Destination Wedding Photography Options

Brides and Grooms often ask for our advice on choosing a photographer for their destination wedding. There are 3 main options:

The first is using the resort photographer / the resort photography company, then there is the option hiring a local photographer at the destination and thirdly you could hire a Canadian photographer and bring them to the destination with you.

Here’s some thoughts on each.

Resort photographer

Pro’s: There is often an add on price / negotiable price that can be added onto your resort wedding package price and is probably your cheapest option for photos.

It’s easy, you book them, then your photo’s are generally available the day after your wedding.

Con’s: They are sometimes inexperienced and simply hired by the photography company on an hourly basis, you’re usually limited by time, e.g. you have 2 hours.

Local photographer:

Pro’s: We know of and have relationships with several photographers that are extremely good and offer great value packages, as they are located at the destination there’s no travel costs

Con’s: Resorts generally charge fee’s and or a day pass for outside photographers. Fee’s can range but sometimes can be up to $500.00 so this needs to be considered

Canadian Photographer:

Pro’s: You may already have met the photographer in person and or have an existing relationship. Depending on what you negotiate you can sometimes get photos taken throughout the trip as well as trash the dress. Some photographers may offer a trade for services type deal where you pay for their trip and they do the photos.

Con’s: For an experienced destination wedding photographer you can expect to pay their usual package prices + travel which can be the most expensive out of the three options.

There’s also a great article written by Matt Kennedy of Matt Kennedy Photography in our destination wedding guide. We’ve made this available online here and if you’d like to request a hard copy of our guide click here to enter your information.

We have a list of several Canadian and destination photographers that we’re happy to share so please let us know if we can help.