Finding the Photographer...(no seriously-they were hard to find)

So my mom and I met for dinner on Tuesday night and then set out to our appointment with the preferred photographer from my venue.  Yes, once you have a venue they have certain people who they believe are the best.  Depending on your site, they may strongly reccomend that you use these people.  Remember that castle mansion we looked at?  They make you pay an undescribe large sum to go "off the list", so be careful.  Luckily for me, I am pretty sure my site just gives suggestions but does not care if you go with them or not.  Anyway, so we left in plenty of time because, well, we aren't exactly the best at directions, in fact, I get car sick if I even look at something with words/maps. ( I know its super annoying). We were also going off of my mom's memory of the directions she read on the site. (hmmm...hahah).  Surprise, surprise, we got a little lost.  However, to our defense, it was like a small house with a sign that was like the size of a watermelon, so how were we to know!?  This was a concern of mine considering their name is "Ultimate Images" yet they can't get an image large enough for people to see from the street? Weird, right? Well the guy claims it is small due to some County regulations, which actually could be true because there are so many rediculous rules in this state. Now, I am feeling sick to my stomach, thanks to having to google map on my Iphone how to get there...

 I made a point to say that photos are an important part of my wedding since I have a BA in Studio Art, also to make sure they don't try and wow me with big words about graphic art, that really mean they are touching up your red eyes.  We decided we had found the photographer (no pun intended) and they have one slot left for our day.  Before we went to the photographer, I had heard some horror stories from brides who said they paid $10,000 and hated their photos. YIKES, that's a lot of $$$$.  So, there were a few things I learned to ask...

1. Do you have the option to buy the rights to your photos/get a DVD of your photos (this will allow you to print as many photos as you want without a stupid copywrite image across the photo)

2.  Do you shot a set amount of photos or do you go by hour (if they only shot say 400 shots, and at 400, what happens when you haven't cut the cake yet, and they what, just leave?)

3. How do you bill for the graphics and touch-ups? (one bride told me it cost her $150 per photo to have graphic art done.  This would be like a black and white photo and then the flowers are color or something.  Our package included all graphic art-this is clutch for me and my creative ideas!!)

4. The album options.  This is like the most expensive part.  Make sure you are not paying a gazillion $$ for something you may look at twice a year.

We decided on a small album and the DVD so that we can print as many pics as we want.  There's a few other things in our package but thats the basic jist of it.  Umm, still very expensive though.  The latest people I have talked to says that the cost varies by the options you pick (obviously) and the location.  If you live close to a larger city, the prices go up (grrr).  So the average cost for wedding photography in DC is $9,000 where as a small town in Ohio was $2,500.  This would be one of the only times I am sad to live close to Philly. It's an awesome city, however, bummer, the cost is a lot more.  I was told to predict it would be around $5000+, booo. Prepare yourself ladies.  CK, of course, would say we could have just gotten throw-away cameras to put on the tables or something.  No offense to those of you who are doing that, but I knew I wanted a legit photographer for our memories. Plus, with CK's friends, they would be taking some inappropriate photos at their table, I'm sure!

What did you look for in a photographer and why do you think they are so expensive??