Re: Wedding picture copyright - Do you care who owns it?
re: pricing of cd’s being expensive: not always. some photographers will give you the CD rather than any prints or albums at all and then you go ahead and make your own copies. i would personally be more concerned about being charged for a cd of my photographs rather than copyright because honestly you have already paid for their services as a photographer, for them to then withhold your pictures from you for more money would be SO wrong.
as for the images on their blogs, paheli, most will not publish more than 5, at most 10 pictures, on their portfolio or blog sites depending on how well they think the shot looks and which part/s of their work it showcase/highlights. as well, i’m sure any professional photographer will respect your privacy regardless of whether they own the copyrights or not so i would clarify, as you are doing, but i wouldn’t necessarily stress about it too much. regarding publishing on external wedding blogs, i can’t imagine any professional doing that without obtaining permission from the bride and groom first. no one wants an unhappy client whether it is before, during, or after the event. and yes, you are hiring them and paying them, but that is a choice you are making, right? we had kissing shots too but nothing that we were not comfortable taking and therefore being seen. if it really is an issue then you should reconsider taking those shots in the first place.
i guess i’m speaking from a vendor perspective. my clients don’t own the designs i create for their invitations - they pay for the service of a designer and a printer but the designs themselves are copyright me. i guess it doesn’t translate the same way for photographers who are capturing personal images.