Wedding Blog

So, a few readers asked me what I posted on Craigslist to find my awesome photographer and super duper hair/make-up artist.

More or less, this is what I posted:

Wedding Photographer Needed - $300

We’re getting married in August 2009 and are in search of a photographer. We are on a very, very tight budget but hoping to still get beautiful pictures to commemorate our big day. We are looking for at least 4-5 hours of shooting time (300-400 images), 30 pictures edited/touched up, and all images raw and edited on a CD.

This would be a perfect job for a second shooter trying break out on their own or photography student trying to build their portfolio. We have a lot of friends getting married soon, so this would also be a good way to spread the word about your talents.

Please send us a note if you’re interested, listing what services you can provide within our listed budget and a link to some of your work.

The wedding is in Sammamish.

Hair and Makeup Artist needed — $100

I’m getting married in August 2009 and looking for a hair and makeup artist to make me pretty for the big day.

I’m getting married in Sammamish but live in Seattle, so I can come to you (if need be) if you live in Seattle, Bellevue or Sammamish. I’d like to do a hair/makeup trial before the big day.

This would be great for a salon stylist trying to make a little extra on the side or a recent Gene Juarez or Aveda Institute student or graduate.

Please send me a note if you are interested and can work within my wedding budget. Also, if possible, please send me a link to any previous hair/makeup work you’ve done.

~~~

There are a few things I think you should know and do before you post your ad.

Know:

• What you want
• What you want to pay – we told ourselves $300-400 and no more
• What you are willing to compromise on – I knew $100 wasn’t much for a hair/makeup artist, so I was willing to go to them.

Do:

• Your homework – look up what popular vendors are charging for the service you are seeking. It will help you understand why you can’t get a second shooter, 500 edited images and an engagement shoot for $300.
• Be clear what you can provide. We have a lot of friends getting engaged, so we could refer people to Craigslist vendors.
• Be ready to be slammed both in the number of responses you receive and the tone of them. I got over 250 responses the first day. I also got some very NOT nice responses. One person told me that I must look really cheap and it was no wonder I didn’t care about quality photos.

When you get down to a few candidates, make sure you come prepared with questions and ask them to bring samples of their work. We asked photographers to send us their work, but seeing them online and seeing them in person are two different things.

What we’re getting:

We are definitely getting a steal of a deal. Jess is providing us with 9 hours of shooting including over 900 shots, about 100 edited images (more if he has time), 4 DVDs of all the images in color, black and white, and sepia, and the ability to buy all our pictures from whatever online vendor we like. We are responsible for archiving the photos. Those are the biggies.

I hoped my Craigslist advice helped out!

Did you find any vendors on Craigslist? Share your Craigslist tips with the hive!