Carnival brides-did anyone use their own photographer (i.e. family member/friend?)

[amiryghb]

If we have a professional quality camera, would carnival not let us bring it on board and use it during the wedding???

[jennabear08]

If it was a friend or family member I dont see why it would be a problem.

[amiryghb]

It is a family member but I am afraid Carnival won't let her take pictures during the wedding!!! They want the money obviously. Can we request not to even have a Carnival photographer there?

[MentalVacation]

We negotiated this through TWE/RR. We have a close personal friend who is a professional and he did my pre-bridals, and was one of our sailing guests (conveniently). At first TWE/RR said NO. (this was months) The closer we got to the wedding (and after my pre-bridals, which were fantastic, thanks to the photog) I asked again. I agreed that I wasn't going to be able to get the money back for the photography services included in our base package, but I didn't have to buy any pictures from the photographer who would be there. They agreed (it was Princess, but all through TWE/RR, and Carnival owns Princess, so there is hope) ....... so I was going to have the ship photog there but not buy anything. Time passed. I started to think how silly that was for us and for them -- if I was going to have a photographer, wasn't going to buy their shots, why waste their time........so TWE/RR finally agreed (and got the ship's photog dept to agree) to allow me to JUST have my friend do all the pics, and not have the ship's photog there at ALL. This took a lot of revising (by ME) of the final agreement, etc....but they did agree provided my friend agreed not to a. advertise on board b. solicit other business. He agreed. It worked fabulously.

 

Two caveats, and things to keep in mind:

 

1. TWE/RR didn't know ANYTHING about what he would be allowed to bring onboard as far as equipment. We wanted to make sure he could bring his light and a flash screen (nothing huge). We had to send a request (fax) to the Princess Customer Relations Department for approval. No big deal, but another step. It was fine and NO ONE gave him any grief when we were boarding. We just wanted to be safe b/c we had an embarkation day wedding.

 

2. Figure out ahead of time those "must do" spots and mark them on a map. When you've traipsed the length of the ship 2-3 times in heels and a corset you'll be thankful. That is the only drawback of bringing your own photographer. You don't have the benefit of someone who lives/works on the ship and knows exactly where every 'shot' is. We did a lot of hunting. It was fun, b/c it was after the ship sailed and our guests were gone, but just the same, would have been good to identify those spots (and how to get there) ahead of time.

 

If you are curious, my photog has put a few of our shots on his own website. It is http://www.dustinjonesphotography.com -- he is out of Kansas City and I just can't say enough about how great I think he is. Our pics are the first bunch on his wedding portfolio page.

 

Good Luck and keep after them. Making your wishes known is the only way to make sure they happen. Also, as I have said before, make it known in WRITING. Email is an excellent tool. Save those responses for when you are going over your final details, and print them to take with you to confirm the important stuff.