or her selects. Here are all the podcast interviews I've done with couples who used DFAP. I have slideshows that show the entire wedding, and I have listed the name of the specific DFAP photographer when I was given it: http://disneyweddingpodcast.com/?s=Disney+Fine+Art+Photography

 

[Lee Matthews]

Currently im planning to use Randy Chapman. Hope he's a good choice

 

[epcotcenter1982]

Yes they started us 30 mins before the ceremony and it isn't "normal" for there to be any getting ready photos as such with an Escape wedding but they do take photos around the Location before the ceremony (carefully if you don't want to see each other. I really don't understand this 'first look' thing) which were nice to have. I'd never had any desire to have "getting ready" photos and nor had hubby so it wasn't like I needed any of that stuff with any photographer I chose.
I was at first wanting to try and get them to front load maybe just to get more of arrival (but they said they wouldn't) and it wasn't needed. The 11:30 start was perfect for a 12pm ceremony and that extra hour at the end to shoot around the resort was SOOO worth it I would have regretted it hugely if I hadn't done it.

I'm hoping our full res disc shows up soon but in the meantime I have uploaded low res pics here - https://flic.kr/s/aHskv8SBk2 - if you want to see a bit more of Beth and Mike Disney photography. And this isn't even all....these are most of our "favourites" (excluding family) from which I have been gradually working down for our albums. I really liked having a second photographer and so whoever you choose I'd try and see if that second shooter option is available. I know most of my favourites are Beth but there's about 4 or 5 favs that we would have missed out on but for the second shooter...

Photography is a very personal thing I feel so I really, like has been said before, can only suggest you really try and get a feel for what each photographer can offer in style. I'm quite indifferent to many of the popular external ones and very much dislike some of their styles but it's a personal choice. My hubby and I adore our shots and that is all that matters...that YOU will love the result.

 

[kl3w]

Your photos are beautiful @epcotcenter1982 ! Thanks for sharing your experience - that definitely helps clear things up!