Having Second thoughts about MK photo shoot

[*Pixiedust1438*]

I have an MK/Epcot photo shoot booked, and all along I have been going back and forth on whether or not this is something we should do. I love the fact that it is a once-in a lifetime opportunity for only Disney brides, and I really want that great shot with us in front of the castle. But I am beginning to ask myself if that one great shot is worth all that money. There is no way I would get the C-D, because it is so outrageously priced, so basically we will get the album with the 5 by 7's, and one large picture to hang. If the C-D was included in the price, I would think it was worth the price, but that's not the case. My other issue is if I do it, I want shots both in the dark and the light, and because of the time of year that we are getting married, from my calculations of sunrise times, this will not be a possibility, no matter if we have the 5am shoot (which would be all in the dark), or the 6am shoot which we are booked for (which would be all in the light). I am paying all that money and it makes me mad I can't have both! I don't know what to do, if you did do the shoot, what did you do with the pictures? If you didn't do the shoot, do you regret it? I know a lot of people say the experience is great, but for me and DF, I really don't picture waking up at 4am and then posing for shots for a few hours something that we would really enjoy. I am also considering doing just Epcot, but I have many of the same issues with this as well. I am also wondering about how good of a shot we could get at Sunset Point, of us with the castle in the background. If I could get a decent one here, I think I would be happy. Sorry this is so long. Any help would really be appreciated.

 

[sambycat]

well first of all, we are all slowly getting news that the times in 2011 are shifting - ours is now a 730 shoot apparently instead of the heinous 545 pick up or whatever, increasing your chances of that nice dawn light and maybe some daylight, especially if you did 2 parks, which we are.

i think people seem generally to not regret it, and as of recent times, folks seem generally very pleased with the quality of the pics.

we are not (i think) buying the CD. i could change my mind if the pics are all freaking fantastic, but, even if they were technically awesome, i'm pretty hard on myself in pictures so we will cross that bridge when we come to it. i am hoping for a couple handful of one of a kind shots at more offbeat places in the park thatwe would want in an album or even on a wall, although i seriously doubt we will be hanging some gigantic picture of us frolicing towards the castle over the fireplace anytime soon.... we are really looking forward to it.

from your post, it doesn't sound like you are that into it, for whatever reason, and maybe like you are talking yourself into it because of the limited oppurtunity. just my assessment - don't do it if it's not a "no brainer" for the two of you! there are tons of other cool things to spend money on if budget isn't the main issue and if it isn't one of your "top 3 most important wedding items" (like lurkyloo always talks about), i say, pass it up - you will have plenty of super cool, once in a lifetime wedding photos from your trip anyway!

good luck deciding!

 

[sambycat]

ph - about the sago cay or whatever - i think thats all gonna depend on the weather - i mean, all those points have some pretty cool photo spots, it'll just depends on clouds!!!!

photo shop is your friend!!!!

 

[daisygirl902]

I debated on this for a long time, and now a couple of months after the fact I can't imagine not having the pictures and/or the experience itself...it turned out to be my #1 favorite experience of the whole wedding day, besides of course, marrying the man of my dreams...he and I both agreed that it was worth every cent, even if just for the opportunity. I did buy the CD, because photos are very important to me...I've already got 2 11x14s on the wall, as well as numerous 8x10s....plus I've made some wonderful photo books...

If you are having an escape wedding there is a Cinderella package upgrade which comes with the prints and CD for the same $750 it would cost to just get the CD...if Wishes then I would say take the 5x7s and one or 2 large prints (I regret not going larger than 11x14s by the way - they look fantastic blown up!!). Save and get the CD later if you change your mind...

To each his own, but I thought I'd add my perspective because I nearly cancelled the MK shoot multiple times during my planning!!

 

[lurkyloo]

Just to give you another perspective, I did the shoot and I regret it! Granted, this was two years ago when the quality was really spotty, but our pictures were so lackluster. I seriously cannot look at them without feeling sick with regret over how much we spent on them.

I think people usually end up going the way that's best for them—most people I've heard who've passed it up don't regret it, and most people who do it are so glad they did.

 

[pezaddict231]

I think you probably just need to take some time and think about if you really want to do it and discuss it with your DF. I was leaning towards doing it but it was a lot of money and DH really had no interest in waking up super early and taking a ton of pictures. We decided to focus our budget on our wedding day instead. So I didn't do the shoot and I don't regret it, and I was really glad to not have to wake up really early the day after the wedding. Sometimes when I see really nice pictures, then I think it might have been nice, but I'm so happy with all of our wedding pictures and I will probably never really hang many of them up anyway , so I know I probably wouldn't have done much with those photos either. If I had done it I would definitely have wanted the CD though.

You can get pictures with the castle in the background, but the castle will look very small and there are a lot of trees that cover most of it.

 

[Ember]

I'm not going to comment on the pictures in my case, because I think it's an unfair judgment. Most people get pictures that are actually in focus...

But I will comment on the experience. Being in the Magic Kingdom so early was pretty cool. The park wasn't empty by any means, but it was still a very different way of seeing it. That said, the whole experience wasn't what I had hoped. Our photographer actually scolded us not using DPS for our wedding and made me feel very self conscious.

So between that and the end result, I do regret spending the money. I wish I had spent it on characters or the carriage for the actual wedding.

 

[tinkerbell 766]

I am a S/D VR bride so would not qualify for a MK shoot but could have an Epcot one if I wish. We have decided against it and are having a TTD shoot at the Poly instead. We are hoping that we can get some shots with the castle in the background and think that they will be so different from the ones done actually at the VR instead of just more posed pictures. We can also use Randy for this, which is a bonus. It will be much cheaper than doing an Epcot shoot with DPS too . I think in the very near future, with the Fantasyland construction going on, it will be impossible to get the pictures in the dark.

 

[kmaclou]

We did an MK shoot and I'd do it again in a second. Our pictures turned out great.

BUT...I lost a LOT of sleep over it because knew that there had been very bad experiences (I think I read Carrie's a dozen times) and it is ridiculously expensive.

We didn't use DPS for our wedding, but had them for the rehearsal dinner and then the shoot. I had requested our photographer for both and got whom I asked for - and she was fantastic. I think it helped that we spent a lot of time with her at the rehearsal dinner, so she was already familiar with us. But there a lot of restless nights thinking about the money and the pictures and whether it'd be worth. I knew if I canceled it, I'd regret it because it was a dream of mine to do the shoot. In the long run, it was the right decision for us, but you need to decide if it is for you.

 

[weedee]

When we first decided on a Disney wedding, I immediately told my husband we would definitely do the MK shoot. But the more I got into planning, I realized I didn't want to spend the money and I really wouldn't do much with the pictures.

As much as I thought I wanted the MK shoot, I don't regret skipping it one bit. It became less and less of a priority the further into planning we got, until I realized I didn't want it at all. We wouldn't have wanted to wake up so early and we have plenty of pictures with the castle on our honeymoon...that was good enough for us!

I think it just depends on how much you want it. If you're iffy on it, I think you could probably use that money somewhere else.

 

[girli565]

I was on the fence when I was told that it wouldn't count towards my minimum bc we weren't using DPS for our wedding day, but we went over the $10k minimum anyway so that didn't matter anymore.

I knew that those pictures were important to me, and after looking through several past brides pictures I knew which photographers to request.

My husband who was opposed to spending the $1100 throughout the entire planning process actually enjoyed it more than me. he loved being in the park with no other guests there, and he's a super ham so he loved taking the pictures

 

[schallerb]

wow, I feel like I posted this, haha. We have been debating doing a photoshoot and/or having characters, as you know they are very pricey. My fiance wanted the photoshoot over the characters, so I said ok, and ever since I have been having second thoughts, we can't book yet, so we don't have anything scheduled. Besides the crazy price, I have seen many brides pictures on here that they weren't happy with, and to be honest, even some of the ones that everyone loves, I don't. My reasoning is, I have seen many weddings pictures on here without the shoot and they seem thrilled with their day and they seem completely happy with the way their wedding turned out. Chances are if you don't have it, you won't even care after the fact, because you will probably have so many other great pictures and memories. That's just my opinion because I think we decided against it. But, if your not happy with it, don't do it, you want to be completely happy with your day! Think if there's anything else you would rather do with the money. sorry this is so long and hope it helps!

 

[DoomBuggy0922]

I would love to do the photoshoot, but I'm not going to. $1100 is just WAY too much money for us to spend on something like that--- that's almost 2 months worth of rent and utilities! I love the Magic Kingdom almost more than I love my fiance (I know, sad but true!), but just not for $1100. That's not to say I don't understand people who DO the pictures, but it's just not in the cards for us.

Now, maybe if I were able to book with that 20% off Escape package and get $950 off, I would do it...

 

[BecBennett]

I'm in the exact same position. I want the photo shoot so badly! So Badly!! But I seem less and less able to justify the cost.

I really want the MK and Epcot pictures, so that's $1400, plus the CD and that's another $750, so we're already up to $2150, and that's already more then what I'm paying for my whole wedding day photography, and then I need to add on hair and makeup as well, plus get up at some ungodly hour, whilst on holiday!!

DF isn't convinced we need the photos, but I told him from the beginning that photos are the most important part of the day for me, so he's ok with it, but just the photos, not the CD...

Ahh, it's so hard!

 

[lea007]

Just a suggestion if any of you who arnt doing the shoot but would like the the same sort of pics in front of the castle in your wedding outfits then you could use a pic from your actual wedding cut it out in photoshop and merge it with a pic of the castle - a few filter tricks etc and you can get the same effect. You do have to be good at using photoshop to get a spot on result and it will take some time, but same effect more or less.

 

[Disney-Chick]

I thought about doing the pictures also. But as mentioned above by others it was quite expensive and I really don't want to see DF until the wedding.

When I was speaking to my coordinator I asked about this and she mentioned that since we are getting married at Disney, if down the road another year we decided to do this we could. We also had to choice to wear our wedding attire or something formal. It couldn't be casual. So I am happy knowing that if I get home and am that upset we can always schedule the shoot.

 

[Jules~Marie]

We have been going back and forth about having the pictures. I think we both really like the idea of having these unique photos, but they are kind of a budget buster. We had decided to keep them since I kept getting upset whenever I thought of canceling them, but now I have been reading that everyone's times are changing to around 7:45 am. I was really wanting to have the pictures taken while the castle and rides were lit up. If I have them while it's light outside, I'm thinking I might as well just cancel them, save the $1100 and just have a photopass photographer take our picture in front of the castle one day.

I don't know, the pictures of couples in daylight are just not as special to me, so it kind of does seem like a waste. I had no idea that if you got married at Disney, you could get the pictures done whenever you wanted. That's great to know!

 

[PartofDisney'sWorld]

They may have changed the rules, but I was told that you only have up to 1 year after your wedding to get the pictures.

 

[*Pixiedust1438*]

When we first decided on a Disney wedding, I immediately told my husband we would definitely do the MK shoot. But the more I got into planning, I realized I didn't want to spend the money and I really wouldn't do much with the pictures.

As much as I thought I wanted the MK shoot, I don't regret skipping it one bit. It became less and less of a priority the further into planning we got, until I realized I didn't want it at all. We wouldn't have wanted to wake up so early and we have plenty of pictures with the castle on our honeymoon...that was good enough for us!

I think it just depends on how much you want it. If you're iffy on it, I think you could probably use that money somewhere else.

This is exactly how I feel, at first, it was a must, now, I just don't know if it's worth all that money, which we could use in so many other ways. I should also add DF does not think it's worth the money at all, but then again when I tell him how much anything costs, he thinks it's ridiculous.. so? I just feel like I'm not going to do anything with the pictures, except hang one nice shot up in our living room, and it seems like a lot of $ for one shot!

Just a suggestion if any of you who arnt doing the shoot but would like the the same sort of pics in front of the castle in your wedding outfits then you could use a pic from your actual wedding cut it out in photoshop and merge it with a pic of the castle - a few filter tricks etc and you can get the same effect. You do have to be good at using photoshop to get a spot on result and it will take some time, but same effect more or less.

Wow this is a great idea, I wonder how hard this is to do. Has anyone done this before? Maybe I will practice doing this now with some other picture of us. If this really would work I would deff. do this, because like I said, all I really want is one good shot with us in front of the castle.


Thank you everyone for all the replies, many of you have brought up a lot of really good points!

 

[Deb loves Disney]

I have been having this same dilemma and we finally decided to save the money and not have the shoot since our dates fall during the Christmas Parade taping and we would not be able to shoot in MK.
Well, we get our budget and guess what was still listed??? The photshoot for Epcot <~ this was my face because I knew it was going to be torture to ask our planner to delete it once it was already in the budget and we could "technically" afford it!!!!
But, I ended up emailing our planner and cancelling it making sure to find out again that we could come back within a year and have a shoot.