I said it once, I’ll say it again: Photography is not always the place to save money at your wedding.

Yes, I do have a vested interest in this topic. I admit, I’m not a cheap wedding photographer. I don’t claim to be nor will I ever. However, have you ever considered what are the costs of hiring a cheap wedding photographer?

Hiring a “friend” to do the photography is can be bad news (unless that friend happens to be a professional wedding photographer), as is hiring a novice photography student from a local university (unless they have massive untapped talent of which you have proof). If you hire a cheap wedding photographer, you risk unprofessional conduct at best and unusable wedding photos at worst. Novice photographers might not know how to use editing software to its best advantage or, even worse, they might not even know how to use that new fancy-schmancy camera they just bought and you’ll be stuck with out of focus, overexposed shots.

These photos are going to be around forever – don’t cringe every time you look at them because you hired a cheap wedding photographer.
So how can you avoid the bad apples out there? It’s tough, but there’s a few ways you can weed out the good from the bad.

1. Research photographers online first. Start by looking through forums of reputable wedding-related Web sites to gather names of photographers that have been favorably mentioned. If you haven’t found any in your area, just ask! Brides are always happy to share both good and bad experiences. If you already have a couple of photographer in mind, type their names into a search engine to see what comes up. Google is your friend!

2. Ask to see complete wedding albums instead of selected photos. Even a bad/cheap wedding photographer gets lucky every once in a while. A major tip off of an inexperienced or bad photographer is a thin portfolio of multiple events. If a photographer is reluctant to show you a full portfolio of one event, take your money elsewhere.

3. Be skeptical if you’re quoted an extremely low price by a cheap wedding photographer. While discounts or negotiations are par for the course in a competitive environment, if you find a photographer who is offering their services for staggeringly less than others in the area – there’s a reason. If you have the time and motivation, find that reason before booking them. It could be something you can deal with, but its most likely not.

4. Look for the hidden costs. Some photographers will only give you one set of prints. Will your photographer give you the copyright to your images or will you have to constantly come back to get more?

5. Finally, the biggest question you should ask is for yourself? If you truly care about your wedding photography do you want to gamble with your images so you can save some money?

About the Author: Randolph Quan is a UK based wedding photojournalist. You can follow Randolph on Twitter or check out his wedding photography here.