National Wedding Photo Services

Author's product rating:   

Value for money
Speed of processing
Efficency & Reliabilty of service
Customer service
Postage & Packing

Advantages:	Guaranteed attendance, Excellent photo quality, Photographer at you disposal for as long as you need
Disadvantages:	Quite expensive, Many hidden extra ie extra prints, upgraded albums etc

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I got married in August 2000 and as most couples, we wanted our wedding day captured on film (photo version) so that we have plenty of memories of what was an absolutely brilliant day. The weather was warm and sunny, with clear blue skies and a nice breeze to prevent overheating! The venue was great and we had the wedding and reception at the same place, a pub/hotel/restaurant!!! The only thing required was a good photographer who could be trusted to produce the quality you expected for the photos of your big day. Obviously, if there is a mess up and the photos are awful, there’s nothing you can do about it – you can’t have the day again!

We had a few quotes and we could have got them done much cheaper, but we eventually decided to book National Wedding Photo Services. We paid a first deposit when we booked which was 10%, roughly £70. There are a number of reasons why we chose them. Firstly was an absolute guarantee that a photographer would turn up for your wedding come hell or high water. How can they do this? Easy! They have a number of photographers assigned to particular areas. When you make the booking they ensure that they have a number of reserve photographers in your area, who wont be booked at all on your wedding day. So if for example your photographer were involved in a car accident on the way to your wedding, the reserve photographer would be contacted and would fill the position, ensuring that your wedding went without a hitch (well the photo part of it anyway).

Another bonus to this package was being able to keep all the proofs taken once you have decided on the photos you want in your album. I couldn’t find anywhere else who would return the proofs to you afterwards. They always try to take between 70 and 140 photos so that there are plenty to choose from. Obviously summer weddings tend to have more photos taken as the light is generally better and beautiful scenery etc is plentiful for unusual photos. We ended up with about 130 photos to choose from. Slight disadvantage! They were all so good it made life difficult trying to choose which photos to have in the album. You could either have 35 large prints in your album or photo slightly smaller prints. There were lots of albums to choose from although some of them required an extra sum of money in addition to the package. We went with the standard one which is included in the price. There was a choice of three different colours in this style though.

You also get a large framed photo included in the price. There were many different styles of frames and as with the albums, some were included and some cost a bit more. You could also choose different special effects for a bit extra. These included a pastel effect, which is a black and white effect where only the flowers are in colour. Quite a stunning effect! You could also get a charcoal effect and even oil-painting effect, like in the old days before they had cameras! They’d get an artist to paint the bride and groom!

The photographer arrives at your home or wherever you are starting from on the wedding day morning. He then takes photos of the bride coming down the stairs, sitting in the living room, in the garden, and a neat in the mirror effect where he takes a photo of the back of your head and captures your face in the mirror. You can ask him to take any photos you like. He then follows the car to the wedding venue and takes some photos of your arrival etc, and preparing to walk down the aisle. A few are taken at the ceremony ie the signing of the register. Then outside for the main photos. He organised the families really well and managed to get at least one photo with everyone smiling, for each pose! I didn’t realise how difficult that must be, although I had a permanent smile on my face that day! He took some photos of us drinking champagne in front of the big old fireplace and the old oak beams of the Tudor property we’d chosen as our venue.

We also decided we wanted some photos taken at the Castle a couple of miles down the road. My husband had tried to arrange that and they’d refused. The photographer said he’d sort that out, so off we went! He batted his eyelids and managed to get us in! We had some stunning photos taken with the castle and moat as a backdrop and we also had photos taken in the castle grounds, which were full of colour and charm. He made sure that he’d taken all the photos we wanted and asked us if there were any others we particularly wanted taken.

The second deposit was due to be paid at this point ie by giving a cheque to the photographer. He told us to send it after the wedding as he felt it was nicer to not have to worry about having to write out cheques on your wedding day! We sent the second deposit after the wedding, which was about £500. (I did say they weren’t cheap!) I am glad we decided to use them for our wedding photos though. The photographer was cheerful, funny and very professional. He set everyone at ease and took some fabulous photos.

They send the proofs to your home address within about a fortnight, so they were waiting for us when we got back from our honeymoon. We could then choose the photos for our album at our leisure. You can also order extra prints for family and friends at an extra cost. The final payment was then invoiced once you’ve sent the order and the proofs back. You then pay the outstanding amount, roughly £100 and your photos are dispatched to you by return once they have received your final payment. I would most definitely recommend National Weddings for you wedding photography, although they are quite expensive. But for such a fantastic day, and the peace of mind, I wouldn’t have had it any other way.