Ship's photographer for a wedding at sea

Not sure if this is the right category for this question, sorry am a newbie to posting.

My daughter is getting married on Harmony of the Seas in April. We have asked for a ship's photographer to take the photos.

The quote is $949 + $150 per hour for minimum of 36 unedited photos on a disk. Not sure if this is worth it as we have no way of knowing what the quality of the photos are going to turn out and we have to pay up front.

Has anyone had any experience of using this service on a Royal Caribbean ship? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

I'm sure the quality of the pictures will be good. The cost does seem high but likely no more then it would if you hired one on land. If cost is not a problem go for it. Any friends with cameras that can take pictures?

Allan

I have friends who were married on a ship (Carnival, not Royal) and they were very happy with the ship's photographer and the photos. They even remained friends with the photographer to this day. I don't know how much they paid, but he was with them for a good part of the day. Wedding photographers on land can cost a lot more than that. Make sure that RCCL will give you a copyright release letter for the photos, otherwise you may have problems getting prints made when back at home.

Bryan

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Got married on Grand Cayman Island in 2006 while cruiseing on Freedom of the Seas. We did a wedding package through Royal Caribbean. I knew we were getting married but thats it! I brought my dress and jewlery everything else my husband and a travel agent planned lol! The photos are gorgeous!! Had some done on the ship then more on the Island. It wasn't a first wedding for either of us so it was just us no big party. However it was the first time I had wedding photos by a professional. And they are beautiful!

The funniest part...we didn't get officially engaged until the day before. We were in Mexico and went into port , he bought me an engagement ring and officially asked me to marry him on a horse and buggy ride back to the port!

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I'm sure the quality of the pictures will be good. The cost does seem high but likely no more then it would if you hired one on land. If cost is not a problem go for it. Any friends with cameras that can take pictures?

Allan

Ship's photographer will be vastly better than "a friend with a camera that can take pictures", period. If your friend is an experienced portrait or wedding photographer, that's different; that's not "a friend with a camera that can take pictures".

As a now retired professional photographer I have two thoughts....yes, their price is a bit high since they are there on the ship already but it is not outragous. Now keep in mind that you do get what you pay for in the is world. Is this your daughter's first wedding? That often makes pictures more important. If you do go with the ship's guy make sure you give him a printed shot list. A list of everything you want and expect. Then there is no excuse or reason for him missing something. Are they just doing a ceremony or a ceremony and reception too? Don't forget to have some getting ready pictures done, don't forget some atmosphere pictures. Side note, I worked as a photographer for 47 years. In that time I did 4 weddings, all friends and family. They are tricky to do well and they scare me. It is never as easy to do as it looks......

Thanks Mr. Click,

Sound advice from the horse's mouth so to speak! Yes, we are having a ceremony and a reception, total of 3 hours. I think we will go with the ship's photographer. My only concern is that, the wedding is on the sixth day of sailing, and we only get unedited digital photos so will not know the quality until we disembark. Also we pay up front before the cruise.

I just hope we get more than the minimum 36 pictures they have quoted us which I suspect will be the case as he/she will be there for 2 or 3 hours.

My only concern is that, the wedding is on the sixth day of sailing.

As a side note. On a recent cruise, our captain was telling a group of us about a recent wedding on his ship. It was towards the end of the cruise and the bride had ate to much and no longer could fit into her wedding dress :eek:. Luckily the ship had a seamstress and she managed to make the dress work.

Don