Photographers?

[kellykins]

I'm looking for suggestions about a photographer for my wedding in October. I have no doubt that the Disney photographers to an excellent job, but has anyone found that bringing in an outside photographer is cheaper? If you used the Disney photographer were you able to negotiate with them for the negatives?

Any photographer related information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[jennycee]

Keep in mind that outside photographers are limited to where they can take photos. We used Disney photography and while we have great photos I cannot say I was thrilled with them. The photographer we had seemed to be more concerned with getting "Disney" in the photos than concentrating on our special day and moments, and was not creative at all. I have seen others photos and they were really great. It all depends on who you get and you can't choose, but I have heard other people complain about the same issues I mentioned.

I am pretty sure that Disney is all digital photography, so they are no negatives, you do get to keep all of the proofs though.

 

[eblondie]

To be honest Ive found DPS difficult to deal with so thats why I decided to look elsewhere for a photographer. My dealings with DPS left me feeling that I dont trust them. I know there are people on here who have had good service with them...just not me. Ive decided to use Randy Chapman at the suggestion of many brides on the Dis. He is extremely easy to deal with..he listened to what I wanted then put a package together which met my needs. Im extremely happy with Randy so far and Im looking forward to meeting him.
Good luck in your choices.

 

[twojo21]

we decided on randy chapman of chapman photography, we have yet to use them for our dw but him & linda have been great to deal with so far. we wanted alot of pictures (i have a list of 400+ must haves). we also wanted a photojournalistic & creative style and a cd with all our photos. disney was just asking to much $ for what we wanted with no guarantee on the actual photographer & a $1000 to buy the cd.

we are using disney dps for an in park bridal session.

best of luck, shop around & choose whats best for you two, there are cheaper options.

 

[ahutton]

Our photographer was with DPS at the time, but is now on his own. We had Damon Tucci by luck of the draw, and we were indeed lucky. His photos were great. As for limitations on what they can take - has anyone actually had their photographer's shots limited? I know Disney says that, but the only limitation I've heard is for the early morning, inside the theme park photos you need to use DPS. I'd be interested to hear, as our 10th is next December and we may just have to renew our vows...

 

[marn913]

We used Randy Chapman as well. I sat down and did the math and estimated that the same package with all of the photo prints and album from Disney would have cost at least twice as much! Randy's photos were wonderful. As stated earlier, there supposedly are limits to where outside photographers can take photos. We had an engagement photo session in January 2003 at the Polynesian and Randy took photos for our June 2003 wedding at the Grand Floridian, Wedding Pavillion and at our reception at Epcot. I believe the only place that we were not allowed to take photos was within the theme park at Epcot (outside of our recpetion venue at the Living Seas.) Other than that there were no limitations at the hotel or wedding site itself or inside the reception area.

Marne
06-16-03
WP/LS

 

[JoD]

We used Disney photography. Our photographers Joe Duncan and Brian were fantastic. I love my photos and the job they did. Here is my website if you would like to see our photos. They took some really great portraits of me and DH at the GF before our ceremony.

http://albums.proshots.com/disney/
Decarlo/Nikolski Wedding
050204

I'm sure no matter who you choose you will be very happy.
Good Luck.

 

[hmgolden]

We used Randy. I loved him! We could not have been more pleased with our pictures. He was a fantastic person to have around the day of the wedding. We got more than our monies worth with him. We paid $500 less with him than the package we would have gotten from Disney, and got SO much more. Plus, I knew exactly who was going to be taking the pictures the day of the wedding, something that was absolutely necessary for me.

We used DPS for our Magic Kingdom photo session (as is required by Disney) and we were less than impressed with our photographer. After that, we were even more pleased that we used Randy for our wedding day.

Good luck with your decision!

 

[Miz-chan]

We used Damon Tucci for our wedding in Oct. 2004,,he actually used to work for Disney before he went off on his own. Here is a link to his page :

http://www.damontucciphotography.com/html/

We also had a honeymoon photo shoot with a Disney Photographer and while we like our honeymoon photo's, I think the one's from Damon were much nicer. Also,,with Damon we had our finished album before we even left Disney as well as a CD of high res. pictures.

Best of luck,,

 

[kellykins]

Wow! Thanks for all the information. I must say I am more confused than before. We are planning on using the wedding pavilion and the boardwalk for the reception, but I also have a desert party planned in epcot for the fireworks.

What I really want is that picture of us kissing with the fireworks in the backgroud. The picture that I hope will be the perfect ending to what I hope to be a perfect day. Will an outside photographer be able to take that picture?

It almost seems like a rock and a hard place... if I go with an outside photographer like Randy or Damon I know what I'm getting, but they maybe limited. If I go with a disney photographer they won't be limited, but I won't have any say in who the photographer is.

It's weird there are a lot of details about my wedding that I'm not overly concerned with, but the photographer... memories fade and I know the day will go by so fast that I will miss things. The photographer is there to capture the day for me and I don't want to look back on the pictures and regret my choice.

Thanks for everybodys help.

 

[hmgolden]

An outside photographer will be able to get the fireworks shot that you are looking for. Randy got it for me!

 

[ead79]

Yep, as the above poster stated, Randy can take pictures at Illuminations parties during your wedding day. He did my wedding as well, and we love our pictures! I don’t think that I would worry about the “limited” issue, since I think that only truly applies to taking pictures inside the theme parks at places other than your reception or pre-reception venues.

 

[kellykins]

Alright. I think I'm convinced. I've sent emails off to both Damon and Randy for more information.

Thank you to everybody that responded. This really, really helped!