Photography Question

[Miniefan]

I have a question regarding disney photography. I have decided to use an outside photographer, a choice between Gary Fox, Randy Chapman and Taz my question is this, if you choose to have an outside photographer, and then you do the illuminations desert party, can you hire disney back to have photos taken at the desert party?? Has anyone else dealt with this ?? I am tossing around the idea of doing one of the specialty cruises instead of the desert party, because I know you could have the photographer on there, but I am not sure about the number of people they allow on them. I would appreciate if anyone had any comments on this. maybe someone has had a similar situation.

Thanks
Kim

 

[Rustyflwr3]

Kim,

I do believe that you can hire disney back for the dessert party. We did not do this, but I think you can! Sorry for my lack of information and simply going on a "I believe" but I hope that helps!!

 

[Maggimus]

All I have to say is that im the biggest advocate for Randy Chapman here on the boards-- in my opinion he is the best!! Please check him out

www.chapmanphotography.com

or e-mail him at randychapman@mindspring.com

 

[Miniefan]

Thanks maggimus, I am still waiting on hearing from Randy, its been about a week, the others have responded and given me cost estimates, but I do understand that Randy is a very busy man, I saw your photos, they are very nice BTW, could you tell me what type of coverage you had and a figure on what you got and the cost, if you don't mind that is. I talked to my hubby and I think that we will take everyone to dinner that night and then do one of the specialty cruises that they offer, but by ourselves.
Thanks
Kim

 

[KellyJo18]

I struggled over the idea of hiring Randy Chapman for our June 21st wedding because he was already booked for a dessert party that evening. I love Randy's work and was extremely disappointed that he wasn't available for the entire day But because we liked the style of his work so much and his great reviews on disboards we decided to hire him anyway.

Disney was also helpful and told us that it is not an issue at all to have a disney photographer come in for just the dessert party. They have a dessert party photography package that costs between $300-400. I believe it is for 2 hours.

Plus, Randy being such a great guy decided that since he has to miss this part of our wedding (and the fact that we have to spend additional costs to bring in a second photographer) he would throw in an engagement photo session or honeymoon session for free. If it is possible to get Randy I would definitely recommend him as he has been wonderful to work with so far and I, personally, love his photos!

 

[KellyJo18]

BTW - If you go to Randy's website, www.chapmanphotography.com, click on disney brides and type in the password "ariel" it will let you look at some of his photos from disney weddings and will give you a current price list of all his packages.

 

[Maggimus]

yes just as KellyJo said-- you can look at the pricelist there.

We had three hours-- and used every bit of it.. 1 hour for before the wedding shots individually-- 1 hour for the ceremony plus mickey and minnie, and 1 hour around the GF for photos on the grounds.

We paid about 600 some odd dollars! GL

 

[Raspberry Bubbles]

Hi there, I have another question about photography! I've seen some fantastic Disney Photographic work, but am unsure about how the time scale package works - can you have them kind of come and go for different portions of the day, or do they arrive at a certain time and run the time (such as the ten hour packge) contiuously from that point?

 

[Maggimus]

well A lot of us dont use Disney photography-- but rather an outside vendor. If you want Randys time scale its on his website with the instructions above. I do not know about disney-- hers a "bump" to hopefully get you some answers!

 

[Icats]

Kim,

I don't know the answers to your questions, but we chose Gary Fox as our photographer. He was super nice and we were extremely happy with our pictures. Feel free to take a look:

www.myweddingprints.com
password is "wheeler"

 

[SRUAlmn]

We are going to use Randy Chapman. From what I have seen, he can't be topped!! We are a custom wedding, so we are going to do his 3 hour package and then add an extra hour and then he has a flat charge to come back for the dessert party. This will get us a total of 5 hours of photography spread out throughout the day. Our wedding & ceremony are from 12-4 and then the dessert party is from 8:30-9:30. Let me know if you want any more detailed information

 

[Rustyflwr3]

Kim,

I don't know the answers to your questions, but we chose Gary Fox as our photographer. He was super nice and we were extremely happy with our pictures. Feel free to take a look:

www.myweddingprints.com
password is "wheeler"

Awesome pictures. I love Gary Fox's work!! Thanks for sharing.

 

[wendy46001]

Hi there, I have another question about photography! I've seen some fantastic Disney Photographic work, but am unsure about how the time scale package works - can you have them kind of come and go for different portions of the day, or do they arrive at a certain time and run the time (such as the ten hour packge) contiuously from that point?

Disney can divide up the package, either during one day or over multiple days....Also our photographers stayed late, as the party kept going....so there time limit isnt strict.....

 

[Laurafoster]

We used Randy for our wedding and dessert party and i could not be happier that i did! We had him all day, he started at 1:30 and we had him right through to around 10pm! He can do dessert parties!

The illuminations cruise i believe is limited to 12 people so that would be 11 people if you had the photographer. However the more people you ahve the less space so you may not get as good shots if you have lots of people.

I choose Randy for several reasons - firstly we didnt like the fact that with Disney you could not choose your photographer - you were assigned on (not sure if this has changed or not) and the prices! Randys package was much cheaper and that includes the copyright to the pictures - you have to pay Disney $1000 for the copyright to their pictures!!

 

[Raspberry Bubbles]

Disney can divide up the package, either during one day or over multiple days....Also our photographers stayed late, as the party kept going....so there time limit isnt strict.....

Were you really happy with your photography from Disney? I was hoping to use them as I thought they might be able to capture the extra "magic", but not many people appear to use them.

 

[wendy46001]

Were you really happy with your photography from Disney? I was hoping to use them as I thought they might be able to capture the extra "magic", but not many people appear to use them.

I loved my Disney photos...We had Joe as a photographer and i just cant stop raving about him...he knew just how to get the shot and our fireworks pictures are amazing...I know not to many people use them...but Disney is great to work with...We talked a lot with photography, picked Joe out ourselves from their staff as his personality was just the right fit with us....Disney is very laid back when it comes to pictures and i think thats what freaks people out....but their whole staff is very professional and experienced...

 

[Raspberry Bubbles]

I loved my Disney photos...We had Joe as a photographer and i just cant stop raving about him...he knew just how to get the shot and our fireworks pictures are amazing...I know not to many people use them...but Disney is great to work with...We talked a lot with photography, picked Joe out ourselves from their staff as his personality was just the right fit with us....Disney is very laid back when it comes to pictures and i think thats what freaks people out....but their whole staff is very professional and experienced...

Thanks for that, I feel happier hearing that from you! I want the best photos I can possibly get and I naturally assumed that Disney would have fantastic photographers on staff, but I hadn't heard a whole lot about them on this board.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

The problem I have with almost everything about Disney's wedding services is the lack of information for people who are planning from afar. I haven't received their DVD yet so maybe they have a lot more info on it. On their web site though, there's clearly not enough info for most people.

If I have to decide to pay $2700 for Cinderella's coach based on a 1" x 1" photo and two sentence description, that makes it very tough on the consumer. Same with their photography services that start at $2600 for six hours (my numbers might be slightly off). But if they had a lot of examples of their work like all of these outside photographers we're all using, it might not be such a mystery.

Photos are the most important thing to take away from a wedding other than the ceremony itself, so naturally you want to see a lot of samples and references. I do agree that if anyone knows how to take the right shot, it should be Disney staff. Having said that, my last Photopass CD was full of hit and miss photography. I know, I know, there's a difference between them and Disney wedding photographers. Or is there? You just can't tell from the little information available from Disney.

 

[SRUAlmn]

The problem I have with almost everything about Disney's wedding services is the lack of information for people who are planning from afar. I haven't received their DVD yet so maybe they have a lot more info on it. On their web site though, there's clearly not enough info for most people.

If I have to decide to pay $2700 for Cinderella's coach based on a 1" x 1" photo and two sentence description, that makes it very tough on the consumer. Same with their photography services that start at $2600 for six hours (my numbers might be slightly off). But if they had a lot of examples of their work like all of these outside photographers we're all using, it might not be such a mystery.

Photos are the most important thing to take away from a wedding other than the ceremony itself, so naturally you want to see a lot of samples and references. I do agree that if anyone knows how to take the right shot, it should be Disney staff. Having said that, my last Photopass CD was full of hit and miss photography. I know, I know, there's a difference between them and Disney wedding photographers. Or is there? You just can't tell from the little information available from Disney.

Just to put it a little more into perspective... We are using Randy Chapman for 5 hours and it's costing us about $1100. We are doing the basic 3 hour package ($600,) we are adding on an extra hour ($200,) and then he's coming back that night for the dessert party ($250.) I think if you're going to pay $2600 for 6 hours the photography service should be lightyears above and beyond the other options. I agree that it looks like Disney photography does a nice job, but I feel that Randy Chapman does a similar (if not better) job. Does that make sense? Just my opinion

 

[Maggimus]

Randy runs circles around Disney Photographers (IMO). I agree with what you said Chocolate... when you look at the photopass photos-- they really dont give you a nice imagine in your head of what the wedding photos will turn out (Especially since everyone thinks disney will hire nothing but the best!).

Randy is great-- and he is so affordable. I wanted to keep everything within the Disney package so I didnt have to go outside and worry with all that Hoopla... but Randy is so much cheaper-- especially when you roll in the fact that you OWN the copywrite. Imagine what it costs to order wedding photos through a large company (Heck.. Disney's merchandise is expensive as it is...). That goes for other outside photographers too. I think thats something wonderful that Randy has going for him-- he has sense enough to win customers over with not only doing EXCELLENT & Artistic photographs, but also giving the copywrite.

Enough of my teachings for today...