Something else to note: Shop around and make sure to ask whether you will own the photos. Some of my friends had to order the pictures from their photographer, which added up in the end. I can print as many shots as I want from Costco for .17 each, whereas my friends were paying $5 bucks and up per 4x6. CAVEAT: Look for the hidden costs. Do not fall into traps!

Also, the question comes up: film v. digital? The purist photographers would probably say film. We did all ours in digital and dont regret it one bit. You can store your pics on a DVD forever, whereas once dust gets on film, you are screwed! So consider your options. We are in a high tech digital age now, so its very very hard to tell even if a photographer used film. Even black and white digital is just as complex. I think my pics are evidence.

Finally, if you are looking for a wedding photographer who does photojournalistic work, go to www.wpja.com. I found John & Joey that way. I think you should check out the photographers in WPJA. Many are at the top of their profession and ARE photojournalists. Many have won awards besides with their wedding work and they are experienced in doing weddings. The problem, I found, with hiring a straight photojournalist is that they aren’t in tune with some of your wedding needs and it is a little much to have to deal with a bunch of relatives who want their pics taken all the time, and all the chaos that comes with a huge Asian wedding (John had to deal with over 300 people that day and worked for us for 10.5 hours). I just couldn’t imagine having a photojournalist who does just newspaper work having to handle all of this wedding chaos (I considered a photojournalist student, as well, who was good and much cheaper but didn’t want to risk it b/c she had so little experience). Also, I found this GREAT GREAT photojournalist in Berkeley (some of her photographs made me CRY when I saw them!), but we didn’t go with her b/c she lacked the professionalism that John had (e.g., she forgot about our appointment!) and didn’t seem like as safe a choice b/c she has less experience doing weddings. I just didn’t want to risk it. Your wedding day is the last place you want to take risks, in my view. Also, many photojournalists will NOT make an album for you. You will end up with a box of photos or negatives. John and Joey also do albums and did things for us such as creating a page displaying a slideshow of our photographs and scanned everything onto DVDs (Indeed, they are very high tech!). They were wedding pros and take excellent pics and you get all the frills that come with a wedding photographer, but their pics, thank god, were not posed. Anyway, check out WPJA. Caveat: Not all photographers in WPJA are of the same caliber, so you may want to see who has won awards in the last couple of years and go with that photographer (that’s how I found mine).