Wedding photography is renowned for costing a small fortune, but now with the popularity of proposal photos you can expect to pay even more.
We’ve all seen the classic hugging engagement photos and the snaps of the ring being put on Facebook announcing the upcoming nuptials. This trend shoves happiness at unsuspecting friends and family, who you really should have told first.
The candid proposal shot is gaining popularity on social media. The honest emotions being conveyed and the immediacy of the moment creates a snapshot for the happy couple to have for the rest of their lives (and to share with everyone they know on social media).
Journalist Rick Paulas says the ‘new’ trend isn’t all that new with the New York Times mentioning it back in 2007.
The founder of Paparazzi Proposals, James Ambler says five years ago they photographed 60 proposals, last year they captured almost 700.
He likens it when he was a paparazzi (hence the company name) because you have to stay out of sight and not ruin the moment for the couple. It requires a lot of planning and giving advice to the guys doing the proposing.
Because of this, it’s not cheap.
For that money you get a pre-consultation about the proposal, including where everyone will be (and where they can hide) and an hour of photography on the day to capture build up to the moment, popping the question, shots afterwards of the ring and portraits.
It definitely adds pressure to a big moment, now not only do you have to pay for the ring, you have to fork out of the photographer too.
Thumbtack says in their 2016 Wedding Report, nearly half of couples expect to pay $250-500 on engagement photography.
For the actual wedding, you can expect to pay from $3,000-5,000, if not more, for a photographer. With wedding photography, it can be a case of you get what you pay for, if you want amazing photos of the day, spending $1000 is not how you get them.
Andrew Higgins / Flickr
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